Well it seems that my first post on China is going to be a depressing one. For those of you haven't heard things are getting heated in Tibet once again. Early last year Tibetian monks set themselves on fire in protest against China's increasing grip over religious and political freedom. Since then 20 more Tibetans have followed suit, five last week alone, and now its getting a bit more intense.
In response to the increase in protests the Chinese government has effectively locked off access to Tibet and western Sichuan through an extensive series of roadblocks and check points. Areas within the lock down have been getting more tense by the day, at one point the police opened fire on a crowd of protesters. Many locations within this region have been closed to non-Chinese and reporting teams in the region are followed closely and are arrested if they attempt to make contact with any Tibetans.
As you all know I am always interested in issues of political injustice, protest, and resistance so I immediately jumped at the chance to blog this story. But at the same time I must say that I am deeply disturbed and concerned for the people of Tibet in that modern China does not have a history of handling dissent all to well (after all most people my age in China do not know what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989). So it will be interesting, albeit most likely frightening, to watch this develop from a far.
In terms of what I'd like to learn next I guess I need to brush up on my history of Tibet and China and their relationship as well as the current policies China has in relationship to the autonomous region.
Till next time
Jacob
Article
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16908985
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