An overview of the events happening in Tibet

Although distinct ethnically, linguistically and culturally, Tibet has been a part of China for long periods of it's history. It was a part of China during it's empire period for hundreds of years, lasting until the early 20th century. It's probably not far off the mark to say that the histories of Tibet and China have been entangled for even longer, and continue to be so to this very day.

By the 1700s, Tibet was under the firm control of the Chinese Empire although the Dalai Lama and his government ruled with some degree of autonomy. This arrangement would last until 1911 when as the Chinese Empire was beginning to collapse, Tibet declared it's independence. Unfortunately for Tibet, no other nation in the world recognized this and most certainly China did not. However, the turmoil that China was going through prevented her from doing anything to stop Tibet. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, a new government took over and the Republic of China was born. This new government did not recognize Tibet's independence but not much was done to oppose it.

The late 1940s saw the rise to power of the communists in China and The People's Republic of China came into being. Like the government of the Republic of China, the Communists did not recognize Tibet's independence either. Differing from their predecessors, the communist government would do something about it. In 1950 the Chinese Army invaded and soon Tibet would be under Chinese control. Certain areas of Tibet would be set aside as an autonomous region under the control of the Dalai Lama. Other areas of Tibet would be treated as if they were always a part of China and the communists treated those areas accordingly. Land was taken away from Tibetans and redistributed as the government saw fit. By 1956 armed rebellions had broken out but the Tibetans were no match for the much larger, better trained and equipped People's Liberation Army. Sadly for Tibet, China crushed the rebellions by 1959 and the Dalai Lama and his government fled to India. After these events, Tibet found itself more firmly under Chinese control than ever before.

From 1959 until the present, Tibet has been under the control of the Communist government of China. As much as the Chinese government has tried to maintain it's grip on Tibet, the Tibetans themselves have tried to maintain their own identity. And as the Chinese government prepares to host the Olympics, they are trying desperately to put on their best face for the whole world to see. And with increased attention on China, the Tibetan people, led by Buddhist monks have risen up in defiance of Chinese rule. A recent article written for washingtonpost.com and featured on msnbc.com states that, "Now, the Games -- intended to be a festive coming-out party for modern China -- could become a dramatic reminder that the Communist Party still relies on Leninist police tactics and Orwellian censorship to enforce its monopoly on power"(Cody).

It is under these circumstances that we find Tibet now. Still yearning to be freed from the Chinese yoke. My next several entries will cover different periods of Tibetan history until the present day is reached. After that, I will focus my attention on the events that are taking place today.

References:

Cody, Edward. "Fallout from Tibet takes glow off Olympics." msnbc.com. 27 Mar 2008. 27 Mar 2008 .

My First Blog adventure, Part 2

Here it is, a Monday evening and I'm doing the unthinkable, homework! Although my system is in shock, I will force my way through this and attempt to be productive. OK, I'm just kidding, it's actually not as bad as all of that. However, things were bad on Saturday as I attempted to post my second blog entry. My adventures, or maybe misadventures would be more appropriate, had me practically pulling my hair out and that experience will be the subject of this post. And yes, I am fully aware that this blog entry is not required for the class, or even necessary. It's just that since I had such a great time with this on Saturday, I just couldn't keep it to myself. Anyway, with that said, here we go...

Things went well as I used Microsoft Word to write everything down. Once I had finished writing and making corrections, I was set to post, and that's when the fun started. But before I get to all the fun I have to go back to the first night of class to set the scene. On Thursday, I set up my blog account with the help of my professor, of course. Once it was functional, I logged out and then logged back in several times in an attempt to build my confidence and to get used to it. Satisfied that I could get in and out with no problem, I went home. Saturday morning arrived and I was able to make my first post with no problem. However, I did notice a small problem when I was prompted to send myself an e-mail for verification. I did this but couldn't find that e-mail. But hey, I was able to make a post so I figured it was no big deal. When I had completed my assignment I logged out and then did not log back in until my next class the following Thursday. Almost as if a harbinger of things to come, the blog site gave me a neat little message when I attempted to log back in. I was told that my blog looked like spam so I had to go through a few steps to get things taken care of. I did all of that and then when Saturday arrived I started my homework.

As I stated earlier, I used Microsoft Word to write my piece and then I would just cut and paste it into the blog. As I tried to log in, of course I was denied access. I was told that I had to go through that pesky verification process. So, I sent myself an e-mail to my account as instructed. After going to my inbox, I couldn't find it. Already slightly frustrated, I decided to send myself an e-mail from my personal Yahoo account. After I had sent it, I went to my e-mail account to look for it only to come up empty again. Looking at my inbox, I noticed that the oldest e-mails were at the top and the latest, dated February 25 were at the bottom. I thought something had to be wrong with my e-mail account since the last time I recieved an e-mail was almost a month ago. By now I was a little upset so I called the NOVA Help Desk to complain that my e-mail wasn't functioning properly. Of course he asked for my EMPLID which I didn't remember and didn't have with me. So, I had to hang up and go find it. Searching for it was a blast but finally I was able to find it and then call back only to be placed on hold. What else is new, right? Anyway, when my call was answered I was told that there was nothing wrong with my account and that I should just try deleting old e-mails to free up space as that may clog up the account and cause it to freeze. Upon deleting a bunch of old e-mails, I noticed e-mails from after 25 February just showing up out of nowhere. I had noticed that the old e-mails were on top but it didn't click, well, now it was clicking. For some reason, unlike my other e-mail accounts, the old e-mails are on the top of the page and the newer ones are on the bottom and extend to the next page. It never dawned on me to try going to the next page....

As I got rid of the unecessary e-mails I was able to find the one I was looking for, three of them to be exact. Following the instructions I opened the e-mail and attempted to click on the URL provided. Doing so would verify my identity and get me up and running. Should be simple, right? WRONG! Clicking on the URL got me that nice little message that states the page that I was looking for cannot be found. NICE!!! I tried all three and got the same result. In the event of this happening, the instructions told me to cut and paste it into a new window and try again. So, I copied and pasted the URL into a Word document. My result? No luck. Next I forwarded the e-mail to my Yahoo acount and tried again, this time I hit the jackpot and it worked. Elated I tried to paste my essay into my blog but when I tried to open up Microsoft Word it wouldn't let me. I somehow managed to save it wrong and had to open it up using Word Perfect. Now I was back down in the dumps. After a short period of time, I figured this out I was able to paste it and call it a day. I had had enough. Which brings me to today...

My next post will be geared towards my topic. Just as I have learned about blogging during these first three posts, I hope to learn more about Tibet and gain a deeper understanding of the events happening there.

My first blog adventure

Good morning once again. As was the case last week, it’s Saturday morning and I am back at it. I must admit that this class is quite intimidating for me because so much of it involves the use of a computer. Not that I haven’t used computers before, in fact I’ve been using a computer for quite a while now but I would hardly rate my skills as good. I know the basics, e-mail and the internet and simple things like that. But when I got into this class and found out how it would be conducted, a shiver went down my spine. Although I am apprehensive, I keep telling myself that this will be good for me in that I will be forced to learn something new about computer usage. To borrow a phrase (I’m not sure from whom), this will bring me out of the stone age.

Thursday evening I took my first timid steps into the world of blogs. I plugged a few phrases into Google and then began my search for blogs pertaining to my topic. Much of what I found wasn’t what I was expecting. As I continued to surf, I even began to get frustrated. Since I was frustrated, I began to look around the classroom, the younger students were having a good time and seemed at ease. The only other person in my class that is close to my age was also frustrated. It seems we were having a difficult time finding what we were looking for. I guess beginners luck plays no part when it comes to computers. Mercifully, the class came to an end quickly and, still frustrated, I left for home and for a good night’s sleep.

Friday morning arrived much too soon, as the weekday mornings always do. I reluctantly got out of bed and went through the morning routine. Once I had my bowl of cereal in hand it was time to log on to the internet and check the news. I found that there was an article on my topic of Tibet so I printed it out. While it was printing, I stumbled onto NBC News World Blog. http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/ Since I came across it by chance, I wasn’t sure I could find it again. So, I printed a page and now I have the necessary info to get right to it. After I found this blog, my feelings of frustration began to dissipate a little.

As it’s name indicates, The NBC News World blog covers a wide variety of news stories. The authors are NBC news correspondents and they write about events that are occurring around the world. As I scanned it again this morning I found current events covered that ranged from swimming with whales to the day to day struggle for survival in a cruel world. I found stories on Tibet and Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinians. All were current and up to date. I found the content to be very informative and each article had many responses. Photographs were placed appropriately and were pertinent to the subject matter being written about. In my opinion this is a very well designed site.

In closing, I found this site to be very easy to read and to search through. To me, it’s very user friendly. I like it! I think in the future I may just make extensive use of it. OK, I know what you are thinking, I’m just a rookie when it comes to blogging so I don’t know any better and that may be the case. However, I have found something that I’m comfortable with so I’ll stick with it for a while. Who knows, after a while I may branch out and find other things I like as well.

My Introduction

Good morning everyone. It's about 10:45 AM on a Saturday and after sleeping late, I am finally getting busy with the task at hand. I have been thinking quite a bit since Thursday evening about what in the world I would choose to focus my attention on for this blog. I made my decision late last night and I will be writing about Tibet and the events that are currently taking place there. Fortunately for me, this topic fits neatly into the parameters that were given. It is a topic that interests me a great deal, I care about it and it is also something that I want to learn more about.

When one thinks about the people in this world who have publicly supported Tibet and the Dalai Lama, the wealthy and the famous come to mind. Actors and actresses such as Richard Gere for example. Now, I am by no means wealthy or famous, but I do share their concern for Tibet, it's people and the Dalai Lama.

I have always been one to root for the underdog so I immediately took Tibet's side in this. On the surface, it looks pretty simple. This is a case of a huge, powerful and populous nation swallowing up a smaller nation. It looks like China has done this out of greed and a lust for expansion, power and influence. Not being one who knows the history of that region very well, this was my initial impression. Only the passage of time will tell if my initial impression remains unchanged.

My purpose in writing about Tibet is to educate myself, and maybe others, about Tibet, it's history, culture and people. Would Tibet be better off if completely independent or with a great deal of autonomy within China? I don't know at this point. However, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the issues there and also perhaps to exchange some thoughts and ideas with other people who share my interest in Tibet. There are other reasons why I selected Tibet as my topic. My ancestors came from a smaller nation that was invaded and forced to live under the rule of an unwanted government. The effects this invasion are with us still as not all of my ancestors' homeland is free. Since I have a strong appreciation for my heritage and what my ancestors suffered, I have a certain amount of empathy for the Tibetan people. And this may be the main reason why I am so very interested in Tibet.