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Chinese Boarding Schools and the Indoctrination of a Generation
(www.foreignaffairs.com)
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this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2023
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"nearly a million tibetan children live in state-run residential schools" - so like every else in the world where public school is normal?
"highly politized curriculum" = teaches about the society they currently live in
"Strip them of their mother tongue" = teach them Chinese because they live in china
"Replace their tibetan identity with a Chinese one" = assimilate them into the culture of the country they are apart of. This complaint is fair and I'd criticize any country that actively suppresses a native culture but the language used here is quite dramatic and misleading.
No, it's more like the Native residential schools in Canada, who's goal was to take the Native out of the kid.
"teach them Chinese because they live in china"
Chinese isn't a language
Oh, let's just go and force all Indians to speak Hindi, I'm sure the entire south of the country would be okay with giving up their mother tongues for Hindi.
This "one language, one country" thing is deranged white thought
This is in China dude.
Lots of countries have one or more official languages. What's different is the purpose. Most sane countries define one to facilitate clear communication and transactions. China's forcing this to extinguish a culture.
Also "deranged white thought" is a pretty racist take when the flag bearing "white guy" countries of the United States and the UK both do not have an official language while most of the rest of the world generally does.
Ok mandarin then. Would you it is not useful to understand the majority language of the country in which you live. That it is not good for the country itself to be more cohesive?
You're trivialising a serious issue. If you had actually read the article you'd know that they're definitely not just like any other public school and they're not just "teaching them Chinese and about society". It's an obvious and disgusting attempt to eradicate Tibetan culture.
You know tibetan culture involved slavery before China involved themselves right? You know it was a feudalist society right? You're aware that they organized their society with a class of religious elite and military living luxuriously in thousand acre estate while the majority of its population would have their eyes gouged out for stealing 2 sheep from a Buddhist monetary because they were starving or have their hands broken if they opposed their Lord's decision to take their wife right?
Even white people in the 1800s were appalled by the brutality in which tibetan elite treated it's public.
In 1959, Anna Louise Strong visited an exhibition of torture equipment that had been used by the Tibetan overlords. There were handcuffs of all sizes, including small ones for children, and instruments for cutting off noses and ears, gouging out eyes, breaking off hands, and hamstringing legs. There were hot brands, whips, and special implements for disemboweling. The exhibition presented photographs and testimonies of victims who had been blinded or crippled or suffered amputations for thievery.
It's always fun to read people's justifications for brutal occupation.
You know the current Chinese economy runs on slavery within their own borders, right? That they were caught red-handed genociding the Uighurs and have barely slowed down? Not just the men, but the women and the children? You’re aware the Chinese have organized their society with a class of political elite and military living luxuriously in thousand acre estates while the majority of its population are brutally oppressed into servitude and conditioned to believe they’re free?
Even white people today are appalled by the brutality with which the CCP treats its governed.
In 2021 every former camp detainee Amnesty interviewed in the report recounted cruel and degrading treatment, including torture. Punishment included beatings, electric shocks, and stress positions, according to the report.
They also included sleep deprivation, being hung from a wall, or being locked in what's called a "tiger chair," a steel chair with affixed leg irons and handcuffs that render the body immobile, often in painful positions.
One former detainee told Amnesty he witnessed the torture of a cellmate who he believed was being punished for pushing a guard, and who was made to sit in a tiger chair in the middle of their cell, restrained and immobilized, for three days.
Something tells me you wouldn't be so supportive of the Israeli government throwing Palestinian kids in Hebrew schools.
Nice try at re-educating the rest of the world. Now my turn;
China is a shitty haven for cheats and liars, you can verify this by looking at the chinese government and how it operates with disregard for anyone who isn't chinese.
Google "tofu dreg" and you'll see examples of this love for dishonesty in building practices all around their lovely country.
I am all for criticizing the Chinese government and bad Chinese policies, but “China is a shitty haven for cheats and liars” is a broad generalization verging on just straight up bigotry.
My bad, I should have said 'the government of China is a haven for cheats and liars, of which there are many'. The sentiment carries on to people supporting that government socially.
In all honesty the truth can be said about any government these days. But I don't read many articles about Sweden carelessly breaking airspace regulations the rest of the planet is in agreement over or subjugating minority races/political dissidents, or brainwashing a generation of students.
It's fair to disagree, I want to hear counterpoints if you have some.
No counterpoint, just a downvote. Classic.
I mean, I think it's not an unfair generalization for a country with a single party government. China is a nation state with one party. What else could he be referring to. I see the exact same generalozatons made about America, sometimes by Americans, and don't think it is bigotry, and also it's less justifiable a claim In a pluralist democracy. I think it's really a statement about the state and not a generalization of the people or race.
It’s important to say “Chinese government” and not “China”. That’s not a minor point. Saying “country X is a shithole” is the kind of racism we criticize Trump and the rightwing for, and for good reason. I’m surprised by this rhetoric on Lemmy.
I shouldn’t have to say this, but a non-Chinese person calling China a “shitty haven for cheats and liars” is obviously not comparable to an American criticizing their own country. Likewise, a white person saying a black neighborhood is a shitty haven for cheats and liars is different than that white person criticizing their own neighborhood.
China is a place and country. Chinese is a ethnicity. As a Chinese American myself, I had no confusion over what the commenter was saying. When we talk bout nations and their governments, it is pretty common to just refer to the country's name. I don't necessarily agree with the statement being made, but I did not at all take it as a ethnic or racial criticism.
Frankly, I’m not even sure how someone reads the comment that “China is a shitty haven for cheats and liars” as directed mostly at the government, and not about the country, people, and culture in general. The government is a haven? The government is a cheat and liar? These readings are a stretch even at the level of syntax.
A "haven" is a place, not a people. And a haven usually describes a place that has favorable laws, regulations, or attitudes towards certain behaviors. To me that is a government since havens usually have laws to support that. For example, a tax haven is a place where laws and government are organized in a way to be favorable to tax evasion.
Yes, I suspected you might go this route of saying "well, the shitty place is made shitty by the government, so it's really a claim about the government after all." I find that as dubious as saying "Africa is a shithole. That's a claim about their governments, nothing racist against Africans!"
Look, I think the Chinese government is authoritarian, immoral, and repressive, and what they're doing in Tibet is genocide. But you're turning a blind eye to anti-Asian racism if you're doing mental gymnastics to defend racist generalizations against Chinese people. Another person in this very thread said, "China is a terrible country. There’s no discussion to be had here". Are you going to make excuses for that person too? Maybe they meant the government too, and not the country or culture? That would be absolutely beyond naive.
As a Chinese American I in now way interpreted the comment as being a generalization about Chinese people. A haven is a place, normally referencing a port. I think it requires a lot more gymnastics to turn a statement about the country to a generalization about ethnicity.
Also, weird take to have and not also be critical of the headline of this article or language in the article itself. This comment uses the term "China" in the same general sense as the article.
Sure you can dig your heels in, and there’s apparently nothing I can say to convince you otherwise. You haven’t addressed my analogies to other similar expressions, so it sounds like we’re not even really having a discussion anymore. Are you also defending “China is a terrible country”? Who knows!
The article says “China’s brutal treatment…” where “China” is clearly a metonym for the Chinese state. But “China is a haven” is not a metonym and doesn’t refer to specific state actions. I don’t see any similar usage in the headline, “Chinese” is an adjective, so that’s a real stretch.
Here's some education for you
If it isn't a guide on how to fuck sharks safely I don't want it.
Flipping them on their backs is the safest way but it's very frightening for them and typically non consensual. I find that taking them on a date or two first usually reduces the chances of a lost limb without resorting to sexual assault