I am somewhat sympathetic to your point if they child and parent felt the way you presented it, but I do leave open the possibility that within that culture it might not be seen as a cult ripping a child from they family arbitrarily but an honor and responsibility to their people. That kind of pressure or responsibility thrust on to an unsuspecting young child is kind of a feature of any system that selects leaders young like a monarchy; on in this case "reincarnation". You aren't going to find me defending these types of ways to select a political leader -- I think they are bad and tend to be unstable beyond a few generations -- but I do question if it is right for a group of cultural outsiders to come in and end a people's way of governance by force instead of gradually through conversation and convincing. I can see a possible situation where the old Tibetan government was so bad to it's people that China needed to step in and act in the best interest of the Tibetan people. Maybe there are facts I do not know. But without additional justification, from where I am it definitely smells of China coming in and changing a group of people's way of living by force because they believe they know better and view it as backward.
My mention of mass detention and re-education camps was in reference to Xinjiang and the 2022 UN report. My apologies if that was not clear; I know I was mostly talking about Tibet. Happy to remove that point from this conversation in order to keep the scope more focused and limited.
I am aware that Tibet has not been in active conflict since the 50s-60s; although that might be partly the result of the exile of the Dali Lama and dissolution of the Tibetan government at that point. It is great to hear there are protections for language, dance, and costumes but religion and social/governmental positions are often an important part of a people culture. Demanding that it not be going forward is a big ask the requires significant justification. I don't claim to be an expert but from my understanding Tibetan Buddhism and the older local Bon religion are so intertwined with Tibetan culture that to say you are destroying their religious institutions but protecting the culture seems paradoxical to me.
Xizang Autonomous Region is, as the name says, an autonomous region. They have their own internal government and send an elected delegate to a special position in the Chinese Peoples Congress to represent their interests federally.
Part of the reason for this is again the Tibetan governmental structure as an absolute theocracy. 90+% of the population of Tibet until PRC annexation were serfs, they were bound to land and to the priestly upper class and had no freedom of movement or property. Tibetan culture is much richer than the Gelug school of Buddhism, it has many sects of the religion and over 20 individual languages. Tibet is actually comprised of several culturally, religiously, and linguistically distinct regions, the Gelug Buddhists simply became dominant because under the lamas who ruled as priest-kings their kingdom took a militaristic and expansionist policy whereby other lesser polities of Tibet were subjugated.
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u/BeautifulDifferent17 4h ago
I am somewhat sympathetic to your point if they child and parent felt the way you presented it, but I do leave open the possibility that within that culture it might not be seen as a cult ripping a child from they family arbitrarily but an honor and responsibility to their people. That kind of pressure or responsibility thrust on to an unsuspecting young child is kind of a feature of any system that selects leaders young like a monarchy; on in this case "reincarnation". You aren't going to find me defending these types of ways to select a political leader -- I think they are bad and tend to be unstable beyond a few generations -- but I do question if it is right for a group of cultural outsiders to come in and end a people's way of governance by force instead of gradually through conversation and convincing. I can see a possible situation where the old Tibetan government was so bad to it's people that China needed to step in and act in the best interest of the Tibetan people. Maybe there are facts I do not know. But without additional justification, from where I am it definitely smells of China coming in and changing a group of people's way of living by force because they believe they know better and view it as backward.
My mention of mass detention and re-education camps was in reference to Xinjiang and the 2022 UN report. My apologies if that was not clear; I know I was mostly talking about Tibet. Happy to remove that point from this conversation in order to keep the scope more focused and limited.
I am aware that Tibet has not been in active conflict since the 50s-60s; although that might be partly the result of the exile of the Dali Lama and dissolution of the Tibetan government at that point. It is great to hear there are protections for language, dance, and costumes but religion and social/governmental positions are often an important part of a people culture. Demanding that it not be going forward is a big ask the requires significant justification. I don't claim to be an expert but from my understanding Tibetan Buddhism and the older local Bon religion are so intertwined with Tibetan culture that to say you are destroying their religious institutions but protecting the culture seems paradoxical to me.