Hacker News Reader

Comment by swagasaurus-rex | Hacker News Reader

It's easy to be motivated by plunder and prestige, back when it was possible.

A main reason why so many in the West have taken part in the protests against China is ideological: Tibetan Buddhism, deftly spun by the Dalai Lama, is a major point of reference of the New Age hedonist spirituality which is becoming the predominant form of ideology today. Our fascination with Tibet makes it into a mythic place upon which we project our dreams. When people mourn the loss of the authentic Tibetan way of life, they don’t care about real Tibetans: they want Tibetans to be authentically spiritual on behalf of us so we can continue with our crazy consumerism.https://mondediplo.com/2008/05/09tibet

"Before 1950 Tibet was no Shangri-la, but a country of harsh feudalism, poverty (life expectancy was barely 30), corruption and civil wars (the last, between two monastic factions, was in 1948 when the Red Army was already knocking at the door). Fearing social unrest and disintegration, the ruling elite prohibited any development of industry, so all metal had to be imported from India."

"It seems the Chinese Communists finally learned the lesson: what is the oppressive power of secret police, camps and Red Guards destroying ancient monuments, compared to the power of unbridled capitalism to undermine all traditional social relations?"

China still struggles with integrating their minority populations. For the last half century, the CCP has been trying to convert the Cantonese-speaking regions to Mandarin, without much success.

Most Chinese don't speak Mandarin per se before the CCP's policy on a mandatory national language, although similarly most people can't read/write either before the same policy.

Mao Zedong himself speak Mandarin with a strong accent judging from the recording of the fouding ceremony of PRC

Reply on news.ycombinator.com