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Curious about Tibet? Look, listen, see for yourself

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-27 21:36

From China, the story has been one about development and progress in Tibet, although admittedly the region still lags the rest of China due to historic and geographic reasons.

From the West, the vitriol about human rights has been unceasing.

Related readings:  Photograph exhibition on Tibet held in Beijing  'I just told my stories of the real Tibet'  China calls on overseas Tibet report to be 'objective'  Tibet's is a story of progress

But seeing is believing, even if news reports are often biased.

During my stay in Tibet this past winter, I talked with several lamas in the Sera Monastery in Lhasa and the Pelkor Chode Monastery in Xigaze. They expressed their wish to have the 14th Dalai Lama, who they still regard as their religious leader, return to his homeland in Tibet.

In 1959, Tenzin Gyatso, then 24, fled to India after the failed riot. Having been away from home for so many years, maybe it is time for the gray-haired monk to recognize the development of Tibet and the needs of the people there: peace and a better life.

Those who doubt the situation in Tibet should go there and see for themselves, as I did.

Be sure to ask everybody you meet: who among you wants to return to the old society and serfdom?

In 2005, the United States set up the National Slavery Museum in the state of Virginia, the first such facility in the United States.

In 2006, then French President Jacques Chirac announced that from that year forward, on each May 10, there would be commemorative events held "in the places of great significance in the history of the slave trade and slavery."

In 2007, the British city of Liverpool held an event to mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade.

In 2008, the US Congress formally apologized for the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity" of slavery and the legal segregation of African-Americans.

In 2009, the first Serfs' Emancipation Day will be celebrated in Tibet. This day should be recognized by people around the world as no different from those events in other countries: as a date to mark the end of what was, for many, a "hell on Earth".

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