h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It seems that the whole world (western world) is jumping on the bandwagon of "China Bashing" - following the latest round of China Bashing of her toy and food exports.

Lets bear in mind that it was barely fifty some years ago that the U.S. emerged from her shameful history of slavery and blatant racial discrimination - not to mention her undeclared and unauthorization invasion of Iraq and Afhanistan. Try ask the Iragi people of human right abuses! Try to ask the Irish in Northern Ireland!

Lets also bear in mind that it was only some fifty or sixty years ago that China had not existed as a unified nation for over a hundred years as she was carved up territorily by the western powers, torn apart internally by civil wars, and fighting an 8-year war against the Japanese invasion when more than 70 million Chinese perished, that China had the breathing room in the last thirty years to rebuld her society (following the excesses and madness of the Mo Era), that she is now turning her attention to redress the backwardness and economic disparity of her border states of Tibet, Xinjiang ad Inner Mongolia.

This current round of China Bashing may be a blessing in disguise forcing her political leaders to address the many issues of Tibet
and her people including those many descendants of exiled Tibetans born and raised overseas. Some form of "affirmative action" may be called for while allowing the exiled Tibetans' peaceful return to China.

In the eyes and minds of most Chinese, Tibetans are part of our people
as we all live in the "melting pot" of many ethnic groups that make up
the Chinese people and as we see more and more Tibetans (and other ethnic groups) are increasingly integrated into the mainstream society of China as China herself continues to evolve politically and economically.

The future is bright - for all Chinese, Tibtans included.

>>China Bashing of her toy and food exports<<

Some Chinese food and toys were shown to be lethal so they were rejected. That's hardly China-bashing, it's common sense. If I sold you poisoned food and you refused it, would you be UK-bashing?

>>Lets bear in mind that it was barely fifty some years ago that the U.S. emerged from her shameful history of slavery and blatant racial discrimination<<

Yes, the US changed its shameful practices, while China continues them. I know which country deserves praise.

>>not to mention her undeclared and unauthorization invasion of Iraq and Afhanistan<<

The invasion of Afghanistan was authorised by the UN, and it overthrew one of the cruellest, most wretched governments this world has ever seen. No decent person is sad to see the Taliban gone. Plus, China supports the war in Afghanistan.

The invasion of Iraq is somewhat different. It was a despicable war that was based on lies. Most people in the western democracies were against it and it cost the Prime Minister of Australia his job, and the Republican party of the USA its majority in the Senate and House of Representatives and possibly the presidency too. We hated what happened and we made our feelings known. Can you do the same?

>>Try ask the Iragi people of human right abuses!<<

A supporter of the current Chinese government has no business telling anybody anything about human rights. Your government has no respect whatsoever for human rights, which is why there is so much trouble over the Olympics.

Also, as bad as the situation in Iraq is, people there don't get jailed and tortured for telling the truth. People in China do.

>>Try to ask the Irish in Northern Ireland<<

I don't know what you guys have been told about Northern Ireland, because it's come up a few times. Northern Ireland is peaceful these days. It has considerable autonomy and a well-functioning government and its citizens enjoy the rights and citizenship of both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is almost non-existent, and the change in currency and road markings are the main differences between the two. People cross back and forth all the time.

This all arose because some people (a large minority) wanted to be part of the Republic of Ireland, while others (in a small majority) wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom. A compromise was reached whereby all citizens have the benefits of both. While there are still some problems, some very serious, by and large Northern Ireland is peaceful and its citizens are happy. This doesn't compare with anything in China.

>>In the eyes and minds of most Chinese, Tibetans are part of our people
as we all live in the "melting pot" of many ethnic groups that make up
the Chinese people and as we see more and more Tibetans (and other ethnic groups) are increasingly integrated into the mainstream society of China as China herself continues to evolve politically and economically.

The future is bright - for all Chinese, Tibtans included<<

Most Tibetans seem to disagree with your rosy outlook. Shouldn't we respect their opinions?

>>following the excesses and madness of the Mao Era<<

One of those excesses and madnesses was invading an independent country and forcing its leader into exile. Is China ever going to reverse that?

Thank's for reminding me to check where my vegie's are grown before buying them , can't be to carefull nowadays

How do you know your veggies come from china?
Counterfeiting, violating intellectual property,
mislabeling of products (Made in UK or whatever when
"Made in China"),...

China has been assaulting our way of life for years.
When your veggie packaging says "Produce of UK" don't
be too sure, it could be laced with lead (I am not
scare-mongering).

Over here the food is clearly marked where it comes from(Chinese stuff is much cheaper) and we have had a spate of frozen food contaminated with a pesticide coming in from China, it seams to be coming from the same Chinese factory ,half a dozen or so people have been put in hospital in different parts of Japan .

The markings on food containers does not mean much; it does not take much to label that the product is made in country X while in fact it is made in country Y. If lead in paint is permitted, the cost of markings should be negligible. This is probably very often the case.

For the markings to be credible, the containers getting into the country must be inspected. In many countries, the volume of imports does not permit inspection of 1 or 2 per cent of the volume.

It has been such a worry that I have considered growing my own vegetables.

Sorry but the markings on the food containers do mean something here .There were 2 or 3 different kinds of frozen foodstuffs one was Chinese steamed dumplings can't remember the others around the new year time that were found to have a lot of an insecticide within /on the vegetables , because of the date/bar code whatever markings on said wrappers both the Chinese and Japanese police were able to investigate the making of said dumplings down to the time of making even the workers on the line at the time of making , trouble was the chinese police said they must have been contaminated in Japan even though some of the packages (taken from the supermarket shelves for inspection ) were sealed (no holes) the Japanese police said that was impossible .This happened in different parts of japan just the same batch /batches going to different parts of the country . I think it was the chinese cabbage and an insecticide that is not used in Japan but is widely used in China . I did hear that about 70 percent of vegetables sold here come from China and people don't want to buy it anymore

May be, it is not a bad idea that Japanese do not want to buy Chinese food products. That way, the chinese people will have to eat their own poison. That should wake them up on the hazards of not having human rights and freedoms. It will shame the chinese government.

I am surprised there has been no 'Boycott Chinese goods' movements in the west, since that will save our lives and also solve our balance of payments problem that is exploited by china..

Do you simply know how Dalai Lama turned to be so call ¡®Living Buddha¡¯ and got his great name of Dalai?
That was from the central government of China, written in the Tibetan history and painted on the wall in Tibetan temples.

How could Dalai call Tibet an independent country, when he still calls himself the name which was given by China?

Doesn't matter which party is running the country, China is still the one it was. And Tibet is still and will be part of China.

The same as USA, no matter who is the President, and which party is running the government, it's still the United States. None of the states is calling itself an independent country no matter what.

It's the common sense.

"Dalai Lama" was a title bestowed by Altan Khan, a Mongol, in 1578... long, long before there was anything like a "Central Government" in China.

Every country in the world has undergone enormous changes since, for the sake of a date, 1578. It is utterly ludicrous to pretend that China has uniquely remained the same over those many years. Even pretending for the moment that there was some primitive proto-Central Government in those dim and distant days, it is preposterous to imagine that governance of even a small part of China (say, for example, the geographic area of pre WWII China) would resemble that of a modern state. As recently as 1949, most of China probably looked more like modern Afghanistan, in terms of actual governance, than modern China.