this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
109 points (100.0% liked)
World News
22049 readers
36 users here now
Breaking news from around the world.
News that is American but has an international facet may also be posted here.
Guidelines for submissions:
- Where possible, post the original source of information.
- If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
- Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
- Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
- Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
- Social media should be a source of last resort.
These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.
For US News, see the US News community.
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Tibet is the romanized name for the region (based on Latin Tibetum). Tibetans call the Tibetan plateau "Bö" and Central Tibet "Ü-Tsang."
The original Tibetan Empire (circa 600-800 or something) stretched across the regions of Amdo (modern-day Qinghai), Ü-Tsang (modern-day Tibet Autonomous Region), and Khan (split between TAR and Sichuan). Xizang is a more or less direct transliteration of Ü-Tsang, the territory that makes up the vast majority of the modern-day TAR.
Tibet refers to the entire plateau (also referred to as the Qinghai-Xizang plateau or the Himalayan Plateau) and Xizang refers to the territory made up by the TAR. Xizang has, for as long as I can remember, been the Chinese name for the TAR.
This is manufactured outrage with a clickbait title... About what can be expected from Newsweek.
Edit: for some additional context, China is usually pretty good about keeping local names. See: Ürümqi (Wulumuqi) from the name of Dzungar village there, Kashgar (Kashigaer/Kashi) which has had the same name for millennia and Harbin (Haerbin) from the name of the Manchu village there (among others). Understandably, because Hui and Uyghurs still live in Urumqi and Kashgar, Manchu still live in Harbin, and Tibetans still live in Xizang.
@zerfuffle
It really helps if you read the article before posting.
Xizang is as much a "Chinese word" as Tsawwassen or Denali is an "English word." It's literally a direct phonetic transliteration of the Tibetan name used to describe the land occupied by the TAR.
And it's being used to try to distance themselves from the long standing international opposition to their illegal occupation and annexation of Tibet, and the genocide done to achieve it.
Maybe Westerners shouldn't get their panties in a twist about someone not using a name created by the West because Western colonialists couldn't figure out a better transliteration?
Okay, let's use the name that the legitimate government of Tibet, the Central Tibetan Administration, endorses.
Oh look, it's "Tibet".
The legitimate government of Tibet... According to who? Even the British (who had just finished shipping opium to China, looting Chinese palaces, and had every reason to antagonize the Chinese) didn't recognize the independence of Tibet.
Regardless, this is the same Tibetan government that supported a caste system and ethnic discrimination, right? That Tibetan government? The same one whose leader has been called out by American media for being a pedophile?
According to Tibetans.
Yawn. Nothing but whataboutism from you, huh? "Who cares if China did multiple genocides and illegal annexations and disappears people who protest the government, the Tibetan government is also bad, so China should be allowed to ethnic cleanse them!"
No government is good, but other humans being bad isn't an excuse to go and be bad as well. And let's not pretend that China gives a crap about anything except expansion of their resources and influence. You're not impressing anyone by defending a genocidal regime, it just comes off as being incapable of actually critically assessing your own side. You're no different than the MAGA crowd who think America can do no wrong.
The same 6 million Tibetans living in Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan? Those Tibetans? The same Tibetans who are the ethnic majority in TAR and make up a significant proportion of the population of Qinghai?
Oh, you meant the Central Tibetan Administration, which nets about 100 people a year leaving China. The same one that's seeing people return to China because the economic prospects elsewhere are worse.
Edit: the TAR, which is governed by Losang Jamcan as Congress Chairman, Yan Jinhai as Government Chairman, and Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai as CPPCC Chairman... All Tibetan. The Tibetan deputies to the National People's Congress... Also Tibetan. Life expectancy increased from 36yo to 72yo. GDP/capita and disposable income/capita growing rapidly YoY. Billions of dollars in infrastructure investment, including the Lhasa HSR. Interesting strategy for a genocide, that's for sure.
There is No War in Ba Sing Se!
Yawn