Zhuo Chen doesn’t trust the Dalai Lama.

Chen, a new media management graduate student from Shandong, China, has conflicted feelings toward the spiritual leader of Tibet, like many people from her home country.

The Dalai Lama’s past efforts to make Tibet independent from China have created animosity between him and the Chinese government and its people.

“To be honest I don’t really care about him because I think he’s such a contemptible scoundrel,” Chen said of the Dalai Lama in an email.

The Dalai Lama will be traveling to Syracuse University for the two-day forum, “Common Ground for Peace.” He and more than 20 musical artists will engage the Syracuse community in talks about how to shift global consciousness toward peace on Oct. 8-9.

The country of Tibet has been considered part of China since the Yuan Dynasty 800 years ago, Chen said. Tibet, she said, is not an independent country.

The Dalai Lama, the temporal head of Tibetan Buddhists, was made head of state at age 15 in 1950, the same year that Chinese troops occupied Tibet, according to a Feb. 18, 2010 CNN.com article.

The Dalai Lama attempted to negotiate with Chinese officials for a self-ruled Tibet, but failed. After an unsuccessful uprising against the Chinese, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 for exile in India, according to the article.

Amy Feng, a new media management graduate student from Hebei, China, doesn’t think the Dalai Lama matters in terms of world politics because no one in China trusts him.

“I don’t think Dalai Lama (represents) the major public opinion in Tibet,” Feng said in an email. “Tibet is part of China. That is the bottom line and ground rule.”

Chinese officials have publically denounced the Dalai Lama as a “wolf in monk’s clothing” who is continuing to push for Tibet’s independence. But, the Dalai Lama said that he is not fighting for independence, but “wants an autonomy that would allow Tibetans to maintain their cultural, language and religion under China’s rule,” according to the article.

Feng said the Tibet that is described to Western countries by the Dalai Lama is not an actual portrayal.

“A lot of violence incident events are actually controlled by him or his subsidiary. They are not protecting Tibet but destroying her.”

For Chen, the violence hits close to home. Chen’s uncle has worked for an electric company located in Tibet for the past three years. Her uncle has witnessed how the people in Tibet live normal and peaceful lives, but they also face times of serious danger.

“My uncle’s company had to have people (run) all over the place to repair electric cable because Dalai’s followers were burning and destroying electrical equipment to cut off the electricity,” Chen said. “And whenever my uncle went out to do inspections on power stations he had to carry a gun because two company employees were (being) killed by Dalai’s people in a tour of inspection.”

In order for the relationship between China and the Dalai Lama to improve, Feng said, the Dalai Lama needs to stop dividing her homeland.

Chen doesn’t think the relationship will be repaired very soon because there will always be another Dalai Lama. She believes that there will be a day where the truth will expose the real Dalai Lama.

“Peace is a common desire shared by all of us. I feel like many Americans have misunderstanding about Tibet,” Chen said. “But facts speak louder than words, Tibet is open to everyone who want to see her. Truth will eventually be seen.”

Published on September 18, 2012 at 1:48 am

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