2-28 Massacre in Taiwan

June 1, 2010

By accident, I stumbled on a Blog about the “2-28 Massacre” in Taiwan in 1947 when Kuomintang soldiers under orders from Cheng Kai-shek, an American ally, slaughtered about 30,000 Taiwanese citizens. It was the first time I’d heard of this incident. Source Blog: Patrick Cowsill

Taipei, Taiwan

When I typed into Google “Tiananmen Square protest”, 1 million 260 thousand (1,260,000) hits came back condemning the 1989 Massacre in Tiananmen Square. “Several hundred civilians have been shot dead by the Chinese army during a bloody military operation to crush a democratic protest in Peking’s (Beijing) Tiananmen Square. Source: BBC

Then I typed a similar question about the massacre in Taiwan by an American ally and 21,200 hits came back.

Here’s what the BBC had to say about the Taiwan incident, “The event was an uprising sparked by the beating of a female vendor by authorities for selling untaxed cigarettes. Between 18,000 and 28,000 people are said to have been killed in riots and a subsequent crackdown.” Source: BBC

Compare the language.  When it was about the Communists, it was a “bloody military operation to crush a democratic protest” but when the killings were committed by an American ally, it was “an uprising…sparked by the beating of a female vendor by authorities….”

Of course, we will always remember the man standing in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square. Have you forgotten what happened in Taiwan yet?

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the lusty love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

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6 Comments | China, Chinese history, media, politics, Taiwan | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Politically Correct Outside Tibet but Historically Wrong

May 31, 2010

In the “Contra Costa Times” this morning, I read Tibetan leaders seek East Bay help by Doug  Oakley, a politically correct news piece that’s partially accurate because Oakley only shares part of the history between China and Tibet—the part that favors Tibet’s so-called government in exile, which represents about 1% of all Tibetans—the rest still live in China.

Oakley writes that, “Tibet was invaded by the Chinese army in 1950. After the Tibetan army was defeated, both sides signed a 17-point agreement in 1951 recognizing China’s sovereignty over Tibet.” These facts are correct, but they do not tell the whole story.

Tibet, China

Any historian who checks primary sources that exist outside of Communist China will discover that Tibet was ruled by three Chinese dynasties: The Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties from 1277 – 1911.  Even after Sun Yat-Sen’s so-called Republic replaced the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Tibet was considered part of China.

Primary sources like the October 1912 issue of The National Geographic Magazine and more than fifty letters written by Sir Robert Hart during the 19th century support the fact that Tibet was part of China for more than six centuries prior to 1913 when the British Empire convinced Tibet to break free for political reasons.

The so-called Tibetan government in exile says they are seeking autonomy within China. In fact, China does offer a form of autonomy to the 56 minorities that live in China, but this isn’t the level of autonomy that the Dalai Lama demands, which is a return to the old Tibetan ways described in that 1912 issue of National Geographic, which is unacceptable to China.

Discover more about today’s Tibet by reading Chinese Gold from Dead Tibetan Caterpillars, Buddhism in China, The Tea Horse Road, Water – Two Countries Tell a Tale and About Tibet.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

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Leave a Comment » | Buddhism, China, Chinese history, media, politics, religion, Tibet | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

When Islamic Fundamentalists become Activists

May 31, 2010

I’ve never seen the Western Media mention that Xinjiang is in Central Asia when reporting violence in that region of China.

Why are Islamic fundamentalists in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan called terrorists and militants, but Islamic fundamentalists in China’s Xingjian province, just across the border from the Afghan war and the fighting in Pakistan, are referred to as activists in the Western media?

The Uighur people are Islamic and native to Xinjiang province in China. They are also culturally tied to Central Asia. Rebiya Kadeer, an “Uighur activist”, lives in exile in Washington D.C.   The walls of her small office are covered with photographs of meetings with former President G.W. Bush and Laura Bush.

I have never seen any mention of the fact that China has a history going back hundreds of years when the Ch’ing Dynasty (the Manchu) put down several rebellions by Islamic Uighur rebels in Xinjiang province. I wonder if Rebiya Kadeer is aware of this history.

In fact, with an estimated 74 billion barrels of oil in Xingjian province (three times the proven reserves in the US), China isn’t going anywhere for some time.

See China’s Oil Hunger Grows

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

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2 Comments | China, Chinese history, Islam, media, politics | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

A Clear Case of Western Media Bias

May 31, 2010

When an Islamic fundamentalist is killed or arrested anywhere in the world but China, they are labeled a terrorist in the Western media but when the same forces do something similar in China they are called activists. China’s Xinjiang province is located east of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  All of these Central Asian countries share a border with China’s Xinjiang region.

Here are two examples from the Western media that were published in July 2009. Time printed a news piece Afghanistan’s Deadly Export: How the War is Spilling Over into Central Asia, by John Wendle/Moscow

The lead paragraph starts, “When five militants, all Russian citizens, were shot and killed in a gun battle at a remote military checkpoint near Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan, the Tajik government was quick to label the dead as “members of an organized terrorist group.” The group has not been named, but the shootings highlight the grim irony of the struggle against terrorism in Afghanistan.”

A few days later, Chisa Fujioka wrote for Reuters, Uighur leader says 10,000 went missing in one night.  The lead said, “Nearly 10,000 Uighurs involved in deadly riots in China’s northwestern Xingjian region went missing on one night, exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer said Wednesday, calling for an international investigation.”

See What is the Truth about Tiananmen Square?

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

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2 Comments | China, Islam, media, politics | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Kombucha Fermented Tea

May 30, 2010

Sometimes I wonder about the sanity of most Americans.  It seems they will drink or eat anything that arrives pretty on a plate or in a fancy bottle. I  read a piece this morning that said Lindsay Lohan and other Hollywood types like Madonna, Kirsten Dunst and Halle Berry are into this new (but old) synergy drink called Kombucha.

Kombucha Home Brew

No one knows for sure where this fermented tea originated but recorded history says it started in Russia during the late 19th century. Promotional material says the drink comes from ancient China or Japan. In fact, some say that kombucha, known as the Godly Tsche, dates back to the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) and was “a beverage with magical powers enabling people to live forever”. Since the first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, didn’t live forever, we can discount that claim.

I asked my wife about this tea and she said that as a child she saw it being fermented and that the stuff floating around inside the jar reminded her of dead cockroaches.  Once someone like Pepsi or Coke gets hold of something old like this there is no telling what kind of chemicals will be added. If you want to make this tea, click Kombucha Tea for the home brew recipe.

If you believe the health claims for this tea, you may want to learn about the Chinese “Chong Cao“. Remember, the Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) hasn’t evaluated any of this stuff yet.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

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10 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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