China: Great Dragon Rising - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 331

spread of infectious diseases. In Hong Kong, within
just a matter of several days, more than 300 residents
in one single apartment block were infected, probably
via faulty sewage pipes.
The SARS outbreak has been both a challenge and
an opportunity for the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP). China was severely criticized for covering up
the epidemic and underreporting its magnitude. Inter-
national travel to China dropped sharply , which ad-
versely affected tourism. It became clear that the public
health-care system had major flaws. However, the CCP
quickly admitted that mistakes had been made and
vowed to implement measures to control the spread of
the virus. SARS patients were isolated through manda-
tory quarantines, and schools and businesses were shut.
The one-week May Day holiday was slashed to three
days in order to discourage travel. The country' s health
minister and the mayor of Beijing were removed from
their posts, which signaled that the Chinese govern-
ment was serious about enforcing accountability and
honest reporting. The CCP' s quick response to criti-
cisms suggests that we may well be observing the begin-
ning of a more open society .

a previously forbidden city—Lhasa, the soul of the nation.
But Professor Hussey declares that Tibet is no longer mys-
terious. “The distinctive landscape of this ancient theo-
cratic state with its Buddhist traditions and institutions
has been shattered and replaced with the utilitarian social-
ist landscape of China and renamed Xizang.”
Back in the seventh century , Tibet was a great mili-
tary power with borders extending far beyond its current
ones. In fact, the Chinese paid a tribute of 100,000 rolls
of silk to Tibet. By the tenth century Tibet had foresworn
the arts of war and had withdrawn from its Chinese and
Indian territories.
In 1207, Tibet fell under Mongol domination but
maintained an amenable priest-patron relationship
with the Mongol court, many of whom had adopted
Tibetan Buddhism. During this period, the Dalai Lama
system emerged. A specially chosen child would be-
come the Dalai Lama, spiritual head of the Tibetan peo-
ple. Great monasteries such as Drepung and Potala
were built, eventually housing thousands of monks
(Figure 11-20).
By the mid-seventeenth century , Mongol power
weakened. In 1720, the Qing Dynasty sent a garrison of
Chinese soldiers to Lhasa. The next year they proclaimed
that Tibet had always been a vassal of China.
By the late nineteenth century , Tibet was caught up
in an imperialist power struggle between the British and
the Russians. British troops were placed in Tibet, and Ti-
bet agreed to keep other powers out and trade with
British India. When Chinese forces entered Tibet in
1910, the Tibetans asked the British for help and Britain
refused. Meanwhile in 1911, corrupt China had fallen
to the Nationalists. In 1912, the Dalai Lama proclaimed
Tibet' s independence.
The Tibet of the early twentieth century was domi-
nated by powerful monasteries and feudal landlords.
There was no secular education, and the masses lived in
dire poverty . The Dalai Lama' s attempts at reform were
crushed by the traditionalists. The victory of the Com-
munists in China in 1949 had little meaning to most ig-
norant and isolated Tibetans.
The story for China was different: in 1950, Radio
Beijing announced, “The task of the People' s Liberation
Army for 1950 is to liberate Tibet.” On October 7, 84,000
Chinese soldiers entered Tibet. India and Nepal ex-
pressed sympathy but did nothing, and Britain again re-
fused to get involved. The 15-year-old Dalai Lama was
forced to agree to return Tibet to the “Motherland.” The
resistance movement headed to the mountains to pursue
guerrilla warfare.

A VIAN FLU
Avian flu, more commonly known as “bird flu,” is a par-
ticularly virulent form of the disease. Originating in
Hong Kong in 1997, it attacks primarily waterfowl such
as ducks as well as chickens. Cases have also been found
among swine and even tigers.
Bird flu struck China in full force in 2005, wiping
out thousands of migratory birds and chickens. It then
spread to other places, particularly in Southeast Asia. Af-
fected countries slaughtered millions of chickens to
counter further diffusion of the disease.
The first human case of bird flu occurred in Vietnam.
Since then, 247 people have died, 22 of them in China.
The most recent related death in China was in 2009.

Our Western Storehouse:
Xizang/Tibet

Tibet, according to geographer Antonia Hussey (1992), “is
indeed a special place, at the top of the world, a landscape
of light and shadow dancing over towering mountains,
gravel plains and lush green valleys.” A mysterious place,
isolated by massive topographic barriers and profoundly
influenced by Tibetan Buddhism, the region is centered on