Potala Palace is a beautiful sight, and I cannot imagine a better form of retribution against the current Chinese government than a thriving Tibetan culture and well-preserved Tibetan architecture, culture, and religion in modern day Tibet.

The next part of my review is a response to Kim Appleby's post (above):

It is true that the Tibetan culture and people have been long oppressed and persecuted by the Chinese. But it is incorrect to solely present Tibetan people as long-suffering martyrs mericilessly oppressed by the Chinese. It is always incorrect to represent people as purely good or evil, especially people from cultures different from our own. Though their numbers may be small, there are unscrupulous Tibetans who have embrace capitalist opportunism in the thriving tourism industry. There are also Chinese soldiers who may sympathize with Tibetans and feel that their peers behave in a despicable manner. When we render people in black and white, we run the risk of losing objectivity in our assessment of people. It is especially easy to lose objectivity when dealing cultures different from our own. China and Tibet are each enshrouded in so much mysticism and mystery in the Western imagination.

Though the Chinese army has committed countless atrocities against Tibetans, one can't believe that most soldiers of the Chinese army are socially cognizant, educated individuals who have made a careful decision to persecute Tibetans. Many of the soldiers in China's army are recruited from the countryside. Most of these men have barely a grade school education. Most have simply bought into the government's anti-Tibetan propaganda without question. Without the critical thinking tools of a formal education or a free press, these soldiers easily fall into the trap of brainwashing political propaganda.

Not unlike Japanese soldiers conditioned to view the Chinese peasantry as sub-human during WWII, today's Chinese soldiers have been fed similar lies about the Tibetan people. The current actions of Chinese army finds parallels with the Nazis of Germany and extremist Hutus of Rwanda.

Rather than villifying the entire Chinese government, army, and by implication, people, it is more constructive to look at the root causes of the evils that plague Tibet and devise ways to address these problems. In my mind, it is that small, elite group of autocrats in Beijing that have caused the suffering of millions in its own country