China from the Inside; The Grasslands of Ruoergai

fulltimestudent

Sichuan Province in the soutwest of China is closer to India than it is to Beijing. It borders Burma and Bangladash and shares borderzones with Xizang (Tibet).

The architect of modern China, Deng Xiaoping, came from a middle class Sichuan family, who sent him to France, sponsored by a group called the Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement, a work and study program, which sponsored some 4000 young Chinese by 1927. Young Deng was only 15. Why did he do this. Deng says, in"To learn knowledge and truth from the West in order to save China." Deng was aware that China was suffering greatly, and that the Chinese people must have a modern education to save their country.

Deng and 210 other students disembarked in Marseille in December. 1920. Briefly studied and then got a job in an iron and steel plant in Paris, here he was exposed to worker discontent and exposed to Marxism. In 1921 he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe and in 1924 joined the Chinese Communist Party and became one of the leading members of the General Branch of the Youth League in Europe. In 1926 Deng traveled to the Soviet Union and studied at Moscow Sun Yat-sen University, where one of his classmates was Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Chiang Kai Shek.

Deng at age 16

Even though Sichuan is a long way from Beijing, its influence has been important in contemporary China.

But this thread is about lesser known parts of Tibet, the Ruoergai grasslands where some Chinese still attempt to live the life of a nomad. The Chinese government wants them to settle in towns and villages, where they can have easily accessible medical services and educational facilities for their kids. Many seem reluctant, as you will see.

Here's the first images:

fulltimestudent

And here are some piks of the people still attempting a nomadic life style:

Instead of horses as transport, some are using more modern transport.

and some both perhaps.

some live well and can afford cars, and some not so well.

The area has a special appeal to Chinese people as it is near to the source of the Yellow River, deeply embedded in Chinese hearts.

It is the land where the Yellow River crosses, where the Chinese Red Army once passed through, on the run from superior Nationalist forces, and where the ancient Tibetan King Gesar fought a battle……

Ruoergai is where the Yellow River takes its first major bend. It is the world’s largest high-altitude peat marshes and peat bog soil grassland.

Band on the Run

I have no great interest in Chinese history or culture. The little bio you relate of Deng Xiao Ping is revealing. Based on limited knowledge of China from American broadcast news and regular reading of the New York Times, there are questions I would ask you.

1. What did he do to help the communist movement? For example, was he a participant in the Long March? Did he subscribe to the Little Red Book?

2. Did he take any action when the Great Famine was planned and implemented?

3. Did he support democracy in Hong Kong and China, in general?

4. If he were alive during the TianMen Square massacre, what did he do to stop it?

5. Is this a university education?

A believer in human rights and democracy. Also, a capitalist tool. I would raise the good points concerning this man but you already did it for me.

cofty

Thank you for sharing some great images.

fulltimestudent

No problems BOTR. I'm quite willing to give straightforward answers to your questions. But it won't be today. I have played enough this morning and must now get down to some serious work.

Just one request, so that my thread doesn't take a long detour, please start another thread tomorrow, specifically for your questions. (Cross link if you like).

PS: 1. Your question 5 is worded rather vaguely.Is it directed at me, or Deng, or the thread.

2. Are you familiar with Howard Zinn as a writer of history?

AlwaysBusy

Wow... I love the photos...thank you!

fulltimestudent

Cofty: Thank you for sharing some great images.

AlwaysBusy: Wow... I love the photos...thank you!

Thanks for your appreciation, I thought the images were interesting also, which is why I posted them.

Yes, I post a lot of stuff about China, but surely of all events in the world of today the rise of China is the most interesting.

I was only 16 when I got interested in it. This is how:

I was not a JW, (yet) but interested in the problem of poverty and wondering why humans had to fight wars all the time? Socialism was a party on the bohemian fringe of Sydney at the time. This event happened about 1950/51. Somehow, I got a leaflet advertising a talk and slides on the newly established People's Republic of China and decided to go. I was (maybe not surprisingly) the only westerner in the room. All the others there were elderly Chinese (maybe 20 of them). The information was presented in Chinese (Cantonese), but I could see the piks, and it all looked positive. But the defining moment was at the end when apparently donations were requested. And, I was amazed!! At the time, I was getting about 6 quid (pounds) a week. I think my Dad earned about 12 quid a week. And here I saw these elderly Chinese, who did not look as it they had two bob (shillings) to their name, putting 20 quid notes into the hat that was passed around. The money was counted in front of everyone and the total announced and the audience made their satisfaction clear.

So that was my initiation. I started wondering that day, what was going on in China to make these old men so generous.

Not much later, I was working as a laboratory assistant at a local universityn and became friend with some Chinese guys - if I recall clearly some were from Malaysia and some from China, and they started talking to me about what was happening in China, and were quite excited to find an Aussie who thought something good may have been happening in China.

They decided to introduce me to another Chinese (from China) who they said was in charge (I remember his name was Shang) but he was not pleased to be introduced to me. These days I think I appreciate why. The Australian PM of the time, one Bob Menzies was elected in 1949 and was always threatening trouble for Australia from "reds under the beds."

His government legislated to ban the Australian Communist Party, but the legislation was struck down in the High Court in a five to one judgement. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Communist_Party_v_Commonwealth ). An Australian Communist Party still exists, but can garner only a handful of votes these days.

I'm pretty sure that Shang was a cell leader and fearful of being exposed and unsure of what to do. But in spite of the efforts of some in OZ, we never experienced the shameful purge of left wingers that the USA did.

Not long after all that I got caught up in Yahweh's chariot and could mentally zoom around the world imagining Jesus ruling and turning the earth into a real worker's paradise.

Upon my escape from the Jesus Gulag I resumed some of my old interests, including China. So that's why I post some of the things I learn.

fulltimestudent

Found some more piks of this fascinating area. As I posted previously, its located in the north of Sichuan province, very close to the Tibetan Autonomous Region (T.A.R.), the local people most likely speak Tibetan and will follow Tibetan religious thinking. As we saw in previous piks, people have a level of prosperity. There are plenty of cars (if that's a good thing?).

Anyway, these other piks belong to a Singaporean Chinese who was touring the area.

Here's how he tells his story:

Ruoergai Grassland 1: Gahai, Maqu & Huahu 若尔盖草原 (1)

In Langmusi, I joined a wonderful group of HK and China travelers who have been travelling in this region in a car. Over the next two days, we travelled in this region of high swampy plateau. Yaks, sheep and nomads everywhere, flanked by gorgeous snowcapped peaks. We made our way to Maqu county (玛曲县) by the banks of the Yellow River. We also visited picturesque highland lakes such as Gahai (尕海) and Huahu (花湖), which were famous for their bird life. We spent the night at a newly opened, luxurious hotel complex built right under a hill at Tangke (唐克), where one enjoys a spectacular panoramic view of the first nine bends of the Yellow River (黄河九曲) from a single spot.

I liked his first pik: