YUNNAN, CHINA
Trip Start
Nov 18, 2007
1
6
7
Trip End
Apr 16, 2008
Kunming,
China
Sunday, April 6, 2008
DIALING SKYPE ON A PARTY LINE
Censorship, Eavesdropping and Thought Control In Modern Day China
Story and Photos by Paul and Marjorie Hilts
NOTE! Many of the names of individuals contacted for this story have either been omitted or changed, in order to protect their identities, since all of these people work and live in China and must deal with the Chinese government on a daily basis.
Sitting in the internet café at the Camellia Hotel in Kunming , China , we clicked on a story about the growing violence in Tibet on the BBC homepage. As soon as the story began to load the screen went blank before a message saying, "Server Cannot Be Found," popped up
Card Game; Kunming, China
. We had been zapped by Chinese censors. My wife Marjorie and I had arrived in China's Yunnan Province on March 16, two days after a week of peaceful protests in Lhasa, commemorating the 1959 fleeing of the Dalai Lama to India, had turned violent. Our goal was Lhasa . During the next two weeks we had a chance to experience first hand how the Chinese government deals with dissent and how many of the Chinese people feel about what is going on inside their country.
At Mr. Chen's travel office at the Camellia we inquire about flights to Lhasa .
"Flights are still going. We can take your passport information and fax it to Lhasa and see if they will approve a permit." The "permit" they were referring to was the insidious Tibet Travel Permit, or TTP, which travel agents, in collusion with the government, charge foreigners to enter Tibet . The fee can range from $75 to $150 per person, depending on where one secures it and from whom. We find out a week later that the Chinese government stopped issuing permits for Tibet on March 16, but even the travel agents weren't sure what was going on
Music in Green Lake Park; Kunming, China
. In the meantime, we email friends back in Chiang Mai and America asking them to cryptically send us messages about what is going on in Tibet without mentioning the T word ( Tibet ) or the L word ( Lhasa ). Several became quite creative in developing various codes to get their messages through the government censors. One Chinese/French/Canadian friend in Chiang Mai wrote, (notes in parenthesis are the interpretations),
I remember you told me you intended to visit Miss Babet ( Tibet ). However lately Samuel (Uncle Sam or US government) advises not to visit Miss Babet. She is very ill and her illness might be contagious (could spread to other regions). Dr Charlie (the Chinese government) is about to perform a surgery on her. He and his assistants (troops) will arrive at Miss Babet's home soon. Because of the grave morbidity, no one will be allowed to attend the operation, except Dr Charlie's assistants.
Recently a cousin of Samuel, Ms Silope (House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi), has met with Ms Babet's father who currently lives abroad. Ms Silope has strongly criticized Dr Charlie for his drastic medical methods
Man Looking For House Keys; Kunming, China
. Later that day Mr. Chen's office tells us that flights are going to and from Lhasa but foreigners are not allowed in. We decide to implement Plan B; move on towards the Tibetan Autonomous Region, through Dali and Lijiang to Zhongdian, or Shangri La as it is now officially known. Zhongdian was renamed Shangri La in the 1990's, by the Chinese authorities as they realized it could become another money making tourist venue, just like the one they were developing in Lhasa and other areas of Tibet. The area is populated mainly by Tibetans with a growing number of majority Han Chinese moving in.
In the meantime we continue monitoring our emails for clues. The next day, while attempting to download using Thunderbird, a message pops up saying, "downloading one of six messages." After a few seconds it suddenly stops. We try again with the same result. By now we can guess what's going on. We log onto Sopris.net and find an email from one of our operatives in the US . Marjorie clicks on it and as soon as it finishes loading, pulls the plug on the internet so that they can't shut us down. It works. We score some information.
It's from her sister Jackie in Wisconsin who had cut and pasted a piece telling about troop movements near Tiger Leaping Gorge, a tourist destination halfway between Lijiang and Shangri La
Commuting With Cell Phone; Kunming, China
. "On Thursday morning, an Associated Press photographer was turned away from a flight to Zhongdian in Yunnan province. There were 12 policemen, including several with automatic weapons at the check-in counter. The police said that no foreigners were allowed to travel to Tibetan areas due to the protests.In Yunnan province's Tiger Leaping Gorge, hundreds of paramilitary police aboard at least 80 trucks were seen traveling northwest along a main route into southern Tibet . Others appeared to be setting up camp and patrolling the Tibetan town, a few with rifles. They were also unloading trucks with supplies.
We reconnect to the internet and find another email from a friend in Chiang Mai. It contains a link to a news story on Tibet . We're too late on pulling the plug and the government censors once again shut us down for the rest of the day. We decide to move on to Dali in hopes of entering via Shangri La.
Dali is an attractive tourist destination sitting on the shores of Lake Earhai with the minority Bai people making up the majority of the population. The Bai are predominantly Buddhist and run most of the local businesses
Veteran's Benefits; Kunming, China
. We hire a driver to take us to some of the small villages around the lake, a Bai man who learned to speak passable English on his own, at home. It didn't take him long to warm up to our questions about the Chinese government.
"No one here trusts the government," he said. "The party in Beijing comes up with big plans to help our area but none of it ever reaches the people trying to make a living. You look at the houses that the party officials live in. Ten families could live in their house, but only one does. Then you go to the countryside and ten families live in a house for one family. They also drive around in big cars. They get richer while we get poorer."
The growing disparity, between rich and poor would be a theme we would hear more about in the coming days and weeks.
The next day we met a couple who taught at a foreign university that catered mainly to the children of party officials. "We are not allowed to give homework, fail anyone and can't talk about capitalism," they told us
Street Vendor; Kunming, China
. We were shocked. "Yeh, it's a little different from what we're used to," they continued. "What do your students think about what their government is doing in places like Tibet , or Africa , or other parts of Asia ," I asked.
"They all buy into the party line that they are helping these people and that they are improving their lives," they told us. "Most of them are not highly motivated, they are given everything by their parents who are party hacks, and all they do in their spare time is go shopping."
They also told us that these were not the same kids who were coming up through the more competitive public university system. They believed that those kids would eventually surpass those coming up through the private/party system and this would cause a lot of problems for the government. Those in power would want to stay in power, while those better educated and more highly motivated would want a multi party system and their piece of the pie.
With that, we moved further west, to Lijiang, an area formerly populated totally by Tibetans
Old Style, New Style; Kunming, China
. Nowadays it is mainly the Naxi, a Buddhist matriarcle society where women traditionally run many of the businesses and whose people are allied more closely with the Buddhist Tibetans, still living there. Lijiang has a large ancient city that has been rebuilt into a huge ethnic theme park, preserving the Naxi culture and architecture and filled with shops catering to Han Chinese from the big, eastern cities. From Lijiang we would try to get a bus to Shangri La. Several travel agents offered to sell us tickets on the public bus, with the caveat that they would give us a refund if they denied us boarding. Finally one agent called the bus station and was told that Chinese tourists could go but foreigners could not. We continued to monitor the situation as best we could. The BBC website, which had been shut down all over China for several days, was back on. The situation in Tibet was not improving.
One night at dinner we ran into a reporter and photographer for a European news agency who had just come back from Zhongdian (names and news agency omitted since they work out of Beijing ). Both were Chinese Americans, spoke fluent Mandarin, and could easily pass for locals...unless they needed to produce a passport
Mahjong; Dali, China
. They had hired a Chinese guide with a four wheel drive Nissan, who took them over back mountain roads and passes that were sometimes nothing more than dirt tracks carved into the mountainsides. Once in Zhongdian they said they didn't attract much attention and stayed for a day before heading back to Lijiang on the main road. They did say that they had seen several convoys of troop trucks heading west, deeper into Tibet .
We told them that we had been trying to get to Shangri La on the public bus but had been rebuffed. They told us of three reporters who had tried taking the public bus. One was Chinese/Malaysian, one was Hispanic and one was Caucasian. The Malaysian reporter had gone to the bus station and purchased tickets for all three. When they reached the first checkpoint, Chinese soldiers boarded the bus, did a quick racial profile, and dragged the Hispanic and Caucasian off. The Malaysian continued on, passing for a local.
When asked how they thought the Chinese government was reacting to the situation they both said they felt the Chinese had badly miscalculated that there would be no trouble in the lead up to the Olympics in August
Bai Woman Dancing; Xizhou, China
. They said that the government truly believed that there would be no dissent. Both believed that demonstrations on a number of issues would be widespread in the months ahead and that there was no way for the government to control it all. The next day we stopped at a restaurant run by a Chinese woman in her mid thirties who went by the western name of Cathy. She was one of a growing number of young entrepreneurs making some money off the tourist trade but not big supporters of the government. She had her own satellite dish that received BBC and CNN. We ask her thoughts on the government.
"As more young people become educated, more will want more freedom. There is really no way around it," she said. "With the internet and satellite TV it is more and more difficult for the government to block access to information. There are bloggers creating sites all the time where information from outside is available."
We told Cathy that we had been trying to get to Shangri La but hadn't had any luck. While we were eating dinner she got on her cell phone and called a girlfriend there to check on the situation
Tie Dying; Xizhou, China
. "The government is telling people in Zhongdian that they ARE allowing tourists in. I told her that foreign tourists were not being allowed to go from this end. Obviously the government is not telling them the whole story."
Cathy also told us that her friend had said that hotel owners in Shangri La were being ordered by soldiers not to rent rooms to Tibetans. The government suspected that those involved in the unrest would try to escape to neighboring provinces where other Tibetans lived.
Later that afternoon a friend from Thailand happened to catch us online and called us on Skype, the internet phone provider. He commented initially at how good the connection was. After a minute or two he began asking about Tibet and giving us some information he had found on a US government website. Within seconds the transmission began to break up. It got worse until finally the connection was lost. A minute later he called back and almost immediately the quality of the call began to deteriorate. There were other voices on the line as if we were on an old fashioned party line. Then the call was dropped again. It was definitely a party line call but not the kind we were used to as kids. Even our calls were being monitored.
With foreigners still not being allowed on public buses to Shangri La we decided to sign up with a Chinese tour group for a day trip to Tiger Leaping Gorge, known as the Grand Canyon of China ...well nearly
Buddhist Monks; Dali, China
. Tiger Leaping Gorge lies about halfway between Lijiang and Shangri La. The next morning we boarded the bus along with a Canadian couple and thirty two Han Chinese tourists for the two and one-half hour drive. The trip was uneventful, for the most part, as we circled the ever visible Jade Dragon Snow Mountain with its 5,600 meter peak. Passing through a small town about halfway to the gorge we saw a convoy of army trucks parked along the side of the road, heading towards Tibet . A little further on the police were stopping every vehicle in both directions. As we stopped, we wondered if they would board and throw us four foreigners off. The driver leaned out the window, said a few words to the guards, and we continued on. We spent most of the rest of the afternoon posing for photographs with the very friendly Chinese tourists on our bus. That was as close to Tibet as we would get.
On returning to Kunming , for our flight back to Thailand we saw a report on News Channel Asia that said that Tibet would reopen to foreign tourists on May 1. That's still almost a month away. With the Olympic Games set to open in just over four months, the Chinese aren't going to make it easy for any public displays of dissent.
On our final afternoon in Kunming we were approached, in Green Lake Park , by a local man who was an English teacher. Within a few moments he told us that we were being watched and pointed out two men who had sidled up to us a few moments before.
"Don't worry, they really can't understand any English," he laughed
Street Vendor; Dali, China
. "Aren't you afraid of talking with foreigners?" I asked.
"I am not afraid. What is there to be afraid of, the truth?" he replied with a smile.
He then asked us about what was going on in Tibet . After we told him what we knew we asked him what he knew.
"There are always two sides to every story," he replied. In China the government usually only tells you one. No one here trusts the government."
Comments
Super Walmart
You never mentioned Walmart in your comments. And I thought a Walmart fix was your main purpose in visiting China!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aside from that, we wait anxiously for your travel stories and photos. Great job.
dmhilts