Fanning the flame of…write my class back!

My class still hasn’t heard from American sportswriter Dan Wetzel. For those unfamiliar, which is everyone, I had my class of Chinese sophomores respond to a Yahoo.com column called “Fanning the flame of controversy” that called the decision to hold the Olympics in China the “single dumbest decision in sports history.” The writer weighed in on everything from Tibet to the squat toilet, and his words almost made my class cry, they were so offended. So they wrote letters and I wrote a blog. He commented on my blog, providing his address and promising a response. I sent the letters from China to him about three weeks ago. They’re still waiting.

Meanwhile, below are two more of their letters and a window into the mindsets of 20-year-old Chinese college students. And, if you’re wondering why the letters are signed with sometimes goofy English names, it’s because the English majors all chose English names for class. I’ve taught, for example, Windows, Bunny (a guy), Kaka, Solar, etc. Lastly, you might notice that I cut out the beginning, because they pretty much all start with, “I am a student at… I recently read your column and…” Other than that they are unedited…except for spelling errors, which I really can’t stop myself from fixing.

1. Mr. Wetzel,

…I write to you because I don’t agree with many of your points, especially the points about Tibet. You said that Tibetan people have battled with China for its independence since the Yuan dynasty. But please look into Chinese history. Actually, in the Tang dynasty, Tibetan government and Tang government agreed that Tibetan people and Chinese people are in one family. Since Yuan dynasty, Tibet has become one province of Yuan dynasty. From then on, Tibet was always a part of China until the Chinese Civil War. Some people with the desire of making Tibet independent did some bad things to the union. But, Tibet has been part of China since 1959. Tibet is a poor district, but the Chinese government never ignored it. Tibetan people live in a better life than before. And under the help of Chinese government, all their social aspects have improved a lot. In your article you said there are not freedom in Tibet, and that they seek freedom for more than 50 years. How can you say so? You must know that the top leader of Tibet is always the Tibetan people. For instance, Zang students can get extra marks in the college entrance exams. In your article you said, “Now here comes the best and perhaps last chance for Tibet to make noise and regain (or gain, depending on your political perspective) independence.” You are calling the Tibetan people independent. You are doing something on purpose to harm our country. I don’t know what your aim is. But I advise you if you are a newsman, you had better write something objective. -Sunny

2. Mr. Dan Wetzel:

…I am writing this letter to show my opinions on your points which you wrote on the internet about “Chinese empty promises and “frightening totalitarianism.”

I do not agree with you on these points. First, I do not think China has given empty promises of progress. I think you can see although China is a developing country, it is improving and developing day by day at a fast velocity. For preparing for the Olympics, we have done something about the traffic, environment and safety of the athletes. Our government has issued many new politics to improve these aspects. For instance, about the traffic, we allow cars to drive by car number. So it is important that we choose the bus as our transport for the first choice. And we also have done something to improve our country’s environment. When you are in China, take a deep breath of the fresh air. Look at the flowers, grass and birds flying. You would know everything we have done, every promise we have achieved. And another point you mentioned was regarding “frightening totalitarianism.” You may think there is a frightening totalitarianism social system in China. It means that the social orders is controlled entirely by the political powers or reach by the state power, but the private space is compressed to be reduced to a minimum. It is not in line with China’s national conditions. Every Chinese has the right to participate in policy decision making with the government, especially on the livelihood aspect. And National People’s Congress for more people who come from various regions of the nation has the right to participate in the polictical decision making is the important manifestation. We also have the right to protect our privacy. And our country respects for the will of the people. So we live a happy and stable life.

For 2008, we are full of anticipation. We strongly believe that our country has the ability to hold a high-level Olympic Games, we welcome all people from the world to come to China to share the joy of the Olympic brings to us.

Sincerely,

Lemon