我们学校有个教亚洲史的教授，年过不惑，今年学起了中文，并且从下半学期开始起由我每星期帮他练习一次口语。
上个星期在读34个行政区名字的时候，我们聊起了了ZD问题。当时双方不失友好的交换了一些看法，我给他讲了一些他不知道的，他也说了很多我不知道的。当晚我就转给他很多照片文章什么的。没想到这位教授很严肃认真的看待这个问题，一个星期以后写了一封很长的邮件给我，里面有许多在我看来相当深刻的认识。征得这位教授的同意，邮件如下：

The situation regarding the Olympic Torch and Tibet has troubled me deeply. In
my view, this current set of controversies is getting very serious. Thinking
about how I might communicate my feelings to Chinese people whom I respect
very much, I have composed a set of "FAQs" (frequently asked questions) about
this controversy. I take responsibility for these ideas, and hope you have
some time to look them over, even if they bother you a little―Paul Barclay
(I put this in an attachment as well).

A. Why Tibet?
It seems is strange to me, and perhaps to people in China, that some Americans
(very loud and often very famous), are emotionally committed to Tibet.
Americans generally show little interest in the outside world, especially
places in Asia. The emotional attachment to Tibet is not material, nor is it
for security reasons: Tibet is a sparsely populated and economically marginal
region. But there are reasons for this commitment to Tibet:

1) "Free Tibet" activists in America are motivated by a search for a
black-and-white cause. To fight the forces of evil, and help the victims of
evil, has tremendous appeal to activists.
2) The Dalai Lama and his supporters have attracted international support
because Tibetan Buddhists appear to be honest, simple, holy men with a unique
and beautiful culture. The Dalai Lama is viewed as a spiritual being, and not
as a politician or celebrity.
3) Since the late 19th century, Western explorers and journalists have
romanticized Tibet as a "Forbidden Land" of exoticism, natural beauty, and
magic. This view of "Shangri-la" still exists.

The American media, which has rarely shown much sympathy for China, has done
very little to correct this overly simplistic, cartoonish view of realty.
However, many Western scholars, and some journalists, have written lengthy
articles and books that explain the complexity and mixed record of
Chinese/Tibetan relations. I do not think that any knowledgeable American
scholar would accept points 1), 2), or 3) mentioned above.

I conclude that the "Tibet" that many American activists and celebrities are
fighting for is not a real place, but is in many respects a fantasy. For this
reason, it will be difficult to use reason to convince them that Tibetan
protest movements and PRC reactions are political problems, and not spiritual
problems. Many Americans use "evil" as an explanation for world events. Such a
belief of course puts an end to any discussion.

2. Why the hypocrisy?
America's offensive war in Iraq and use of torture at Guanatamo Bay have
created anti-US feelings around the world. America has a history of slavery,
racism, and land theft. An honest person might ask: "why don't American
activists fight harder for the rights of Iraqis, Palestinians, African
Americans, or other victims of US policies and actions? Why choose Tibet?

There are American activists and scholars who are very critical of the US.
Oddly enough, many of these same people are also critical of the Chinese
government. There is a consistency here that I find attractive, and
potentially useful to begin a dialog.

I hope my Chinese friends realize that some Americans, when they criticize the
PRC, are NOT making a comparison to "innocent America." Rather, some Americans
think that the PRC and the U.S. are, and have, committed too much violence
against relatively defenseless peoples. In other words, not every criticism of
China is motivated by a love for the U.S.

But still, many Americans would prefer to accuse the PRC of wrong-doing
because it is easy. If China (or Japan) becomes strong, their people and
government are seen as a threat (in the 1980s, Americans feared Japan's
economic strength, now it is China's turn). If Asian nations are weak, they
are seen as backward, primitive, and culturally inferior. To my mind, it will
be difficult for an Asian nation to be treated by Americans as a normal
nation-state, as mixtures of good and bad. For lack of a better term, I call
this attitude racism.

3. Why are Chinese citizens so emotional about foreign criticism?

Chinese history books and popular media portray China as a "victim" of the
West, especially in the 19th century, or the "century of humiliation" from
1842-1943 (Treaty Ports, Japanese invasions). It has given great satisfaction
to many people in China to believe in the good/evil vision of history. For
these people, China is always on the defensive; its past is relatively
peaceful (except for foreign aggression). Therefore, when Westerners try to
put pressure on the PRC government to modify its domestic policies (internal
affairs), many think it is a return to the foreign humiliation of the Qing
government.

Like all nations, China got some very bad deals on the international scene.
But the international arena is a rough neighborhood, not a place for children
or innocents. It is quite clear that the borders of China expanded
tremendously from the time of the Zhou to the time of the Qing. There is no
one "historical China." Especially during the Qing dynasty, many provinces and
districts were added to China through immigration, conquest, and commercial
domination. This is exactly how America was built.

In short, the Qing government was an imperial government: it was aggressive,
expansionist, and very powerful. Qing bureaucrats worked with Westerners to
defeat the Taipings. During Qianlong's reign, Beijing's capital commanded the
largest and wealthiest empire on earth.

Many of the bad things that happened to Chinese in the 20th century cannot be
blamed on outsiders. If you believe in the victim theory of Chinese history,
you are very similar to the "free Tibet" crowd that believes in the innocence
of Tibet's feudal government. You are intellectually allied with Americans who
believe that the US can do no wrong.

What is the way forward? Can Chinese and Americans talk rationally about
Tibet?
Possibly. There are some problems, though.

Exiled Tibetans are very, very good at promoting their cause and securing
sympathetic allies. People in China are correct to assume that most Westerners
don't know both sides of the Tibet story. Westerners will have to stop
treating Tibetans as purely victims before any Chinese people will take
Westerners' views seriously.

Many people in China and America learn about history in textbooks, from
high-school teachers, from mass-media, and from websites. The happy story
about the virtuous past of China or America is easy to learn. Feel-good
history, which includes the victimhood story, gives people a sense of pride.

It is a sad fact that people follow their hearts and not their minds when it
comes to history. I would say, as a scholar, that China is not always the
victim. The US is not a uniquely moral nation, either. Tibet before 1949 was
probably a bad place to live for most Tibetans. Within this framework, there
is much to discuss.

If you are a nationalist, Tibetan, American, or Chinese, it will be difficult
for you to learn anything new about Tibet. If you need to feel good about
your government and national history to feel good about yourself, your
thinking about history will always be muddled. Please find other ways to feel
valuable: you have families, friends, neighborhoods, hobbies, jobs,
colleagues, things to learn, and aspirations of many kinds. Feel good about
them. In the end, the nation-state is not your friend. It is a bureaucratic
structure held together by the emotion of nationalism. That is true of China,
it is true of the United States.

You can love your country, but it cannot love you back, and it never will.

I try to rob my students of the comfort provided in fairy tales promoted in
American, Japanese, and Chinese textbooks and mass media, for the reasons
stated above. I am much harder on America, and somewhat soft on China and
Japan, because I think most of my students begin with an anti-Asian bias.
Nonetheless, it would be impossible for me to think of Asians as only victims.
How can people who are so intelligent, so artistic, so technically innovative,
so commercially savvy, and who have contributed so much to my way of life, be
only victims?

在网上订了一个500GB的硬盘，结果今天收到的package打开来是一个旧电话，好晕啊……