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» China-Travel-Articles » Reading: "Open Your Eyes To China and Tibet"
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| Open Your Eyes To China and Tibet |
By:
Tom Watkins |
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Tom Watkins: Great teachers - open eyes to China/Tibet
Great teachers plant seeds that you can harvest for a lifetime. My fourth grade teacher planted seeds about the people, culture and history of China and forty-four years later I am still enjoying the fruit.
My fascination with all things China has enabled me to continue learning throughout my life and to be present as history was unfolding within its borders. My first trip to China coincided with the buildup to the massacre in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
I recall vividly, standing in the square with hundreds of thousands of students and other protesters in late May 1989, when a student asked me in his halting English to “describe freedom, to describe democracy.” Explaining freedom and democracy to someone who has never experienced it is like trying to explain how you get up and start to breathe in the morning.
What happened that day as the lives of protesters were snuffed out is seared into my memory. At that time I wrote for an American/Chinese magazine: “Perhaps we should expect a country that was struggling to overcome the horrors of the cultural revolution to be convulsive as it transforms itself - but it should not be repulsive and repressive. What happened that day was repulsive and repressive. It is something that I nor the world should forget. Yet, I believe as strongly that we should not abandon the cultural, academic and professional exchanges that have flourished since the reopening of China. It is through the open exchange of ideas that democracy and change flourish. If we do not stay involved with the people of China, the young man who asked me in Tiananmen Square to ‘describe democracy, describe freedom,’ will never have his question answered.”
I have worked hard since that day, and in memory of the student seeking knowledge about freedom and democracy and the great teacher who inspired my formative years, to continue to build academic, cultural and economic bridges with China for the benefit of Americans and Chinese.
I am most proud of helping to persuade Oakland County, Michigan Executive, L. Brooks Patterson to call on Oakland Schools to offer Chinese in all 28 school districts, hence better preparing the children of Oakland County for the hyper-competitive, transformational, global, knowledge economy and making Oakland County a magnet for Chinese Investment in the future.
It’s A Small World After All
Nearly 20 years later, aircraft wheels were up once again for my more-than-a baker’s dozen trip to the People’s Republic of China. This was my first trip there since completing the CBS-Detroit TV special “Building Bridges From the Great Lakes to the Great Wall,” (www.wwjtv.com - click on Building Bridges) a groundbreaking three-part series that examines how our economic future could be tied to China. You can also read my blog from China during this recent trip on the same Web site.
Today, since the opening of China to the world by Deng Xiaoping, the leader who followed Mao Zedong, China is a rising economic superpower. Their economy has grown by double digits for the past twenty years. I often feel like a kid in a candy shop each time I return. There is so much to absorb as you enter the ancient Chinese culture.
Tibetan Pilgrimage
This trip was extra special because it included an excursion that dissected China, taking the 2006 inaugural Beijing-to-Lhasa, Tibet train. This 48-hour trek became an endurance test, as I did not want to blink, let alone sleep, for fear of missing a new experience. From our picture window in the train we could see the lives of ordinary Tibetans flash by.
We saw the winter-brown Plateau dotted with countless black yaks as the train lumbered down the track. As morning broke after the overnight slumbering, I immediately noticed that the charcoal polluted sky of Beijing had given way to one of royal blue. The mountains were soaring and soaking in the sunshine.
The train was full of Tibetan college students returning home for the Chinese New years as well as Monks and ordinary Tibetan and Chinese families.
After 48 hours of chugging along we entered Lhasa, capitol of Tibet Autonomous Region. It is a Buddhist kingdom on the rooftop of the world at 12,000 feet above sea level. I felt as if I had completed the lesson my fourth grade teacher gave me many years ago as I entered Lhasa on this knowledge-seeking pilgrimage that had begun so many years earlier.
For Tibetans, pilgrimage refers to the journey from ignorance to enlightenment, from self-centeredness and materialistic focus to a deep sense of the interconnectedness of all life. The Tibetan word for pilgrimage, neykhor, means “to circle around a sacred place.” I circled around the Potala, or Palace, whose construction began in 1645. It was home to the successive Dalai Lamas until 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled to India.
Many Tibetans spun the prayer wheels that circle the Potala, reciting the mantra on the prayer wheels: “Om Mani Padme Hum.” Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra (prayer) “Om” invokes the powerful, benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. It is said that all the teachings of the Buddha are contained in this mantra.
As I climbed the steps of the Potala, I recited “Om Mani Padme Hum” in thanks to a great teacher who opened my eyes and mind to continue to harvest the knowledge of the world.
In the 21st century, knowledge is power. There is so much to learn.
Tom Watkins is an education and business consultant in the US and China. He served as Michigan’s State Superintendent of Schools from 2001-2005 and President and CEO of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, Florida. He can be reached at: tdwatkins@aol.com |
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