This Won't Go Over Well

I couldn’t help but notice a new story with the headline “Giant Mao statue erected in Tibet.” –BBC

Wow, what a slap in the face of the Tibetan people. It’s like putting up a Napoleon statue in Russia, a George Bush statue anywhere, a Bismarck statue in France, a Stalin statue in the Ukraine, a Mussolini statue in Ethiopia, etc.

"Many Tibetan people suggested we should have a statue of Chairman Mao to show our gratitude," a local Communist Party official told Xinhua (the Chinese News Agency).

Why am I having a hard time believing that? Perhaps the Chinese people that were moved there think this, but indigenous Tibetans?

I remember seeing posters in Mcleod-Ganj asking people to boycott the Olympics in Beijing because the precious metals used for the medals were “illegally” mined in Tibet. Not to mention all the other visible anti-China paraphernalia.

This statue is 7m tall and sits on a 5m earthquake-proof (or angry mob-proof) pedestal. It will stand in Gonggar (south of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa), in the centre of a 40,000 sq. metre town square.