Learning Journal 4:

The Dialogue

Part 1: Summary of the film

The dialogue (2014) is a documentary that is filmed in 2014. This documentary is filmed in

The Second Tibet Film Festival (2014). The aim of organizing this festival is to show the

situation of Tibetans. The issue of human right of the Tibetans was disclosed by several media,

lawyers etc. Throughout the festival, directors and producers would expect audience to

understand and feel what the Tibetans is facing.

The dialogue was directed by Chinese director Wangwo. This film focused a lot on the

communication (dialogue) between Tibetans, Uighurs and Han people. In the first half of the

movie, a dialogue through Skype between Dalai Lama, Dalai Lama/s Chinese-language chief

secretary Tsegyam, who represent Tibetan, and intellectual Wang Lixiong, two Chinese right

lawyer Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong, who represent Han people, was shown. Intellectuals

and right lawyers were asking questions to Dalai Lama concerning situation of Tibetans and

attitude of the Central government. They also showed their willingness to enhance

communication between Tibetan and Han through Internet. The online chat took place in

2011. In the second half of the movie, it is an interview to Scholar Wang Lixiong. The

interview took place after the dialogue. He claimed that the communication between Hans and

Tibetans, or Uighurs became more and more difficult. It is because the central government do

not want the dialogue happened. In order to stop the communication, central government start

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arresting Tibetans and Uighurs who did a lot in promoting Tibet or Uyghur independent. Also,

right lawyers and intellectuals were closely monitored, or even arrested by the central

government. The film ends with a case of arrest of Uighur intellectuals Ilham Tohti in 2014.

Ilham Tohti is a scholar who tried to advocate ethnical understanding between Uighurs and

Hans.

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Part 2: Analysis

In this section, analysis on political freedom of ethnic minority, like Tibetans and Uighurs,

would be made. The situation of those ethnic minority would be discussed first. Reason for

those ethnic minorities enjoying little political freedom would also be discussed.

In China, it is not difficult to see that the central government would like to separate the ethnic

minorities (Tibetans, Uighurs etc.) and Han people. In the movie, Wang Lixiong also

mentioned that the central government do not want Han people to get in touch, or communicate

with other ethnic minorities. On the other hand, in the documentary we can also see that some

of the ethnic minorities, who attempt to fight for a higher level of freedom, and some Han

people who try to those ethnic minorities to fight for freedom, are being closely monitored by

the central government. Some of them may be arrested by the government, while their

relatives are also be chased by the government. Therefore, it is not difficult to observe that

ethnic minorities in China are having less political freedom. Take Tibetans as an example, in

1951, representatives of Tibetan went to Beijing and was requested to sign a agreement. The

representatives signed without discussion with the Tibet government. The agreement

mentioned that Central government would implement a “One Country, Two Systems” in Tibet.

Tibet people would enjoy a series of freedom while the central government would be in charge

for the military and diplomatic issues. However, soon the Tibetans observed that they are

closely monitored by the government and the government would like to assimilate Tibetans

and Hans. The language and the religion freedom was controlled by the government. When

the Tibetans want to fight for their freedom, the central government would stop them

immediately and imprisoned or even kill those rebels. Therefore, we could see that ethnic

minorities are not enjoying high degree of political freedom.

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The main reason why the ethnic minorities enjoy little freedom is that the central government

is afraid that giving too much freedom to ethnic minorities may threat the governance of the

central government. Ethnic minorities are having different culture, different religion and

different language with ordinary Han people. Therefore, the living style or the attitude toward

different things may be different. On the good side, it is a great opportunity for us to exchange

our ideas and culture. However, it may also bring conflicts between ethnic minorities and han

people. On the other hand, the ethnic minorities may want to join the central government and

have right to comments on several politic issues. The central government do not want this

happen. Therefore, starting from 1950s, the central government limit the freedom of ethnic

minorities. The connection between ethnic minorities and Han people was not encouraged, or

even banned. When the Tibetans start to fight for freedom, central government used the

military force to stop the Tibetans. On the other hand, the central government start assimilate

the ethnic minorities. The language was replaced by Putonghua, which was taught in schools.

Also, the religious was being limited in China. Through assimilate the ethnic minorities and

Han people, it could reduce the possibility of ethnic minorities fight for freedom because their

sense of belonging to their ethnic group would be lower. It would be harder for the ethnic

group to group together and fight for freedom in the future.

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Part 3: Reflection essay

In this section, I would like to make a discussion on the social sustainability issue that are

relative to the documentary. I think there are two social sustainability issues that worth

discussing. The one is the political freedom issue, which had been discussed in the above

section. The other sustainability issue that is related to the documentary is the issue of public

engagement. I would focus on how the two issues related to social sustainability in this

section.

Letting the ethnic group enjoy less political freedom than Han people may lead to a thread on

social harmony. As discussed above, the government do not want Tibetans and Uighurs to

enjoy great degree of political freedom. However, some of the people may be dissatisfied for

the discrimination. Therefore, more people would fight for freedom. Some people may also

call for independent in order to get back the control of the region. Although the military force

of China is still sufficient to solve the problem, it may bring instable environment to the whole

society and lead to social disharmony. On the other hand, armed suppression by the central

government would probably lead to a dissatisfaction from other countries. China may face the

pressure from some human rights organization. Therefore, it may lead to a negative effect to

the social sustainability.

The other issue that related to social sustainability is the public engagement. Public

engagement mean the engagement of people (here implies ethnic minorities: Tibetans/ Uighurs

etc.) to the whole society. As shown in the documentary, the engagement of Tibetans and

Uighurs to the society is lower. The ethnic minorities are likely to live in their own group.

The connection between different ethnic group are not common, and also not encouraged.

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Poor engagement to the society may lead to a conflict among different ethnic groups. As

mentioned above, different ethnic group would probably have different culture, different

language and even different values. Therefore, when different groups of people are living in a

close area, they may have argue on different affairs. Also, some of the ethnic group may have

a feeling that they are the superior/ inferior group. In long term, the small conflicts of different

groups would lead to a larger conflict. The society would become instable. Therefore, the

social sustainability would be harmed.

In the movie, different experts have mentioned that dialogue is a very useful way to make

different ethnic groups with different interests closer. Also, through having dialogue, people

can understand each other more. Therefore, although it might harm the governance of the

central government, it seems that dialogue of different class of people is the most efficient way

to improve social sustainability.