Fire Under the Snow

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Account of the Brutality to Tibet
Review: After reading 'From Emperor to Citizen,' the autobiography of the last Emperor of China; I found it interesting how the former Emperor and his family were 'converted' over by the Chinese Communists. I was amazed at how the imperial family went from being insensitive to the people's sufferings, and became model citizens.

But reading 'Fire Under the Snow' gave me another side of the story. Chinese Communism doesn't seem to work in Tibet. And after 50 years, the struggle continues. The people of Tibet were close-knit, and didn't have the strict caste system of classes so evident in Chinese feudal society. This book details how the Chinese have systematically tried to destroy Tibetan culture and society to force-fit it into a Chinese model.

This is a well told story by a survivor of this externally imposed 'revolution.' The author is intelligent and observant, and tells a well-balanced tale. The humorous reactions of the Tibetans to the Chinese rhetoric are sharply contrasted by the angry frustration and eventual cruelty of the Chinese in trying to force Chinese ideas on a non-Chinese culture and people.

The China's current mantra of "Western human rights policies won't work in China" needs to be turned into a new mantra of "Chinese Communist 'Liberation Methods' haven't worked in Tibet." If China wants the international world to stop meddling in it's so-called 'Internal Affairs,' maybe it needs to realize that it has failed in Tibet by virtue of meddling in the internal affairs of a non-Chinese nation -- that is, the free and independent nation of Tibet. This is far from an internal affair -- it is international genocide.

China's hegemony into surrounding countries, and it's destruction of non-Chinese cultures in these areas is little-known in the west. This book demonstrates the fact that Tibet was a free and independant nation with it's own unique culture and language. And it clearly shows the imperialist efforts of the Chinese to force their culture and beliefs on an innocent people, no matter the cost in lives.

It would seem that all of the 'imperialist running dogs' in Tibet these days are Chinese Communists.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Stated Story
Review: I found the book very easy to read. It took the reader on a journey through the life of a monk in Tibet. His story is told simply and honestly, without the need to dress up the facts. Whilst the events that unfold in the book are horrifing and hard to comphrehend in todays Western Society, the book is still a good read. The story depicts human endurance and how the spirit of life can overcome the most horrible of obstacles. Read it and make up your own mind.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Story
Review: This book is a story about endurance and perseverance, Pladen Gyatso wrote about his 32 years in Chinese prisions, what is also interesting about this book is to try and understand why and how the chinese communist government gradually invaded Tibet until the unleashed a wave of represion and murder. If we go into the mind of the gatekeeper we will find fanatism and brainwashing as a means to control the citizens.
This is a good book, maybe not excelent but still worth your money, I especially liked that the author went into life in Tibet before the chinese invation, his family and society in general, also the meaning of the Dalai Lama to them.