海角大神

David Eimer traveled to the far corners of China, as well as across the borders to neighboring countries, to report on the lives of China鈥檚 ethnic minorities 鈥� and their often tense relationship with the Beijing government.聽

About 92 percent of China鈥檚 1.3 billion people are Han Chinese, the group that most outsiders think of when they use the word 鈥淐hinese.鈥�

But that leaves about 100 million others who are members of 55 ethnic minority groups. Most live in border regions and 鈥渉ave much stronger ethnic and cultural ties with the peoples of the countries across the borders than they do with the Han,鈥� Eimer explains.

While some have assimilated, others 鈥渃hafe under Chinese control,鈥� Eimer writes, noting that the Tibetan Buddhists and the Uighur Muslims of Xinjiang 鈥渉ave fought the Han ever since they started pushing into their homelands.鈥�

The title of this book refers to the Chinese saying 鈥淭he mountains are high and the emperor is far away,鈥� meaning that it is difficult for a central government to exert influence on its distant regions.

But when it comes to groups that China sees as a threat 鈥� especially the Tibetans and Uighurs 鈥� Beijing takes a heavy-handed approach, no matter how far away those people are from the capital.

To write this book, the author undertook journeys that make Marco Polo seem like a homebody. Eimer traveled thousands of miles on rickety buses, in broken-down cars, on a cargo boat, and on crowded trains.聽

He used subterfuge to avoid a ban on journalists traveling freely in Tibet. He endured filthy rooms in isolated villages. He bundled up in the frozen frontier near Russia and North Korea and sweltered in the area adjoining Southeast Asia.聽

鈥淭o explore the border regions is to enter a very different China from the glittering mega-cities of Beijing and Shanghai, one that is often lawless and prone to violence,鈥� writes Eimer.

He concluded that China鈥檚 minorities are often marginalized or stereotyped. In Yunnan province, in the southwest, 鈥渁ttractive ethnic-minority women sashay across the stage in body-hugging dresses, performing fake versions of their traditional folk dances鈥� for tourists, Eimer writes.聽

While searching for minorities in China鈥檚 northernmost province, Heilongjiang, he experienced one of his many humorous encounters. Pushing open the door to what he thought was a crowded restaurant, he discovered 鈥淚 was at a wedding banquet, and I was now the involuntary guest of honour.鈥澛�

But many of his stories show a much darker side of the lives of China鈥檚 minorities. For example, he interviews a Burmese teenager who had been lured across the border at age 12 and sold as a 鈥渇uture bride鈥� to a Chinese family, where she was held captive for three years before being rescued.聽

During the turmoil of the Mao Zedong years, many of China鈥檚 minorities fled to neighboring countries, including North Korea. Today, Eimer discovered, border towns in China are much more prosperous than those on the North Korean and Russian sides of the border.

China鈥檚 minorities are exempt from the nation鈥檚 one-child policy and receive preferential treatment on the college entrance exam. Many Chinese of mixed ancestry therefore opt to classify themselves as minorities, Eimer points out.

On the world scene, Tibetans and Uighurs have the highest profile of China鈥檚 minorities. China contends it has helped to improve their living standards, while they feel the Chinese are suppressing their culture and religions.

"Just possessing a picture of the Dalai Lama can lead to arrest for any Tibetan,鈥� says Eimer, referring to the exiled spiritual leader who the Chinese government refers to as a 鈥渏ackal in Buddhist monk robes.鈥�

Eimer describes his journey across Tibet as an elusive search for 鈥渁 place that is neither the Shangri-La touted by na茂ve foreigners nor the backward region the Chinese stress it was until their arrival.鈥澛�

Eimer describes the endless cycle of violence over the decades 鈥� Chinese repression, Tibetan and Uighur uprisings, Chinese crackdowns 鈥� followed by protests and acts of terror by the minorities.聽

Eimer was the China Correspondent for the聽Sunday聽Telegraph from 2007 to 2012 and so American readers will have to translate the book鈥檚 many Britishisms, such as a 鈥渟ink council estate鈥� (government housing project)聽and convert metric measurements and centigrade temperatures.

Some readers might also question whether a journalist should have actually participated in a drug party in order to report on the lives of drug lords across the Chinese border in Burma or felt it necessary to mention that he slept with an 鈥渆nticing, cat-like鈥� Chinese woman in Xinjiang.

Despite this, the book offers insight into an important aspect of China that will likely remain in the news for some time to come.

Mike Revzin, a journalist who lived in China, helps Americans learn about China with his ChinaSeminars.com programs.