quoted from people's daily online at 16:08, May 08, 2008

 

Tibet-The truth was presented by the creator of Mysterious China Series, which is a collection of award-winning featuring documentaries which showcase the epic cultural heritage of China. Given the recent events, he believes it's important to clarify the political history of Tibet.

 

video on http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6407033.html

 

quoted from AFP 02/05/2008 09h58

HONG KONG (AFP) - The Olympic torch relay in Hong Kong ended Friday after a trouble-free run through the streets of the city on its return to Chinese soil.

The final runner used the flame to light a cauldron on a square overlooking the famed Victoria Harbour after a journey of nearly eight hours.

Tens of thousands of people turned out to cheer the Beijing Olympic torch, with police briefly detaining a handful of people amid scattered, small-scale protests.

After weeks of demonstrations that turned the torch relay into a public relations nightmare for Beijing following its crackdown in Tibet, the flame was greeted here with pomp and celebration -- and only a minimum of agitation.

Police detained a handful of people amid scuffles and scattered protests, but said they were later released. There were no serious incidents, and even the early morning rain held off for the rest of the day.

Windsurfer Lee Lai-shan, Hong Kong's only Olympic gold medallist, began the relay, carrying the flame on the homestretch to mainland China, which is hosting the Olympics for the first time from August 8-24.

Friday's eight-hour tour through Hong Kong -- which has a degree of political freedom absent in the mainland -- was seen as the last chance for major demonstrations.

In one of the few tense moments, about 100 democracy campaigners, who want the full suffrage promised to Hong Kong when Britain handed it back to China in 1997, were confronted by pro-China supporters in the street.

The pro-China crowd yelled "Go home! Get out!" as dozens of police formed a cordon between the two groups.

While Tibet has been the focus of many of the demonstrations, critics have also used the relay to take aim at China on a range of issues -- even as Beijing has repeatedly insisted the Games should not be "politicised."

US actress-turned-activist Mia Farrow, also in Hong Kong on Friday, used the occasion to press China over its close links with Sudan, whose government has been blamed for failing to stop the bloodshed in its Darfur region.

"It isn't a pretty way to say this, but China is underwriting the atrocities in Darfur," said Farrow, who also lashed out at most of the corporate sponsors of the 2008 Games.

"History will note their silence," she said. "I'm disgusted."

Hong Kong was taken back into China under a policy known as "One Country, Two Systems" which allows unfettered capitalism here as well as rights of protest and expression not granted on the mainland.

Hong Kong's leader Donald Tsang, criticised by many here for not pushing Beijing hard enough on democracy, hinted at the difference in his speech at the torch-lighting ceremony.

"We are a world in a city, where different people with different beliefs and different views have thrived in the spirit of diversity, tolerance and respect," Tsang said.

Many of the people crowding the streets to get a glimpse of the torch were from mainland China, where a backlash has been building over the international criticism of Beijing.

"The torch relay day is a day of joy, so I don't think it's a good idea to protest today," said Vivien Lai, a Hong Kong nurse who came with her family and boyfriend to cheer on the torch.

Accompanied by a fireboat shooting jets of water into the sky, the flame was later taken across the city's famed Victoria Harbour on a ferry, carried by Yip Wing-Sie, a local musician and conductor.

"I am really proud to be Chinese and delighted to welcome the Olympic torch to Hong Kong ahead of the Olympics," she told AFP.

The demonstrations that have dogged the relay were sparked by a crackdown in Tibet that began on March 14, after protests against China's rule of the Himalayan region erupted into violence.

Tibet's government-in-exile says more than 200 people were killed in the Chinese response, which included sealing off the region to foreign reporters and tourists, making accounts of bloodshed impossible to verify.

China said 20 people had been killed by Tibetan "rioters" until Monday, when state media for the first time said police shot dead a Tibetan pro-independence "insurgent."