China champions democratic, market reforms in Tibet

Ngawang Chodak, a 27-year-old lama, considers introducing Tibetan culture and religion to international tourists one of his most important missions

In this story: Cuba takes U.S. to court Diamond diggers finding slim pickings Kosovo starts to rebuild in the aftermath of war Art, sunken treasure and merriment around the world Taipei celebrates Hakka culture RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Scott Herron
CNN World Report

China regularly bristles at any hint of international criticism of what it considers purely domestic matters, whether it's eyebrows raised over its handling of human rights, fingers wagged over its waffling on market and trade reform, or doubts cast over its insistence that Chinese borders encompass all of Taiwan and Tibet.

It takes special umbrage at the calibrated chorus of U.S. politicians, artists and actors who've made "Free Tibet" their cause celebre.

The way the Chinese communists see it, they did that 40 years ago.

China seized full control of the Himalayan region after an abortive anti-Communist uprising in March 1959, and the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to India, where he set up a government-in-exile.

He's still there when not out and about in the world garnering support for his possible return home. His serene presence, indomitable good will and international standing as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate make him pretty much a pop-culture icon in the eyes of the West.

In Beijing, however, he's viewed more of an iconoclast, reviled as a "splittist" and the leader of a "feudal serf-owning clique."

Ge Sang, now 73, recalls her life as a serf and how she and her sister were sold to landowners to offset a family debt

The official Chinese take on Tibet was emphasized in a recent series of dispatches by China Central Television that aired on CNN World Report. In them, reporter Han Bin casts a critical eye on the region's feudal past before the takeover and highlighted the economic and social gains since then.

All this comes at a time when China is pouring money into Tibet, and is seeking World Bank support to relocate tens of thousands of poor Chinese farmers to more fertile land that Tibetans consider part of their original homeland. It's also the birthplace of the Dalai Lama.

The free Tibet crowd understandably is against it and on occasions such as these Chinese officials like to point out how much they've done for Tibet.

Han told viewers: "In old Tibet, the lamas had held both religious and political authority. The reform placed power in the hands of elected local Tibetan officials.

"In about two years' time, the government freed all of the serfs. They also redistributed farmland, households and livestock, all of which was previously the property of the serf owners."

Han interviewed on camera former serfs who offered testimony of improved life under the communists, and the miserable existence suffered under the lamas.

A former serf who's now deputy chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government recalled a life of degradation when, as Han commented, "gouging out eyes and cutting off hands or legs were common punishments."

Ge Sang, a 73-year-old woman who now lives with her children in rural Lhasa, Tibet's capital, said: "I had to make a living by begging. My sister and I were sold to serf owners to offset our family's debt. Other families in my county have had similar experiences."

Han told viewers: "To Ge Sang and millions of liberated serfs, democratic reform has not only provided them with adequate food and farmland, but also the simple dignity of being a human being."

Cuba takes U.S. to court

In Cuba, the official Cubavision reported alleged U.S. misdeeds against the Cuban people. Cuban broadcasters outlined the accusations in a story about a multibillion dollar lawsuit now being heard in Havana.

Cuba is suing the United States for alleged dirty tricks dating back nearly four decades that prosecutors say are responsible for the deaths of nearly 3,500 Cubans.

The case has obvious political overtones. It's being heard at the Palace of the Revolution, the seat of Cuba's communist government.

Diamond diggers finding slim pickings

A group of small time prospectors in the diamond fields of South Africa's Northern Cape region face long days of backbreaking toil with little to show for it.

Small-time prospectors labor to forge a meager existence in the diamond fields of South Africa's Northern Cape region

South Africa's SABC portrayed some of them on a recent segment of World Report. Their prospects seem bleak indeed. They work the hardscrabble ground with picks and shovels and bare hands. If they're lucky, they find a solitary stone in a week, even a month. They seldom do.

"For moneyed entrepreneurs, the outlook is very different," reporter Kim Cloete told viewers. "With their bulldozers, trucks and specialized machinery, they're able to find up to five diamonds a day."

That's a fate seldom enjoyed by the small-time diamond digger. And if he doesn't get lucky, he has to get out. His only chance at survival, as Cloete puts it, may be to "join the throngs of people looking for jobs in the city."

Kosovo starts to rebuild in the aftermath of war

In Kosovo, the task at hand is formidable. It's not just a matter of reconstruction, of sweeping up the mess left by the Serb-ethnic Albanian conflict and NATO's airstrike.

The streets of Pristina are again bustling with life, but tensions are still high in Kosovo's capital

"Municipal services are almost non-existent," Canadian broadcaster Celine Galipeau told viewers of CNN World Report.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has teams of journalists in Kosovo. Galipeau filed her report from the capital, Pristina.

"At Pristina's police station, there are long lineups with Albanians demanding justice," she said. "When they returned to their homes from refugee camps, they found only rubble. Inside, NATO soldiers double as police investigators, taking in hundreds of complaints every day."

One ethnic Albanian resident told her: "We were all in the village when the Serbs moved in. They stole my tractor, my furniture. They set our houses on fire. I hope I'll get something back."

But even with lives disrupted, buildings demolished, and the urbane psychology of a European city destroyed for generations, the CBC report showed some semblance of civilized life returning to Pristina. Markets are again doing a brisk business. Sidewalk cafes are again providing respite from stress and tedium. Life goes on, as always.

Art, sunken treasure and merriment around the world

The lifeblood of any town, city or country is reflected in the art that it makes, the artifacts it leaves behind.

Magnificent relics from ancient Egypt are now on display at the Shanghai Museum. Shanghai Television reviewed the show for CNN World Report, providing insight to both ancient Egyptians and modern Chinese.

The 100-odd pieces arrived at least once removed, on loan from the 85,000 Egyptian cultural relics that represent the vast collection at the British Museum.

A Shanghai Museum official told reporter Yang Yuling: "It is one of the most magnificent exhibitions we've ever held since the opening of our museum. Many of the exhibits will no longer be displayed after being shown here."

With much art, national boundaries can blur and discoveries of notable significance can be found in unexpected places. While Chinese broadcasters told of North African treasures that passed through the hands of Europeans, Egyptian TV told of European artifacts, submerged in Mediterranean waters near Alexandria. It's the sunken treasure of a centuries old Napoleonic fleet, and as reporter Mohamed El-Hussini told viewers, some of it will be placed in an underwater museum.

A frightful face doesn't scare off townspeople and tourists who gather in St. Ursanne, Switzerland, for a medieval festival

The Swiss town of St. Ursanne earlier this summer turned itself into a museum piece by holding a biennial festival. The ancient town, tucked away in the Jura Mountains, celebrated its history by recreating its medieval past, a time of merry troubadours, damsels in distress and dancing bears.

A Swiss TV-SRI report included all the main characters.

As reporter Mike McMahon told viewers, the festival represents, a "turning back the clock at St. Ursanne in Switzerland to when it was founded in the colorful, turbulent, chivalrous and sometimes terrible Middle Ages."

Taipei celebrates Hakka culture

Taiwan's capital, Taipei, didn't have to go back hundreds of years to celebrate its past. Some of it is still here in the present, and city officials want to ensure that it is part of the future. That's why they are trying to help preserve the Hakka culture. Taiwan's Formosa TV gave CNN World Report viewers a front row seat at a festival celebrating the ethnic group's distinctive, ethnic traditions.

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Formosa TV's Esther Su and Cary Chuo tell the whole story
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