Reflections on CCTV Everest Adventure Report

In order to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first time that mankind successfully climbed the highest peak in the world, the domestic news media made a lot of reports, but also some amazing actions. Among the most eye-catching are the live coverage of CCTV's climbing of Mount Everest against Chinese professional and amateur mountaineering teams.

However, these commemorative activities with a large fanfare seem to have less "Chinese characteristics." That is, most of the commemorative activities and articles are almost indistinguishable from those of Western countries, but they have intentionally or unintentionally ignored the other side of Everest expedition history.

As a country that has sovereignty over the world’s highest peak, China is also a developing country that has been bullied by the imperialists in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It commemorates the 50th anniversary of the successful summit of the Everest expedition organized by the United Kingdom. Should it be the same with the Western mainstream media? This article plans to make a general overview of some historical facts that have been overlooked by Chinese and foreign media in commemoration of this incident. This will be a reflection of the media peers and Chinese who are keen on exploring the Everest expedition.

The earliest organization of Everest expedition activities was British. According to the late “The Discovery and Name of Everest” published by Lin Chao, Peking University’s geography professor in 1958, the first expedition organized by the Royal Geographic Society and the Alps Club was in 1921. From 1921 to 1953, a total of 13 expeditions to Everest were organized, of which 9 were hosted by the British, 1 was an Anglo-American cooperation, and 3 were a Swiss organization. Among them, seven times from 1921 to 1938 were independent organizations in the United Kingdom. In the 1950s, the eighth time was the cooperation between Britain and the United States. In other words, the earliest adventures for Everest were monopolized by the British. These are well-known.

However, we do not know why our media evaded such historical facts in commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first successful climb of Mount Everest. It was the first time to actively launch the first Everest expedition in 1921 when it was the Royal Geographical Society of Britain. President Francis Younghusband.

Rong Hep Peng Who also? He was the commander of the British Expeditionary Force who invaded Lhasa in 1904. He was an aggressor with his hands full of blood from the Tibetan people. He ordered the use of guns to slaughter the actions of Tibetan soldiers with only archers and spears. Even some Britons at that time were cold.

Rong Hepeng, known for his adventurers, was born in India in 1863. At that time, India was a British colony. He was indeed adventurous. He crossed the Gobi and boarded Karakorum in extremely difficult circumstances. However, as prominent as his adventurous spirit is his belief in colonialism and imperialism. So Rong Hepeng's adventure is not simple. The British book critic Gordon Kay commented on Patrick R. Frinch's "Ren Hepeng: The Last Empire Adventurer" (1995), said that Jung Hepeng's adventure appeared in the 19th century between Russia and the British Empire. "In the match," a moment of confrontation arises over who controls Tibet and its surrounding areas. The so-called "big game" is to collect information from Afghanistan to Xinjiang, Tibet and other large unknown territories and implement influence and control over these areas. Rong Hepeng was loyal to the British Queen and the British Empire. "There is no selfishness." "He spent most of his life as an imperialist." "He is convinced that Russia wants India, so it is bound to fight for Tibet." So Rong Hepeng tried to use Tibet and actively supported Tibet's local regime to separate from China's territory. The initiator of Tibetan independence.

Another historical fact that our media ignores is the purpose of the imperialists such as Rong Hepeng to organize the exploration of Mount Everest. Rong Hepeng himself made it very clear in his "The Epic of Mount Everest" (The Epic of Mount Everest) that there is only one purpose of climbing Everest, which is "conquering." He said, "When we see a mountain, we will sooner or later be driven by its desire to reach its peak. We cannot let it stand there forever and not climb it. There is hope that it will become an imperative." The reason for this, but more importantly because the mountain has challenged us, we must show through it and its contest that we can reach the top of the mountain.... We want to show our valiant force.”

Rong Hepeng admits that when he first saw Everest, he could not think of going up to "that peak." Because the peak is in the sky, people cannot reach it. For centuries, the Indians have looked up at the peaks of the Himalayas. They have not even thought of climbing the shorter peaks, let alone Mount Everest. However, the British from the northern island states turned to higher peaks after conquering the Alps in the 18th century. In the 19th century, after they conquered the Caucasus and the Andes, they took up the idea of ​​the Himalayas. Rong Hepeng said that to climb Mount Everest is to show that "people, as the embodiment of spiritual power, means that they are superior to the most powerful material forces." Although the mountain is taller than the people, "the will of man will show that his spirit is greater, and if a man does not step on the foot of the mountain and call the mountain to surrender, he will not be satisfied." This is the "core secret" of the idea of ​​climbing Everest. He also said that the reason why the Royal Geographical Society was interested in climbing Mount Everest was because it did not want to admit that any place on the surface of the Earth was not up to the people.

Rong Hepeng's spirit is indeed extraordinary. However, let us not forget that the people he is talking about here should not be those who, for generations, looked up at Everest but “dare to” climb it. The people he cares about are people of the British Empire. His commentary on the purpose of climbing Mount Everest expresses the desire of the imperialists and colonialists to conquer desire.

Another fact that most of our media ignore is the dispute over the name of Mount Everest. From the era of Rong Hepeng to today, in more than 100 years, Westerners have ignored the Tibetan people for centuries and have named the highest peak of the Himalayas as Everest Madonar. However, from 1830 to 1843, they served as Director of the Indian Survey. The name of the British colonialist George Everest was imposed on this holy mountain. According to the Geologist, a Tibetan scholar of our country, this is a great disrespect for the Tibetan cultural history and the Tibetan people, and it does not conform to the international practice that the geographical names should use the famous local predecessors.

According to Professor Lin Chao’s research, the map bearing the name of Everest was included in the Emperor’s “Emperor's Map” as early as 1719, when the name of the peak was marked with Manchu. This is the earliest official document on the highest peak of the earth. Later, Lei Xiaosi, a French missionary who participated in the map revision work, sent the “Landscape of the Emperor’s Map” to France. In 1994, the French royal cartographer Tang Weiwei compiled the “New China Map” based on the map. This French version of the Chinese Atlas includes two Tibetan maps, both of which are marked with the name of Mt. Everest (M. Tchoumour Lancma) in French. Kangxi's version of the "Emperor's Map" was copied and spread in China during the Daoguang and Tongzhi years. Although the Chinese name of Everest in the map at that time was different from that of modern Chinese, the pronunciation was exactly the same, and the transliteration was very consistent with the syllables and pronunciation of the Tibetan language. In 1836, the German geographer Klapuzhin published a map of Central Asia based on the Chinese map and literature, which marked the name of the Everest in the German language (Disomo langma). The measurement and recording of Mount Everest during the Kangxi period was more than 130 years earlier than the British colonists plotted the peak. Even after the Indian Bureau of Surveying and Mapping found that Everest is the highest in the world, this finding has nothing to do with Everest.

If the British colonists named the Everest as Everest in the middle of the 19th century out of ignorance, then more than half a century later, when they discovered that the peak already had their own Tibetan name, they deliberately insisted on mistakes. In 1920, Bruce Brigadier, who once served in India, said for the first time before going to the Everest Expedition in Britain: “I hope that even if this expedition team in preparation to find its real name, see its name clearly We wrote on the mountain in Chu, and we don't care about it. I know that you definitely agree that no name is more wonderful and more suitable than Everest."

Zheng Dudun, a scholar who studies Tibetan religions at the Tibetology Research Center, said that the British colonists used the name of their westerners to name the Mount Everest, in effect disregarding facts. Even if the British first measured the height of Mount Qomolangma with modern instruments and declared it the highest peak in the world, they did not have the right to occupy themselves as the discoverer of Everest and named it after a colonialist.

In commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first time that humans climbed Everest, no mainstream Western media has noticed and corrected this colonialist mistake. They do not have the least respect for the Tibetan people. What exactly did they commemorate?

In the end, we ignored the opinions of the local Tibetan people on climbing Everest. The Tibetan people have the tradition of turning to the holy lake of the gods, but there is little thought of tramping the mountains under their feet. This natural attitude was cherished by Rong Hepeng. However, today it seems that living in harmony with nature is much more than conquering natural civilization. At that time, the Tibetan people did not welcome the British to harass their Madonna. The road leading to Mount Everest was Rong Hepeng’s use of force to open it.

When the economically backward Tibet was unable to stop the ambitious British, local indigenous people were forced into the Everest expedition. However, in the British monopoly adventure, their status was only the coolie and porter. Although they once again put heavy materials back to an altitude of 8,000 meters above sea level, they did not even have the status of “climbers”. Hillary Nogai, the famous Sherpa who joined the New Zealander Hillary on May 29, 1953, participated in several Everest expeditions until 1952, when he climbed the beads organized by the Swiss. The first time the peak activity was recognized as a "climber."

Unlike westerners who were bent on trampling Everest under their feet, Tenzinguogae recalled his famous climb, saying that every time (with ice axes) he chiseled ice rock (as a foothold for climbing upwards), “I Have to ask for the forgiveness of the Virgin." He is afraid that his knocking will hurt Mount Everest. This feeling, can't we give us some enlightenment?

Zhu Yinliang, director of the Everest National Nature Reserve Administration, has great opinions on the current “conquest” of the Mount Everest. In particular, he was disgusted with the assertion of a TV hostess that the lady actually said, "Humans must be able to defeat SARS as conquest of Everest!" The Secretary said, how can we compare the holy Mount Everest with SARS that threatens human health? He believes that the concept of "conquering" is already outdated when it advocates sustainable development. In memory of Mount Everest, why can't we come up with some new ideas? Why can't we put forward some ideas for treating Zhufeng and Zhufeng as friends, but must we "conquer" it?

The jurisdiction of the Everest Reserve Management Authority is over 30,000 square kilometers, which is equivalent to 31 Hong Kong. They launch mountaineering rubbish that the local people clean up from Everest every year. They can ship five or six large trucks. The incineration plant that handles these garbage has not been launched because of lack of funds. In spite of this, Director-General Zhai did not completely exclude the climb of Mount Everest. Instead, he hoped that this kind of activity should establish new ideas instead of following the imperialists and colonialists such as Rong Hepeng.

Xiong Lei
May 7, 2003