The "Tibet Issue" Between East and West

English translation © 2011 M.E. Sharpe, Inc, from the Chinese original: Wang Hui, “Dong xi fang zhi jian de ‘xizang wenti’—dongfang zhuyi, minzu quyu zizhi yu zunyan zhengzhi,” Tianya (Frontiers), no. 4 (2008): 173–92, abridged. Translated by Ted Wang. Wang Hui is a professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Tsinghua University. His research focuses on contemporary Chinese literature and intellectual history. This paper emerged from an interview by Zhang Xiang, the 21st Century Economic Reports reporter, with the author on April 19, 2008, and after more than a month of repeated revisions and recompilation, became an independent thesis that was published in the Tianya (Frontiers) magazine, under the title “Orientalism, Ethnic Regional Autonomy and the Politics of Dignity.” Feedback was received from many readers and friends following its publication, and after more than a year of research and reflection, extensive additions and revisions were made to the text in June and July, 2009. Chinese Sociology and Anthropology, vol. 42, no. 4, Summer 2010, pp. 7–30. © 2011 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 0009–4625/2011 $9.50 + 0.00. DOI 10.2753/CSA0009-4625420401