The College Perspective by Lindsey

In recent news, the Tibetan community of Larung Gar, China is being taken down by government officials. The community has been around since 1980 as a center of worship and home to many Tibetan Buddhist monks. Hundreds to thousands of people have already been forced out of the area and must promise never to return, as crews are demolishing the houses without allowing individuals to take their belongings out first.

The Chinese government currently does not want Buddhism to exist in their country and does not allow pictures of the Dalai Lama across the country. The government’s reasoning behind destruction of the property was that it was overcrowded and needed to be demolished to protect people from the dangers of open sewage and trash pits.

However, activist groups believe the government could help create newer, cleaner spaces rather than evict people and that the government only wants to demolish the area so that they maintain control over the people. Many believe that this action will be a major blow to the Buddhist community, their culture, and way of life.

I believe that this story is newsworthy, since as Americans we live in a place with a relatively large amount of religious freedom and don’t always think about other parts of the world. Americans should be paying attention, especially with the current political climate and how this peaceful religion’s rights are being taken away, similar to what could happen here with current fears.

The audience for this piece seems to be Americans, since it was written by an American source, and is especially geared towards adults who may remember when China took over Tibet and pushed many Buddhists out.

The lead seems to be focused in a narrative way, focusing on how jarring the chainsaw is against the low-key chants of the monks. It sets a scene about the direction the story will take, which is more pointed towards the side of the monks.

The article provides information from both sides but offers counter arguments to all of the government’s statements, focusing on how the Buddhists are being victimized. They did a good job with visualization of the scenes, but more information from the government or a government official, if possible, would have been nice to round out the article.

The link to the original article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/world/asia/china-takes-a-chain-saw-to-a-center-of-tibetan-buddhism.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0