Wang Guangzhi / A tone of humanistic interpretation headline number
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Sri Lanka is a country that, in the eyes of most people, is a term as obscure as "Spartacus". If I hadn't told you that it was a country, the viewers might have swept it into the garbage heaps of the many "Si" characters they had seen.
Sri Lanka is an island nation located in the Indian Ocean of South Asia
Sri Lanka is a veritable small country, the kind of place that Westerners may not pay much attention to in their lifetime. So why do we have to come out with such a country curled up in the corner of the map, like a little sesame?
Children in Sri Lanka
Because this country, there are still some "doorways".
In fact, not only for the general public, but even for most friends who are familiar with geography and history, the hot island of Sri Lanka only means "high-quality black tea" and "a tourist destination like the Maldives". No way, who makes the cultural radiation of these small countries almost zero? It has gradually degenerated into one or two simple terms in the civilized population, or a food, or a thing.
Ceylon black tea, known as "the cleanest black tea in the world"
So what is the story of Sri Lanka?
<h1>Tracing back to the roots: the great tribe of the savages, the tea farms of the British</h1>
If you want to understand history, then you must look down at the earth.
Geography is a hotbed of history.
Topographic map of Sri Lanka
As we can see, Sri Lanka is a small island, and the overall appearance is like a big duck pear.
The area is about 65,000 square kilometers (65,610 square kilometers), which is almost 5,000 square kilometers smaller than the combined area of our two islands in Taiwan and Hainan. Climatically, the north is a savannah, the south is a tropical rainforest, which is not important, anyway, it is hot, the average annual average is 28 °. As for the population, it is more than 20.33 million, which is decent in the bustling South Asia, neither having to squeeze the train nor concealing the population data. (More than 90% of Sri Lanka's railways are built in China.)
Bangladesh squeezes trains
The topography of sri Lanka is very similar to the big bumpy India next to it, both on the north and coast are the Great Plains, and the south and center are towering plateaus.
Geographical relations between Sri Lanka and India (india has narrowed down)
Geopolitically, it is close to the Indian subcontinent, just a water's throw away, the Palk Strait. Therefore, both in terms of national political policies and cultural soft power, they have long been influenced by India, similar to China's cultural export relationship with Vietnam.
In a small country around a large regional power, this is the fate of the country.
Indian cinema
But don't look at this sri lankan small, this social problem is really not simple, it is a miniature version of India. India's long-simmering social problems are also "readily available" in Sri Lanka. Let this "duck pear" bear the unbearable weight of life.
Caste, religion, ethnicity, ideology, gender issues between men and women, etc. In this hot land, they all "thrive".
Let's look at the ethnic makeup of Sri Lanka – there are three main ethnic groups: Sinhalese, Tamil and Moors.
Sinhalese nobles of Sri Lanka
This Sinhalese is in the same lineage as the Vishnu, the indigenous people of India. In the 5th century BC, ethnic groups from mainland India migrated from mainland India to Sri Lanka and intermarried with the local indigenous peoples (who had disappeared from multi-ethnic mixed races). Sinhalese are the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, accounting for 70% of the total population.
After the rise of the Peacock Dynasty in India, Ashoka declared Sri Lanka a region of the Empire. After 247 BC, the Sinhalese renounced Brahmanism (the predecessor of Hinduism) and changed their surname to Theravada Buddhism, but at the same time, chose the "caste system" of Hinduism.
Map of the Peacock Dynasty (controversial)
With the gradual rise of Hinduism on the Indian continent, Buddhism declined, and the tooth of the Buddha also moved to Sri Lanka. The Tamil state of southern India has its eye on this "duck pear", and Hindu blood has mixed into sri Lanka's body. And because Sri Lanka is located in Southeast Asia, the junction of the Indian Ocean, Arab merchants who came and went in ancient times settled here, and over time there were Moors who believed in Islam.
Since then, Sri Lanka's three major races (Sinhalese, Tamils and Moors) and three major religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam) have officially taken shape.
Sri Lankan, mixed race
Don't look at this "duck pear" is not big, but the regime change here has not stopped, such a small island was not really unified until the British colonial era, which is the same as India, Sri Lanka did not have Qin Shi Huang. The regime here did not form a feudal society at all, but directly entered the modern colonial era after the arrival of the British.
According to legend, when Zheng He went to the Western Ocean, passing through Sri Lanka, there was a king of the Ceylon Mountain Kingdom who wanted to rob the Daming fleet, and was "bound by Zheng He to send the capital to ask for guilt", Ming Chengzu Zhu Di thought that the barbarians did not know the heavenly kingdom, so they let him go. There are many more stories in the folk tales of the Ming Dynasty.
Conceptual map of Zheng He's descent into the West
In 1815, after the British landed on the island of Sri Lanka and declared it a colony of the British Empire, sri Lanka, a island of slash-and-burn farming, wild people coming and going, and tribal scuffles, entered the era of civilization. Ridiculous.
When the British landed here, they said, "There are still more wild people in Australia here."
The British landed on the island of Sri Lanka
They should be "glad" that the first to reach Sri Lanka were the British, not the Dutch or the Portuguese. Although the imperialists have a bad deed, from the perspective of historical materialism, there are all merits and demerits. The British helped the Sri Lankans establish a unified regime, modernize, abolish slavery, modernize schools, implement a market and monetary system, ease servitude, suppress the princes, and build Sri Lanka's first railway. (The second article after that is what we have repaired in the new century.)
Of course, the countless Sri Lankans who fell at the gunpoint of the colonizers cannot be forgotten.
At that time, it was we who ruled the world tea trade, and at that time it was still the Qing Dynasty. The British found that Sri Lanka was not suitable for anything else, and the tea was good one by one, so they built the island into a tea planting base. The move is intended to reverse the deficit in china's tea trade
Sri Lanka tea base
The world-famous "Ceylon Black Tea" was born. Sri Lanka's economic and cultural level was once the highest in South Asia. To this day, Sri Lanka is also the only one in South Asia, one of the few "high human development index countries" in Asia.
<h1>Historical change: the political situation of the family, the back garden of India</h1>
On the socio-economic side, the British are a bit of a jerk. But on the political side, hey!
Zi Yue: Traditional arts.
The political wisdom of the British people is also used here, with the "nationalism" created by the French, making Sri Lanka the same as Rwanda, Uganda and other African countries, which are played with between the hands of the small countries.
As mentioned earlier, the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka is the Sinhalese, and the British prefer to choose Tamils as their puppet government. Is it déjà vu that the Belgians in Rwanda did the same?
Queen Elizabeth visits Sri Lanka
Anyway, there are too few Tamils. The British had a good plan, and actually moved hundreds of thousands of Tamils directly from India....
The Tamils of Sri Lanka are Hindu
Why do you have to do this? Because the British can mediate the contradictions between the minorities and the majority of the people through the distribution of power, so as to plunder everything they want without bloodshed. Yin!
At the same time, the British brought Christianity and suppressed Buddhism and Hinduism. "We want to make Sri Lanka a Christian castle," says the first Britons who arrived in Sri Lanka a hundred years ago. A hundred years later, 8% of Sri Lanka's population converted to Christianity, and the island is now divided into four major religions. Originally a small family, there are so many different family members, can it not be chaotic?
The first to awaken were the Sinhalese, who used the media, school education, books and newspapers, and everything at their disposal to hype national consciousness and propagate Buddhist teachings. (Sri Lankan Buddhism is primitive Buddhism, radical and belligerent, and relatively peaceful and docile after the localization of Chinese Buddhism)
In the Theravada Buddhism, which the Sinhalese believes, there is the so-called "theory of just war", which gives rise to the "Buddhist doctrine of superiority", and the smell of gunpowder is getting stronger and stronger.
However, before World War II, it was still peaceful, after all, the common enemy was the British.
After unremitting efforts, in 1948 the United Kingdom officially recognized Sri Lanka as the Independent Republic of Sri Lanka, a member of the British Commonwealth. The new government is a right-wing conservative government, the pro-Western one is almost on his knees, and the British think that their interests are still there.
The Queen of England visits Sri Lanka
Unfortunately, the incomplete social revolution has caused the broadest masses of the people at the bottom to complain and suffer unspeakable. In 1952, sinhalese formed the Liberal Party and came to power with the advantage of 74% of the country's population. This came to power, and the political situation of "passing the family" in Sri Lanka began.
One day, with power in hand, it will teach people to lose their minds.
After coming to power, the Sinhalese did not focus on economic construction and social transformation, but began to concentrate on the persecution of Tamils and Christians (??? The abolition of Tamil citizenship and even the imposition of apartheid, these newly freed people have become what they hated the most.
Where there is oppression, there will be resistance. With the intensification and fermentation of various social contradictions such as ethnic contradictions, religious contradictions, and caste contradictions. In 1983, the Tamils formed the LTTE and waged a civil war. Their ultimate goal was to establish an independent nation-state in the north.
LTTE, Tamil rebels
At this time, our third brother also learned the "old master" Britain and began to meddle in Sri Lanka's internal affairs, which was really scarred and forgot the pain. India, a so-called regional power that is inherently deficient, has also learned great power chauvinism. Give money, give guns, give guns, train people, spare no effort to support the tiger. And the Sinhalese are gone.
get! Find Pakistan to go.
Magical enough, Buddhists and Muslims joined hands against the Hindus.
In 1987, India tore its face and directly intervened in Sri Lankan politics. outcome..... Of course, the three brothers of the five scum of the war lost. Also lost a lot of "magic realism". India first sent 6,000 people to establish a separation line in an attempt to divide the north and the south. But the Tamils want to go south for reunification, and who can be willing to be at the mercy of India.
Yes, he fought twice, and India lost..... In 1990, India was completely overwhelmed and withdrew from Sri Lanka, but did not take away their "ambitions".
The civil war has left Sri Lankan society bleeding, political instability, and a back-and-forth between presidents and political parties.
In 2005, Rajapaksa was elected president, a man with foresight, not the kind that was lame by the West. As soon as he came to power, he decided to eliminate maladministration. The first step is to establish a strongman government and unify the country, from territory to society.
On the right is Rajapaksa
<h1>To this day: small countries left and right, dwarfs among strongmen</h1>
The biggest obstacle is, of course, the restless "tiger" to the north.
At that time, the Americans liked to fight the war on terrorism, and Lao La thought of using anti-terrorism to win the support of the international community. But more than that, Lao La understood that Sri Lanka's rotten sores were the result of the West's poison and could not trust the West.
So he found that country! - China.
In terms of cooperation between Sri Lanka and China, Sri Lanka can be said to have taken full advantage. We first helped them improve their armaments and armies, so that the Sri Lankan government forces completely eliminated the tigers and unified the country in 2009.
Government forces
Then we deepened economic cooperation with Sri Lanka, and we contracted a lot of infrastructure construction in Sri Lanka. If you go to Sri Lanka to take a look, you will find a lot of "familiar feelings".
Colombo International Airport Expressway, built in China
We have become sri Lanka's largest partner, building more than 80% of the infrastructure in the local area, such a good friend, where to find?
South Colombo Container Terminal
Sri Lanka's inclusion of "cooperation with China" in its national policy is also very shocking.
Southern Railway
If you look at this radio and television tower, does it have an inner taste?
Sri Lanka Radio and Television Tower, built by China
China's biggest investment is still in infrastructure. Mainly the road! All kinds of roads! Rail, road, highway! I am a road-building maniac in Greater China! With China's help, Sri Lanka's GDP has reached an astonishing 10% average annual growth.
However, the West can't stand it, a trumped-up accusation: "China is just to plunge developing countries into a debt crisis." Sri Lanka has once again fallen into the hands of pro-Western parties and GDP has fallen back..... The opposition, supported by Europe, the United States and India, pulled Lao La down. The cooperation strategy with China has been completely suspended.
But the result? The West has thrown Sri Lanka as a piece of "waste paper", and even India has not bothered to pick it up, and they do not use paper in the first place!
Streets of Sri Lanka
It wasn't until November 2019 that Lao La's younger brother defeated the Indian-backed "Two five boys" to come to power. At that time, society had completely lost confidence in the West, and he promised that we would cooperate with China again.
Rajapaksa (younger brother)
More than a hundred years ago, the British built the first narrow railway for Sri Lanka to transport tea to the port, and since then there has been no inch of railway attached to sri Lanka. And Chinese brought new railways and gave Sri Lankans hope. Today, they have modern railways. With a sound road network system and a social security system, of course, it is our feat.
This country you have never even heard of, but it is full of our buildings and railways, and now they are starting again on the journey of the Belt and Road.
I can't see the future of the future, what is the use of coming?
<h1>Sri Lanka's only problem is that it is too far from China and too close to India! </h1>
Who do you think has had the biggest impact on Sri Lanka? Radio
0 people 0% India! Who made it so close?
0 people 0% China! Take a look at our results!
0 people 0% UK! Don't say much about the oh vote