Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/cnforbiddennews Like us on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/chinaforbiddennews For Chinese people, domestic media reports about "independence" or "separatism" are full of warnings, criticism. However the newly ended Scottish independence referendum is undoubtedly full of freshness for Chinese people. What aspects surprised and enlightened Chinese people? Here is the report. "No independence!" is the referendum's result Scottish people heard when they woke up on the morning of Sept. 19. After votes were counted all night, all results of 32 Scotish constituencies have been published. According to BBC, there are 2,001,926 "No" votes and 1,617,989 "Yes" votes. About 55 percent of Scottish residents opposed Scotland's departure from the Commonwealth of England to become an independent nation. Scotland handed its destiny to its people the previous day. The vote only asks one question, "Should Scotland become an independent country?" More than four million eligible Scottish residents made their own choice. The referendum's turnout was an unprecedented high. BBC Reporter Gary Robertson said the official turnout rate was 84.6 percent. That is even higher than 1950 election's 83.9 percent turnout rate. For most Chinese, the Scottish independence referendum is definitely new to them – from the process to the result. It is completely different from the CCP's brutal tone when it comes to "independence" or "separatism." Shanghai media professional Chen Minghui commented that what's most important to Chinese people is not the result of the Scottish independence referendum, but the enlightenment it brings. Chen Minghui: "Scottish independence referendum itself is a litmus test, which really terrified the CCP. It said a lot things in the past, many of which turned out to be lies. It always said independence would bring riots, instability, that the country would be chaos, and people would suffer. Scotland did not become independent. Even if it had, based on current situation, the situation will still be peaceful." More than 300 years passed since Scotland and Britain signed the Treaty of Union, but neither side had daggers drawn when considering this independence. Even after the "no independence" result was released, Chief Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, also respected the people's choice. The other thing new to Chinese people is the Chinese version of a ballot shown on the Internet. Many mainland people lamented, "This is the first time in my life I've seen a Chinese version of a ballot." Some netizens satirized, "Scotland even took into account its Chinese immigrants. Isn't this a slap in our government's face?" Some people questioned, "When will we have a vote?" Other netizens quipped, "This is an interference in China's internal affairs." Most shocking to Chinese people was British Prime Minister David Cameron's attitude when facing a part of the nation requiring independence. Before the referendum, Cameron told an audience of Conservative activists, "If you don't like me, I won't be here forever. If you don't like this government, it won't last forever. But if you leave the UK, – that will be forever." He urged Scottish people to save the UK, instead of leaving. After the result was released, Cameron promised to give more opportunities to the Scottish Parliament. Leader of Chinese "64tianwang.com", Huang Qi stated Cameron's words show the respect and recognition of a head of democratic state toward state awareness and civil rights. Huang Qi: "The situation shows human rights is greater than sovereignty. It also presents a transparent and democratic government administration to us." "For domestic people, this is the best way to conduct civil rights education and state awareness education." "In mainland China, we were enclosed in this information blockage for so many years. I think we are shocked after seeing this situation." The CCP is facing issues in Tibet, Xinjiang, Taiwan, and even Inner Mongolia. Thus it wants to avoid the "independence" issue. Related news are often censored. Before the Scottish independence referendum, thousands of people from Catalonia gathered in Barcelona, Spain, asking for rights for a referendum on independence. The CCTV sports channel even censored information regarding football players who were involved. 《神韵》2014世界巡演新亮点 http://www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org/

• published: 20 Sep 2014
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