(Him: Charlie)
Here in the Balkan Peninsula, two things about the people
here really caught my attention. Firstly, they are very nationalistic. And
secondly, they know there history like it’s written on their sleeve – not just
modern history, but ancient history as far as a thousand years ago!
If you ever read up on the messy history of the Balkan
Peninsula, it’s not difficult to find out that most, if not all, the trouble
and conflicts were caused by people considering them different than other
people in the region – Serbs, Bosnians, Montenegrins, Croats, Slovenes,
Macedonians, etc. Their strong nationalism destined the years of bloodshed
within the region. Although some fell for different religions over the past
centuries, the truth is, all these people were from the same tribe initially,
the Slavs. If the same principle is to apply in China, dozens of separate
countries would be born just for the Han people, not to mention much more
formed by China’s other 55 minority ethnics. Some people may argue the Chinese
minority ethnics deserve their own states. While that may be a valid argument,
I am pretty certain that Chinese people don’t want a shattered China, at least
for the regions concentrated with Han people.
As I have begun to grasp the complex history that shaped
each Balkan country, my biggest question remains – how did the strong
nationalism for these Slavs people come about? In my opinion, the difference is
not worth dying for, but obviously, people here did not agree with me!
Perhaps for the strong nationalism, people in the Balkan
countries know their history like telling their family story. Although at time
opinionated, their knowledge of history is impressive. We’ve met quite a few
people (certainly not tour guides), who could tell exactly when their country
was under the rules of Roman, Venetians, Ottoman, Austrian-Hungarian,
Yugoslavia, etc. The impressive story telling goes back for a thousand years!!
How much history of your own country can you tell? The best
I can do is to recite the significant events in China for the last century, and
for Canada, I can remember when it was found and name the last three prime
minister, and that’s about it. Well, I’d better not mention this to my Balkan
friends to embarrass myself…
Bay of Kotor, Montenegro
