A Tibetan Blogger Asks: "Can I Call 110?"

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated an anonymous blogpost titled "Can I Call 110" that was posted on February 28, 2011 on a Tibetan website Rangdrol.Net.

Rangdrol.Net is a relatively new Tibetan language website and is based in Xining, provincial capital of Qinghai Province. Interestingly it carries the same name as Dhondup Gyal's penname and, as we wrote before on High Peaks Pure Earth, Rangdrol means "self-liberated".

This bold blogpost describes the situation that Tibetans find themselves in today and cites, even though supposedly hypothetically, several concrete examples of injustice and inequality. The phone number for the police in China is 110 (Ch: yao-yao-ling) and is equivalent to 911 in USA or 999 in UK. A subtext to the blogpost is the general impression amongst Tibetans is that the police are overly concerned with splittism whilst criminal acts are rampant and go unpunished.

"Fish Speaking Back to Ichthyologists": Two Blogposts on Chinese Tourists in Tibet

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated two blogposts written by young Tibetan netizens on similar topics, Chinese tourists in Tibet and their attitudes to Tibetans. 

The number of Chinese tourists to Tibet has dramatically increased over the past years and this looks set to continue with a number of luxury hotels either just opened or set to open over the next months. This article from UK's The Independent newspaper of November 3, 2010, centres on the opening of the St. Regis Hotel in Lhasa. The article says:

The surge of tourists to the Himalayan region has seen visitor numbers jump during the first nine months of 2010 to 5.8 million, up 23 per cent on the same period a year earlier.

And newly wealthy Chinese want luxury accommodation. "The St Regis Lhasa Resort offers refined luxury and superlative service in a storied city," gushes the breathless blurb on the St Regis website. "Discover Potala Palace and Norbulingka, UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Jokhang Temple, all minutes from our resort."

"Tradition of Protest" - Woeser's Article for Index on Censorship's Music Issue

Cover of "Index on Censorship"
Issue dedicated to freedom of musical expression

The Virtual Sweet Tea House: An Overview of the Tibetan Cyberspace

Screenshot from a Tibetan blog

High Peaks Pure Earth is posting an original article originally written on the occasion of BlogDay, August 31, 2010. The article is a general overview of the Tibetan blogosphere and was first posted on this site I Heart Tibet. It was also later re-posted on The Comment Factory. Apologies for the late posting on High Peaks Pure Earth!

Poem: "I Am Tibetan" by Adong Paldothar

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated another poem with the title "I Am Tibetan". This poem was originally written in Chinese by a poet from Amdo called Adong Paldothar and was posted on Woeser's blog on February 15, 2010 along with several other poems and a prose piece of the same title by various authors. To read the prose piece "I am Tibetan" please see this previous posting.

High Peaks Pure Earth will continue to translate poems and online pieces on the theme of "I Am Tibetan". For background information and other pieces on this topic, please see the following previous postings:
http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2010/02/i-am-tibetan.html
http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2010/02/i-am-tibetan-by-woeser.html

Finally, a selection of profile pictures used by Tibetans on social networking sites can be viewed as a photo album on our Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=149461&id=245680196705

“I am Tibetan”

by Adong Paldothar

I feel
From the eternal transmigration and
Boundless mercy: treating all living creatures like one’s own parents
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the truth of the light breeze touching my face
Caused by the fast-spinning prayer wheel in Grandma’s hands
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the meditation of the Lamas
From their heavenly murmurs when praying for all living beings and world peace
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From our natural and harmonious coexistence with antelopes, condors, as well as forests and springs
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the piety of honouring mines and riverheads as gods and spirits
Worshipping and caring for them
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the phrase we would say every time we dirty a small piece of crushed food and throw it away:
“May it be picked up by a blind bird”
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From all those innate ancient bearings
Such as spitting out then covering it with earth
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the maxims and idioms spoken and written in the great immortal Tibetan language
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the glittering starry splendour in the sky above the Derge Scriptures Printing Hall where the thirty ancient letters are preserved
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the Hor-Ling War, in which King Gesar’s Red Hare Horse surpassed Achilles’ steed
And which is as immortal as the Trojan War
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the image of a foetus obtained through Tibetan medicine as accurate as a contemporary ultrasound
The Tibetan tantra which explains the essence of life 
as well as the Tibetan calendar which predicted the existence of water on the moon
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the curves of David Beckham’s crossings
The big feet of Tibetan football players and
The highland gene of the Royal Polo Team
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the wedding between the monkey and the demoness
As well as the legend about the formation of the Plateau: first ocean, then forest and finally grassland, of which Darwin only learned much later
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the yaks leisurely wandering in the frosty snow on the peak of the earth
The naked herd boys playing by the rivers under snow-covered mountains
And the pulse of the clan, whose ancestors used to steal and drink the milk of Snowlions
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the invincible Tibetan Tsenpos (Kings)
 and the great changes from above to below of the Sakya, the Pamodrupa, as well as the Ganden Phodrang rule
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the documents written in Tibetan buried under the dunes of Dunhuang
The immortal colours of the Guge mural paintings and the towering Tibetan stone houses on the Ancient Tea and Horse Caravan Road
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the entirety consisting of U-Tsang, the holy region of Buddhism
Dokham, the region of braves and beauties
And Amdo, the region of fine steeds
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From the grey stone tablet under the white and the red palaces of Potala Palace in memory of the Alliance
And the “Kamalok” Clan of Dokham
That I am a Tibetan

I feel
From all the confusion and sullenness
Of not knowing but being Tibetan
That I am Tibetan

"I Am Tibetan" Poetry and Prose Pieces

High Peaks Pure Earth has been following the online activity related to pride in Tibetan identity. Our first posting about this was in the run up to Losar, Tibetan New Year. More recently, we noted the continuation of these feelings expressed online in the aftermath of the Kham earthquake. 

Over the Losar period, Tibetan writer Woeser posted several poetry and prose pieces written by Tibetans on her blog, all of which had the same title "I Am Tibetan".  The following translation is just one of the pieces from that post:

I Am Tibetan 
by Dechen Hengme

An imagined frail chestnut horse, In striding steps speeds over the plateau

In a place faraway I discover the ocean, its welling waves and tides

The wind gallops away over the grasslands

At this my pen came to a stop, and I felt a certain frustration and loss. The thought of an emaciated chestnut horse out on the prairie as it collapsed in the grass, thin, helpless and dirty streaked my face with tears – who had abandoned this poor horse in these desolate grasslands? Not a glimmer of light on the vast prairie but for countless miniscule starlights across the broad sky. The chestnut horse lay by a sudden bank of shingle, and the shingle was as cold as black iron with clusters of grass struggling to grow between the stones. Inky tones grow in the colors of dusk. And I’m thinking: a bank of shingle on the vast grasslands as affectionate as this by the horse, as though guarding it, and all memory of it will be lost in the last gasps of this life.

The light from myriad stars outshines the moon, hidden in cloud; the moon sees all this, but sees not the recovery of life. The light from myriad stars does not stop, as though it cannot wait, but their power is so faint and remote! This horse of the imagination is frail, its body young and immature. It has probably never had the joy of running for miles across its land, let alone had the wind in its mane leading it to neigh long and hard. All that is from an age when it was young, in the memories of horses before they were lost, when it nuzzled close to its mother and drank from her udders in sunny days and every day was as cosy as the next. When wind and rain drove down to where it hid below its mother’s knee, it sheltered from disaster on disaster. But now it is left alone in the world, with nothing left but memories of black iron beside it in a desolate scene where soon it will die.

The black iron is silent and the grass upon it bends to the wind. There are no words, no questions, no answers for anything. All that remains is a wisp of a thought that accompanied by the night will pass from these vast grasslands.

Marco Polo, Qingtang
(Marco Polo is the author's pen name, Qingtang is the old name for the city known today as Xining in Qinghai Province)


Over on Woeser's other blog that she runs with Wang Lixiong that collates online articles about Tibet, the following comment appeared on April 10, 2010, at the end of a long post about the late X. Panchen Lama:

The comment reads:

Tashi Delek friends, I feel very moved, let's all keep on going together, we should all say everyday three times, I am Tibetan, I am Tibetan, I am Tibetan

Finally for this posting, on March 18, 2010, a Tibetan blogger calling themselves "Khampa Snow" posted the following "I Am Tibetan" poem online:

I am Tibetan
By "Khampa Snow"

I am Tibetan
A black-haired and ochre-faced Tibetan
My feet have trod countless snowy peaks
In our proud realm of snowy extremes
Sincere smiles
Remain through summer rains and winter snows
Our will and grit shine yet through bitter cold and cruel heat

I am Tibetan
A compassionate-hearted Tibetan
Prayer wheels and beads have flown in my hand since time eternal
Our piety was cast in Shambala’s pure lands
The six-syllable mantra is muttered
Under the discriminatory gaze of others and the ridicule of misunderstanding
We pray as ever for harmony and well-being for all living things

I am Tibetan
A Tibetan who can sing and dance
The seven colours of the rainbow are woven into my long flowing sleeves
And our jubilant dances raise the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers
Our innocent dances and
Songs of praise sound out in the golden era, delight dances through the soul

I am Tibetan
A dream-cherishing Tibetan
The wisdom and glory in the 30 letters of the Tibetan alphabet
Shine on the path of our progress
The milk of ten bright cultures
Fortifies our minds and bodies
With the blessings of our ancestors’ culture we stagger out with leaps and bounds into the ranks of the world

I am Tibetan
The agitated blood in my veins is a constant reminder
I am Tibetan
In my lilting mother tongue I want to say loudly
“I am Tibetan”

High Peaks Pure Earth will continue to translate poems and online pieces on the theme of "I Am Tibetan".

"Who is Really Safeguarding Lhasa?" By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for Radio Free Asia on March 23, 2010 in Lhasa and posted on her blog on April 3, 2010.  

This article continues a series of blogposts written by Woeser from Lhasa and focuses on a type of person, commonly Chinese, called a 藏漂 (zang piao), a "Tibet Drifter. This term also describes a social phenomenon that started in the 1980s typically of disaffected youth eager to break out of their own society. These "Tibet Drifters" often travel to Tibet and, taken in by the beauty and the "otherness" of the environment, find themselves unable to leave. 

The term "Tibet Drifter" does not seem to have a negative connotation in Chinese, these people clearly see themselves as versions of Jack Kerouac's "Dharma Bums". However, Woeser's disdain for this type of person is evident as described in the article, as is her unwillingness to be associated with them.

Woeser begins by referring to a blogpost she read about "Tibet Drifters" on TibetCul.com. The original blogpost, as she says, refers to several "Tibet Drifters", including herself. The others mentioned in the original blogpost are various writers and artists including Ma Yuan, Jiang Bao, Lan Bing, Er Mao, Dhondup, Ugyen Tsering, Zhang Zhizhong and Sebo.

New work by Tibetan artist Tsering Nyendak 

(Photo taken in the Gedun Choephel Art Gallery)

“Who is Really Safeguarding Lhasa?
By Woeser

On the blog of the founder of the website TibetCul, Wangchuk Tseten, I saw an article titled “Who is Really Safeguarding Lhasa?!” I was surprised that it praised the “group of ‘Tibet Drifters” those “faithfully safeguarding Tibet”, even as the “patron saints” of Lhasa. Although “the group of ‘Tibet Drifters’” in the article is somewhat different from the “Tibet Drifters” as they are commonly referred to today – it is made up of different people, it does not only include “all kinds of people from other countries and places who live in Lhasa”, it also “embraces Tibetans from other areas of Tibet”. Yet, every single one of these grand sounding words such as “faithfully guard”, “safeguard” or “patron saints”, which the author uses to refer to these people is really rather preposterous.

I was also mentioned and portrayed as one of “safeguarders” but I really cannot agree with this. First of all, I am not at all involved with the “Tibet Drifters”. For me, since I was born in Lhasa and then as a child left the city with my parents; since I insisted on returning during my youth and felt indebted to the 10 years of compassion which Lhasa had given to me; since I was once more forced to leave the city and live away from home forever longing for Lhasa, I have always felt that I was a girl from Lhasa. It is true, I am just one out of many who possesses the intimate bloodline and who possesses the generational karma, my devotion to Lhasa is like the fundamental devotion to a guru, I long for Lhasa like one longs for one’s own mother. I do not dare to falsely declare that I am Lhasa’s “patron saint”.

Who is really safeguarding Lhasa? This is an interesting question in the first place and its answer varies with each individual. For example, that dictator who in the past, turned Lhasa’s temples into ruins and today, turns Lhasa’s houses into department stores, uses guns giving an answer that is voiceless but intimidating. However, those who genuinely guard Lhasa are by no means those invaders relying on their weapons, money and the populace. It is also not those slavishly dependent eulogists, those self-indulgent well-off literati or the subservient office workers. It is even less the gold diggers circulating hooliganism, the frustrated searching for the last straw or all kinds of people who treat Tibet as gold which they vigorously apply to their faces so as to prettify themselves.

Lhasa is a place, which in its own memory possesses all that life has to offer with all changes. How can a person who does not know anything about Lhasa’s memory and whose sheer survival depends on Lhasa like a parasite, have any reason or face to indulge in empty words like “faithfully guard” or “safeguard”? Do you know the nature of the escape that happened one night about 51 years ago at the Dalai Lama’s summer residence, Norbulingka? Do you know how the Kaling Kushu stupa on Barkhor North Street was smashed on a summer’s day 43 years ago? Do you know why on a sun-drenched day 39 years ago, the Buddhist nun Trinley Chodon was on public trial and executed by shooting? Do you know the feelings, which 10 or 20 young nuns in Drachi prison sung about in prison? Do you know how many nuns have been expelled, how many Tibetans went missing two years ago, in the year of the rat? Do you know in the old town, how many soldiers are patrolling in the alleyways, on the streets and on Tibetan people’s roofs at this very moment?

Despite Lhasa being bruised and broken, for centuries there still exist countless Bodhisattvas, countless outstanding sons and daughters deeply hidden in the centre of Lhasa just like the scriptures and mini-statues put into the stupas or statues relentlessly continuing to bestow upon us the blessing filled with tears. Lhasa people, who have lived there for generations, are still passing on the spirit of Lhasa in their own humble and unexaggerated way. With respect, I have encountered many elderly and middle-aged people who are hidden in the gracious and pleasant sounding Lhasa dialect. One old man has spared no pains to again and again take me through today’s Lhasa, searching for past stories. This made me understand how much we have already lost, how much we are currently losing and what we should cherish. There are also young people from Lhasa who start to take action. For example, a video has been circulated on the Internet; the narration in the background is the poem titled “Let Us All Speak Pure Tibetan”, recited with deep expressions using the Lhasa dialect.

As for the currently quite popular “Tibet Drifters” and those middle-class inland people who call Tibet a “spiritual home”, it is just like someone commented: those people are in fact quite unfamiliar with the suffering Tibetans endure; perhaps they are even totally oblivious to suffering. Some “Tibet Drifters” have said to me that “Tibet Drifters” do not specifically have anything to do with Tibet, no matter in which place they “drift”, they are always the same. But I have encountered those “Tibet Drifters” sitting at the main entrance of Jokhang Temple laughing, giggling and snuggling up to each other. Cigarettes dangle from their lips; they drink beer and sunbathe while watching Tibetans prostrating. They gaze and stare and while laughing and giggling, they also go and prostrate a few times as if it was just some kind of game, just some type of popular amusement.

Lhasa, March 23, 2010

The Most-Read Postings on High Peaks Pure Earth in 2009

A Happy New Year to all our readers from High Peaks Pure Earth!

This has been the first full year of translations and blog postings on High Peaks Pure Earth, thank you all for reading, commenting and getting in touch.

Expect to see not only more blog translations, commentary and original writings but also changes and improvements to the site on High Peaks Pure Earth in 2010.

For now though, here is a quick round-up of postings that were popular in 2009 top 5:

1. 2009's most popular post on High Peaks Pure Earth was a summary of Tibetan and Chinese blogger reaction to the film "2012":
   http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2009/11/tibet-saves-world-tibetan-and-chinese.html
   
   
2. Translations of Tibetan blogposts about not celebrating Losar (Tibetan New Year) this year were also highly read on High Peaks Pure Earth, see these two posts: http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2009/01/tibetan-bloggers-discuss-tibetan-new.html and http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2009/01/more-from-tibetan-bloggers-about.html
   
   
3. The most translated and most read Tibetan blogger on High Peaks Pure Earth is Woeser, the general link to her articles is one of the most-clicked links on the site. Woeser's articles about not celebrating Losar and instead commemorating 2008 were her most-read articles this year. See: http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2009/01/let-us-make-lamp-offerings-and-light.html and http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2009/01/remember-and-memorialise-louder-than.html
   
   
4. Translations of blog postings by Jamyang Kyi have been widely read on High Peaks Pure Earth. This year, Jamyang Kyi's third letter to her imprisoned friend Norzin Wangmo touched many readers and became one of the most-read posts of the year: http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2009/07/third-letter-to-my-friend-norzin-wangmo.html
   
   
5. Finally, Tibetan bloggers were often the first (and at times, only) sources of information about political detentions, imprisonments or activism inside Tibet. These kinds of translations by High Peaks Pure Earth have caught the attention of readers, see these postings on the Amdo singer Tenzin,  Tashi Dondrup, Kunga Tsayang and Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.

Courage and Wisdom: The Inspiration of the “Lama Jigme Incident” for Tibetans in Tibet by Tashibod

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated an article by Tashibod that was originally written in Chinese and published on the website “Democratic China” and also on Woeser's blog earlier this month.

Regular High Peaks Pure Earth will be familiar with Lama Jigme's story as his testimony, arrest and release have all been documented here in the past.

Also highly recommended reading, for those who may have missed it last year, is Tashibod's personal, insightful and moving "Olympics Diary of a Tibetan".

The photo is of Lama Jigme scattering “lungtas” (wind horses) on the mountains in his hometown. A few months later he was arrested, taken away again and was not released until half a year later.

"Courage and Wisdom: The Inspiration of the “Lama Jigme Incident” for Tibetans in Tibet" by Tashibod

1. On May 5, 2009 and over the next few days, media such as The Times, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and the Tibetan writer Woeser’s blog reported the news that Lama Jigme from Labrang Monastery, Tibet, has been released after he had been imprisoned for six months. They related the true story that Lama Jigme was jailed and tortured by the Chinese authorities for over twenty days and almost died after he revealed his full identity and gave an account of the protests over the various regions in a video made known to the world in September 2008. In November 2008, after Lama Jigme had been in hiding for about two months, he was again arrested and taken away from his living quarters in the monastery. He was not released until May 3, 2009. However, during the six months when he was in jail, Lama Jigme’s family did not receive any clear explanation from the authorities. Not long after his family hired two Chinese lawyers from Beijing, Lama Jigme was released on bail. The incident --- the entire process from the video of Lama Jigme being made public, his being arrested to his release – has generated great attention from all circles. Furthermore, his eventual release can be said to be a good ending.

2. To the media, the “Lama Jigme Incident” is considered to be news; to those people who care for Tibet, the incident is a case to show China’s suppression of Tibet; to Tibetans, in particular, to Tibetans in Tibet, besides denouncing the authorities and admiring Lama Jigme, if we conduct further in-depth analysis, in fact the “Lama Jigme Incident” has additional important inspiration and is of profound significance.

A Tibetan monk who was illegally imprisoned as a suspect, and cruelly abused, used a video to tell the truth to the world through the means of modern international media such as Voice of America. After he was arrested and taken away once again, under the pressure of extensive reporting by the international media, eventually he was released when Chinese lawyers hired by his family became involved. Though Lama Jigme was imprisoned, at the end he was able to get out of jail after not such a long time. Though at present we do not know what will happen next, yet judging from the current situation and taking all the representative factors into consideration, among the numerous sacrifices unknown to the outside world and countless immense sacrifices made in the Tibetan areas, even if we rationally examine the incident without any judgment or political viewpoints, the incident can be rated as a successful case for the peaceful protests by Tibetans and for exposing atrocities committed by the authorities. We can see from this incident the wonderful combination of courage and wisdom.


3. In the film "Cry Freedom", which recounts the leader of the Black Consciousness Movement Biko’s struggle against apartheid in South Africa, when Biko, who was under house arrest by the South African government, wanted to participate in the ceremony of the student movement, people around him said to him, “Your action is very dangerous” to which he replied, “you are right. My action is indeed very dangerous, because South Africa is a dangerous country.”

Similarly, living in a country where Tibetans, in particular Tibetan monks, are viewed as “terrorist suspects” and can be dealt with at any time, it is impossible for Lama Jigme who was arbitrarily arrested and cruelly tortured twice not to know the consequence of his public speech. Though he realized fully the danger, yet he still did it, and he was willing to risk his life to reveal the truth. What is courage? This is courage!

For the sake of truth and freedom, there are many actions which one knows one should not take but one will still do so. We can see in this “Lama Jigme Incident” how he brought into play his courage throughout the entire process:

A: Through international media, which has strong influence and enjoys public credibility, he revealed his full identity and told the world the truth in a short digital video clip.
B. The content of his twenty-minute testimony has not gone beyond the legal stipulations of China. He did not cross the line, on the contrary, he stuck to his position of seeking truth from facts. Therefore, while he told the truth, meanwhile he did not give the authorities a handle against him.

In addition, the following factors are important external factors ensuring the success of the incident:

C. The continuous attention paid by Tibetans in Tibet and outside of Tibet as well as the reporting of the international media.

D. The involvement of Chinese lawyers.

The final result is: Lama Jigme was released. There was no violent confrontation or fierce bloody conflict, let alone resulting in any death. If he had chosen to be silent or to engage in active violent resistance, he might have received sympathy or understanding, but there would not be any one-sided support and praise; if any of his speeches or actions had violated the laws of the Chinese Communist Party, even if his was right morally, yet it would have given the authorities excuses to imprison him; if Lama Jigme had been in jail for a long time or had sacrificed his life, though he would be worthy of respect and praise, yet if the person involved died, no matter how much significance others endowed on him, there would only be sorrow and memory. Even the noble values however worthy of seeking, should not have people sacrifice their lives at random. Lama Jigme successfully and accurately used modern media and the Chinese law, avoided a potential tragedy, and kept hold of his rights. Meanwhile, he revealed the truth to the utmost degree, and this is exactly how his wisdom worked.

4. In September 2008 Voice of America published the video clip made by Lama Jigme, after which many international media reported the news, and the video was ardently aired further on YouTube. Later the arrest of Lama Jigme caused a sensation among the international media, next, The Times and other newspapers reported Lama Jigme’s release. Furthermore, with the promotion by the well-known Tibetan writer Woeser in Beijing throughout the entire process, the international media has always paid great attention to the “Lama Jigme Incident”.

With her compassionate heart as a Buddhist, Tibetan writer Woeser heroically shoulders the responsibility for her nationality. With the prominence of the Tibetan issue, Woeser and her blog has attracted world attention because of her rich, timely and true news sources and her outstanding writing talents. In her blog which is known as “one person’s media”, she has bravely exposed many dark sides which have been carefully and brutally hidden by the authorities. And the “Lama Jigme Incident” is one of these issues hidden by the authorities.

Without Woeser promoting or appealing as well as the reports by the international media, it is unimaginable that many unfair incidents, including the “Lama Jigme Incident”, in Tibetan areas would have received so much attention from the outside world, instead of being covered up or left unsolved.

When German President Richard von Weizsäcker read the story about the Hans brother and mother who were the core members of the anti-Hitler “White Rose Group” and were later executed by the Nazi “People’s Court”, he said the following words: “The courage of each era always determines our civilization once again.” We can say that Woeser, Lama Jigme and many known or nameless, alive or dead people who have tried to have their voice heard for the sake of freedom and peace are adding new content for our civilization in a strange era like this.

5. In this incident, the involvement of lawyers, in particular the Chinese lawyers, is of great significance. The relatives of Lama Jigme hired Li Fangping and Jiang Tianyong, two famous human rights lawyers in China. Amongst these two, on April 11, Jiang, together with Teng Biao and sixteen other Chinese lawyers, signed and published an open letter making the statement that they were willing to represent and defend Tibetans who had been arrested. Meanwhile, they also appealed to the authorities to treat Tibetans who were arrested strictly in accordance with legal stipulations. Soon after, there were three more lawyers who joined the group but the authorities warned these 21 lawyers who expressed their willingness to provide legal assistance to Tibetans, forbidding them to be involved in cases of Tibetans, and they have also been repressed.

Before their involvement in Lama Jigme’s case, Li and Jiang also defended Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche in Kham (Eastern Tibet). This is the first case where there was no representation by a defense lawyer designated by the authorities since the “Tibet Incident” last year, and is of great significance. Soon after, Lama Jigme was released after the intervention of these two lawyers. This further shows the effect of the involvement of professionals in the process of the legal case.

It is like what Jiang said during his interview with Voice of America: “As Han Chinese lawyers, our providing legal assistance to Tibetans who were arrested is conducive to national unity.” The two lawyers’ actions to represent the Tibetans not only expounded and safeguarded justice but also were beneficial to eliminate the misunderstanding that people simply consider “the Tibet Issue as the conflict between Han Chinese and Tibetans as two ethnic groups”. On the other hand, it also restored Sino-Tibetan relations which have been damaged by the “Anti-splittist cliques” and the official media, and strengthened the understanding and unity of Han Chinese and Tibetans.
A year after the eruption of Chinese ultra-nationalism, the Chinese intellectual and legal circles have begun to reflect on the issue. And they are willing to remedy the situation. This is a very good beginning, and I hope there will be more intellectuals who have similar awareness and who will make similar efforts.

6. Fear has always enveloped the Land of Snows, especially since March 2008. The authorities are wantonly abusing the rights of Tibetans as citizens and have continuously suppressed the non-violent protests by Tibetans with violent means. But as the CCP leader Mao Zedong himself once said, “Where there is oppression, there is resistance”, the voices of Tibetan resistance rises one after another. The greater the pressure is, the stronger the resistance becomes. The situation has also become more and more intense, and the means of protests have also become diversified.

But it is a pity on one hand the authorities are doing their utmost to block and distort the true situation, on the other hand, Tibetans lack the awareness of individual rights and the importance of publicity, and they do not have the resources either. In addition, the overall strategy is out of the question, as a result, the voices of resistance and the truth about the persecution by the authorities are unknown to the outside world. Therefore, the heroic deeds of these protesters are even more tragic.

For a long period of time, if there had been disputes or conflicts amongst Tibetans, usually disputes or conflicts were solved through private negotiations or mediations presided over by local personages who enjoyed high prestige or by high-ranking and eminent monks. However, when faced with the injustices of the government, though there are people who have resorted to such legal means as petitioning to higher authorities or hiring lawyers, yet very few people are doing so. When investigating the reasons for this, we find factors including the government ignoring such cases, its usual practices of elevating common civil disputes so as to criticise them from the higher plane of principles, labeling people involved with such names as ethnic or religious “splittists” or “agitators”, and politicising the issues so as to cover up one’s own mistakes or errors. In addition, other reasons include such factors that Tibetans ourselves lack awareness of laws, we have not made enough effort to safeguard and strive for our legal rights through legal means and we lack confidence in doing so.

The “Lama Jigme Incident” shows that within the framework of the Chinese constitution and regional ethnic autonomy law, he took the initiative to actively safeguard and strive for his legal rights and unyieldingly express his reasonable and legal appeals through peaceful means and by means of law and media. This time Lama Jigme’s family did not yield to the government’s wonton manipulations, instead, they took the initiative to hire lawyers. In addition, the verdict on Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche, who has been framed in Kham, has been deferred after his family hired the same two Han Chinese lawyers. These two cases will surely boost the confidence of people who are still under the shadow of fear and inspire them. When faced with imperious rule, not all injustices will have undergone just trials but through the “Lama Jigme Incident” we can vaguely see the path of hope and the models to be emulated.

7. Those who have courage are worthy of admiration; those who have wisdom are worthy of being followed; however, only those who have both courage and wisdom have the possibility to defeat evil, and only such people are real heroes.

Pay tribute to heroes like Jigme! Pay tribute to Woeser and others who have worked very hard for the sake of Jigme! Pay tribute to these two Han Chinese lawyers and people who dedicate their lives to any just cause!

Splittism Must Be Opposed!

High Peaks Pure Earth readers who follow news from Tibet closely know that 'Opposing Splittism' is one of the main campaigns in Tibet, here we found an interesting take on opposing splittism by a blogger named Kardzewa (dkar mdzes ba). We haven't translated the comments but the readers ask Who are the Splittists?



Splittism Must Be Opposed

All sentient beings desire happiness and don’t wish to suffer; this is human nature. Maintaining world peace, uniting the motherland, and establishing a harmonious society are the common desires of humankind. Ethnic unity is the root of all happiness, and ethnic splittism is the source of all undesirable tragedies. Opposing splittism is the highest responsibility of all thoughtful beings. Furthermore, like the Tibetan saying goes, “For thirty people there are thirty different ways of thinking”, because of different beliefs and values, the way of viewing splittism is also different. I think one cannot accuse people who pursue truth in taking responsibility for the future of their nationality and the motherland, have pride and loyalty for their nationality as solid as a rock, and have genuinely pure motivation for the religion and culture of their nationality, as splittists. For decades, those confused nomads, whose tears of sadness were held back, placing their hope in the future, having less than a first grade primary school education, never having been taught a single clause of the constitution and laws, for these people it becomes very necessary to give legal and religious education. Because they are also the “daughter of one mother”, raising them with love and kindness is the practice of good parents. Otherwise, accusing them of splittism for saying one wrong thing is not fair.

At the same time, many of our leaders and officials don’t study the thousands of years of history of the Tibetan people, don’t respect local customs and traditions, distort history and trample on faith. This is not how you find truth from facts. In fact, I think this is the destruction of harmony amongst the nationalities. Moreover, as Tibetan people study and respect Chinese language, I think our Chinese brothers, leaders, and officials in Tibetan areas should also study and appreciate Tibetan language. Otherwise, they are directly and indirectly prohibiting Tibetan language, which is like a lifeline to Tibetan people, by claiming that if Tibetan is spoken, Chinese people don’t understand and if Tibetan is written, leaders don’t know it. This is a source of frustration for Tibetan people who have a great love for our mother tongue. Speaking for myself, I used to work at a broadcasting and television work unit. At that time, I even created a Tibetan special programme. However, this was the first Tibetan programme, and after discussions between the work unit leader and the county leader, we were not able to broadcast it because if Tibetan was spoken, Chinese people would not be able to understand. Likewise, after promoting this year’s patriotic education, since all workers had to write reports of their thinking, all of us Tibetan language teachers wrote in Tibetan. However, the education office returned our reports: they said if they weren’t written in Chinese, the leaders wouldn’t understand them. It created a lot of meaningless problems for us. We said this was unreasonable and we insisted a lot. Yet, many of our well-intentioned coworkers advised us “Don’t do this. If you do this, you’ll be accused of being a splittist.” Even though I can say that the friends who gave this advice meant well, by all of us doing this, if we do not honour the words affirmed in the country’s constitution that say all nationalities have the right to study and use their own speech and writing, it will be difficult to realize scientific development and scientific ethnic unity of the nation.

Going Minzu

It’s quite common nowadays for words with Chinese origin to be incorporated into our daily English speaking lives – we think nothing of talking about feng shui, doing qi gong, eating tofu or cultivating our yin and yang properties. We need these words to describe things, or concepts, such as losing face, that are lacking in English language and culture. Now there’s one more word to add to the list, if the Chinese government were to have their way that is.

An email that High Peaks Pure Earth received on 10th December 2008 read innocently enough: “Dear Partners and Friends, We take it an honor to inform you that, the English name of our university has been changed from "the Central University of Nationalities" to "Minzu University of China" (MUC) since November 20th, 2008”.

English website of the newly re-named Minzu University of China.
Note the announcement of the namechange on the page.

To non-Chinese speakers, it sounds, frankly, quite horrible. Minzu. MUC, that's pronounced muck!!! What just happened?! And what on earth is a Minzu? According to British Google, Minzu is a “Chinese buffet restaurant and bar in Birmingham offering superb Chinese cuisine” Splendid! So a little introduction may be required here to enlighten us on this bizarre development.

High Peaks Pure Earth readers may be interested to know that this is the university’s third name change since its founding in 1941! What started in October 1941 as the Yan'an Institute of Nationalities, moved to Beijing in 1951 with the birth of the ‘new China’ and in 1993 was re-named the Central University for Nationalities. And now it’s called the Minzu University of China. In Chinese it has only ever had 2 names, 中央民族学院 (Zhongyang Minzu Xueyuan) and 中央民族大学 (Zhongyang Minzu Daxue). Very quickly, Zhongyang means Central, Minzu we will deal with later, Xueyuan means Institute or Academy and Daxue means University. In Tibetan, it has always been known as མི་རིགས་སློབ་གྲྭ་ (mi rigs slob grwa), mi rigs means people and slob grwa means any kind of school. Later, when it became a university, the word ཆེན་པོ་ (Chen mo), meaning big, was added.

Taken from the website of the Minzu University of China -
note the happy Minzu in Tibetan dress in the bottom photo

The Minzu University of China in Beijing describes itself on its website as having "a high-quality, top-level faculty representing many ethnic backgrounds. 70% of its 15,000 full-time students is ethnic minorities. In a sense, CUN is a microcosm of the big family of Chinese ethnic groups, and it is the only university in China where all of China’s 56 ethnic groups are represented in its faculty and student body. The multiple cultures of the 56 ethnic groups harmoniously mix together here." They also accept foreign students who want to learn Chinese, to be convinced to go and study there, readers can watch this riveting promotional video.

The university is also home to 600+ Tibetan students, the largest concentration of Tibetans in China’s capital, who are mostly studying Tibetology. In the past, some of the finest scholars have taught at the MUC such as ་དུང་དཀར་བློ་བཟང་འཕྲིན་ལས་ (Dungkar Lobsang Trinley), ཚེ་བརྟན་ཞབས་དྲུང་ (Tseten Shabdrung), དམུ་དགེ་བསམ་གཏན་ (Muge Samten) and མཁྱན་རབ་འོད་ཟེར (Kyenrab Woeser). Today, two of the best-known Tibetan scholars are ཚེ་རིང་ཐར་་ (Tsering Thar) from Amdo and ཐུབ་བསྟན་ཕུན་ཚོགས་ (Thupten Phuntsog) from Kham, who are both much loved by students. Notable Tibetan alumni include writer and poet དོན་གྲུབ་རྒྱལ་ (Dhondup Gyal) as well as most of the staff of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America in DC! Also some of the foremost Chinese scholars on Tibet such as Yang Enhong and Chen Qingying have studied there.

So how come the word Minzu in the university’s name doesn’t get translated anymore? The main universities in Beijing, China’s Ivy League if you will, have names that are translated directly into English, albeit slightly odd varying from the very quaint sounding Peking University for 北京大学 (Beijing Daxue) to the downright absurd-sounding Beijing Normal University for 北京师范大学 (Beijing Shifan Daxue). The others are mostly bog-standard names such as University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing Foreign Studies University or China Central Academy of Fine Arts.

Although no official reason has been given for the recent name change – it stands to reason that it’s due to this rather troublesome and seemingly untranslatable Chinese word Minzu. Their solution in the end seems to be a stern resolve not to translate it at all and thus avoid all the problems this word causes. How is the word Minzu problematic? Firstly, one look at the dictionary tells us that Minzu means Nationality. Doesn’t appear that hard to translate actually.

But for the Chinese government, their own unique concept of ‘nationality’ has been very difficult to communicate to the wider world. The historical background behind Minzu, as it’s used today in China, starts in the 1950s with the Minzu Shibie – a survey carried out by the central government to determine the various ethnic groups in China. That was the starting point for today’s one big happy family of the Han Chinese and the 55 minzu groups which were all identified and formalized as a result of that survey. The minzu groups are also referred to as 少数民族 (shaoshu minzu), which translates as ethnic minority.

The word minority already has enough politically incorrect connotations in English so the Chinese government has been wise to stay away from that word in recent years. They probably thought that the word nationality was less controversial but they miscalculated grossly. Outside of China, very few people understand the Chinese concept of nationality – it’s a word associated with nation, nationhood and nationalism. Mostly it’s associated with passports. Not so in China. For a Tibetan born in Lhasa, their nationality is Tibetan but they are Chinese. For an Uyghur born in Urumqi their nationality is Uyghur but they are Chinese. For a Mongolian born in Hohhot, their nationality is Mongolian but they are Chinese. This nationality word is indeed confusing.

Confusing and on top of that, politically loaded. For the Han Chinese – and let’s not forget that they account for 92% of the population, the government actively fans the flames of their nationalism in a twisted, negative way usually aimed at outside forces. Think of the crazy scenes in 1999 after the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was mistakenly bombed by NATO, think of the anti-French scenes last year in China, poor Carrefour supermarket! Even crazier maybe the whole textbook debacle with Japan a few years back. And in a country with no concept of dual citizenship, woe betide any celebrity who changes their nationality, step forward top enemies of the state Jet Li (now American), Gong Li (now Singaporean) and a kind of in-betweener Beijing born Zhang Ziyi (holds a Hong Kong residency card).

However, for the nationalities of the People’s Republic of China, nationalism is a strictly no go area. In 2008, the Chinese government simultaneously dealt with cracking down on Tibetan expressions of nationalistic feelings – suddenly even Han Chinese people knew what the Tibetan national flag looked like (even though state media calling it the ‘snow lion flag’ was lame) whilst having the Olympics reinforce their own sense of national identity and pride. So if the Han Chinese are allowed to assert their own feelings of nationalism then why not the nationalities? If only the answer to this question were as simple as thrusting the word Minzu onto the unsuspecting rest of world.

China is no stranger to forcing new words into languages for political purposes. A prime example is in Tibetan due to the fact that Tibetan has one word for Tibet, བོད་ (Bod), one word for China་རྒྱ་ནག་ (Gyanak) and no word that means a China that includes Tibetan territory. So the Chinese government officially uses the word ཀྲུང་གོ་ (krung go) which is simply a Tibetan transliteration of the Chinese word for China 中国 (Zhong guo). So whereas this concept didn’t exist before, it exists now. Interestingly, Tibetan bloggers who blog in Chinese are refusing to use the Chinese word for Tibet 西藏 (Xizang) as Xizang only refers to the Tibet Autonomous Region. Bloggers are using the word 图博 (Tubo) or sometimes simply the Chinese character 博 (bo), which sounds like the Tibetan word Bod. Bloggers are also snubbing the Chinese way of saying Tibetan 藏族 (zang zu) as the Chinese words are implicitly talking about an ethnic group (the word zu 族, the same zu as in 民族 minzu) and are using the characters 博巴 (Bo ba) which is Tibetan for a Tibetan person.

Sometimes there are words or concepts that simply have to be expressed in the original language, think ‘shoah’, ‘apartheid’ or ‘Satyagraha’. However, Minzu does not have the weight of those concepts - it is simply a word that transports the Chinese government’s entire ideology and concept of their multi-ethnic happy family, in the way that they see and present it at least. The changing of a university name may not seem like the end of the world but it is a calculated move to gain acceptance and legitimacy superficially on a linguistic level at first but that's how it starts.

So what other changes could we expect in the near future in Beijing? We already have the Minzu Hotel but the Cultural Palace of the Minorities next door could turn into the Minzu Cultural Palace. The Nationalities Park might be re-named Minzu Park and so on. Be prepared to go Minzu on your next trip to China, you have been warned!

'Remember and Memorialise Louder Than The Gunfire!' by Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was written on the first day of 2009 for Radio Free Asia and posted on her blog on 8th January 2009.

In the blogpost, Woeser reflects on the turbulence of the many events of 2008 that have deeply affected all Tibetans. As evidence of the ongoing distressing situation in Tibet, Woeser mentions the 59 Tibetans who were detained in Lhasa for 'spreading rumours', something that was reported by the BBC on Christmas Day 2008.

Perhaps in response to the turmoil of 2008, Woeser emphasises remembrance and reflection in her blogpost - themes she was to continue a week later in her blogpost 'Let Us Make Lamp Offerings and Light Candles to Commemorate the Souls of the Deceased'.

'Remember and Memorialise Louder Than The Gunfire!' by Woeser

Because we're still all so deeply bogged down by what just happened in 2008, it seems that 2009 has crashed into us without warning. I'm reminded once more of what a friend in Lhasa says only when drunk: we just don't greet each other with 'Tashi Delek' (good fortune and fulfillment of wishes) anymore, good fortune doesn’t exist and neither does fulfillment, what we should be saying to each other is "zap zap jé!" (be careful).

Terror still hangs like a black cloud over the heads of Tibetans. A week ago, the Deputy Director of the Lhasa Municipality Public Security Bureau declared at a press conference the detention of 59 'rumour mongers' who had 'incited ethnic feelings'. The so-called rumours referred to 'illegally downloading reactionary songs from the internet'… A journalist from the foreign media asked me: "What kinds of songs are 'reactionary'?" For a moment, I really didn't know how to answer. If I said that any songs of yearning and praise for the Dalai Lama, no matter how implicit the messages are, would still be banned as 'reactionary songs', then surely this would sound incredulous to a westerner who had never experienced extreme repression.

Not only was there March, April and May when 'wanted' notices were publicly announced every night; not only was there June, July and August when armed police forces were patrolling the streets; and not only was there September, October and November when even more surveillance cameras were installed; there was also yesterday when my friends in Tibet tell me that every night they suddenly hear dogs in the vicinity barking furiously and you can't help being terrified; terrified that your door will be kicked down by state security, terrified that you will be locked away in some dark prison for some unknown crime, terrified that your loved ones or you yourself will vanish into thin air… Whenever I hear these whispering voices telling me again and again, it saddens me so deeply.

What consequences will this terror bring? Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi has said: “Within a system which denies basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even common wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man’s self-respect and inherent human dignity.”

To compare this with Lhasa today, Tibetans who are unwilling to speak their minds instead spill their hearts in their blogs: "Lhasa is simply a 'stupid' city with the 'stupid' Party and government offices; politicians from home and abroad are 'stupid' and Tibetans are themselves competing for stupidity, and it seems they're getting 'stupid' ever faster." To put it another way, people are playing dumb. It is only if they play dumb that they can conceal their inner terror and escape their internal agonies. Those killed are already gone, and wounds have scabbed over. How are we supposed to live with the promises and threats of carrot and stick?

I do not blindly praise people in western society. But an American President once said some of the most incisive words in the history of humanity. He said a democratic society cannot be arbitrarily deprived of four freedoms: freedom of expression, freedom of belief, freedom from want and freedom from fear. As mortals, as ordinary people, we should be able to share in these most basic freedoms. But regrettably, these most basic freedoms are more unattainable than the stars in heaven. It is not actually much that we want; what we want is simply the right to live a meaningful existence and hope for the future, is this really too much to demand?

On the eve of 2009, I received many text messages wishing me a prosperous and happy New Year and good fortune for the New Year. At this moment I knew that people from all over the world were heaping best wishes and blessings upon each other – a wonderful creation of human nature. But I would also add: in the New Year, I hope you will be free from want. In fact, to that I would even add, I hope that everyone will be free from fear! At this point we say farewell and forget the year 2008, but we should not be reconsidering the way we live our lives, instead we should remember and memorialise louder than the gunfire!

1st January 2009, Beijing

A Proposal to Establish A Tibetan Language Primary School in Xining

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a revealing blogpost written by someone calling themselves "The Messenger of the Land of Snow" (Chinese: 雪域使者 xueyu shizhe) and posted on their blog on 25th November 2008. Interestingly, the petition begins by pointing out that a Tibetan language school existed in Xining even during the rule of Ma Bufang and the Guomindang. Isn't the Communist Party supposed to be more enlightened in promoting the "equality of nationalities"?

A Proposal to Establish A Tibetan Language Primary School

At the beginning of 2008, the Tibetan residents of Xining City (Tibetan: zi ling) submitted a proposal entitled “A Proposal To Establish A Tibetan Language Primary School” to the First Session of the Tenth Meeting of Qinghai Provincial Political Consultative Conference and the First Session of the Eleventh Meeting of Qinghai Provincial People’s Congress via members of the Political Consultative Conference and members of the People’s Congress. But only now did they receive a response. In response to proposals No. 112 and No. 138 concerning the establishment of a Tibetan language primary school in Xining City, the Xining Municipal People’s Government replied that “at present, Xining City seriously lacks educational resources and the issues of large classes and large schools have not been completely solved yet. The current educational resources of Xining city are only able to address the issue of attending school for students belonging to the phase of compulsory education. Furthermore, Tibetan residents in Xining are rather scattered, thus, the government is not able to provide qualified teachers or funds to set up a Tibetan school. At present, the condition to build a Tibetan school has not matured yet, and it is temporarily impossible for us to achieve the goal”. In the column “a further request” attached to the appendix entitled “Survey Questions Concerning the Proposal”, the initiator of the proposal frankly wrote his opinion, expressing his firm belief in realizing his wish: “As always, we strongly demand the government to conform with public opinion and establish a Tibetan language school in Xining City!”

(The blog author’s comment: for the sake of political stability and sustainable development of a harmonious society, the government should respect popular will and sincerely and carefully consider the basic cultural demand of the minority nationalities).

Original Text of the Proposal:

A Proposal to Establish A Tibetan Language Primary School

For many years, Tibetan residents in Xining City, through various means including such channels as the proposals submitted by the Political Consultative Conference, have demanded
the relevant departments of the government to actively co-ordinate and implement the Qinghai Provincial Government’s order to establish a Mongolian and Tibetan language school in Xining, and establish a Tibetan language primary school with compulsory education system where the study mainly focuses on the Tibetan language in Xining. But this wish has never been realized. Recently we learned from the media that Xining city is carrying out large-scale integration and adjustment to educational resources. However, it is a pity that the Xining City Tibetan Language School, for which many Tibetan residents have petitioned for many years, has still not been put on the agenda of the government, thus, we have to report to you again in this way. We hope the issue can be solved appropriately so as to satisfy the right to receive education of around 4,000 school-age children who are descendants of approximately 20,000 Tibetans in Xining city, and to ensure the compulsory education system will reflect the rights of equality among nationalities and among languages.

To this end, we give the following reasons:

1. The Tibetan education of the earlier period in Xining city started during the Republican Period. In 1933 (the 22nd year of the Republican Period), the Tibetan and Mongolian Upper Strata members Lobsang Jamcho (blo bzang ‘jam chos, Tian En-yu) and A Fushou advocated establishing the Association of Promoting Mongolian and Tibetan Culture in Qinghai and in 1934 the Mongolian and Tibetan Primary School, as well as the Mongolian and Tibetan Middle School, were established. While Ma Bufang was the Director of the association and was concurrently the principal of the schools, Lobsang Jamchu was a member of the board of directors of the association and the deputy principal. Both schools offered the Tibetan language and culture courses. In 1939 Sangre Gyatso also came to Xining to be the Tibetan language teacher and was responsible for compiling the textbooks. Later, Sangre was the Director of the Education Bureau of Qinghai province and held other positions. There were over 600 students at the peak of the school. Many Tibetan and Mongolian cadres right after the liberation, including many old cadres alive now, were trained in this school.
   
   
2. Social development has provided a good basis for solving the problem of Tibetan education and the Qinghai Provincial Government has long realized the necessity of establishing a Tibetan language school in Xining city. The Qinghai Provincial Government has always adhered to the Marxist principle of the equality of languages, ensuring the freedom of study, using and developing the minority nationality languages, and fully taking into consideration the importance and urgency of Tibetan language education in the Xining area. It has studied and weighed the situation, and it is far-sighted that in the last century it made the decision to set up a nationality language school in Xining. It proposed that the Nationality Committee of Qinghai Province, the Education Committee of Qinghai Province and the Xining Municipal Government should actively create conditions so as to jointly establish a 12-year Mongolian and Tibetan school (Document No. 5 issued by Qinghai Province in 1997 and document No. 26 issued by Qinghai Provincial Office in 1998). But due to various reasons, the order of Qinghai Province has not been carried out. With the strong demand of Tibetan compatriots in Xining City, some educational institutions in Xining City once tried to set up schools on their own, or tried to satisfy the children’s need for the education in the mother tongue through training at weekends. But because of various reasons, including the institutions not being run smoothly, insufficient funds, bad management or the system of moving on to the next level of schooling, it is unavoidable for the various schools or projects that they have tragically ended prematurely. In response to the request of members of the Qinghai Tibetan Research Institute, the institute once attempted to establish a nine-year Tibetan language school non-governmentally but we do not know the reason why it has not received permission from the Xining Municipal Education Bureau.
   
   
3. The Tibetan population in Xining city has increased drastically in the recent years and there are more and more Tibetans whose first language (mother tongue) and whose main language of communication is Tibetan, thus, there is an acute conflict between the increase of the Tibetan population and the fact that the education of the Tibetan children in their mother tongue is not guaranteed. At present there are approximately 200,000 Tibetans in Xining city and if we count at a ratio of 1,536 pupils or middle school students for every 10,000 people, there should be over 30,720 pupils and middle school students. If we estimate that over 60% of the Tibetan population has Tibetan as their first language, then there would be over 10,000 Tibetan children whose first language is Tibetan. In addition, there are another 40,000 Tibetans, including cadres who retired with special honors or who retired and are living in Xining city, traders and other temporary residents, the floating population and peasant workers. It is a conservative estimation that the number of Tibetan children alone reaches over 10,000. Therefore the Xining area has the characteristic that the Tibetan population lives in a comparatively concentrated area and there are many school-age children. In the entire Xining area, except the Tibetan language school in Sanmenxia area of Datong (gser khog) and Qiongjia area of Huangzhong (ru shar rdzong) county respectively, most urban communities or villages do not have Tibetan language schools, furthermore, there is not one Tibetan language school higher than primary school level. But the Tibetan population in Xining city has continuously increased, and the population of temporary residents and the floating population of farmers and nomads have increased sharply. In terms of the population, the Tibetan population in Xining City far exceeds that of Haibei (mtsho byang) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Haixi (mtsho nub) Mongolian and Tibetan Prefecture. The right of many Tibetan children to receive education in their mother tongue has not been guaranteed. Meanwhile, in Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, all Tibetan prefectures and their subordinating counties have built quarters for retired cadres but there is no condition to have Tibetan language education inside and outside the community. The lack of nationality education, especially the fundamental education of Tibetan language, has become an increasingly prominent problem in Tibetan society and it also has an impact on the great situation of the unity, progress and harmony among nationalities. Only if a Tibetan language primary school with compulsory education system is to be established in the capital Xining, can the acute conflict between the expectation of the basic education for the urban Tibetan population and the lack of the Tibetan language education be solved.
   
   
4. At present, Xining City definitely has the ability to invest in setting up a Tibetan language primary school so as to satisfy the Tibetans’ need for basic education. Before the reform and opening to the outside world, or even a few years ago, Xining City and even the entire province was always in a comparatively backward state with an under-developed economy, and the investment in public facilities and projects was rather limited. In addition, it also lacked funds and ability to solve all the problems concerning Tibetan education in the urban area. With the development and improvement of the society, the social economy of the entire province and the entire city has continuously developed, and Xining City’s investment in the basic education has continuously risen, for instance, annual investment in the educational undertakings in 2005 reached 2,031,320,000 Yuan. But up to now, Xining City government has not built or does not have the intention to set up a Tibetan language school starting from primary school in Xining. The plan to build a Tibetan language school has never been placed on the agenda of the various governments and we can not help but view this as a regrettable matter! From the perspective of the degree of the social economic development and the educational investment, the condition for Xining City to completely solve the problem of basic education for Tibetans and to guarantee the Tibetans’ right to receive education has fully ripened. It has sufficient ability to do so, and measures should be taken.
   
   
5. Basic Tibetan education is needed to improve the thinking ability of Tibetan children, to improve the overall quality and to ensure social harmony. Language is the important marker for a nationality which reflects the spirit of a nationality. Meanwhile, besides universal principles, language also has evident national characteristics, and it is a main vehicle for reflecting national culture. The right to receive language education is one of the basic rights for survival and development. In theory, offering Tibetan language courses targeted at the Tibetan children whose mother tongue is Tibetan, is closely related to the improvement of the cultural quality of all the people and a reflection of the degree of civilization of a society. It is also beneficial to the full development of the logical thinking of Tibetan children, the effective improvement of their cognitive ability and it is also helpful for one to learn the second language, Chinese, and foreign languages. In any country, the issue concerning one’s right to the education of the nationality language is related to the inheritance and continuity of the national tradition and the national culture, and any nationality has the right to receive education in one’s national language. Judging from the overall national trend, The Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture has implemented the national education policy, which emphasizes both Korean, Chinese, and foreign languages and Inner Mongolia has also maintained that “none of the mother tongues, Chinese or English is dispensable”. They have all provided valuable experiences for the development of national education and the improvement of the overall quality. However, except Sanmenxia primary school of Datong County and some primary schools in the villages of Qiongjia Township have Tibetan language classes, so far none of the district or counties under the jurisdiction of Xining County has a Tibetan language school which conforms to the Tibetan children’s mother tongue and satisfies their need to learn culture. The issue concerning over 10,000 Tibetan children receiving education in their mother tongue has become a social problem which worries most people. We propose to establish Tibetan language schools targeting the city and its surrounding areas, to improve the comparatively more advanced mother tongue education system within the region, to scientifically foster and develop the children’s language and thinking. We also advocate to fully improve the children’s level of intelligence, to strengthen national unity and to promote the goal of social harmony through ensuring the harmony of languages.

We sincerely hope you will formally respond to our suggestions!

"They" - by Jamyang Kyi

Jamyang Kyi ('jam dbyangs skyid) was detained by the Public Security Bureau in Xining on 1st April 2008. She was accused of sending text messages to 17 of her friends, including Woeser, the Tibetan blogger based in Beijing. The Chinese secret services intercepted text messages between them and found that Jamyang Kyi had sent details of the unrest and the killing of Tibetans in Ngaba (Amdo). Jamyang Kyi was released with a huge fine. Since her release she has been posting accounts of her experiences during her incarceration on her blog. We have translated one of her posts which was originally written in Tibetan titled “They” (Kho tshos) as well as comments from readers.

Jamyang Kyi is one of the most well known figures that were detained in the aftermath of protests that swept across the Tibetan plateau in March 2008. She was born in 1965 in Jador Radza County in Amdo (Qinghai Province). Jamyang worked for 22 years as a news presenter and journalist at the Tibetan language section of Qinghai Provincial Television Station. She was a familiar face amongst the people in Amdo. Since 1990s, Jamyang Kyi devoted more time to her true passion that is music. She became a popular singer and has produced a CD titled Prayer and two VCDs, Distant Lover, Karma and her latest VCD, Fortunate Events (photo below). Even during her incarceration one of the interrogators confessed to liking her music.


Jamyang Kyi other passion is writing. She has published two books, an anthology of poems and while in detention her book title "Mixture of Snow and Rain, Joy and Sorrow of Women", (za mo’i skyid sdug gangs ma char) was published (photo below). A lengthy review of the book in Tibetan by Trisem (Khri sems) can be found here. The book was published with a support of her friend Norzin Wangmo (Nor ‘dzin dbang mo), who was also arrested in April 2008. Last week Jamyang Kyi posted on her blog that Norzin Wangmo had been sentenced to five years imprisonment on 3rd November.


The book is the first feminist’s critique of Tibetan society and her writing is widely influenced by Western feminist writers. The book is filled with her observations of treatment of women in Tibetan society, where wives are treated no better than servants, who attend only to household chores. She questions why it is that while a monk enters a house, automatically a higher seat is offered but when a man enters a room even a nun has to give her seat for the man. She asks Tibetan women to question if they were just born to be “only housewives”. Jamyang Kyi's concerns for the plight of Tibetan women and desire to fight injustice within a patriarchal Tibetan society lead her to write an expose of the trafficking of girls in Amdo (Qinghai Province) for the Tibetan language version of Qinghai Daily (30 November 2005). Her staunch feminist stance made her unpopular with conservative sections of Tibetan society. Jamgyang Kyi argues how can the Tibetans fight to justice when injustice is perpetrated in our own community in the name of tradition.

In January 2008 a blog by Tsering Kyi, former Miss Tibet and accomplished writer who wrote a blog post in Tibetan hosted by mchod me (The Lamp) was shut down by the host because readers complained that pictures posted by Tsering Kyi showed her wearing “revealing western dress”. On January 7th, Jamyang Kyi's blogpost defended Tsering Kyi and saw the erasing of her blog as the silencing of women’s voice. Jamyang Kyi wrote: “the truth is that our culture fosters the physical and mental abuse of women. Women are expected to be obedient housewives. Women are expected to remain silent and when they speak their mind, it is seen as a bad omen. Women spend their lives near the stove in a house that belongs to the brutal and egotistical man”. She wrote that women of Tibet needed to proclaim their voice in the society. Jamyang Kyi applauded Tsering Kyi for breaking the shackles of tradition.

In one of her recent blogposts she wrote critically about the failure of Tibetans to modernise and reform during the first half of the 20th century, which generated interesting comments from her readers. Through her blog, books and music, she has become an influential figure amongst a younger generation of Tibetans, particularly amongst college-educated women for whom she has given a voice to their concerns and struggles.

During her interrogations it became clear that one of the main charges against Jamyang Kyi was her friendship with Woeser and her husband Wang Lixiong (see photo below). Woeser and Jamyang Kyi are two of the most influential women in Tibet today and the friendship between the two women is based not only on their mutual intellectual curiosity but also on larger issues such as justice for the Tibetan people. In an account she has written of her incarceration, she writes how one of the Chinese female guards taunted her with racist and disparaging remarks about Tibetan people and the guard told her that her young child wants to see Tibetans killed. Jamyang Kyi recalls thinking, “You have the rights to speak of my people in these harsh words, where is my right to speak for my nationality?”.

(l-r, Wang Lixiong, Jamyang Kyi, Woeser, Lhamo Kyab
Photo taken in July 2007 in Xining)

The friendship between Jamyang Kyi and Woeser is marked by deep admiration for each other's works. A few years ago, Jamyang Kyi posted this poem dedicated to Woeser:



"Woeser, the Mother’s Daughter"
by Jamyang Kyi

In the beautiful rays of your thought
I see a lamp to clear the darkness of the Snowland.
By your warm flowing blood of love for our people
I am reminded of the compassionate mothers of the Plateau.
With the living words spread forth from your heart
I see the footprint of our ancestors in the mountains of the Plateau.
Oh, Woeser, the mother’s daughter,
You scattered the first seed of pride of Mother Snowland.
You fulfilled the wishes of the mothers of the Plateau.

Here is the translation of Jamyang Kyi's blogpost:

"They" by Jamyang Kyi

They constantly tried to use various methods to make me betray others. During that time, one scene from “The Lives of Others” occurred to me from time to time. The woman in the film, after endlessly suffering unimaginable degrees of intimidation and atrocity, loses herself and turns her back on her beloved man. When the man stares at her with a sense of disbelief, unable to bear her feelings, she runs onto the road in front of an oncoming vehicle. There, she ends her blooming beauty and precious life. Though it has been over two years since I saw the film, I cannot forget the depth of frustration in the man’s stare and the aggrieved look on the woman’s face. Today, these images from the film appear even more real in my mind.

My heart cracked like a dried out riverbank with feelings of sadness, hopelessness, frustration and anger. And I longed for the moisture of light rain. One evening when I was tied to that chair again, I heard the sound of religious songs of a melancholic nature. I realized that this was the first time I was hearing the sound of a living being. This was soothing medicine for my bleeding heart. Since then, I began paying attention to this prayer-tune and awaiting it with hope each day. At that mosque, the devout practitioner prayed 4 to 5 times every day. Normally that prayer-tune could have been perceived as being unpleasant but during those days, it became the best medicine to revive my spirit. For that, I’m deeply grateful to the Mosque and practitioner. If ever a day comes for me to get out, I swore to myself that I would pay a visit to the mosque. Even today, that wish hasn’t disappeared from my heart.

In a magazine there is an oil painting of a landscape that I have looked at countless times. In the painting there is a lone cottage of European style that stands by the lake. That was the only home in the wide hilly grassland. It affforded me a sense of tranquility and peace. Imagining that house to be my own family home, I began to visualize my two daughters playing chase in the grassy meadow near the house; my husband cutting grass beside the lake and I myself, busily cooking dinner awaiting the return of the cattle. That, too, became a means to console and revive my shattered spirit.

One day, as soon as the protests first began, my husband said with a sigh, “Those who have died are already gone. But those who have been arrested are certain to be cast into the eighteen realms of hell and bound to suffer immeasurably.” On the other hand, empathizing with those who had died and their bereaved and loved ones, I was deeply touched and moved to endless tears of sympathy. And at the time, I could not fully comprehend the implications of the incident in which three Tibetans had leapt to their death from a house top.

Each interrogation session aroused a different kind of fear in me. One day in the middle of an interrogation, I thought instead of enduring this, it would be better to be killed by a single bullet. My family and relatives would grieve but as for me, I would have to suffer the pain only once. One day when I was in the washroom, out of nowhere, I found myself thinking about the means or methods of taking my own life. Those days I remembered the small knife that was confiscated at Zhihu Hotel. They hadn’t seen another small knife that was in my handbag during the search. When the chief interrogator asked why I kept a small knife, I replied that it was for eating fruit. But on the other hand there is a small story about this small knife.

Ever since the Chinese-Tibetan conflict had flared up, and as result of the government’s deliberate propaganda, the Chinese would stare at Tibetans with hatred, whether it be in a bus, the market place or on any public road. Once, when I was walking down the road with my daughter who was wearing the traditional chuba that my friend Walza Norzin Wangmo had bought her as a gift, a Chinese kid of about six or seven years old came yelling in front of my daughter and stood blocking her way. This kind of Chinese attitude wasn’t an isolated incident that we experienced but rather the common experience of other Tibetans too. So, for self-defence I had bought another small knife. Later, on reflection, I felt relief that I hadn’t had the chance to get hold of those two knives. Otherwise, during an interrogation session, under unbearable torture, I frantically searched my pouch and then stared at the blue veins of my left wrist. Were I to get hold of the knife then, I would surely have cut the veins of my wrist.

During those days, Wang Lixong’s essay on the stages of suicide came to mind from time to time. And it was a completely different feeling from when I had first read it. I realized for the first time how difficult and harsh it is to betray and deceive someone. I felt that I could understand him now that I could understand it myself.

During those days when I was thrown in front of the six gates of hell, the person I thought of most was my kind and dear mother. Although it has been nearly three years since she passed away, she is very much alive in my heart. What is comforting is the realization that my dear mother has already left me. Otherwise, if she were alive and to witness my incarceration in prison, I know she would go insane.

At the height of unbearable torture, usually I invoked the name of my mother and Goddess Tara for protection. One afternoon when I was tied to a stool, everyone left for lunch except for one female secret police officer. For many days, I had suppressed my tears of suffering silently. But at that moment of weakness, I could not bear it any longer and cried out “Mother, Mother”. The longing for my mother grew more intense and the suffering worsened, and I sobbed. As I was sobbing with pain, all my limbs went numb. At that time the fat man came and said, “You’re crying intentionally because you know I’m here.” Pressing his finger to my forehead, he warned, “If you continue to wail, I will stop this interrogation.”

Shouting in a loud voice, “Are you this stubborn because you think we are making a false accusations?” he left the room. Although it was not something that I was doing, being aware of his presence there, I still couldn’t stop crying. At the time, the nerves in both my hands turned stiff and I could unclench my fist when I tried to force them open. A long time passed sobbing, with my entire body drenched in sweat...

Comments:
1. Rangsai

Sad once, sad twice
Even the birds in the sky are sad
Ah. For me
This year is so sad

2. zelonged

Good, well done

3. Imgo

As soon as I read your essay, my whole mind was filled with sadness and left me speechless

4. Saizhi

If an opportunity comes where I can listen to these stories from you, I will never forget the story and sound from my ears. You are one of few brave Tibetan women. The courage, suffering, and endless intimidation you have endured cannot be forgotten by history and Tibet in general. You are the leader of Tibetan women. You are an angel of this age and an answer to embarrassing, useless Tibetan men who are drunk with arrogance. Your words of hardship and courage to stand in the face of fear is a song that is spreading in every corner of land of the snow and in the heart of every Tibetan.

5. lechjco1015

Someone called Adon on the blog talks at length about Tibetan women’s rights and so forth. I think, Adon is not a woman at all. The reason is that her thinking is not only strongly connected with religion. It is only in the enlightened realm where someone like Adon would live. Discussion about freedom and equality takes place among real people. And when he brings issues of god and religion into the conversation, [this] makes me think he is a monk.

6. adongzhou

I am going to relate to you a dream.
The dream comes from the experience of suffering and happiness.
The dream comes from the tears and sadness.
In the sleep of peaceful night.
The dream comes from the beauty of light and moon.
And it comes from karma and the lord of death.


7. xzhmdy

Dear friend. I have read your thoughts. All the best.

8. ganglin

Respect, Jamyang Kyi la.

9. ganglin

The film "The Lives of Others", on my blog I have titled it "Sneaking Storm". Everyone, please search for it.

10. glhamotashi

A bag that is made of my fragile heart
Tattered with suffering and sadness
Wind karma of my prayer flag
It had to tatter with the years.

11. DMKA

The flame in the storm
Even if you give life to the wind.
The ash in the wind
life is revived.

12. DMKA

Your friend sadly remembers her son in the beloved land
Through the kindness of an official, I managed to phone my beloved son
I wouldn’t be able to return home for few years
It is unclear if [i will] be released early.

13. Jose
[Let me] rest my head on your lap one day,
It is possible that even I can reach the shrine of freedom.

14. lhamo
These feelings and this pain are the remains of accumulation of past karma. Yet the struggle of [our] nationality and the truth is realised through tears and blood from each one of us. Oh Sister, with droplets from your pen, take us steadily forward.


15. niangjben

Sister Jamyang Kyi. My respect to you. I bow to you from the depth of my life.


16. SLJZ
You are our pride, you are our courage. May your life be free from hindrance forever.
17. Nyiwoe

Jamyang Kyi, I hope you are well. During your absence, all we could do was pray. You became someone that captured our thoughts this year. And became a witness to history. Pray that may your life be free of hindrances.

18. GASANGJIONG

May your life be free from hindrance.

19. gemzhaxi

What you wrote is really excellent and I thank you for that.


20. zhuome
Sister. Thank you for your courageous composition.

21. jason3
I always wanted to have conversation with you in person. And I deeply respect you.

22. tsedrup
The reality is, that they are they and we are we. I believe that one day we will live under our own sky of freedom. This is evident from their conduct. There is no place for dictatorship in this world.
23. tblinghun

Sister Jamyang Kyi. Your courage and honour will remain in our hearts.


24.
Whatever they do, we can trust that they cannot diminish our courage. An external physical pain will give birth to countless courage. Your pain has planted seeds of courage in the hearts of students. We believe that it will remain for hundreds of years.

25. tongga

I am a female student at Tibet Agricultrual University and I am studying environment sciences. Although this land is called Tibet, there is not much value to Tibetan language. Therefore we have found Tungkar Cultural Centre in order to preserve and allow the Tibetan language to flourish. I hope we will get your support and hope to keep in touch.

26.kouketu

You suffered for the people of Tibet, how important it is to speak out the truth.