"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."

"Remembering the First Time I Met Karma Samdrup" by Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for Radio Free Asia on June 17, 2010 in Beijing and posted on her blog on June 21, 2010.

In this blogpost, Woeser writes an account of her first encounters with Karma Samdrup, the Tibetan businessman, philanthropist and environmentalist who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on June 24, 2010 in Xinjiang. Read a report about Karma Samdrup by Human Rights Watch here, a report which is also cited by Woeser in her blogpost.

High Peaks Pure Earth has also translated two blogposts by Karma Samdrup's wife Dolkar Tso, read the first one "Praying" here and the second one, in which she thanks Karma Samdrup's lawyers, here.

"In a Hostile Atmosphere, What is There to Talk About?" By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for Radio Free Asia on January 27, 2010 and posted on her blog on January 31, 2010.

On Monday, January 25, 2010 a short press statement by the Secretary to the Dalai Lama announced:

His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Special Envoy Lodi G. Gyari and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen will arrive in China tomorrow for discussions with the representatives of the Chinese leadership. This is the ninth round of dialogue. The Envoys are visiting China after a gap of 15 months in the process that began in 2002.

The visit of the envoys to China therefore started on Tuesday 26 January, 2010 in Hunan province and carried on to Beijing the weekend of January 30 and 31. As the state-run English language media outlet Global Times reported on January 27:

The envoys arrived in Hunan Province Tuesday, and were expected to be in Beijing "very soon" for talks.

The above Google map shows Changsha, the capital of Hunan province,

towards the south and Beijing to the north

The very idea of the envoys in Hunan province has invited cynical responses from both Tibetans outside Tibet and from Woeser herself, in fact it is the starting point for Woeser's article below and commentary on the dialogue process.

The picture shows a scene on Potala Palace Square at the end of September 2008

(photo supplied by my friend on Twitter williamxu)

In a Hostile Atmosphere, What is There to Talk About?

By Woeser

This Tuesday, an event happened that was directly related to Tibet: marathon talks between the Chinese and the Tibetan sides were once more launched after the reign of terror in 2008. What was, however, unimaginably perplexing was that the Dalai Lama’s special envoys first arrived in the province of Hunan, which most certainly was not their personal wish. So why choose Hunan? Is it because of the spicy Hunan cuisine?  Or is it more because of the town of Shaoshan, the famous “sacred revolutionary place”? In fact, it's the birthplace of Mao Zedong, who 50 years ago claimed to want to liberate Tibetans from the forces of imperialism, and who actually sent huge military forces into Tibet. Isn’t the real aim behind this to make the Dalai Lama’s special envoys travel along the classic "red" tourist route and to go to Mao Zedong’s birthplace and “thank the martyrs for their great achievements and relive the red memory” and receive “a lesson in patriotism”?

Once more, the media paid a great deal of attention to these long overdue talks, debating over whether they were going to present any results. Of course there will be a result, but the result is that there is no result at all. All previous talks were like this, they started with talking and they ended with talking. The Tibetan side regrettably once more played the part of the “talking partner”.  Those who claim that they placed any hope upon the talks, unless they are completely unfamiliar with the situation or are totally oblivious to the Chinese side who are well versed in  “The Thirty-Six Stratagems” or “Sun Zi’s Art of War”, are really hypocrites. But most of them only praise the talks on the surface; deep down they know exactly what is going on. Even more people argue that talking is always better than not talking at all. If they talk, it means that both sides are in contact with each other. That is right, this is a fact, no matter at what time or in what situation, dialogue is a matter of prime importance.

However, regardless of that, the basis of a dialogue is always equality and honesty, otherwise what would be the point in talking? Moreover, the parties involved in the dialogue should at least hold a minimum degree of courtesy; it is a sign of respect for the other party and for oneself. However, the words spoken by the representative of the Chinese side, the United Front Department Deputy Secretary, Zhu Weiqun, are still ringing in my ears. On public TV, he repeatedly used words full of contempt to refer to the Dalai Lama’s special envoy as “those people like Gyari”. It is really difficult to imagine whether next time when this arrogant Deputy Secretary, Zhu Weiqun, meets “those people like Gyari”, who he so much despises, he will be able to squeeze out a smile on his face. If this is politics, it simply is filthy and hypocritical! What makes people sad is that we seem not to have any choice; yet, do we really have no other choice? It is a bit like Edward Said’s comment on the present situation in Palestine: “only when we really respect ourselves and understand the genuine dignity and righteousness of our struggle, only then will we truly understand why no matter how we regard ourselves, there are so many people in the world who […] are willing to stand by our side.”

We should remind the world and remind ourselves that just before the current talks, the country’s former head of the Department for Religion, the Party’s high ranking official, Ye Xiaowen, who is responsible for brainwashing the religious personnel at present, published an article. It said that along with the recent rapid economic development in Tibet, the “body” of some temples in Tibet and other Tibetan areas had inflated – not only did their number and their size increase, but also their functions. Some temples “raised a group of lazy people and kept a number of bad people”; at the same time, the Dalai Lama “as the god” was just like a “political leader” integrating religion and politics, which is in fact quite far off. In order to positively steer the traditional Tibetan Buddhist to suit Tibet’s enormous development, the “body” has to be deflated, the “god” has to be fixed, and “faith” has to be reformed.

Mr. Ye’s so-called “deflation” is greatly offensive. Does he actually regard Tibetans as “lumps” or even “tumours”? And how will his so-called “deflation” be carried out? A human rights lawyer in Beijing once said to me that he had observed when the authorities tried to settle with Tibetan intellectuals in the past few years, they searched on the internet, and all the ones that were arrested were Tibetan intellectuals from Tibetan areas. This has definitely nothing to do with punishing criminals, but it clearly is about smothering a nationality’s culture and spirit. Yes, from Amdo, U-Tsang to Kham, from temples and the common people to the internet, traditional and contemporary intellectuals have one by one been expelled or in severe cases been sentenced; their wrongdoings or crimes were often merely speaking the truth. Also, Tibetan intellectuals’ exposure to this ruthless “deflation” reveals their long-lasting and profound intentions. However, in this abusive and tyrannical atmosphere, which is just like the dense fog that clouds above Beijing, we should clearly see the path that has been obscured.

Beijing, January 27, 2010

"Looking at Criminal Cases to Examine the Non-Special Policies Towards Ethnic Minorities" by Woeser

Long live the great unity of all the peoples of the whole nation

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser originally written for Radio Free Asia on July 14, 2009 and posted on her blog on July 24.

As Woeser mentions, this blogpost is a continuation of an earlier article that examined China's policies towards its ethnic minorities titled "Does This Kind of Special Policy Really Exist?" and also a response to various comments to that article, including a comment left here on High Peaks Pure Earth.

"Looking at Criminal Cases to Examine the Non-Special
Policies Towards Ethnic Minorities"

By Woeser

Quite a few people commonly assume that ethnic minorities in China, such as Tibetans and Uighurs, enjoy the privileges of some type of special policy of “two restraints and one leniency” (fewer arrests, fewer death penalties and greater leniency). I recently wrote a brief article for Radio Free Asia’s (RFA) Tibetan programme, which was also translated into English and published on High Peaks Pure Earth. Somebody left a comment criticising that “these special policies are applied in criminal cases, not in political cases. As a Tibetan grown up in China, you should know the difference.”

I would like to thank the person who posted the comment for calling my attention to this, reminding me of the known criminal cases that happened on Tibetan grounds; why not conveniently look at some of these specific cases to examine the Party’s special policies towards “ethnic minorities”. To keep it brief, I am going to introduce two exemplary cases. One of them occurred in Lhasa two years ago. There is an establishment named “Boundless Recreational Centre” where people can indulge in sensual pleasures. Apart from owning several hundred prostitutes, they also possess numerous thugs coming from inland China and because they have high officials working in the background at management level, they intimidate others, dominate the market, and at every opportunity gather a mob to beat people up; they are the “mafia”. One day, these thugs smashed the bar of a Tibetan businessman; his friend, a Tibetan painter, was also beaten and injured. Subsequently, the two men and another friend, a Tibetan entrepreneur, decided to pay the centre a visit to demand an explanation and request the troublemakers to formally apologise; a few of their fellow townsmen, all of whom were from Chamdo, accompanied them. In order not to make the situation any worse, they called and informed the police before they set off. Following their arrival at the centre, because they found the doors shut and the staff gone, a few Tibetans broke some window panes; this held up traffic for one hour but did not cause a serious brawl. Soon after, those three Tibetans were arrested and sentenced to four years of harsh punishment by Chengguan District's Lhasa City People's Court. On the surface, this judgement was passed for the offence of stirring up trouble and disturbing public order. But in reality, it was because it alerted Zhang Qingli, the Autonomous Region’s party secretary, who labelled all these Tibetans as belonging to an entirely fabricated “Khampa Organisation”, groundlessly turning them into a politically tainted “criminal clique.” As a result, these people received unreasonably harsh punishment. Even if the defendants had made an appeal and demanded to commute the original sentence, it would still have been dismissed. Up to this date, the three Tibetans are still in prison serving their sentence.

The other criminal case happened four years ago in the countryside of Gomjo (Ch. Gongjue) County in Kham. In the name of carrying out official duties, the deputy chief of the county’s Public Security Bureau led three policemen to the countryside, but in reality they were taking out their guns and hunting. They shot animals belonging to first- and second-grade nationally protected species. Moreover, they asked the villagers to provide horses to give them a lift... Because it was not his turn to provide a horse, one villager expressed the wish to refuse, so the deputy chief and the three policemen brutally beat him up causing severe injuries and life-long disability. The villager’s family took this matter to court and the police side actually had to pay a small indemnity which the family did not accept. After three years of continuous appeals to the higher authorities, they finally won the lawsuit and received increased compensation, but they had also evoked the officials’ utmost hatred. They hence deliberately provoked them, invented a different criminal matter and then finally arrested the disabled villager’s family on suspicion of stirring up trouble and disturbing public order. They were sentenced to three years.

In Tibet, these kinds of unjustly administered criminal cases are ubiquitous because officials’ own interests are high above the law. Consequently, criminal cases are created, politicised, and furtively used by public organs who often abuse public power to retaliate against a personal enemy. There are too many cases to be counted that they have been determined to be “political cases” and received harsh punishments. An acquaintance of mine, a white-collar Tibetan worker who used to work for some bank in Lhasa, once shouted “Free Tibet!” when he was drunk and went to prison for a whole year. In all these cases, can we find any trace of the so-called “two restraints and one leniency” policy? Of course, when relatively minor crimes of thievery are actually reported to the authorities only very few fines are given. If they take people into custody, they would have to provide food and accommodation, it would be too much trouble, so they commonly just turn a blind eye and do not ask questions. Such practices are also rather common. But this has always given people the wrong impression that these thieves enjoy the privileges of the special policy of “two restraints and one leniency”.

In fact, a netizen with a very good sense of humour quite accurately summarises the CCP’s policy towards ethnic minorities like this: “there is suppression for main issues, and there is connivance for minor issues; firmly confine religion, and Mandarin Chinese precedes; the Han are in power, the Party is the heart; transmitting wealth from the West to the East, present small economic sops and baits; accelerate assimilation, and peace reigns under heaven.” Subsequently, I also very much agree with what one of my friends, who belongs to the Hui minority, once said: “with the aim not to give certain groups of the Han masses any reason to feel dissatisfaction and grievance towards ethnic minorities and with the aim to give those big Han fascists as little excuses as possible to assault ethnic minorities, I suggest to abolish those 'superficially clever', sympathetic policies towards ethnic minorities that in fact only exist in name, but are devoid of any substance...”.

"Does This Kind of Special Policy Really Exist?" By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser originally written for Radio Free Asia on June 30, 2009 and posted on her blog earlier today.

The blogpost, which examines China's approach to ethnic minority policy, was written after deadly riots broke out in a factory in China's south between Han Chinese and Uighur workers and before the current unrest in Xinjiang that is attracting international media attention.

"Does This Kind of Special Policy Really Exist?"
By Woeser

All nationalities of our nation have already united
into a great family of independent and equal nationalities

Recently, due to clashes between several thousand Han Chinese and a few hundred Uighur workers in a factory in Guangdong province, the internet has been loaded with extremely harsh words towards Uighurs. This is similar to what happened last year in March in the wake of the Tibet incident. The internet was loaded with extremely harsh words towards Tibetans, uttered by authorities as well as ordinary people. At the time, people were already discussing the special policy known as ‘three restraints and one leniency’ (fewer arrests, fewer sentences, fewer death penalties and greater leniency) and ‘two restraints and one leniency’ (fewer arrests, fewer death penalties and greater leniency). This time, the armed clash between Han and Uighur workers contributed more to the troubles caused by the ‘three restraints and one leniency’ and ‘two restraints and one leniency’ policy. So, what is this special policy about? Based on information gathered from the internet, let’s have a simple account of what the policy is.

The so-called ‘three restraints and one leniency’ policy was formulated in 1980 as an important part of Hu Yaobang’s ethnic minority policy, which consisted in being ‘lenient in punishments’ to people from ethnic minorities when handling criminals and in applying the principles of ‘three restraints and one leniency’. The so-called ‘two restraints and one leniency’ policy, according to information gathered, was stipulated in the No. 5 official document issued by the Chinese Central Government in [1984] and the original text stated “when dealing with criminals from ethnic minorities, we have to adhere to the principle of killing less and arresting less, and, as a general rule, we must be lenient in those matters.” These two policies were four years apart, and called ‘two restraints and one leniency’ policy was more practical than ‘three restraints and one leniency’ policy. However, since the origins lay in the first policy, and because his other policies were really daring and his speeches were considered to exceed what is proper, thus, Hu Yaobang was nicknamed Hu Luanbang*.

On the internet a lot of people are protesting the injustice, arguing that the two policies seriously violated the constitution, for according to the constitution, the citizens of the People’s Republic of China are all equal before the law. This sounds quite right. If we change the way we think, what do we base ourselves on when faced with the same crime, ethnic minorities should enjoy special rights when Han people have to endure harsh punishment? Therefore, we can totally understand that Han people took the issue to heart.

But if we take as an example the Tibetan territory of this past half-century, have these two policies been applied over the years? A long time ago, for instance between the ’50s and ’70s, before the special policy was drawn up, the main policy applied to Tibetans was for more punishment against “rioters”, in addition to severe punishment of various kinds of “counter-revolutionaries” as in inland Chinese regions. Countless Tibetans charged with ‘acts of rioting’ were beheaded. According to records of ‘Extracts gathered from important documents from Tibet Autonomous Region’, in 1980 the Tibet Autonomous Region held a “meeting for the implementation of policies”, and numbers recorded in the meeting are the following: “According to rough statistics, people affected by or involved in rioting are counted in hundreds of thousands, which represent more than 10% of the total population”. These numbers are naturally appalling. But real numbers are much higher than those released during the meetings of the Communist Party.

I have interviewed in the past the leader of a Tibetan rebel group, who is a Han**. As early as 1969, Tibetans were sentenced by court to death by shooting because of a so-called ‘second riot’. Later, they were found to have been killed by mistake, the miscarriage of justice was redressed and the families received ‘comfort compensations’. This leader of the Tibetan rebel group said: “Tibetans are too good-natured, when they are about to be shot, they say ‘thanks’; when they are given 200 RMB, they also say ‘thanks’; when they are given 800 RMB, they say ‘thanks’ as well; these Tibetans really are pitiful”. A Tibetan who has experienced the ‘Red Terror’ several times says: “So many bloody incidents have frozen our Tibetans hearts. The so-called ‘disturbances’ of 1987 and 1989 are in fact linked to this hurt.”

What about previous years in Tibetan areas, including the years since the policy was drawn up, has there been anyone who was granted pardon according to the principles of ‘three restraints and one leniency’ or ‘two restraints and one leniency’? Ngawang Sangdrol, a Buddhist nun, yelled slogans in the Barkhor in 1990 and was consequently arrested when she was only 12 years old; she became the youngest political prisoner and remained 11 years behind bars. In 2005, writer Dolma Kyap was arrested because he wrote a book manuscript commenting on Tibetan history and reality, and he was condemned to a ten and a half year-jail sentence for “agitation and subversion of the country”. Since the age of six, the reincarnation of the tenth Panchen Lama has been imprisoned in a place that is still unknown and has remained there for 14 years already simply because he had been recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Nonetheless, from last year until today, in the whole Tibetan territory, the huge suffering that Tibetans undergo is known throughout the world, and it is even more a tremendous irony of the policies of ‘three restraints and one leniency’ and ‘two restraints and one leniency’. It is only that the lies have actually become truth after having been repeated a thousand times, and as a result they have tricked countless Han crowds who do not know the truth. If ethnic minorities are to enjoy their rights, it is essential that these facts be clarified.

June 30, 2009, Beijing

*Note: 'luan' (乱) means disorder in Chinese.
** This refers to a rebel group made up of Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution in Tibet.

‘June 4th’: Facing the Mirror, Seeing Our Common Fate By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser originally written for Radio Free Asia and posted on her blog on June 5th 2009 on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the historic events on Tiananmen Square, June 4th 1989.

Amidst all the media attention surrounding the anniversary, Woeser's reflections on What Being A Dissident Means, published on the blog pages of the New York Times on June 2nd 2009, were one of the few Tibetan voices on the topic.

‘June 4th’: Facing the Mirror, Seeing Our Common Fate
By Woeser

1989 Tiananmen

2008 Lhasa

One of my friends, a Chinese musician born in the ’80s, sent me one of the songs he had just written. After listening to it only once, I could remember the lyrics. Tears quietly slid down my face because that penetrating sound of remembrance contained the following melancholic lyrics: “One day in June there were only young faces. Amid the spring breeze, they forgot time. One day in June there were only young faces. Under the sunlight, they were imagining the world. A gust of wind blew you away; a strong shower cleared up the sky. A gust of wind blew me far away; a strong shower erased footprints…”

I know whom this song is dedicated to. In the meantime, appearing before my eyes were not only Tiananmen twenty years ago, but also the three Tibetan regions of Kham, U-Tsang and Amdo last year; appearing before my eyes were not only the three Tibetan regions of Kham, U-Tsang and Amdo last year but also the streets of the Barkhor twenty years ago, or Norbulingka Palace fifty years ago. That time there were the faces of Tibetan people, but not only the faces of young people; there were also the faces of middle-aged people, and of old people, although the faces of young people were in the largest numbers. This allowed people to complain about the loss of beautiful lives, which solemnly disappeared like the sacrifice. Only yesterday, I was talking about ‘June 4th’ with a Tibetan living overseas. We think that ‘June 4th’ is not an accidental special event, and it is not the sort of event that only happens in China; if you compare it with what happened last year in Tibet, there are similarities in the nature of these events.

Chinese dissident writer Yu Jie described in his writings that after the ‘June 4th’ massacre, His Holiness the Dalai Lama shed tears for the Chinese people who had been killed and said sadly: “How can they use such ruthless means to oppose students leading a peaceful demonstration? These fresh and lively lives are so precious!” His Holiness indicated that he would openly condemn the crackdown carried out by the Communist Party. However, at that time the contact between Tibet and China entered a key era, and if such a statement were to be announced, the mutual dialogue between them would probably be suspended one more time. Yet His Holiness used stronger terms and said: “In this moment of grief, we must stand together with the people who have been massacred, and we must pray for their souls.”

But before the events of ‘June 4th’, that same year in March in the old part of Lhasa, the exact same massacre was carried out against Tibetans. Except for the place and the time that were different, another difference lay in ethnic groups. However, the people who perpetrated the massacre were all the military forces under the command of the Communist Party. In Beijing, they call themselves ‘The People’s Army’ whereas in Lhasa they call themselves ‘The Liberators of a Million Freed Serfs’. When the army crushed the protests by Tibetan people in the name of putting an end to the ‘unrest’, what most Chinese believed was the authorities’ excuse. When the army crushed the protests by the students and the common people in Tiananmen and in many other places throughout China in the name of putting an end to the ‘counterrevolutionary riot’, did most Chinese people still believe the authorities’ excuse? In fact, one of the lessons taught by ‘June 4th’ is that we must have the world wake up to the reality: since this political regime can open fire without mercy on its children, on its people, therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that it opens fire against different ethnic groups (or ethnic minorities) that are governed under its rule. Thus it is an issue of the nature of the political power and not an issue originating in minorities.

In other words, in fact, ‘June 4th’ is just like a mirror, which clearly and completely reflects the nature of the political regime. Inside the mirror of ‘June 4th’, we can see that Tiananmen Square has become the scene of a bloody massacre; we can also see that Lhasa in 1959, 1989 and 2008 has turned into a scene of a bloody massacre; but there is also Kashgar, the plains of Inner Mongolia…Han people, Tibetan people, Uighur people, Mongolian people etc. As long as this autocratic political regime exists for one more day, whichever minority, they all face the risk of being plunged into misery and suffering. Some people believe that ‘June 4th’ was provoked by a mistake of the political power at one time but this is not the case. Therefore, when we recall ‘June 4th’, we also recall the events that happened in our Tibet in 1959, and we also recall the events that happened in our Tibet in 2008.

The tears of His Holiness the Dalai Lama were shed for each life that was taken away; the prayers of His Holiness the Dalai Lama were said for each person, for the fate of each person who has suffered. On the 20th anniversary of ‘June 4th’, His Holiness once again issued an open statement, appealing to the Chinese leaders while the Chinese economy has developed, “they should have the courage to accept the true principle of equality, and accommodate different views. A tolerant and normal new policy would lead the Chinese society towards genuine harmony, and could also increase the popularity of China within the international community”. If this happens, Han Chinese, Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongols would live in happiness, and everyone would live in happiness.

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!

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!

‘Ethnic cleansing’ in Lhasa by Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser originally written for Radio Free Asia on 17th November 2008 and posted on her blog on 17th December 2008. The rise in discrimination towards Tibetans within the PRC has been documented before on High Peaks Pure Earth but in this post Woeser goes into the minutiae of the bureaucracy behind daily life in Lhasa. It's in the details that we can build up a picture of the state apparatus at work.

Zhu Weiqun's comments that Woeser refers to can be read in this Guardian article of 11th November 2008.

Photos of Lhasa last winter…

‘Ethnic cleansing’ in Lhasa by Woeser

Not so long ago, Zhu Weiqun, a vice-minister of the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department, declared: " The Dalai Lama wants to drive away millions of people of the various ethnic groups who are living in this land, and this reveals a message: If one day, [the Dalai Lama] really seizes power, he will without any compunction or sympathy carry out ethnic discrimination, apartheid and ethnic cleansing."

However, it is very regrettable that Lhasa is currently experiencing ethnic discrimination, apartheid and ethnic cleansing. And those who are responsible are not outsiders but the Communist Tibetan authorities themselves. The complaints of the Tibetans in Lhasa have already been heard everywhere. The reason I have to emphasize the complaints of Tibetans is that this only affects Tibetans and it does not involve any people from Han, Hui or other ethnic groups. Among all Tibetans, all those who do not hold a household registration certificate in Lhasa, or do not hold a temporary residence permit, particularly Tibetans from Amdo and Kham (which have been separated into parts of Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces as well as the Chamdo prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region), whether they have come to worship at the temple or to do business in Lhasa, they are without exception detained and then expelled from the city.

It all started at the beginning of April when authorities at Lhasa’s three main monasteries – Drepung, Sera, Ganden – arrested up to a thousand monks from Amdo and Kham who had come to Lhasa to study Buddhism. They used the train link between Tibet and Qinghai to send them to a military prison in Golmud. The monks remained in detention there for three or four months, depending on the situation, before being sent back by various officials or policemen to their native region. This is a form of apartheid and ethnic cleansing towards monks coming from outside Lhasa to study. Later, such operations have been carried out on a larger scale.

Since April 23, the various offices and the neighborhood committees under the local government of Lhasa city proper started to carry out checks on people under their jurisdiction. All the people holding a household registration had to be checked, and had to photocopy their ID and household registration certificate as well as hand in their photograph. Outsiders who did not hold a Lhasa household registration had to register. During this registration process, both the landlord and the tenant had to produce the relevant certificate, ID and temporary residence permit. Besides, the landlord must vouch for his tenant with the "Three Knows": that he knows the tenant's full name, that he knows the tenant's birthplace and that he knows the tenant’s profession. Stricter checks were carried out on people who did not hold the three crucial certificates - ID, temporary residence permit and birth certificate. It was reported in Tibet Business Daily that at least two hours were needed to obtain a temporary residence permit, but in reality it is very difficult for Tibetans from outside Lhasa to secure this certificate, which is very simple for Han and Hui people who have come to Lhasa to work temporarily to obtain. And even for Tibetan people who do hold a temporary residence permit, there still is a possibility that they will be expelled.

Every work unit in Lhasa also required all their employees to produce a copy of their ID and household registration as well as a photograph. All people listed on household registration of each employee also had to produce copies of ID and a one-inch photograph for each person – including infants. Each police station also repeatedly sent policemen to carry out checks at workplaces.

After the authorities had gathered information about all Tibetans, they started to implement in Lhasa what was described by Tibetans as a ‘major ethnic cleansing’. If we think about the history of the old city of Lhasa, Lhasa has always been a holy place where Tibetans from all regions head to and has been the homeland with traditional culture built by Tibetans from all regions for a thousand years. And the ‘major ethnic cleansing’ carried out by the authorities, which is much greater than that occurred in the “Cultural Revolution”, demonstrates that the Communist regime has damaged and even destroyed the Tibetan people’s way of life and traditional culture. Another aspect is that this ‘major ethnic cleansing’, which only targeted at Tibetans, is being carried out as a result of the Chinese authority’s effort to prevent any future outburst of Tibetan protests in Lhasa. However, the result is that in the future Lhasa will only be inhabited by a few remaining Tibetans from Lhasa; the rest of the people living in Lhasa will be people from other ethnic groups such as Hans or Huis who evolved from playing the role of guests to the role of owners. And in the course of this large-scale assimilation by ethnic groups from outside, Lhasa will completely lose its identity.

To put it in a nutshell, Lhasa is currently being silenced and experiencing ethnic discrimination, ethnic segregation and ethnic cleansing. And under such a tight control, the outside world experiences difficulties in getting to know the terrible truth of human rights violations. May the outside world support the ideals of justice and fairness and more people understand the intricacies of these events, and speak out for Tibetan people living in fear!

17th November, 2008

"An Owner and His Pet - Tibetan/Han Relations" by Woeser

This new translation by High Peaks Pure Earth of a blogpost by Woeser from 24th June 2008 focuses on Chinese/Tibetan relations and was written at the height of unrest and tensions that had started in Lhasa on March 10th. It was from 14th March this year that the Han fascination with all things Tibet suddenly stopped, a phenomenon that Woeser examines below. The "Tibetan Incident" that Woeser refers to are the violent incidents that took place in Lhasa on 14th March, footage of which was constantly played on Chinese State TV and news for months and popularly known in China as 3.14 (san yao si).

Tibetans, even those living in Beijing - far away from the Tibetan plateau - felt the difference in their treatment and standing in society. Tibetans were portrayed as violent and out for blood, the Dalai Lama was blamed for the unrest and accused of sabotaging the Olympics and the Tibetan Youth Congress was described by China as "a terror group worse than Bin Laden's". By the way, for a truly mind-boggling analysis of the Tibetan Youth Congress, High Peaks Pure Earth recommends this China Daily article!

In her post, Woeser has also documented the fad amongst the Chinese nouveau riche of keeping Tibetan mastiffs as pets. Numerous Chinese websites extol the virtues of the Tibetan mastiff that fetch prices of up to £250,000. For American readers, that is almost half a million dollars! This may be an unexplored export commodity for Tibetan nomads and a possible future development programme for the plateau - thus solving the grasslands degradation problem! At the height of its fashion, The Times of London reported on this phenomenon.

The protests in Tibet and international outcry, the anger and humiliation felt by the Chinese at the Olympic Torch Relay beset by protestors all over the world along with the subsequent anti-CNN and anti-French sentiments in China all sparked a new wave of nationalistic feelings amongst Chinese citizens. In this atmosphere, Woeser travelled to Kham and Amdo and wrote this post on the road in Kunming, Yunnan Province, on 2nd June. More anecdotes about being Tibetan in China by Woeser have been translated into English by Ragged Banner and can be found here.

"An Owner and His Pet - Tibetan/Han Relations"

In the aftermath of the “Tibetan Incident” in March this year, one of the most significant changes has been the relationship between the Han and Tibetan ethnic groups, in other words the question of the status of Tibetans in China.

It can be said that relations between Hans – who make up the majority of Chinese society - and Tibetans have never been so clearly revealed than after the "Tibetan Incident" last March. In the past, it was as though a veil separated the two and this not only made thing unclear but also produced a very beautiful effect similar to looking at a flower through the fog. Moreover, many Tibetans used to sing their own praises and believed that amongst the 55 minorities in China, their status was the highest, their minority was the one most likeable to the Han people, and they in particular meant much more to Chinese people than Uighur people. Tibetan reincarnated lamas and Tibetan monks, for instance, often come and go between Tibetan and Han areas, have numerous Han disciples and feel proud to serve as Hans’ Lamas. However, among the Chinese people there are many so-called “Tibet fans” and some of them call themselves "drifters in Tibet". Hardly have they spent a few years in Tibet that they find life has no taste. In 2006 when the train entered Lhasa, it seemed that the whole of China started feeling excited about the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and nearly everyone wanted to climb to the Potala. It can be said that it has been a very long time since Hans and Tibetans, I mean the relationship between the common people of the two people, have been permeated by tender feelings that cannot endure the truth.

And after the events in Tibet last March, this veil was lifted. It turns out what many of the Tibetans are satisfied with is just their status of finding favour with the Han among the fifty-five ethnic minorities. Many Han people, be it their love for Tibetans before the events or their hate for Tibetans after the events, have clearly shown that the feelings they nurtured were similar to the feelings of an owner towards its pet. This can be compared to the Tibetan mastiff, the most famous animal living on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. It seems so rare and so valuable that some Chinese tycoons or those who pose as lovers of culture spend vast amounts of money in a rivalry to purchase the mastiff which they also have to feed with lots of meat every day. But one day, the Tibetan mastiff all of a sudden gets angry and bites the person who has become its owner, and the animal is beaten to death on the spot. Chinese newspapers often relate this kind of story. And it perfectly illustrates the relationship between Tibetans and Chinese. This is actually the real and fundamental relations between ethnic groups in Chinese society. If Tibetans are content with being pets, the Han people will maintain the tender feelings they once had towards Tibetans; and just like they are willing to feed cats or dog they like, those Hans will keep on “loving” Tibet. But human beings are not pets: pets do not have a volition of ego, whereas human beings do. Tibetans do not want to be pets, for the consequence of being a pet involves the loss of self, and ultimately the loss of Tibet. Therefore, as long as Tibetans are not content with being pets, or not content with accepting their fate of being pets, and bravely fight for the their being human beings and being Tibetans, then this is what brings trouble. In fact, trouble is already there; Tibetans are sometimes arrested, detained, tortured or even massacred. These are punishments inflicted by the country’s regime. To the Han people who evolve in the non-government sphere, the fact that some Han people changed sides so quickly allowed the truth to surface. And the truth is that Tibetans cannot act as humans. As soon as they do, they are exposed to fatal risks.

Actually, Uighur people obtained the same kind of result a long time ago. The bottom line is that Tibetans and Uighurs are the same: they have not been able to secure a status equal to the Hans in a Chinese society mostly made up of Hans. And this is what was revealed through the events that unfolded last March in Tibet. For many simple-minded and easily satisfied Tibetans, this was like a hit in the face or from another angle, a very significant lesson.

Kunming, 2nd June 2008

"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.