Tibet - Part I

(Part I, written in the summer... I hope to write Part II sometime...)

I’ve been meaning to write about the subject of Tibet since shortly after the riots this past March, and while I’ve amassed a collection of links, I’ve found the pressures of my final semester at school to be too consuming. Now that I’m graduated and faced with the guiltless downtime outside the hours of work, I can focus on revitalizing this blog—and hopefully both demystify and complicate aspects of the 21st century conundrum that is modern China.

It is hard to approach Tibet objectively, as many in the West have grown up with a popularized view of an devoutly pious and harmless people living amid snow mountains, oppressed since the 1950s by the atheistic, communist forces of Red China which have since sought to exploit this people and their home to the utmost extent, eradicating dangerous religiosity and culture all along the way. This characterization has shades of truth.

For quick and simple overview of Tibet, the BBC comes to the rescue. China and Tibet have had a long, antagonistic relationship dating back to the 7th century CE, eventually coming under Mongolian and Chinese influence starting in the 13th century. Since then, the country enjoyed effective autonomy only after the revolution ending the Qing Dynasty in 1911. The ensuing chaos of the formation of a democratic government and subduing of warlords and the subsequent invasion by the Japanese and civil war left Tibet unnoticed in the distant periphery—until 1950, when the newly established People’s Republic of China decided to bring “Liberation” to Tibet—militarily of course. Within the decade, there was open rebellion, sponsored by the American CIA, and with its unsuccessful conclusion, the Dalai Lama fled to northern India, from where he runs the government-in-exile today.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, is popularly received in the West. He is the smiling face of the Tibetan cause, loveable ambassador of his people—interviewed on TV, visited by celebrities and world leaders, even co-starring Brad Pitt (sort of). The Dalai Lama seemingly has pursued without rest the well-treatment of his people from exile, but some would say things have gone astray. Despite his gregarious icon-status, Patrick French in the New York Times asserts that his political strategy of generating popular attention to the cause of Tibet in the west has actually been detrimental. The Dalai Lama has in fact become somewhat of a puppet to the larger, more powerful Free Tibet organizations that pressure for unrealistic concessions on the part of the P.R.C. The Tibetan people inside are actually suffering due to the “good-will” celebrity status of the Dalai Lama. Mistaking awards and medals given to the Dalai Lama by governments abroad, they celebrate or test the local authorities, resulting in arrests, human rights violations, and even deaths with no response from those foreign governments.

What many in the West fail to realize is the extent of Tibet and its ethnic sphere when they talk about “freeing Tibet” or separation from the Chinese state. Tibet on the map, actually the province of the People’s Republic of China known as the Tibetan Autonomous Region (or TAR for short) only encompasses what is historically western Tibet and Lhasa. Tibetan culture and population in fact fans out through four other provinces of western China (which I might add, until the riots in March did not require a special travel permit) as seen in the BBC map here. Additionally for a discussion and revealing peek into Tibetan culture, both in the TAR and Western China, I highly recommend reading Life on the Tibetan Plateau. This is not some big secret, it is in fact clearly visible to the Chinese. For instance, northwestern Yunnan Province is called “Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture." The rest of these provinces have similar counties, prefectures, and regions nominally Tibetan. These provinces, however, contain largely diverse populations made up not only of many, many Han Chinese (the predominant ethnic group of China at 92% of the population) as well as a great range of other ethnic minorities. It is not realistic to imagine the PRC would simply relinquish control of this large territory for the idealistic independence of celebrity culture. Despite the power and influence of the western Free Tibet organizations, not even the Dalai Lama advocates independence from China, but simply greater autonomy and more religious freedom—a subject to which I will return.

We should talk about the “2008 Tibetan Unrest” or what is also known as the “3-14 Riots.” What began on March 10, 2008 as demonstrations marking the 49th anniversary of the failed Tibetan 1959 Tibetan Uprising turned into violent riots on March 14. The true extent of damage to property and human life may never be known. While western media largely focused on the PRC’s military response to the situation and demonstrations in neighboring countries, the facts coming out of Lhasa and other sites of demonstrations/riots were not very clear or concrete. In the wake of the initial media blitz, Chinese response took the internet by storm, putting up such websites as Anti-Cnn.com which systemically reveal the bias of western media in description of events, doctoring of photos, and mismatched captions often showing bloody crackdowns carried out by Nepali police on Tibetan demonstrations with captions about Tibet. It’s really worth a look. Blogs of western travelers in Lhasa and other places where Tibetans were rioting affirmed Chinese assertions that the demonstrations were anything but peaceful. Photos used in the news, when showed un-doctored, reveal the violent intentions of the Tibetans. The damage it was revealed was not so much in the Tibetan areas of Lhasa, but specifically focused on the areas in which Han Chinese lived and ran shops. When looking at videos of Tibetan violence put on the internet afterwards we see the demonstrations largely descended into unrestrained thuggery on the part of the Tibetans. Does the military response on the part of the Chinese government really seem an overreaction now?

We cannot condone the violence of the Tibetans and the damage done to innocent Han Chinese (and reportedly people of the Hui minority as well), but this violence is an indicator of something. While those outside of Tibet have accused the Chinese of committing “cultural genocide” by means of suppression of religious freedom, placing restraints on Tibetan Buddhist monks, and encouraging Han Chinese migration and travel into these Tibetan areas specifically for the purpose of diluting cultural purity/exclusivity (such as the new Qinghai-Tibet Railway). On the ground, however, the last is probably the most influencing factor. While the Chinese government claims they have liberated the Tibetan people from serfdom under the rule of the Dalai Lama and brought economic development to the province, disgruntled Tibetans claim only the Han Chinese immigrants have benefited from the economic improvements, while Tibetans are discriminated against by Han Chinese companies, run out by Han Chinese small business owners, and forced to take only the worst and most dangerous jobs available. Obviously there is something out of place if people feel the urge to take to the streets and commit violence against another ethnic group.