Tibetan 'living Buddha' Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche jailed by China
China has sentenced a revered Tibetan living Buddha to eight-and-a-half years in jail on charges of illegally occupying government land and possession of weapons.
The court in the western town of Kangding handed down the conviction more than eight months after Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche’s trial. It marked the first time a Tibetan arrested after last year’s riots had been allowed to select his own defence lawyers.
He had faced a maximum of 15 years in prison on the two charges and it is possible that the presence of his lawyers persuaded the judges from imposing an even longer term. The judges may also have been wary of handing down a lengthier sentence for fear of renewed outbreaks of anti-Chinese unrest among supporters in the mainly ethnically Tibetan region that is his home. He commands thousands of disciples in Tibet as well as in other areas of China.
The court sentenced him to seven years in prison on the charge of illegally occupying government land and to an additional year for possession of bullets, Tibetan sources told The Times.
However, his lawyers could not be present for the sentencing since both men – prominent for their willingness to handle sensitive human rights cases — were disbarred earlier this year.
Phurbu Rinpoche, a tulku or reincarnation, had been enabled by his ability to speak Chinese to find legal help.
The monk was arrested on March 28 last year, four days after nuns from two religious houses over which he presides took to the streets in demonstrations shortly after deadly rioting erupted in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.
A police search of the home of the living Buddha, who presides over several religious houses and runs an old people’s home, turned up an imitation pistol and 100 rounds of ammunition that police said could cause severe injury or even be fatal.
Local officials, unaware that his lawyers had a background in human rights, had told them when they arrived that the leaders had decided that the living Buddha must be jailed as an example to prevent other reincarnations from using their influence to stir up anti-Chinese unrest.
His family said that the court appeared to have failed on charges of possession of illegal weapons. One relative, who declined to be identified, said: “It seems they couldn’t make the charge about a gun stand up so they used the bullets. As for illegally occupying land, this land was given to the living Buddha himself to build an old people’s home so there is no question of it being illegal.”
At the time of his trial the court had made no attempt to investigate the weapons charges, his lawyer said. As for the illegal occupation of public land, his lawyer argued that the monk had spent 70,000 yuan (£7,000) of his money to buy the plot on which he built the old people’s home.
His lawyer had said: “The living room of such a venerated monk is a public place with people coming and going every day. Someone could have put the weapons there. His wife has said she had never seen them before when cleaning the house.”
Phurbu Rinpoche is the fifth incarnation of a revered Buddhist teacher, known by the title of Burongma. He was identified as a reincarnation when he was seven months old. Now 53, he did not formally become a monk until after the chaotic ultra-leftist Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976 when all Tibetan monasteries were closed. By the time he took religious orders he was already married with two sons.
VOICE OF FREEDOM blog is representing those who are suffering and have no voice under communist China. This blog provides articles, poems, letters, stories and even thoughts and comments on Tibet issue. This blog also provides translations from Tibetan and Chinese to English. I welcome everyone to enjoy this blog and put up a line of your thoughts and comments share with us.
My country "Tibet" a hell on Earth
Friday, July 30, 2010
西藏，无处不在的是恐惧
BBC中文网 - 7月29日
BBC北京记者: 顾求真
房顶上蹲着的中国士兵----持枪的狙击手
最近，“人权观察”组织的报告指责中国军警两年前曾毫无选择地向西藏示威人群开枪，中国当局酷刑折磨被捕藏人。北京否认上述指控。BBC记者顾求真获准在如影随形的护卫陪同下进入西藏报道。他发现，恐惧、担心渗透进各个层面。
最开始，你可能不会注意到房顶上蹲着的中国士兵----持枪的狙击手。眼前是成群的藏人，络绎不绝地来到他们心中最神圣的殿堂祈祷。
位于拉萨中心的大昭寺外，信徒排成长龙，缓缓地向前挪动。
人龙中，有上了年纪的藏族妇女。带着传统的念珠、项链，手中摇着法轮。来自山区的穷苦牧民，饱受寒冷的冬日、灼热的夏日煎熬，皮肤被晒得黝黑，脸上布满了皱纹。健硕的年轻人，留着长发，裹着藏袍。喇嘛身上披着酒红色的袈裟。
然后，你可能就会看到军人了。他们在屋顶上俯视朝拜的人群，持枪的身影映衬着高原的蓝天。警察手持望远镜扫描人群，高处的摄像机拍摄着一举一动。
拉萨市军警巡逻
在拉萨中心的大昭寺外有更多的警察
沿着大昭寺围墙绕过去，你会看到更多的警察。有些穿着制服，有些穿着便衣。坐在椅子上，抱着自动枪，监视着人群。
让人心惊肉跳的军人、警察无处不在，好像是为了故意显示自己的实力强大，让信徒想躲也躲不开。
就是在这里，在拉萨街巷崎岖的老城、石头建成的房屋之间，2008年的抗议示威演变成暴力冲突。藏人攻击汉人，放火焚烧他们的商店。大约有20人、其中大多数为汉人，被打死或者烧死。
部队进入拉萨。但是，抗议活动继续扩散，覆盖了西藏大片地区。
投资改善生活水平
此后，中国当局基本上对记者关闭了西藏。我们是获准进入西藏的为数不多的几个记者团之一。
我们一行大约三十人被带到西藏，目的是让我们亲眼看到中国注入大笔投资，发展和改变西藏。
中国当局表示，要努力改善藏民的生活水平。当局说，五十年前，中国把西藏从达赖喇嘛统治下的农奴制度中解放出来。中国希望藏民收入水平在十年之内赶上中国其他地区。
造价昂贵的藏京铁路
造价昂贵的藏京铁路，并不是所有藏人都欢迎。
我们被带去参观几个声名显赫的项目：造价昂贵的藏京铁路；包装雪山矿泉水的工厂；上海人捐建的一所学校；以及为藏族牧民、农民修建的新家。
在一所新居中，主人杜布杰（音译）指着一幅招贴画对我们说，“他们可是为西藏作了很多事”。招贴画上，是从毛泽东到胡锦涛的中国领导人以布达拉宫为背景的照片。布达拉宫曾经是达赖喇嘛的故居。
但是，当我们想方设法摆脱了当局派来的陪同之后，听到的是另外一个故事。
“我该说什么”
便衣警察随时随地跟踪我们。在小巷中，我们在夜幕的掩护下摆脱了陪同，但却看到更多的中国警察在黑暗中无声地等待着。我们摆脱他们的视线，赶快走了过去。
在匆匆忙忙的交谈中，藏人告诉我们，军警不停地骚扰他们。一个藏人说，铁路线把太多的汉人带入西藏。另外一个人神神秘秘地说，我告诉你一个秘密吧，“中国人统治着我们的土地，但我们藏人还是都相信达赖喇嘛”。说完这番话，他赶快就逃走了。另外一个人摇摇头说，“到处都是间谍，我可不敢谈论这样的话题”。
有一个藏人非常勇敢，愿意和我们公开交谈。
在被陪同带进大昭寺后，我们问他，暴乱之后，一群年轻的喇嘛罕见地当着一群外国记者的面抗议示威，高呼西藏没有自由，他们的近况如何呢？
喇嘛诺加
当喇嘛诺加强调他敬仰达赖喇嘛时，官方翻译却忽略诺加的话。
这个名叫诺加的喇嘛被带到我们面前，陪同的官员不停地告诉他该怎样回答我们的提问。有记者问诺加，你怎样看两年前的示威？坐在诺加身旁的官员说，“那样作不对”。诺加眼睛盯着地板，忠实地回答说，“那样作不对”。
记者又问，“你们高呼西藏没有自由，到底是什么意思”？很明显，诺加很害怕。他用藏语小心地问上司，“我该说什么”？
后来，当有记者问他，你是否敬仰达赖喇嘛？诺加的脸上露出笑容，他回答说，“当然了”。这个答案不在准备好的草稿当中，所以，官方翻译说，诺加说他不敬仰达赖喇嘛。但是，诺加补充说，“我没说我不敬仰赖喇嘛，我真的很敬仰达赖喇嘛”。翻译对他的补充忽略不计。
诺加的回答既勇敢、也很诚实。他是否因此受到了惩罚，我无从得知。
终身监禁的可能
但是，这可以说是一个例外。
所到之处，我们接触到西藏人，包括那些亲近当局的人，由于恐惧，都不敢直言。害怕间谍，害怕保安，害怕由于谈论暴乱、达赖喇嘛或是中国的西藏政策而受到控罪。
想一想，这样做可能意味着终身监禁，你可能就不吃惊了。
其实，中国官员看起来也很害怕。害怕我们和当地人交谈，害怕我们听到和官方版本不同的故事。官方说了，西藏人热爱共产党，热爱共产党给西藏带来的变化。害怕爆发新一轮的动乱，因此才安置了我前面提到的狙击手。
在高入云端的西藏高原，有明媚的蓝天映衬，西藏的表象之下，隐藏着不安、沉默与监控。恐惧渗透进方方面面。
[发表回复REPLY]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BBC北京记者: 顾求真
房顶上蹲着的中国士兵----持枪的狙击手
最近，“人权观察”组织的报告指责中国军警两年前曾毫无选择地向西藏示威人群开枪，中国当局酷刑折磨被捕藏人。北京否认上述指控。BBC记者顾求真获准在如影随形的护卫陪同下进入西藏报道。他发现，恐惧、担心渗透进各个层面。
最开始，你可能不会注意到房顶上蹲着的中国士兵----持枪的狙击手。眼前是成群的藏人，络绎不绝地来到他们心中最神圣的殿堂祈祷。
位于拉萨中心的大昭寺外，信徒排成长龙，缓缓地向前挪动。
人龙中，有上了年纪的藏族妇女。带着传统的念珠、项链，手中摇着法轮。来自山区的穷苦牧民，饱受寒冷的冬日、灼热的夏日煎熬，皮肤被晒得黝黑，脸上布满了皱纹。健硕的年轻人，留着长发，裹着藏袍。喇嘛身上披着酒红色的袈裟。
然后，你可能就会看到军人了。他们在屋顶上俯视朝拜的人群，持枪的身影映衬着高原的蓝天。警察手持望远镜扫描人群，高处的摄像机拍摄着一举一动。
拉萨市军警巡逻
在拉萨中心的大昭寺外有更多的警察
沿着大昭寺围墙绕过去，你会看到更多的警察。有些穿着制服，有些穿着便衣。坐在椅子上，抱着自动枪，监视着人群。
让人心惊肉跳的军人、警察无处不在，好像是为了故意显示自己的实力强大，让信徒想躲也躲不开。
就是在这里，在拉萨街巷崎岖的老城、石头建成的房屋之间，2008年的抗议示威演变成暴力冲突。藏人攻击汉人，放火焚烧他们的商店。大约有20人、其中大多数为汉人，被打死或者烧死。
部队进入拉萨。但是，抗议活动继续扩散，覆盖了西藏大片地区。
投资改善生活水平
此后，中国当局基本上对记者关闭了西藏。我们是获准进入西藏的为数不多的几个记者团之一。
我们一行大约三十人被带到西藏，目的是让我们亲眼看到中国注入大笔投资，发展和改变西藏。
中国当局表示，要努力改善藏民的生活水平。当局说，五十年前，中国把西藏从达赖喇嘛统治下的农奴制度中解放出来。中国希望藏民收入水平在十年之内赶上中国其他地区。
造价昂贵的藏京铁路
造价昂贵的藏京铁路，并不是所有藏人都欢迎。
我们被带去参观几个声名显赫的项目：造价昂贵的藏京铁路；包装雪山矿泉水的工厂；上海人捐建的一所学校；以及为藏族牧民、农民修建的新家。
在一所新居中，主人杜布杰（音译）指着一幅招贴画对我们说，“他们可是为西藏作了很多事”。招贴画上，是从毛泽东到胡锦涛的中国领导人以布达拉宫为背景的照片。布达拉宫曾经是达赖喇嘛的故居。
但是，当我们想方设法摆脱了当局派来的陪同之后，听到的是另外一个故事。
“我该说什么”
便衣警察随时随地跟踪我们。在小巷中，我们在夜幕的掩护下摆脱了陪同，但却看到更多的中国警察在黑暗中无声地等待着。我们摆脱他们的视线，赶快走了过去。
在匆匆忙忙的交谈中，藏人告诉我们，军警不停地骚扰他们。一个藏人说，铁路线把太多的汉人带入西藏。另外一个人神神秘秘地说，我告诉你一个秘密吧，“中国人统治着我们的土地，但我们藏人还是都相信达赖喇嘛”。说完这番话，他赶快就逃走了。另外一个人摇摇头说，“到处都是间谍，我可不敢谈论这样的话题”。
有一个藏人非常勇敢，愿意和我们公开交谈。
在被陪同带进大昭寺后，我们问他，暴乱之后，一群年轻的喇嘛罕见地当着一群外国记者的面抗议示威，高呼西藏没有自由，他们的近况如何呢？
喇嘛诺加
当喇嘛诺加强调他敬仰达赖喇嘛时，官方翻译却忽略诺加的话。
这个名叫诺加的喇嘛被带到我们面前，陪同的官员不停地告诉他该怎样回答我们的提问。有记者问诺加，你怎样看两年前的示威？坐在诺加身旁的官员说，“那样作不对”。诺加眼睛盯着地板，忠实地回答说，“那样作不对”。
记者又问，“你们高呼西藏没有自由，到底是什么意思”？很明显，诺加很害怕。他用藏语小心地问上司，“我该说什么”？
后来，当有记者问他，你是否敬仰达赖喇嘛？诺加的脸上露出笑容，他回答说，“当然了”。这个答案不在准备好的草稿当中，所以，官方翻译说，诺加说他不敬仰达赖喇嘛。但是，诺加补充说，“我没说我不敬仰赖喇嘛，我真的很敬仰达赖喇嘛”。翻译对他的补充忽略不计。
诺加的回答既勇敢、也很诚实。他是否因此受到了惩罚，我无从得知。
终身监禁的可能
但是，这可以说是一个例外。
所到之处，我们接触到西藏人，包括那些亲近当局的人，由于恐惧，都不敢直言。害怕间谍，害怕保安，害怕由于谈论暴乱、达赖喇嘛或是中国的西藏政策而受到控罪。
想一想，这样做可能意味着终身监禁，你可能就不吃惊了。
其实，中国官员看起来也很害怕。害怕我们和当地人交谈，害怕我们听到和官方版本不同的故事。官方说了，西藏人热爱共产党，热爱共产党给西藏带来的变化。害怕爆发新一轮的动乱，因此才安置了我前面提到的狙击手。
在高入云端的西藏高原，有明媚的蓝天映衬，西藏的表象之下，隐藏着不安、沉默与监控。恐惧渗透进方方面面。
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, July 26, 2010
揭开达然萨拉 “西藏流亡政府 ” 辛密
发布者：中国论坛 - 7月24日
来源：中国论坛
作者: 主流,
2010-7-23
２０１０年3月８号至１３号，我们受流亡印度的达赖流亡政府邀请，参加了“达然萨拉参访团”。从新德里到北部山区的达然萨拉（Dharmsala），每天只有一架２０座的小飞机往返。多数团员都先飞到新德里，再
里，再坐１２个小时的公共汽车到达然萨拉汇合。西藏流亡政府“外交部”派出专车，负责接送到旅馆。
各团员的车旅费自理，西藏流亡政府只提供当地住宿和交通，大家被安排在一个叫做“绿色宾馆（Green Hotel）”的简陋旅馆，离达赖住的大昭寺很近。每天由流亡政府“外交部”出车，两个藏族女翻译映真（汉语）及嘎拉（英语）带队，安排活动。
达然萨拉（印度语意为“休息室”）是印度北部喜马偕尔邦山区的一个小镇，散布在印度北部一座小山腰部和顶部，缠绕在几处狭窄山路旁边。
1959年，西藏发生叛乱后，达赖带领8万跟随他的藏民仓惶出逃到印度，被印度政府安置在北部这个山区小镇。经过40多年的繁衍，加上陆续出逃的少数藏民，目前流亡海外的藏人共约13万人，其中在印度有10万人，其余的3万多人主要分布在尼泊尔、不丹、欧洲和美洲等地。现在，约有１万流亡藏人住在这里。
达然萨拉：古老与现代混淆的奇特风景
目前，小镇仍是贫困落后、穷乡僻壤，道路崎岖，基础建设破烂不堪。当地普通人的平均收入月薪只有２０００印度卢比（约３００人民币，这只相当于西藏平均收入的三分之一）。镇上有６０００多藏人和达赖的流亡政府，另外还有４０００多国际藏族村（西方救助）的中小学生，以及藏族难民的成人学校。这里还住着很多当地印度人，但印度人比藏人更贫困、肮脏。
弯曲的山路边到处是印度人摆的摊点，卖些中国制造、辗转贩运来的廉价哈达，当地产的工艺品及水果蔬菜。残破简陋的小镇建筑物中，隐约其间几座高大的藏传佛教寺庙。拥挤的山路上，到处遛达的牛驴，与肮脏的乞丐，穿着红色袈裟的和尚，还有很多西方来的“义工”和访问者，形成古老与现代混淆错乱的奇特风景。
我们在达然萨拉期间，参观了藏人国际学校和儿童村，接受“西藏受政治迫害者协会”的晚宴；参加了3.10西藏起义５１周年法会；参观大昭寺、会见达赖喇嘛；参加“西藏殉国者”纪念碑（中文名称就显露“藏独”心态），和西藏纪念馆揭幕；参观西藏佛学院，会见大宝法王；参观藏传手工艺作坊，藏医藏药工厂等（照片附后）。
３月１０日，在大昭寺广场“纪念西藏起义５１周年”法会上，我们被安排在主席台左侧最显眼的位置。达赖演讲时，当着数千外国宾客和记者，邀请大家集体站立接受鼓掌。达赖数度赞扬这帮来访的“中国人”：代表中国未来，“维系西藏前途”。法会结束时，达赖不顾保安阻拦，转身走进我们中间，与所有人一一握手、合手致谢。现场所有藏人一齐起立，热烈欢呼，一些藏人更是泪水盈眶。
会见达赖：交流大藏区与藏人自治
达赖住在座落在一个小山头上的“大昭寺”内，寺内戒备森严，外有荷枪持弹的印度士兵，内有流亡政府“安全部”人员。晋见达赖者被层层把关、安检搜身；不准带相机、钥匙、钢笔等任何“危险器物”。
３月１０日下午，访问团在接见室外等了两个小时，才等到达赖的会见。陪同会见的还有流亡政府总理桑东仁波切，达赖办公室主任阿旺等人。
与达赖交流对话时，多数人只说些赞美之词，客气之话。轮到我发言，我提出几个问题：
首先，西藏问题国际化，是否有利于汉藏互信？及双方通过真诚谈判，切实解决问题？
第二，流亡政府要求把四川、青海、贵州、甘肃、云南、新疆等地一部分，也划入“大藏区”，您是否知道绝大多数汉人老百姓无法接受？
第三、既然您提倡中庸之道，要求尊重６００万藏人的人权，难道１３亿汉人的人权就不值得尊重？
第四、您提出除了国防和外交，其他权力都属于藏人的“高度自治”。现在的藏人实际上就在闹独立，如果藏人拥有了财力人力的绝对控制权，如何保证西藏不会独立出去？
他的汉语翻译，以“时间不够”为由想打断发言，并建议“以英语发言”。这被达赖发言阻止。达赖坚持要回答这些问题，他共花了半个小时作出解释。
达赖说：不是我要搞大藏区，是CCP（中共）要搞大藏区；不是我们要搞“西藏问题国际化”，是CCP要搞国际化。中国外交部每天在国际场合批评我，国际上当然要评论是非，这是谁在搞国际化？达赖说：我们承认，中国给了西藏很多援助，但只给现在的西藏自治区，自治区外的青海、四川、甘肃、新疆、云南、贵州，还有四百万藏民，得不到公平照顾，成为二等、甚至三等公民。
达赖说：实际上，这里的藏族精英都是现行自治区以外来的，包括我自己，是青海来的，他（达赖指着办公室主任）是四川来的，达然萨拉的多数人都来自西藏之外。说大藏区占了中国的四分之一的土地，可是这些土地还是呆在中国之内，属于中华人民共和国。我们说高度自治，主要是经济、文化和宗教，不是外交或军事。我本人将来不会担任政府要职。所有的藏人在呆一起，有什么不好呢？
达赖接着说：我告诉你一个内部消息，最近中国国务院召开的“西藏工作会议”，已经按照我们的提议，把西藏以外藏区的“经济发展”也规划在内，这不就是大藏区吗？这是个好消息。有利于将来统一和藏人自治。
达赖说：接着说下一个问题，除了国防和外交归中央，其他经济、文化、宗教、司法、行政都归藏人，也不是绝对的。比如教育，藏区要普及义务教育，我们没有足够的老师，就要从中国要，从内地要，这都可以谈嘛！提出条件不是最后底线，双方可以协商。
会见大宝法王“噶玛巴”
３月１２日我们会见了，前几年逃出中国的第三号西藏宗教领袖“大宝法王”阿玛巴。他就住在达然萨拉的“佛学院”内的法王寺。这个学院培养从１到１８年级所有佛学班，直到获得最高的“格西”，成为可以传教的活佛。目前，全院约有２０００多名男女佛学徒。
通过层层严密的保安和搜身检查、“抵押”了来访者的护照后，终于见到这个年轻的法王（见照片）。他现年２３岁，高大微胖。除了进修佛法外，他还在学英语、日文、法文和拉丁四门外语；能说台湾口音的流利汉语。
阿玛巴说话直率，口无遮拦。当有人问他对西藏前途看法时，他说：“我们没有能力治理西藏，将来可能要靠周边国家帮助治理”。有人问：你与达赖喇嘛有什么不同？他说：我们在达赖喇嘛的领导下，共同为藏人祈福。达赖喇嘛需要领导整个西藏，我则专心藏传佛教。希望将来在西藏问题获得满意解决后，我能回到中国内地传教。
在访问“阿玛巴”时，也遇到几位从中国内地来朝见的汉人，他们拿着信徒名单跪拜大宝法王，并捐出随身所有财物（几百美元），使这位年轻活佛，感动不已。据流亡政府的人说，达赖圆寂后，新转世灵童的培养至少需要十多年，这期间藏人面临一个权力空窗，也许大宝法王可以接替达赖权力，现在大宝法王就是达赖培养的接班人。
在会见达赖和阿玛巴后，我们与流亡政府总理桑东仁波切和议长边巴次仁，用英语交流（二人似乎不懂汉语）。我提出更尖锐和具体的“大藏区”问题：流亡政府要求停止汉人移居藏区，你们是否知道这在世界上都违反基本人权？你们是否知道在“大藏区”内，还有汉族２０００多万人。例如青海省，因为是达赖出生地就要划为大藏区，但那里藏人只有１００万，汉人却有３００万。凭什么４００万藏人要统治多倍汉人呢？如果汉人也要自治或独立，那该怎么办？
总理和议长以流利英语罗列出一大堆理由，大意是说：按照国际法规，大藏区内汉族占多数的地区，汉人也可以自治。郭岩华接着问：“大藏区”数千年来，都是汉藏回羌各族，混居互婚，安居乐业。现在，往往城镇内多是汉族，乡镇以下多是藏族，犬牙交错，怎么可能划分清楚或“各族自治”？因为土地、人口、资源各种权益争执起来，岂不又成了另一个巴尔干式“火药桶”？众人哑口无言。
免费学校：藏人偷渡来此的主因
前些年，从西藏偷渡来印度和尼伯儿的藏人，每年都有４－５千人，也有的藏人把孩子留在国际儿童村或学校，就回西藏工作或经商去了。导游介绍：从西藏或其他省份的藏区逃到尼伯尔再辗转到印度，要走上２０天至一个月，很多藏民夜行昼伏，一路要饭乞讨，翻过大雪山和国界时，很多人冻饿而死。更多的人被警察抓住，坐一阵牢后，被遣送回老家。
一个刚从西藏逃来的藏民说：这里管吃管住，学费全免，每月发给零用钱，谁听说了不跑来呢？ 其实，这类由西方国家捐助及监管的“免费学校”，正是藏人偷渡来此的主要原因。目前，这些儿童村和成人学校主要教授英语、藏文和印度文，还有藏族手工艺、技工、电脑等工作培训。虽然流亡政府议会通过法案，在小学四年级以上也教汉语，但因“没有汉族老师”（这个借口显然太过牵强），至今没有实施。
但是，自２００８年西藏发生暴乱后，从中国来这里的藏人越来越少，目前每年只有几百人。流亡政府的人说有几个原因：一是，边境管理更严格了；二是，西藏也实行“免费教育和医疗”；三是，中国政府不再允许公务员的孩子来这里受教育，否则开除公职。流亡政府的人哀叹道：还是达赖喇嘛有先见之明，当初我们在全球掀起抗议中国高潮时（也引起华人强烈反弹），他就忧虑说：这样的对抗对我们可能不利......
随着中国的持续繁荣，西藏流亡政府搞的“国际化”，除了赚些口水外，结果很可能只是一场颗粒无收的无奈和尴尬。
西藏前途：应由当地中国人自己决定
目前，生活在这里的藏人并不比内地幸福，他们即使出生在印度，也永远都是难民，无法获得印度的身份或护照，更不能随便出国。即使流亡政府内部官员，也受印度政府严密监视，常与中国内地联系者就会被怀疑。现在，甚至连二号宗教领袖阿玛巴，印度都不信任，连出国访问都不被准许。
近年来，中国政府已采取务实做法：只要没有刑事罚罪记录，流亡藏人都可以申请“中国旅行证”，自由回国探亲访友，做生意。很多藏人现在就往来于中印各地，靠从西藏及内地采购商品，在这里贩卖赚钱致富。
随着中国经济高速发展，现在不仅印度各地，连这个小镇上到处都是中国生产的衣服、玩具和电器等产品。正如达赖所说：我们的宗教是印度学来的，我们的饮食是从中国学来的。藏人在印度到处开设的“藏餐馆”，实际上就是“口味差点”的传统中餐。某种意义上说，藏族商人正成为一种润滑剂，促进着中印贸易发展。
从中国的长远利益看，中国应加快西藏经济和社会建设，特别是那些落后农牧区，实现公路水电“村村通”；实施完全免费的“汉藏双语”义务教育，并把义务教育逐渐提高到１２年；促进民族融合，配合全面社会福利，实施免费“成人教育”，对那些贫困的农牧民进行双语和技术培训；收留那些失业和无业游民，管吃管住，发零用钱，并进行针对性的职业培训，直到他们找到工作。
维护西藏稳定同时，全力促进西藏经济发展，从根本上消除藏人偷渡境外的“经济动因”。随着西藏越来越繁荣发达，时间将站在绝大多数当地中国人一边；而西藏的前途，也只能由当地的中国人自己决定
来源：中国论坛
作者: 主流,
2010-7-23
２０１０年3月８号至１３号，我们受流亡印度的达赖流亡政府邀请，参加了“达然萨拉参访团”。从新德里到北部山区的达然萨拉（Dharmsala），每天只有一架２０座的小飞机往返。多数团员都先飞到新德里，再
里，再坐１２个小时的公共汽车到达然萨拉汇合。西藏流亡政府“外交部”派出专车，负责接送到旅馆。
各团员的车旅费自理，西藏流亡政府只提供当地住宿和交通，大家被安排在一个叫做“绿色宾馆（Green Hotel）”的简陋旅馆，离达赖住的大昭寺很近。每天由流亡政府“外交部”出车，两个藏族女翻译映真（汉语）及嘎拉（英语）带队，安排活动。
达然萨拉（印度语意为“休息室”）是印度北部喜马偕尔邦山区的一个小镇，散布在印度北部一座小山腰部和顶部，缠绕在几处狭窄山路旁边。
1959年，西藏发生叛乱后，达赖带领8万跟随他的藏民仓惶出逃到印度，被印度政府安置在北部这个山区小镇。经过40多年的繁衍，加上陆续出逃的少数藏民，目前流亡海外的藏人共约13万人，其中在印度有10万人，其余的3万多人主要分布在尼泊尔、不丹、欧洲和美洲等地。现在，约有１万流亡藏人住在这里。
达然萨拉：古老与现代混淆的奇特风景
目前，小镇仍是贫困落后、穷乡僻壤，道路崎岖，基础建设破烂不堪。当地普通人的平均收入月薪只有２０００印度卢比（约３００人民币，这只相当于西藏平均收入的三分之一）。镇上有６０００多藏人和达赖的流亡政府，另外还有４０００多国际藏族村（西方救助）的中小学生，以及藏族难民的成人学校。这里还住着很多当地印度人，但印度人比藏人更贫困、肮脏。
弯曲的山路边到处是印度人摆的摊点，卖些中国制造、辗转贩运来的廉价哈达，当地产的工艺品及水果蔬菜。残破简陋的小镇建筑物中，隐约其间几座高大的藏传佛教寺庙。拥挤的山路上，到处遛达的牛驴，与肮脏的乞丐，穿着红色袈裟的和尚，还有很多西方来的“义工”和访问者，形成古老与现代混淆错乱的奇特风景。
我们在达然萨拉期间，参观了藏人国际学校和儿童村，接受“西藏受政治迫害者协会”的晚宴；参加了3.10西藏起义５１周年法会；参观大昭寺、会见达赖喇嘛；参加“西藏殉国者”纪念碑（中文名称就显露“藏独”心态），和西藏纪念馆揭幕；参观西藏佛学院，会见大宝法王；参观藏传手工艺作坊，藏医藏药工厂等（照片附后）。
３月１０日，在大昭寺广场“纪念西藏起义５１周年”法会上，我们被安排在主席台左侧最显眼的位置。达赖演讲时，当着数千外国宾客和记者，邀请大家集体站立接受鼓掌。达赖数度赞扬这帮来访的“中国人”：代表中国未来，“维系西藏前途”。法会结束时，达赖不顾保安阻拦，转身走进我们中间，与所有人一一握手、合手致谢。现场所有藏人一齐起立，热烈欢呼，一些藏人更是泪水盈眶。
会见达赖：交流大藏区与藏人自治
达赖住在座落在一个小山头上的“大昭寺”内，寺内戒备森严，外有荷枪持弹的印度士兵，内有流亡政府“安全部”人员。晋见达赖者被层层把关、安检搜身；不准带相机、钥匙、钢笔等任何“危险器物”。
３月１０日下午，访问团在接见室外等了两个小时，才等到达赖的会见。陪同会见的还有流亡政府总理桑东仁波切，达赖办公室主任阿旺等人。
与达赖交流对话时，多数人只说些赞美之词，客气之话。轮到我发言，我提出几个问题：
首先，西藏问题国际化，是否有利于汉藏互信？及双方通过真诚谈判，切实解决问题？
第二，流亡政府要求把四川、青海、贵州、甘肃、云南、新疆等地一部分，也划入“大藏区”，您是否知道绝大多数汉人老百姓无法接受？
第三、既然您提倡中庸之道，要求尊重６００万藏人的人权，难道１３亿汉人的人权就不值得尊重？
第四、您提出除了国防和外交，其他权力都属于藏人的“高度自治”。现在的藏人实际上就在闹独立，如果藏人拥有了财力人力的绝对控制权，如何保证西藏不会独立出去？
他的汉语翻译，以“时间不够”为由想打断发言，并建议“以英语发言”。这被达赖发言阻止。达赖坚持要回答这些问题，他共花了半个小时作出解释。
达赖说：不是我要搞大藏区，是CCP（中共）要搞大藏区；不是我们要搞“西藏问题国际化”，是CCP要搞国际化。中国外交部每天在国际场合批评我，国际上当然要评论是非，这是谁在搞国际化？达赖说：我们承认，中国给了西藏很多援助，但只给现在的西藏自治区，自治区外的青海、四川、甘肃、新疆、云南、贵州，还有四百万藏民，得不到公平照顾，成为二等、甚至三等公民。
达赖说：实际上，这里的藏族精英都是现行自治区以外来的，包括我自己，是青海来的，他（达赖指着办公室主任）是四川来的，达然萨拉的多数人都来自西藏之外。说大藏区占了中国的四分之一的土地，可是这些土地还是呆在中国之内，属于中华人民共和国。我们说高度自治，主要是经济、文化和宗教，不是外交或军事。我本人将来不会担任政府要职。所有的藏人在呆一起，有什么不好呢？
达赖接着说：我告诉你一个内部消息，最近中国国务院召开的“西藏工作会议”，已经按照我们的提议，把西藏以外藏区的“经济发展”也规划在内，这不就是大藏区吗？这是个好消息。有利于将来统一和藏人自治。
达赖说：接着说下一个问题，除了国防和外交归中央，其他经济、文化、宗教、司法、行政都归藏人，也不是绝对的。比如教育，藏区要普及义务教育，我们没有足够的老师，就要从中国要，从内地要，这都可以谈嘛！提出条件不是最后底线，双方可以协商。
会见大宝法王“噶玛巴”
３月１２日我们会见了，前几年逃出中国的第三号西藏宗教领袖“大宝法王”阿玛巴。他就住在达然萨拉的“佛学院”内的法王寺。这个学院培养从１到１８年级所有佛学班，直到获得最高的“格西”，成为可以传教的活佛。目前，全院约有２０００多名男女佛学徒。
通过层层严密的保安和搜身检查、“抵押”了来访者的护照后，终于见到这个年轻的法王（见照片）。他现年２３岁，高大微胖。除了进修佛法外，他还在学英语、日文、法文和拉丁四门外语；能说台湾口音的流利汉语。
阿玛巴说话直率，口无遮拦。当有人问他对西藏前途看法时，他说：“我们没有能力治理西藏，将来可能要靠周边国家帮助治理”。有人问：你与达赖喇嘛有什么不同？他说：我们在达赖喇嘛的领导下，共同为藏人祈福。达赖喇嘛需要领导整个西藏，我则专心藏传佛教。希望将来在西藏问题获得满意解决后，我能回到中国内地传教。
在访问“阿玛巴”时，也遇到几位从中国内地来朝见的汉人，他们拿着信徒名单跪拜大宝法王，并捐出随身所有财物（几百美元），使这位年轻活佛，感动不已。据流亡政府的人说，达赖圆寂后，新转世灵童的培养至少需要十多年，这期间藏人面临一个权力空窗，也许大宝法王可以接替达赖权力，现在大宝法王就是达赖培养的接班人。
在会见达赖和阿玛巴后，我们与流亡政府总理桑东仁波切和议长边巴次仁，用英语交流（二人似乎不懂汉语）。我提出更尖锐和具体的“大藏区”问题：流亡政府要求停止汉人移居藏区，你们是否知道这在世界上都违反基本人权？你们是否知道在“大藏区”内，还有汉族２０００多万人。例如青海省，因为是达赖出生地就要划为大藏区，但那里藏人只有１００万，汉人却有３００万。凭什么４００万藏人要统治多倍汉人呢？如果汉人也要自治或独立，那该怎么办？
总理和议长以流利英语罗列出一大堆理由，大意是说：按照国际法规，大藏区内汉族占多数的地区，汉人也可以自治。郭岩华接着问：“大藏区”数千年来，都是汉藏回羌各族，混居互婚，安居乐业。现在，往往城镇内多是汉族，乡镇以下多是藏族，犬牙交错，怎么可能划分清楚或“各族自治”？因为土地、人口、资源各种权益争执起来，岂不又成了另一个巴尔干式“火药桶”？众人哑口无言。
免费学校：藏人偷渡来此的主因
前些年，从西藏偷渡来印度和尼伯儿的藏人，每年都有４－５千人，也有的藏人把孩子留在国际儿童村或学校，就回西藏工作或经商去了。导游介绍：从西藏或其他省份的藏区逃到尼伯尔再辗转到印度，要走上２０天至一个月，很多藏民夜行昼伏，一路要饭乞讨，翻过大雪山和国界时，很多人冻饿而死。更多的人被警察抓住，坐一阵牢后，被遣送回老家。
一个刚从西藏逃来的藏民说：这里管吃管住，学费全免，每月发给零用钱，谁听说了不跑来呢？ 其实，这类由西方国家捐助及监管的“免费学校”，正是藏人偷渡来此的主要原因。目前，这些儿童村和成人学校主要教授英语、藏文和印度文，还有藏族手工艺、技工、电脑等工作培训。虽然流亡政府议会通过法案，在小学四年级以上也教汉语，但因“没有汉族老师”（这个借口显然太过牵强），至今没有实施。
但是，自２００８年西藏发生暴乱后，从中国来这里的藏人越来越少，目前每年只有几百人。流亡政府的人说有几个原因：一是，边境管理更严格了；二是，西藏也实行“免费教育和医疗”；三是，中国政府不再允许公务员的孩子来这里受教育，否则开除公职。流亡政府的人哀叹道：还是达赖喇嘛有先见之明，当初我们在全球掀起抗议中国高潮时（也引起华人强烈反弹），他就忧虑说：这样的对抗对我们可能不利......
随着中国的持续繁荣，西藏流亡政府搞的“国际化”，除了赚些口水外，结果很可能只是一场颗粒无收的无奈和尴尬。
西藏前途：应由当地中国人自己决定
目前，生活在这里的藏人并不比内地幸福，他们即使出生在印度，也永远都是难民，无法获得印度的身份或护照，更不能随便出国。即使流亡政府内部官员，也受印度政府严密监视，常与中国内地联系者就会被怀疑。现在，甚至连二号宗教领袖阿玛巴，印度都不信任，连出国访问都不被准许。
近年来，中国政府已采取务实做法：只要没有刑事罚罪记录，流亡藏人都可以申请“中国旅行证”，自由回国探亲访友，做生意。很多藏人现在就往来于中印各地，靠从西藏及内地采购商品，在这里贩卖赚钱致富。
随着中国经济高速发展，现在不仅印度各地，连这个小镇上到处都是中国生产的衣服、玩具和电器等产品。正如达赖所说：我们的宗教是印度学来的，我们的饮食是从中国学来的。藏人在印度到处开设的“藏餐馆”，实际上就是“口味差点”的传统中餐。某种意义上说，藏族商人正成为一种润滑剂，促进着中印贸易发展。
从中国的长远利益看，中国应加快西藏经济和社会建设，特别是那些落后农牧区，实现公路水电“村村通”；实施完全免费的“汉藏双语”义务教育，并把义务教育逐渐提高到１２年；促进民族融合，配合全面社会福利，实施免费“成人教育”，对那些贫困的农牧民进行双语和技术培训；收留那些失业和无业游民，管吃管住，发零用钱，并进行针对性的职业培训，直到他们找到工作。
维护西藏稳定同时，全力促进西藏经济发展，从根本上消除藏人偷渡境外的“经济动因”。随着西藏越来越繁荣发达，时间将站在绝大多数当地中国人一边；而西藏的前途，也只能由当地的中国人自己决定
Saturday, July 17, 2010
China and Starvation
Choni Tsultrim Gyatso
7/16/2010
Starvation in Chinese prisons is a way of torture and it has been brutally practicing on prisoners and specially Political prisoners.
This week, the Falun Dafa Information Center reported that wardens at Heilongjiang’s Daqing prison are preventing sixty-five Falun Gong practitioners detained there from eating. Falun Gong practitioners are not allowed to enter the dining hall or receive food from others—and they’re using this as a form of torture. More than three thousand Falun Gong practitioners have been killed since China crackdown on the spiritual practice but 400 of them were starved in prisons.
another fact is that About 20 million people are facing starvation in China because of droughts and floods across the country this year, China Daily reported today.
Another 80 million people in rural areas of at least 10 provinces are threatened with food shortages this winter because of the impact of the natural disasters on grain crops.
Over the last nine months, China has been hit with a wave of unusually severe natural disasters, including prolonged freezing temperatures in eastern and central China, extensive drought during the summer in several central provinces and widespread flooding of the Yangtze River.
More than 200 million rural residents were affected by these disasters, this information clearly posted on China Daily News.
Altogether, about 114 million acres of agricultural land were damaged by the disasters; Government officials now say that this year's grain production will be lower than last year's. That means starvation rate is going to go sky rock later this year.
In case of Karma Samdrup China's goal is so clear that they wanted to get rid of him. So who cares to feed him and lost weight in prison
I really believe that Karma's small and skinny health condition now is on the way to starvation
7/16/2010
Starvation in Chinese prisons is a way of torture and it has been brutally practicing on prisoners and specially Political prisoners.
This week, the Falun Dafa Information Center reported that wardens at Heilongjiang’s Daqing prison are preventing sixty-five Falun Gong practitioners detained there from eating. Falun Gong practitioners are not allowed to enter the dining hall or receive food from others—and they’re using this as a form of torture. More than three thousand Falun Gong practitioners have been killed since China crackdown on the spiritual practice but 400 of them were starved in prisons.
another fact is that About 20 million people are facing starvation in China because of droughts and floods across the country this year, China Daily reported today.
Another 80 million people in rural areas of at least 10 provinces are threatened with food shortages this winter because of the impact of the natural disasters on grain crops.
Over the last nine months, China has been hit with a wave of unusually severe natural disasters, including prolonged freezing temperatures in eastern and central China, extensive drought during the summer in several central provinces and widespread flooding of the Yangtze River.
More than 200 million rural residents were affected by these disasters, this information clearly posted on China Daily News.
Altogether, about 114 million acres of agricultural land were damaged by the disasters; Government officials now say that this year's grain production will be lower than last year's. That means starvation rate is going to go sky rock later this year.
In case of Karma Samdrup China's goal is so clear that they wanted to get rid of him. So who cares to feed him and lost weight in prison
I really believe that Karma's small and skinny health condition now is on the way to starvation
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Teaching Tibetan in Tibet: Bilingual Education is Survival
Author: Åshild Kolås
Models of Sovereignty and Survival In Alaska
The “Tibet Question” has become one of the focal points of disagreements between China and the international community, and the survival of Tibetan culture and language is one of the key topics of the debate. While both the Chinese authorities and exiled Tibetans have linked their political agendas to the question of protecting “cultural rights” in Tibet, these are also contentious issues within China.
The role of so-called “bilingual” teaching in schools for Tibetan children is one of the issues that are being debated by educators and bureaucrats in the People’s Republic of China. Current government policies give top priority to speeding up economic development in western China, including the Tibetan areas. Improving the quality of education is seen as one of several possible strategies toward reaching this goal. Within this context, officials in charge of education accept that Tibetan medium teaching may be necessary to help Tibetan students achieve better results. But education departments have limited resources, and the teaching of Tibetan as a second language represents an additional expenditure they may be unwilling or unable to cover.
Critics, including mainly Tibetan educators, administrators, and other cadres, agree that there is an urgent need to improve the quality of education in Tibetan areas. In addition, many argue that Tibetan language needs to be taught in schools as a means to preserve Tibetan culture. In their view, the Chinese education system currently contributes to the assimilation of Tibetans into the Chinese mainstream. Among the Tibetan critics who hold this view, Tenzin*, from Kham (eastern Tibet), insists that “more than anywhere else in society, the school is where a Tibetan child learns to become Chinese.”
On the other hand, even critics admit that it is vital to raise the education level of Tibetans and other minorities for them to be able to participate in the economic development of their regions. Both Tibetan and Han Chinese educators have argued that the added workload of learning two languages is a significant obstacle, making it difficult for Tibetan children in bilingual schools to compete for admission to higher education. Political concerns have guided the development of bilingual education in Tibetan areas of China, and numerous challenges confront Tibetan school children, their parents, and teachers.
Government Policies
Soon after the founding of Communist China in 1949, a number of public schools were set up in Tibetan areas, as well as in other areas inhabited by “minority nationalities.” Education was important to the new regime, to consolidate their control of the border areas and “civilize” the people living in China’s “frontier” regions. In the mid-1950s, newly established education departments in Tibetan areas issued their first guidelines on “bilingual education.” The use of Tibetan as the primary language of schools for Tibetans was the only feasible strategy at the time, since few people in these areas could understand Chinese.
In 1958 the process of developing bilingual education was interrupted by the Democratic Reforms campaign, which was followed by a series of radical political campaigns, including the devastating Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Bilingual teaching was discontinued for about 20 years, and as a consequence, an entire generation of Tibetans failed to learn to read and write their Native language. When the development of bilingual education for “minority nationalities” was back on the agenda in the late 1970s, one of the difficulties was finding teachers who were able to teach Tibetan.
By the early 1980s, officials in the local government education departments were discussing how to develop educational programs suited to the “special characteristics of the nationalities.” Minority language education became the main focus of these discussions, and the initial trend was to support the use of minority languages in schools, to educate children in their Native language. Tibetan educators from the five provinces and regions that encompass “Tibetan” areas (Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan) started cooperating to compile a series of textbooks to be used in all bilingual schools for Tibetan children.
During this period, a number of trial projects were carried out to test the benefits of Tibetan medium teaching in schools for Tibetans. (Bass) These projects generally received glowing reports, and new policies were subsequently drawn up to increase Tibetan medium teaching. In 1987 the People’s Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) passed a resolution stipulating that by 1993, all junior middle schools were to teach in Tibetan, and by 1997, most subjects in senior middle schools were also to be taught in Tibetan.
In the 1990s the situation changed again, however, and bilingual education met with increasing disapproval. As a result of this backlash, the policies that were introduced in 1987 could not be implemented. Moreover, in 1997 a deputy secretary of the TAR Communist Party announced the reversal of the 1987 resolution. At the same time new policies were introduced, this time to increase the teaching of Chinese to Tibetan children starting at the first grade of primary school. (Bass) Considering the substantial evidence from educators in support of Tibetan medium teaching, what were the grounds for these policy reversals?
The Political Dimension
Decisions concerning Tibetan language instruction in schools are not just a question of what benefits students. In China, education is directed toward disseminating the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party. The standard curriculum in Chinese schools thus emphasizes lessons in patriotism and nationalistic sentiments, and patriotic education in one form or another constitutes a significant part of the curriculum along with politics, morals, and other subjects. Accordingly, the primary and middle-school curriculum includes lessons such as Marxist-Leninist ideology, the thoughts of Mao, respect for the revolutionary heroes, and love of the Chinese Communist Party.
The aim of “nationality education” is still described by education officials in Tibetan areas as “keeping up socialism.” One of the primary goals of education in Tibetan and other minority areas is to strengthen the “unity of the nationalities” and make minority children patriotic members of the Chinese “Motherland.” (Hansen) While actively promoting patriotism, textbooks also disseminate the notion that minorities are inferior and backward compared to the Han Chinese. Moreover, non-Han students frequently learn that their language, history, religion, and customs are considered useless or insignificant in the Chinese school system. (Hansen) Dorje, a teacher in a “nationalities middle school,” explains why Tibetan students at his school learn so little about their own language and culture:
“Tibetan is not taught at our school, although many of the Tibetan students are very interested in learning to read and write Tibetan, and would also like to learn about their culture and traditions. The guidelines of the provincial education authorities even say that we should publish our own textbooks on local history and culture, but in fact this has not been done. This is because both the students themselves and their teachers emphasize the kind of knowledge that students need for passing the standard national and provincial exams.”
Contrary to the rest of the curriculum, the Tibetan textbooks teach Tibetan students to value their own traditions. In addition, the trans-provincial scope of the Tibetan curriculum, with its emphasis on the unity of “plateau culture,” provides an important way to breach the provincial political boundaries that currently separate the Tibetan population into different administrative units. (Upton) In other words, the curriculum creates a space for the construction of a Tibetan identity that encompasses all Tibetan areas, and plays an important role in the reconstruction of Tibetan culture. For these reasons, some government officials and cadres regard Tibetan language education as a potential source of “local nationalism” and a threat to stability. These officials want to limit Tibetan medium teaching to a minimum, and disapprove of teaching Tibetan as a second language.
Market Forces
In addition to a more constrained political climate in recent years, economic reforms have also weakened the role of Tibetan language education in several ways. New policies introduced in 1985 gave local governments the final responsibility for funding their own primary and secondary education. The poorer counties, many of them located in minority areas, are unable to provide adequate funds for education. Although the Chinese government has adopted a nationwide policy of compulsory nine-year education, in some Tibetan areas local education authorities are struggling to make even a basic three-year education available to all children. Under these conditions, the provision of bilingual education inevitably becomes a second priority.
Market reforms not only influence the decisions made by local government officials, who have the choice between allocating funds for standard Chinese language education and bilingual education, but also the choices made by parents and students. Until 1998, middle school graduates were granted a stable job in a work unit through the so-called “job assignment” system. After this system was cancelled, the job market became increasingly competitive. Consequently, market forces became much more important for people’s choice of education. In this situation, many Tibetans feel that the advantages of learning Tibetan are few, while a good knowledge of Chinese is increasingly necessary for finding a job.
During the past decade, the expenses of schooling have increasingly been levied on parents, who have experienced a dramatic increase in the cost of educating their children. In rural areas, many parents now find it difficult to afford the expenses of schooling, which include the cost of textbooks and miscellaneous fees in primary schools, as well as tuition fees and boarding expenses in middle schools and colleges. Dolma, a college graduate from a family of farmers, describes the difficulties she and her parents experienced:
“During my three years of college, my family had to pay more than 6,500 RMB [about US$790] a year, in tuition, textbooks, boarding, and other expenses. This was a big expense, since my whole family only earns about 7,800 RMB [about US$950] a year. After my first year of college the job assignment system was brought to an end. Now I’m unemployed. I don’t have any relatives working for the government, so I don’t know how I’ll manage to find a job. It’s very difficult these days.”
In herding areas and remote villages, boarding may be necessary even in primary school. In these areas, many families cannot afford to even send their children to school. In some cases the official enrollment figures are as low as 28 percent, even for the primary school level. High dropout rates are also a problem. According to a source working in the Qinghai Province government, during the late 1990s approximately 30 percent to 50 percent of the pupils in Qinghai’s bilingual schools failed to complete a six-year education.
Tibetan medium schools are mainly located in rural areas where there are no Chinese-speaking inhabitants. While some of these areas lack schools altogether, others have scarce resources and teachers themselves are more or less uneducated. Schools in herding areas often have only one teacher, who may not be qualified, and usually offer only three to four years of basic education. In such schools the pupils at all levels are taught together in one class. Facilities are poor, often lacking desks, benches, and sometimes even a schoolhouse. Tibetan medium teaching under such conditions is not necessarily an explicit educational strategy, but may rather be a consequence of the incompetence of the local teachers in Chinese, lack of resources, and a general lack of attention to education. Although Chinese is one of the main subjects in the primary school curriculum, in some schools the children may not be able to learn Chinese at all. These children are seriously disadvantaged, and in most cases they will be unable to continue their education above the elementary level. Tenzin, a young man in his twenties, started his education in a small village school where Tibetan was the only subject taught on a regular basis:
“When I wasn’t herding or doing chores, I went to the village school, where we learned the Tibetan alphabet. Sometimes we also learned some Chinese, by singing patriotic songs such as “The East is Red.” One of the teachers knew a little Chinese, but we never learned to read or write.”
The pupils in this school were between seven and 16 years old, and were divided into two classes—a junior class and a senior class. Most of these pupils never received any further schooling, but Tenzin’s parents could afford to give him a better education:
“I was 13 years old when I moved in with relatives in the city, to go to school there. When I arrived I couldn’t speak a word of Chinese, but I had to attend a primary school where all the subjects were taught in Chinese. The first two years I had a very difficult time understanding what the teachers were saying, and I failed the exams in Chinese.”
Whereas the quality and cost of education may be the main causes of low attendance rates, a contributing factor is that the standard curriculum in Chinese schools is largely irrelevant for life in the Tibetan countryside. In rural areas few jobs require schooling. Because the boarding system separates children from their families for long periods, it becomes difficult for parents to pass on important knowledge and teach their children the skills necessary to continue a life of farming and herding. As a result, many parents in rural areas prefer to keep their children at home. Most parents, however, want to give their children the opportunity to go to school. When adequate schooling is unavailable where they live, some parents make the difficult decision to send their children to schools for Tibetan refugees set up in India by the Tibetan government-in-exile. Every year an average of 3,000 Tibetans trek for weeks across the borders to Nepal and India, risking their lives on the high passes of the Himalayas. According to the International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet, nearly one-third of these people are children. These figures indicate just how serious the lack of adequate and affordable schooling has become in Tibetan areas of China.
Challenges of Bilingual Schools
A core problem for Tibetan educators concerns the balance between Tibetan and Chinese in bilingual schools, and the question of which language to use as the medium of teaching. Many educators argue that Tibetan students who are taught in their Native language achieve better results than those who are taught in Chinese. On the other hand, some emphasize the problems these students face when continuing their studies in Chinese, and in exams where they compete with native Chinese-speakers. In many Tibetan areas, primary schools may be taught in Tibetan whereas middle schools are all Chinese medium. This shift in the medium of instruction creates difficulties for Tibetan students which native Chinese-speaking students do not experience. Since most higher education is currently offered in Chinese only, Tibetan students who wish to attend a college or university must sooner or later learn Chinese.
Chinese government education authorities have recognized that language is one of the main challenges for minority education. The national entrance exam for universities has thus been made available in several minority languages, including Tibetan. A number of vocational schools, colleges, and universities also offer one- or two-year preparatory courses for minority students. Preferential policies have been introduced to give minority students easier access to higher education through a system of quotas and differences in the scores required to be admitted. What the government policies fail to address is the problems experienced by minority children in primary and middle school, when they are introduced to new subjects in an unfamiliar language.
Tibetan students in bilingual schools face other challenges as well. They are required to study two very different languages, using two completely different scripts. For many students, the written Tibetan they learn in school is quite different from their Native spoken dialect. The rest of the curriculum has the same content as in ordinary schools, and the students follow the same schedule; because exams are standardized the curriculum must also be standardized. But without adding hours to the school day, the bilingual schools add a second language to the curriculum, putting an additional workload on Tibetan students and making it even more difficult for them to compete. Most Tibetan children have no opportunity to choose their medium of instruction in school, but in some areas a system of two parallel streams has been introduced—a Chinese medium and a Tibetan medium. This system enables many students to continue their education in Tibetan medium from the primary level all the way to university level. Despite the obvious advantages of being able to learn their own language, a significant problem for students who choose the Tibetan stream is the limited options available for them after graduating from middle school. In Yunnan Province, for instance, graduates from the Tibetan Middle School in Diqing are seriously disadvantaged. Dorje, who teaches middle school in Diqing, describes their situation:
“Their choices are very few. If they want to go to college or university, these students have to study in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Every year the Tibet University admits a certain number of students from the Tibetan Middle School, but the number varies. Some years it may be 10 or 20 students, and some years none at all.”
In the Chinese stream of the “nationalities institute” or “nationalities university,” students can study a range of subjects, including management, computer science, and law, whereas the Tibetan stream generally teaches only language and math. In addition, a wide range of college and university courses are taught only in Chinese, including subjects such as forestry, engineering, agriculture, and veterinary studies. Another problem is that the choice of Tibetan as a second language excludes Tibetan stream students from taking English classes when they are available. English is increasingly important for university studies and in the tourism sector. University entrance exams also demand a basic knowledge of English, and while many Chinese medium middle schools now include English on the curriculum, Tibetan medium students must often choose between Tibetan and English classes.
The Solutions
As many educators have recognized, Tibetan students are better off being taught in their Native language, at least during their first years of schooling. In order to prevent some of the problems these students now face when continuing their education, it is important to extend Tibetan medium teaching to higher levels of education, as well as to expand the use of Tibetan to a greater variety of subjects and fields of study. In addition to Tibetan and Chinese, English should also be included in a Tibetan medium education. However, this approach is only feasible if adequate funds are made available to educate teachers for bilingual schools and to improve educational facilities in general. In addition, bilingual schooling would have to be made as affordable—preferably more affordable—as any other option.
Lack of funding is the major obstacle for the development of bilingual schooling in Tibet. But in recent years international non-governmental organizations have made significant contributions to Tibetan language teaching in several Tibetan areas, particularly outside the TAR. These organizations have provided financial aid specifically for bilingual schools, and have established scholarships to sponsor students from poor families.
References & further reading
Bass, C. (1998). Education in Tibet. Policy and Practice Since 1950. London: Tibet Information Network & Zed Books.
Dwyer, A. (1998). The Texture of Tongues: Language and Power in China. In Nationalism and Ethnoregional Identities in China. Safran, W., Ed. Boulder, Colorado: University of Colorado Press.
Hansen, M.H. (1999). Lessons in Being Chinese. Minority Education and Ethnic Identity in Southwest China. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Harrell, S., Ed. (1995). Cultural encounters on China’s Ethnic Frontiers. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Upton, J. (1996). Home on the Grasslands? Tradition, Modernity, and the Negotiation of Identity by Tibetan Intellectuals in the PRC. In Negotiating Ethnicities in China and Taiwan. Brown, M. J., Ed., Berkeley, California: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California. Pp 98-124.
Upton, J. (1999). Schooling Shar-Khog: Time, Space and the Place of Pedagogy in the Making of the Tibetan Modern. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington.
Models of Sovereignty and Survival In Alaska
The “Tibet Question” has become one of the focal points of disagreements between China and the international community, and the survival of Tibetan culture and language is one of the key topics of the debate. While both the Chinese authorities and exiled Tibetans have linked their political agendas to the question of protecting “cultural rights” in Tibet, these are also contentious issues within China.
The role of so-called “bilingual” teaching in schools for Tibetan children is one of the issues that are being debated by educators and bureaucrats in the People’s Republic of China. Current government policies give top priority to speeding up economic development in western China, including the Tibetan areas. Improving the quality of education is seen as one of several possible strategies toward reaching this goal. Within this context, officials in charge of education accept that Tibetan medium teaching may be necessary to help Tibetan students achieve better results. But education departments have limited resources, and the teaching of Tibetan as a second language represents an additional expenditure they may be unwilling or unable to cover.
Critics, including mainly Tibetan educators, administrators, and other cadres, agree that there is an urgent need to improve the quality of education in Tibetan areas. In addition, many argue that Tibetan language needs to be taught in schools as a means to preserve Tibetan culture. In their view, the Chinese education system currently contributes to the assimilation of Tibetans into the Chinese mainstream. Among the Tibetan critics who hold this view, Tenzin*, from Kham (eastern Tibet), insists that “more than anywhere else in society, the school is where a Tibetan child learns to become Chinese.”
On the other hand, even critics admit that it is vital to raise the education level of Tibetans and other minorities for them to be able to participate in the economic development of their regions. Both Tibetan and Han Chinese educators have argued that the added workload of learning two languages is a significant obstacle, making it difficult for Tibetan children in bilingual schools to compete for admission to higher education. Political concerns have guided the development of bilingual education in Tibetan areas of China, and numerous challenges confront Tibetan school children, their parents, and teachers.
Government Policies
Soon after the founding of Communist China in 1949, a number of public schools were set up in Tibetan areas, as well as in other areas inhabited by “minority nationalities.” Education was important to the new regime, to consolidate their control of the border areas and “civilize” the people living in China’s “frontier” regions. In the mid-1950s, newly established education departments in Tibetan areas issued their first guidelines on “bilingual education.” The use of Tibetan as the primary language of schools for Tibetans was the only feasible strategy at the time, since few people in these areas could understand Chinese.
In 1958 the process of developing bilingual education was interrupted by the Democratic Reforms campaign, which was followed by a series of radical political campaigns, including the devastating Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Bilingual teaching was discontinued for about 20 years, and as a consequence, an entire generation of Tibetans failed to learn to read and write their Native language. When the development of bilingual education for “minority nationalities” was back on the agenda in the late 1970s, one of the difficulties was finding teachers who were able to teach Tibetan.
By the early 1980s, officials in the local government education departments were discussing how to develop educational programs suited to the “special characteristics of the nationalities.” Minority language education became the main focus of these discussions, and the initial trend was to support the use of minority languages in schools, to educate children in their Native language. Tibetan educators from the five provinces and regions that encompass “Tibetan” areas (Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan) started cooperating to compile a series of textbooks to be used in all bilingual schools for Tibetan children.
During this period, a number of trial projects were carried out to test the benefits of Tibetan medium teaching in schools for Tibetans. (Bass) These projects generally received glowing reports, and new policies were subsequently drawn up to increase Tibetan medium teaching. In 1987 the People’s Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) passed a resolution stipulating that by 1993, all junior middle schools were to teach in Tibetan, and by 1997, most subjects in senior middle schools were also to be taught in Tibetan.
In the 1990s the situation changed again, however, and bilingual education met with increasing disapproval. As a result of this backlash, the policies that were introduced in 1987 could not be implemented. Moreover, in 1997 a deputy secretary of the TAR Communist Party announced the reversal of the 1987 resolution. At the same time new policies were introduced, this time to increase the teaching of Chinese to Tibetan children starting at the first grade of primary school. (Bass) Considering the substantial evidence from educators in support of Tibetan medium teaching, what were the grounds for these policy reversals?
The Political Dimension
Decisions concerning Tibetan language instruction in schools are not just a question of what benefits students. In China, education is directed toward disseminating the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party. The standard curriculum in Chinese schools thus emphasizes lessons in patriotism and nationalistic sentiments, and patriotic education in one form or another constitutes a significant part of the curriculum along with politics, morals, and other subjects. Accordingly, the primary and middle-school curriculum includes lessons such as Marxist-Leninist ideology, the thoughts of Mao, respect for the revolutionary heroes, and love of the Chinese Communist Party.
The aim of “nationality education” is still described by education officials in Tibetan areas as “keeping up socialism.” One of the primary goals of education in Tibetan and other minority areas is to strengthen the “unity of the nationalities” and make minority children patriotic members of the Chinese “Motherland.” (Hansen) While actively promoting patriotism, textbooks also disseminate the notion that minorities are inferior and backward compared to the Han Chinese. Moreover, non-Han students frequently learn that their language, history, religion, and customs are considered useless or insignificant in the Chinese school system. (Hansen) Dorje, a teacher in a “nationalities middle school,” explains why Tibetan students at his school learn so little about their own language and culture:
“Tibetan is not taught at our school, although many of the Tibetan students are very interested in learning to read and write Tibetan, and would also like to learn about their culture and traditions. The guidelines of the provincial education authorities even say that we should publish our own textbooks on local history and culture, but in fact this has not been done. This is because both the students themselves and their teachers emphasize the kind of knowledge that students need for passing the standard national and provincial exams.”
Contrary to the rest of the curriculum, the Tibetan textbooks teach Tibetan students to value their own traditions. In addition, the trans-provincial scope of the Tibetan curriculum, with its emphasis on the unity of “plateau culture,” provides an important way to breach the provincial political boundaries that currently separate the Tibetan population into different administrative units. (Upton) In other words, the curriculum creates a space for the construction of a Tibetan identity that encompasses all Tibetan areas, and plays an important role in the reconstruction of Tibetan culture. For these reasons, some government officials and cadres regard Tibetan language education as a potential source of “local nationalism” and a threat to stability. These officials want to limit Tibetan medium teaching to a minimum, and disapprove of teaching Tibetan as a second language.
Market Forces
In addition to a more constrained political climate in recent years, economic reforms have also weakened the role of Tibetan language education in several ways. New policies introduced in 1985 gave local governments the final responsibility for funding their own primary and secondary education. The poorer counties, many of them located in minority areas, are unable to provide adequate funds for education. Although the Chinese government has adopted a nationwide policy of compulsory nine-year education, in some Tibetan areas local education authorities are struggling to make even a basic three-year education available to all children. Under these conditions, the provision of bilingual education inevitably becomes a second priority.
Market reforms not only influence the decisions made by local government officials, who have the choice between allocating funds for standard Chinese language education and bilingual education, but also the choices made by parents and students. Until 1998, middle school graduates were granted a stable job in a work unit through the so-called “job assignment” system. After this system was cancelled, the job market became increasingly competitive. Consequently, market forces became much more important for people’s choice of education. In this situation, many Tibetans feel that the advantages of learning Tibetan are few, while a good knowledge of Chinese is increasingly necessary for finding a job.
During the past decade, the expenses of schooling have increasingly been levied on parents, who have experienced a dramatic increase in the cost of educating their children. In rural areas, many parents now find it difficult to afford the expenses of schooling, which include the cost of textbooks and miscellaneous fees in primary schools, as well as tuition fees and boarding expenses in middle schools and colleges. Dolma, a college graduate from a family of farmers, describes the difficulties she and her parents experienced:
“During my three years of college, my family had to pay more than 6,500 RMB [about US$790] a year, in tuition, textbooks, boarding, and other expenses. This was a big expense, since my whole family only earns about 7,800 RMB [about US$950] a year. After my first year of college the job assignment system was brought to an end. Now I’m unemployed. I don’t have any relatives working for the government, so I don’t know how I’ll manage to find a job. It’s very difficult these days.”
In herding areas and remote villages, boarding may be necessary even in primary school. In these areas, many families cannot afford to even send their children to school. In some cases the official enrollment figures are as low as 28 percent, even for the primary school level. High dropout rates are also a problem. According to a source working in the Qinghai Province government, during the late 1990s approximately 30 percent to 50 percent of the pupils in Qinghai’s bilingual schools failed to complete a six-year education.
Tibetan medium schools are mainly located in rural areas where there are no Chinese-speaking inhabitants. While some of these areas lack schools altogether, others have scarce resources and teachers themselves are more or less uneducated. Schools in herding areas often have only one teacher, who may not be qualified, and usually offer only three to four years of basic education. In such schools the pupils at all levels are taught together in one class. Facilities are poor, often lacking desks, benches, and sometimes even a schoolhouse. Tibetan medium teaching under such conditions is not necessarily an explicit educational strategy, but may rather be a consequence of the incompetence of the local teachers in Chinese, lack of resources, and a general lack of attention to education. Although Chinese is one of the main subjects in the primary school curriculum, in some schools the children may not be able to learn Chinese at all. These children are seriously disadvantaged, and in most cases they will be unable to continue their education above the elementary level. Tenzin, a young man in his twenties, started his education in a small village school where Tibetan was the only subject taught on a regular basis:
“When I wasn’t herding or doing chores, I went to the village school, where we learned the Tibetan alphabet. Sometimes we also learned some Chinese, by singing patriotic songs such as “The East is Red.” One of the teachers knew a little Chinese, but we never learned to read or write.”
The pupils in this school were between seven and 16 years old, and were divided into two classes—a junior class and a senior class. Most of these pupils never received any further schooling, but Tenzin’s parents could afford to give him a better education:
“I was 13 years old when I moved in with relatives in the city, to go to school there. When I arrived I couldn’t speak a word of Chinese, but I had to attend a primary school where all the subjects were taught in Chinese. The first two years I had a very difficult time understanding what the teachers were saying, and I failed the exams in Chinese.”
Whereas the quality and cost of education may be the main causes of low attendance rates, a contributing factor is that the standard curriculum in Chinese schools is largely irrelevant for life in the Tibetan countryside. In rural areas few jobs require schooling. Because the boarding system separates children from their families for long periods, it becomes difficult for parents to pass on important knowledge and teach their children the skills necessary to continue a life of farming and herding. As a result, many parents in rural areas prefer to keep their children at home. Most parents, however, want to give their children the opportunity to go to school. When adequate schooling is unavailable where they live, some parents make the difficult decision to send their children to schools for Tibetan refugees set up in India by the Tibetan government-in-exile. Every year an average of 3,000 Tibetans trek for weeks across the borders to Nepal and India, risking their lives on the high passes of the Himalayas. According to the International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet, nearly one-third of these people are children. These figures indicate just how serious the lack of adequate and affordable schooling has become in Tibetan areas of China.
Challenges of Bilingual Schools
A core problem for Tibetan educators concerns the balance between Tibetan and Chinese in bilingual schools, and the question of which language to use as the medium of teaching. Many educators argue that Tibetan students who are taught in their Native language achieve better results than those who are taught in Chinese. On the other hand, some emphasize the problems these students face when continuing their studies in Chinese, and in exams where they compete with native Chinese-speakers. In many Tibetan areas, primary schools may be taught in Tibetan whereas middle schools are all Chinese medium. This shift in the medium of instruction creates difficulties for Tibetan students which native Chinese-speaking students do not experience. Since most higher education is currently offered in Chinese only, Tibetan students who wish to attend a college or university must sooner or later learn Chinese.
Chinese government education authorities have recognized that language is one of the main challenges for minority education. The national entrance exam for universities has thus been made available in several minority languages, including Tibetan. A number of vocational schools, colleges, and universities also offer one- or two-year preparatory courses for minority students. Preferential policies have been introduced to give minority students easier access to higher education through a system of quotas and differences in the scores required to be admitted. What the government policies fail to address is the problems experienced by minority children in primary and middle school, when they are introduced to new subjects in an unfamiliar language.
Tibetan students in bilingual schools face other challenges as well. They are required to study two very different languages, using two completely different scripts. For many students, the written Tibetan they learn in school is quite different from their Native spoken dialect. The rest of the curriculum has the same content as in ordinary schools, and the students follow the same schedule; because exams are standardized the curriculum must also be standardized. But without adding hours to the school day, the bilingual schools add a second language to the curriculum, putting an additional workload on Tibetan students and making it even more difficult for them to compete. Most Tibetan children have no opportunity to choose their medium of instruction in school, but in some areas a system of two parallel streams has been introduced—a Chinese medium and a Tibetan medium. This system enables many students to continue their education in Tibetan medium from the primary level all the way to university level. Despite the obvious advantages of being able to learn their own language, a significant problem for students who choose the Tibetan stream is the limited options available for them after graduating from middle school. In Yunnan Province, for instance, graduates from the Tibetan Middle School in Diqing are seriously disadvantaged. Dorje, who teaches middle school in Diqing, describes their situation:
“Their choices are very few. If they want to go to college or university, these students have to study in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Every year the Tibet University admits a certain number of students from the Tibetan Middle School, but the number varies. Some years it may be 10 or 20 students, and some years none at all.”
In the Chinese stream of the “nationalities institute” or “nationalities university,” students can study a range of subjects, including management, computer science, and law, whereas the Tibetan stream generally teaches only language and math. In addition, a wide range of college and university courses are taught only in Chinese, including subjects such as forestry, engineering, agriculture, and veterinary studies. Another problem is that the choice of Tibetan as a second language excludes Tibetan stream students from taking English classes when they are available. English is increasingly important for university studies and in the tourism sector. University entrance exams also demand a basic knowledge of English, and while many Chinese medium middle schools now include English on the curriculum, Tibetan medium students must often choose between Tibetan and English classes.
The Solutions
As many educators have recognized, Tibetan students are better off being taught in their Native language, at least during their first years of schooling. In order to prevent some of the problems these students now face when continuing their education, it is important to extend Tibetan medium teaching to higher levels of education, as well as to expand the use of Tibetan to a greater variety of subjects and fields of study. In addition to Tibetan and Chinese, English should also be included in a Tibetan medium education. However, this approach is only feasible if adequate funds are made available to educate teachers for bilingual schools and to improve educational facilities in general. In addition, bilingual schooling would have to be made as affordable—preferably more affordable—as any other option.
Lack of funding is the major obstacle for the development of bilingual schooling in Tibet. But in recent years international non-governmental organizations have made significant contributions to Tibetan language teaching in several Tibetan areas, particularly outside the TAR. These organizations have provided financial aid specifically for bilingual schools, and have established scholarships to sponsor students from poor families.
References & further reading
Bass, C. (1998). Education in Tibet. Policy and Practice Since 1950. London: Tibet Information Network & Zed Books.
Dwyer, A. (1998). The Texture of Tongues: Language and Power in China. In Nationalism and Ethnoregional Identities in China. Safran, W., Ed. Boulder, Colorado: University of Colorado Press.
Hansen, M.H. (1999). Lessons in Being Chinese. Minority Education and Ethnic Identity in Southwest China. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Harrell, S., Ed. (1995). Cultural encounters on China’s Ethnic Frontiers. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Upton, J. (1996). Home on the Grasslands? Tradition, Modernity, and the Negotiation of Identity by Tibetan Intellectuals in the PRC. In Negotiating Ethnicities in China and Taiwan. Brown, M. J., Ed., Berkeley, California: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California. Pp 98-124.
Upton, J. (1999). Schooling Shar-Khog: Time, Space and the Place of Pedagogy in the Making of the Tibetan Modern. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington.
CHINA MUST HALT PERSECUTION OF AWARD-WINNING TIBETAN ENVIRONMENTALIST FAMILY
8 July 2010
Amnesty International is calling for the release of three award-winning Tibetan environmental activist brothers, two of whom were recently given lengthy prison sentences within a week of each other.
Karma Samdrup, named ‘philanthropist of the year’ in 2006 by China’s state broadcaster CCTV for his work on river preservation, was sentenced last week to 15 years for ‘inciting the stealing of cultural relics’ from tombsites, a charge that had been dropped in 1998.
He has made detailed allegations of torture in detention to extract a forced confession. When he appeared in court in June, he had lost so much weight in six months that his wife could barely recognise him.
Karma Samdrup’s arrest took place in January after he lobbied for the release of his two detained brothers Rinchen Samdrup and Chime Namgyal. The pair were arrested in August 2009 after their award-winning anti-poaching and reforestation NGO threatened to uncover corrupt officials illegally hunting endangered wildlife.
Rinchen was sentenced on Saturday to five years after a cursory trial for ‘inciting splittism’, having been in detention without trial for almost a year. The key piece of evidence was an article mentioning the Dalai Lama that he insisted someone else had posted on his website.
The trials of the two brothers have been grossly unfair. Their lawyers have been repeatedly denied access to their clients and to key evidence.
Chime is already serving 21 months of ‘Re-education Through Labour’ imposed without charge or trial, on allegations of ‘harming social stability’ by illegally collecting local information about the environment and religion, and organizing ‘irregular petitioning’ by local residents.
Rinchen and Chime’s NGO had received wide praise in Chinese state media, as well as support from the Ford motor company and from actor Jet Li’s One Foundation.
“Rinchen’s activism has been celebrated by state newspapers, citing local Communist Party officials, while he was actually in detention,” said Catherine Baber, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Asia-Pacific.
“The targeting of this apolitical family sends worrying signals that the authorities are engaged in an ever-widening crackdown. Such prosecutions could also threaten the growing environmental activism that the country so desperately needs.”
The brothers’ extended family is also being targeted by authorities. A cousin, Sonam Choephel, is serving one and a half years of `Re-education Through Labour` after organizing a group to petition in Beijing for justice for Rinchen Samdrup.
Another cousin, Rinchen Dorje, who had acted as an interpreter for Karma Samdrup, was arrested in March and his whereabouts are currently unknown.
The International Campaign for Tibet has stated that Karma Samdrup’s mother, in her 70s, was beaten unconscious by police under the authority of a Communist Party official, and that 20 villagers from the brothers’ home area were detained, interrogated and tortured after further petitioning in Beijing.
Cultural and intellectual leaders in the Tibetan community have been increasingly targeted by Chinese security forces since the 2008 protests and unrest in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and in other Tibetan areas of China.
Amnesty International is calling for the release of three award-winning Tibetan environmental activist brothers, two of whom were recently given lengthy prison sentences within a week of each other.
Karma Samdrup, named ‘philanthropist of the year’ in 2006 by China’s state broadcaster CCTV for his work on river preservation, was sentenced last week to 15 years for ‘inciting the stealing of cultural relics’ from tombsites, a charge that had been dropped in 1998.
He has made detailed allegations of torture in detention to extract a forced confession. When he appeared in court in June, he had lost so much weight in six months that his wife could barely recognise him.
Karma Samdrup’s arrest took place in January after he lobbied for the release of his two detained brothers Rinchen Samdrup and Chime Namgyal. The pair were arrested in August 2009 after their award-winning anti-poaching and reforestation NGO threatened to uncover corrupt officials illegally hunting endangered wildlife.
Rinchen was sentenced on Saturday to five years after a cursory trial for ‘inciting splittism’, having been in detention without trial for almost a year. The key piece of evidence was an article mentioning the Dalai Lama that he insisted someone else had posted on his website.
The trials of the two brothers have been grossly unfair. Their lawyers have been repeatedly denied access to their clients and to key evidence.
Chime is already serving 21 months of ‘Re-education Through Labour’ imposed without charge or trial, on allegations of ‘harming social stability’ by illegally collecting local information about the environment and religion, and organizing ‘irregular petitioning’ by local residents.
Rinchen and Chime’s NGO had received wide praise in Chinese state media, as well as support from the Ford motor company and from actor Jet Li’s One Foundation.
“Rinchen’s activism has been celebrated by state newspapers, citing local Communist Party officials, while he was actually in detention,” said Catherine Baber, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Asia-Pacific.
“The targeting of this apolitical family sends worrying signals that the authorities are engaged in an ever-widening crackdown. Such prosecutions could also threaten the growing environmental activism that the country so desperately needs.”
The brothers’ extended family is also being targeted by authorities. A cousin, Sonam Choephel, is serving one and a half years of `Re-education Through Labour` after organizing a group to petition in Beijing for justice for Rinchen Samdrup.
Another cousin, Rinchen Dorje, who had acted as an interpreter for Karma Samdrup, was arrested in March and his whereabouts are currently unknown.
The International Campaign for Tibet has stated that Karma Samdrup’s mother, in her 70s, was beaten unconscious by police under the authority of a Communist Party official, and that 20 villagers from the brothers’ home area were detained, interrogated and tortured after further petitioning in Beijing.
Cultural and intellectual leaders in the Tibetan community have been increasingly targeted by Chinese security forces since the 2008 protests and unrest in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and in other Tibetan areas of China.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Tibetans' mother tongue faces tide of Chinese
July 14 2010
SHIGATSE, TIBET - Teenager Dawa Dhondup is Tibetan and lives in Tibet, but says that if his friends and classmates can't master Mandarin Chinese, they have little hope of a professional future.
"I want to be a lawyer, and for me Chinese plays a very important role both in my life and my study Dawa Dhondup, 16, told Reuters during a government-organized visit for foreign media to Tibet.
"If someone can't speak Chinese then they might as well be mute," added the student at the Shigatse Shanghai Experimental School, built with aid from the Shanghai government in a run-down monastery town several hours drive from Tibetan capital Lhasa.
is an official language in Tibet and parts of China where Tibetans have traditionally been the main ethnic group, in what the government calls "autonomous" regions and areas.
Yet Beijing has for decades promoted "Putonghua," or standard Mandarin Chinese, as a way of unifying a diverse country.
This makes language choices fraught for groups that are not ethnically Chinese, many of whom chafe under Communist rule.
For Tibetans, the route to jobs and a better income often requires mastering Chinese, leaving many worried they will lose their own ancient tongue and its unique writing system.
While Dawa Dhondup school is technically bilingual, the only classes entirely taught in Tibetan are Tibetan language classes.
Teachers say there are no text books in Tibetan for subjects like history, mathematics or science, and exams have to be written in Chinese -- apart from Tibetan language tests.
"It would be hard for the students to translate into Tibetan concepts they have learned about in Chinese," said deputy headmaster Cang Qiong, patiently answering a stream of questions from foreign reporters about why Tibetan is so little used.
Younger grades fall back on Tibetan when new ideas are introduced, but the rest of the teaching is in Mandarin -- which parents and education experts say can dent interest in learning among some young children who struggle to keep up.
The government views the promotion of Mandarin as vital to unite a nation with thousands of Chinese dialects and numerous other ethnic languages, from Tibetan and Uighur to the much threatened She, Evenki and Manchu.
Beijing says it supports minority languages, pointing to broadcasting in areas where they are still in widespread daily use, and official signs in Tibet -- from shop boards to place names -- where the Sanskrit-based Tibetan script is required.
Many Tibetans still speak no Mandarin, especially in the vast open spaces of the Tibetan heartland. Rights groups and exile communities complain it is being gradually marginalized in cities and among the elite.
"Whether you can speak Tibetan has already become a secondary issue, but whether you can speak Chinese has become crucial to your livelihood," said prominent Tibetan blogger Woeser.
"So the Tibetan written language has in reality reached a very serious point."
Only recently has there been any push for bureaucrats from the majority Han Chinese to learn the languages of minority areas where they work, and the new drive has yet to show much fruit.
There are similar issues with the written language: the rule requiring bilingual signs is easily flouted; billboards over stores are sometimes only written in Chinese, or have just a cursory line of Tibetan.
Chinese is already seeping into everyday Tibetan.
Educated young Tibetans play with "Chibetan," mixing in Mandarin words with Tibetan, much in the same way cool Chinese youth mash up English into their speech.
"It's very fashionable," shrugged one government worker.
For words that have no commonly-used Tibetan equivalent, Mandarin is used instead. In the midst of a Tibetan conversation, certain bureaucratic words crop up in Mandarin.
These include "bu tie" (subsidy), "he tong" (contract) and "dang yuan" (Communist Party member).
In Lhasa, some educated Tibetans say they will fight the rising tide of Mandarin -- by refusing to speak it.
"It is the language of the Chinese," said one young Tibetan man, speaking in excellent English and out of sight of the police patrols in Lhasa's old quarter. "Please don't speak to me in it."
(Additional reporting by Maxim Duncan, Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison and Sugita Katyal)
SHIGATSE, TIBET - Teenager Dawa Dhondup is Tibetan and lives in Tibet, but says that if his friends and classmates can't master Mandarin Chinese, they have little hope of a professional future.
"I want to be a lawyer, and for me Chinese plays a very important role both in my life and my study Dawa Dhondup, 16, told Reuters during a government-organized visit for foreign media to Tibet.
"If someone can't speak Chinese then they might as well be mute," added the student at the Shigatse Shanghai Experimental School, built with aid from the Shanghai government in a run-down monastery town several hours drive from Tibetan capital Lhasa.
is an official language in Tibet and parts of China where Tibetans have traditionally been the main ethnic group, in what the government calls "autonomous" regions and areas.
Yet Beijing has for decades promoted "Putonghua," or standard Mandarin Chinese, as a way of unifying a diverse country.
This makes language choices fraught for groups that are not ethnically Chinese, many of whom chafe under Communist rule.
For Tibetans, the route to jobs and a better income often requires mastering Chinese, leaving many worried they will lose their own ancient tongue and its unique writing system.
While Dawa Dhondup school is technically bilingual, the only classes entirely taught in Tibetan are Tibetan language classes.
Teachers say there are no text books in Tibetan for subjects like history, mathematics or science, and exams have to be written in Chinese -- apart from Tibetan language tests.
"It would be hard for the students to translate into Tibetan concepts they have learned about in Chinese," said deputy headmaster Cang Qiong, patiently answering a stream of questions from foreign reporters about why Tibetan is so little used.
Younger grades fall back on Tibetan when new ideas are introduced, but the rest of the teaching is in Mandarin -- which parents and education experts say can dent interest in learning among some young children who struggle to keep up.
The government views the promotion of Mandarin as vital to unite a nation with thousands of Chinese dialects and numerous other ethnic languages, from Tibetan and Uighur to the much threatened She, Evenki and Manchu.
Beijing says it supports minority languages, pointing to broadcasting in areas where they are still in widespread daily use, and official signs in Tibet -- from shop boards to place names -- where the Sanskrit-based Tibetan script is required.
Many Tibetans still speak no Mandarin, especially in the vast open spaces of the Tibetan heartland. Rights groups and exile communities complain it is being gradually marginalized in cities and among the elite.
"Whether you can speak Tibetan has already become a secondary issue, but whether you can speak Chinese has become crucial to your livelihood," said prominent Tibetan blogger Woeser.
"So the Tibetan written language has in reality reached a very serious point."
Only recently has there been any push for bureaucrats from the majority Han Chinese to learn the languages of minority areas where they work, and the new drive has yet to show much fruit.
There are similar issues with the written language: the rule requiring bilingual signs is easily flouted; billboards over stores are sometimes only written in Chinese, or have just a cursory line of Tibetan.
Chinese is already seeping into everyday Tibetan.
Educated young Tibetans play with "Chibetan," mixing in Mandarin words with Tibetan, much in the same way cool Chinese youth mash up English into their speech.
"It's very fashionable," shrugged one government worker.
For words that have no commonly-used Tibetan equivalent, Mandarin is used instead. In the midst of a Tibetan conversation, certain bureaucratic words crop up in Mandarin.
These include "bu tie" (subsidy), "he tong" (contract) and "dang yuan" (Communist Party member).
In Lhasa, some educated Tibetans say they will fight the rising tide of Mandarin -- by refusing to speak it.
"It is the language of the Chinese," said one young Tibetan man, speaking in excellent English and out of sight of the police patrols in Lhasa's old quarter. "Please don't speak to me in it."
(Additional reporting by Maxim Duncan, Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison and Sugita Katyal)
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