Another Song About Tibetan Unity: "Telephone Rang" By Lhakyi

Screen Title of the music video for "Telephone Rang"

Following on from our earlier blogpost featuring two music videos about Tibetan unity, High Peaks Pure Earth has translated "Telephone Rang", another song on the same topic, this time by a Tibetan female singer called Lhakyi.

The singers of "Mentally Return" and "The Sound of Unity" sang about the unity of Tibetans from all three provinces of Tibet, U-Tsang, Kham and Amdo. In the song "Telephone Rang", Lhakyi imagines a day when Tibetans in Tibet are informed, through a phone call, of the return of His Holiness (also referred to in the song using various metaphors) and thus a day when Tibetans inside and outside Tibet are reunited.

The music video for the song has been on many Chinese video-hosting sites since March 2010 such as Tudou and Ku6 and is taken from Lhakyi's album "The Barley Carrying Girl". From the comments left by Tibetan netizens below the videos, it is evident that the song is popular and has resonated. Below are translations of selected comments taken from the sites mentioned above:

Great,

Your song is really nice.

We all are waiting for the return of our great teacher

Waiting.......... Waiting........

Keep it up! Really good, I feel proud that we have such a fine woman as yourself

Keep it up! You are the future of we Tibetans 

Keep going, the future of Tibetans is you 

Beautifully sung, forever in support of you Lhakyi, you are my pride!

You are our pride, I will forever support you

Well sung, I support you, keep it up

You are the best, I will support you forever, keep it up

Great!

Below is the subtitled video for "Telephone Rang" and, for those with slower internet connections, the MP3 file is below as well to be listened to or downloaded from SoundCloud. The English translation of the lyrics to "Telephone Rang" is below the music video.


The telephone rang, the telephone rang
The phone call was from the peak of the Land of Snows
A whisper said that the Snowlion is to return
Let the people of the Land of Snows enjoy and celebrate!
Tibetans within and without Tibet will soon reunite

The telephone rang, the telephone rang
The phone call was from the dense forest
A whisper said that the Forest Tiger is to return
Let ruddy faced Tibetans celebrate!
Tibetans within and without Tibet will soon reunite

The telephone rang, the telephone rang
The phone call was from central Tibet
A whisper said that His Holiness is to return
Let Tibetans from the three provinces enjoy and celebrate!
Tibetans within and without Tibet will soon reunite

Let Tibetans from the three provinces enjoy and celebrate!
Tibetans within and without Tibet will soon reunite

Urgent Blogpost by Woeser; Lhasa Public Security Bureau Summon Her

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated an urgent blogpost by Woeser describing how she was summoned on the phone by the Lhasa Public Security Bureau. The blogpost was written approximately one hour ago.

Liu Xiaobo: “Han Chinese Have No Freedom, Tibetans Have No Autonomy” By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for broadcast on Radio Free Asia on October 13, 2010 in Lhasa and posted on her blog on October 18, 2010. The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo on October 8, 2010, created international headline news. In this article from her blog, Woeser congratulates Liu Xiaobo and recounts his articles and views on Tibet. As she notes in her article, Woeser has known both Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, for several years and, as noted before on High Peaks Pure Earth, Woeser was the only Tibetan amongst the original signatories of Charter 08.

Tibetan Students in Beijing Protest for Tibetan Language; Tibetan Netizens Show Support Online

High Peaks Pure Earth has noticed a lot of online activity by Tibetans over the last few days related to Tibetan language. As reported by international media, Tibetan students in Rebkong and Chabcha in Amdo (Qinghai province) and Tawu in Kham (Sichuan province) have been protesting over plans to restrict the use of Tibetan language in classrooms.

Now the protests have spread to Beijing where over 500 Tibetan students from the Tibetan Studies department of Minzu University of China (formerly known as the Central University for Nationalities) held a protest on the campus today (October 22, 2010) at noon. Tibetans on popular social networking sites such as RenRen and MyBudala have been posting photos and status updates about the protests.


The above status update in Tibetan says: "Today at 12, over 500 students protested at Minzu University of China about freedom of language."


This is the first protest by Tibetan students of Minzu University of China since a vigil was held on March 17, 2008, in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the protests of March 2008. The following photos of the protest in Beijing were posted on RenRen by a Tibetan student:

[*This photo was added to this blogpost on October 23]

The slogan "Equality of nationality, Freedom of language" that was widely used by Tibetan student protesters in Amdo is being posted online by Tibetan netizens as their status update, see below for example:

"Equality of nationality, Freedom of language"

Woeser’s Acceptance Speech: International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award, 2010

High Peaks Pure Earth is re-posting Woeser's acceptance speech that was sent to the International Women's Media Foundation on the occasion of being awarded their Courage in Journalism Award, 2010. 


Woeser posted the speech on her blog on October 20, 2010, a day after the awards ceremony took place in New York. As reported by the media, Woeser was unable to attend the ceremony as the Chinese government refuses to grant her a passport. 


Woeser's acceptance speech was translated into English by A. E. Clark of Ragged Banner. For those who have not yet read Woeser's poetry, High Peaks Pure Earth recommends the volume published by Ragged Banner titled "Tibet's True Heart".





Ladies and Gentlemen:

My heartfelt thanks to the International Women's Media Foundation for its Courage in Journalism Award.  Since the Chinese government will not give me a passport, I am unable to come and accept this honor in person.  But my spirit cannot be locked away, and I feel I am with you now, touched by your kind encouragement.

I am not really a journalist or media person in the traditional sense. In this Age of the Internet, I have taken my books, my blog, my regular commentaries for radio, Twitter, and Facebook — as well as a camera, a camcorder, and the interviews I give reporters — and combined them into a new medium:  a one-person medium.  I began deliberately using this approach in March of 2008.  At that time, protests which had spread across Tibet were being violently suppressed, but the Chinese government was using its monopoly on information to make sure people could hear only its distorted account, blasted at high volume.  The might of this world was asserting its power over the facts, and I realized that unless I could find some way, working by myself, to record what was happening and get the news out, the anguish of an entire people would vanish forever behind a veil of darkness.  History would be rewritten; memories would be buried; our descendants would never know the sacrifices their ancestors had made.

I was then in Beijing, the imperial capital.  Using both traditional and modern tools of communication, I contacted people on the scene and wove a network that covered all the Tibetan lands.  Some of my sources were acquaintances; others I had never met.  With their help I gathered factual accounts of what was happening, and each day posted the information to my blog so that the world could know, in real time, how Tibet was being engulfed in blood and fire. At that time I was the only channel through which Tibetans inside the PRC could make their voices heard, and my blog received several million hits, as the work of one person standing against the propaganda machine of a colossal State.

I want to thank these friends of mine, though I cannot mention their names; we supported and encouraged each other through those hard days.  Though we found ourselves in different places, we had all become witnesses and reporters at the same epochal moment in history.  I remember what a young Tibetan told me from Lhasa late one night, just after the protests erupted:  “Although we often have the words 'nationality' and 'Tibet' on our lips, when things get really bad it's usually the humblest stratum of the common people who take the risks and step out in front.  They're a lot braver than we are.”  But in fact this young man was seized for taking photographs and was detained for nearly two months.

My blog was destroyed by hackers and my Skype account was hijacked.  Each day was like combat, with events in constant flux as on a battlefield.  Again and again, my friends helped me keep going.  In the face of constant threats from the political police, I packed a small bag with articles I would need in prison and kept it within reach.

Later I traveled through the Tibetan region taking notes and pictures.  The entire journey I was followed and repeatedly intercepted and questioned.  The police limited my contacts with Tibetans and interrogated any who had dealings with me.  They were trying to make me someone no one would talk to.  While I was in Lhasa, a squad of police raided my mother's apartment and took me away after searching my room and confiscating my materials.  It was on account of the Beijing Olympics which were then underway.  Eventually they let me go.  This experience is actually not unusual for
Tibetans living under dictatorship.

Even now, every kind of inhumanity and injustice is still being visited upon Tibet. Many outstanding people, innocent people, have been arrested and sentenced and are suffering unimaginable torment. I will keep my one-person media operation going, for it is the weapon of the powerless. To be sure, this weapon consists of the written word; it rests on principles of nonviolence and noncooperation; it draws its energy from our religion, traditions, and culture, as well as the broken condition to which we have been reduced; these provide the strength with which we resist oppression and are the reason why I will never give up or compromise.  The support that comes in from every side, including from you, is a lasting source of my courage.

Tashi Delek!

August 28, 2010
Beijing