Tibetans Risk Death to Flee Tibet

Tim Johnson, the Beijing bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers, posted this in-depth article today, looking at how Tibetans risk death to flee over mountain border to Nepal. This is has been the way Tibetans have channeled their frustration and energy for the last fifty years – through pilgrimage to see the Dalai Lama and cultivating hope for a new life beyond oppression.

I received the article from my dad who commented: “here’s a story posted in todays Sacto Bee. Thought it of special interest considering most of us don’t know much about the plight of the Tibetans.”. It really hit me… I have been talking about the Tibetan issue with my family for years now, but here is my father saying that he really doesn’t know much! With all that is happening around the world, I can’t really expect him to either, but at the same time, he is open, willing to listen and to learn. I am glad he found this article, as it sheds great light on one aspect of the recent history of the Tibetan people.

A clip from the story:

The icy Nangpa Pass is a well-worn route. Thousands of Tibetan Buddhists have crossed it in recent decades, part of an exodus of Tibetans escaping Chinese religious and political control. The pass is 18,700 feet high, higher than any peak in North America except Mount McKinley in Alaska and Mount Logan in Canada.
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Some 2,000 to 3,000 refugees trek across the Himalayas each year. They take no sleeping bags, no tents, no fluffy down jackets and no maps. The lucky ones have guides, and carry sheeting to use as tarps and plastic bags to wrap their feet. Most come in winter, when glacial crevasses freeze shut and Chinese border guards stick close to their heated outposts rather than roaming the frontier.

The article also mentions the Nangpa Pass Shootings where on “September 30, 2006 Chinese forces opened fire on a group of approximately 70 Tibetan refugees attempting to escape Tibet through the Nangpa Pass”. You can watch video footage of the shooting of unarmed Tibetans by Chinese Soliders. You view our earlier blog coverage of this event, as well: Kelsang Namtso, Murdered by Chinese soldiers.

a body in the snow on Nangpa

While the violence in recent days was not right, Tibetans should be given credit for their decades of restraint, for the violence they have faced at the hands of Chinese police and soldiers, and for the risks they have taken over and over again to connect with their brothers and sisters in India and Nepal.

Tibetan children detained by soliders

Read the full article from “Tibetans risk death to flee over mountain border to Nepal” in the Sacramento Bee

Tibetans Describe Continued Unrest

Tibetans taking part in and affected by the continuing unrest have contacted the BBC News website to describe their experiences.

ANONYMOUS TIBETAN PROTESTER, MACHU, GANSU PROVINCE:

On Sunday at around 2pm, 200 people demonstrated in Machu county. Groups of people took down the Chinese flag, set it on fire and put the Tibetan flag up in its place.
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In surrounding villages there have been small protests. In a small village called Ngura Xian I also took part in a silent candlelight vigil.

We did this to symbolise the hopes and aspirations of Tibetan people from under the dark period of Chinese rule. During the vigil, the police came and dispersed us.

TIBETAN WHO WISHES TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS, LHASA

There is a heavy police presence and lots of military vehicles. I heard that there have been arrests and that two people were killed in the Tsangkhung nunnery.
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What really worries me is that I can’t see a single westerner or foreign journalist. That is of concern.

TIBETAN WHO WISHES TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS, OUTSIDE LHASA

We are very worried about arbitrary arrests. We believe that the people recorded on CCTV will get arrested but I fear that others will be arrested.

We are all very worried about the lack of western people and journalists in and around Lhasa. I have not seen any myself in the past day.

Read more from the full BBC article

Amazing Video from Xiahe

Anti-government protests in Tibet have spread to Gansu and neighbouring provinces with large Tibetan populations. Tania Branigan reports from Xiahe on the tense stand-off between monks, lay people and security forces

[youtube GMrSpVXnkyk]

View the original story on The Guardian

What the Chinese People Are Saying

I’ve just found a fascinating post on the blog Mutant Palm that provides some inside into what Chinese citizens are saying online:

As news of the turmoil in Tibet reaches Chinese netizens, reactions on Chinese Twitter-clones Fanfou.com and Jiwai.de are mostly of astonishment according to a search on Twifan. Meanwhile, on Twitter, whose users are mostly from other countries, reactions are less surprised, according to Tweet Scan. Again, I’m not a pro translator, so by all means, send corrections. [Thanks wgj, twice, but I'm keeping "underdog" cuz I like it; thx kdobson]

Here is a sample of some of the translated “tweets” (like short blog posts or text messages) are saying:

sprife 拉萨暴动，很担心！[Tibetan rebellion, really worried!]

李清扬cherry 达赖集团在拉萨策划骚乱活动 [Dalai Clique scheme behind Lhasa riots]

effie 拉萨到底怎么了？？？[So what's the deal with Lhasa???]

kaixintao07 香港流感，西藏骚乱…… [Hong Kong Flu, Tibet riot... ...]

虫仔 拉萨·西藏，台北·台湾：中国永远的刀痕。[Lhasa Tibet, Taipei Taiwan: China's eternal scars.]

zbright 惊愕，西藏出现动乱 [holy crap, Tibet in turmoil]

Zola 支持西藏人民的抗争。[supports Tibetan People to stand up and fight.]

You can view the entire blog post here, as well as the original coverage from BoingBoing.

MSNBC offers a different perspective in their article Chinese seethe on Web over rare riots in Tibet:

On Saturday, a rash of angry blog posts appeared after China confirmed deaths in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, and U.S. actor Richard Gere called for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics should the authorities mishandle the protests.
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“Westerners think they know all about China, telling us that this, that and the other is bad,” wrote one blogger, who listed historical reasons justifying Tibet’s inclusion as part of China.

“Most foreigners have been brainwashed as far as this issue is concerned,” assented another user.
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“I think that the Chinese government has to cut this cancer out. We can start with the Dalai Lama, and even though we don’t have relations with the Dalai Lama, we should arrest those who are behind the riots,” said one man surnamed Song.
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Still, while most blog postings appeared to agree with Beijing’s official stance, a rare few differed.

“I’m not some big Stalinist, and I don’t share the view that Tibet is part of China. Every minority has the right to choose its own path of development,” said one blogger who claimed to have lived in Tibet for four years.

YouTube Blocked By China

As part of their newly declared “People’s War” of Proganda and Security, the Chinese government has blocked YouTube access for ALL of China, including Tibet.

JingJing, China’s #1 Internet Cop Smashes Your Keyboard – NO YOUTUBE FOR YOU!




While there have been previous incidents of blockage and filtering behind the Great Firewall, this is an extremely blatant and obvious case that is tied directly to the large number of clips on YouTube which show protests both inside Tibet and around the world.

This is based on news from multiple sources, including the China Media Blog and Shanghaist.