"The Ten Greatest Tibetan Swindlers" By Penpa Tashi
High Peaks Pure Earth has been following a blogpost titled "The Ten Greatest Tibetan Swindlers" that was originally posted on Penpa Tashi's TibetCul blog on October 1, 2010. For unclear reasons, the original post on http://penpatashi.tibetcul.com/107391.html is no longer accessible (the rest of the blog is unaffected), it was either removed by the author or removed by the TibetCul administrators.
The post created a big storm amongst Tibetan netizens when it was first published and was shared widely amongst Tibetans on social networking sites such as RenRen.com. Notably, some Tibetans criticised those who posted the article, calling them "extremists", advising them to remove their posts.
It is rare in the Tibetan blogosphere within PRC to come across such a critical and divisive blogpost, focusing on what the author sees as negative aspects of Tibetan society. According to his blog, Penpa Tashi is based in Kunming, Yunnan province, and his post does seem to focus on Tibetan areas of Yunnan, such as Dechen Prefecture. High Peaks Pure Earth readers may remember a poem from January 2009 titled "Silent Dechen" in which Dechen's population were mocked as not being Tibetan for not protesting in 2008.
"The Ten Greatest Tibetan Swindlers" was translated into Tibetan quite quickly and posted just days later on several Tibetan language sites such as http://www.gdqpzhx.com/bo/html/special/20101004779.html and http://youshun12.com/?p=3838. More recently on March 29, the text of the blogpost was re-posted on Woeser and Wang Lixiong's joint project, a Tibetan news and blogs aggregator website http://tibet.woeser.com/?p=26103 However as Woeser reported yesterday on her Twitter, their website suffered a malicious attack and all content has since been lost.
- Tibetan Poets: Tibetan scholars are poets and the ideas which those poets represent have shaped the desires of today’s Tibetan intellectuals. They long for cultural rubbish that Chinese and foreign scholars already discarded long time ago, for example, third generation or some other Western schools of poetry. They lag behind modern progressive culture and unintentionally destroy the so-called glorious poetry, which their own ethnic group once possessed. Their poems are nothing but a random accumulation of great abstract nouns, messy language, which they themselves are unable to understand.
- Tibetan Professors: Most Tibetan university professors are cultural robots, they arrive on time and they take their monthly salary on time, apart from the courses they teach, what else do they understand? What else can they teach? They only continue to pass on their narrow-minded ideas and beliefs. The professors are Tibetan language professors but they send their own children to non-Tibetan speaking schools.
- Tibetan Postgraduate Students: Those postgraduate students with a postgraduate certificate really don’t have any proper level of education; their graduation theses consist of stolen ideas and if not stolen, at least plagiarised. They relied on guanxi (connections) to get into graduate school and their research revolves around the graduation certificate and has little to do with any cultural substance.
- Tibetan Editors: Tibetan (language) editors can be divided into two types: the first type works for government run publications and the second type for private ones. The first type is of course not very smart and also corrupt. The second type talks about ethnic spirits in theory but in practice he changes his mind, thus disturbing the stability of the Tibetan region and threatening ethnic unity.
- Tibetan Monks: Monks have a ‘home’ outside their ‘home’, which is the monastery. Today’s monks regard the monastery as their hotel. Only when they don’t have anywhere to go, they go to the monastery. For the monks in the Dechen region, becoming a monk is a question of survival because as a monk one would not have to care about complicated family matters and one even gets a small salary from the monastery. For outsiders, these people are students of Buddhism. Nowadays, these students have become increasingly rare.
- Tibetan Historians: I once came across a sentence in a Chinese article which said that history serves the government; this sentence holds a great deal of truth. Also, history books by contemporary historians rely on plagiarism, as the authors are only concerned with seeking fame. We only need to look at the history books written by followers of different religious schools and we know what is happening. In fact, the quarrel between Bon Religion and Buddhism is starting all over again. So aren’t today’s Tibetan historians great swindlers?
- Tibetan Fortune Tellers
- Tibetan Thinkers: Many people in the Tibetan region want to become thinkers, so everyone who has some knowledge of Tibetan considers him/herself a thinker or a poet. Those people like to grow long hair and their ethics are unusual. Those two criteria are considered the basis for becoming a thinker. If any wise and knowledgeable person closely examined them, he would come to realize that these people don’t know anything about traditional Tibetan culture and even less about Western progressive culture. They are the just a group of madmen deceiving the masses.
- Tibetan Tibetologists: The Diqing and Dechen counties are home to a few Tibetologists but what have they been researching? Tibetan Tibetologists do not understand Tibetan, how can they research Tibetan culture? Last time in Zhongdian Bookshop I saw some magazines and books published by local Tibet experts, they had all been written in Chinese, those Tibetologists probably don’t understand any Tibetan! People from other minorities would quite certainly not trust those works; these people are really not able to conduct research on Tibetan culture. They are just a group of Tibet specialists to fool Han Chinese.
- Tibetan tour guides: Among today’s Tibetan tour guides there aren’t any who have any tour guide culture, they are just a group of swindlers betraying the outstanding local culture. They are turning cultural value into cash value. But apart from being able to speak their own language, tour guides actually need to possess profound knowledge of local history and traditional culture.
Comments:
Comment by Guest:
Ok, so maybe you and I, we are all swindlers! But nothing should be covered up, ignored and even more, one shouldn’t disrespect those who are struggling for the preservation and development of Tibetan culture. Also, you should focus more on people’s strong points, those strong points we can learn something from.Author's reply: To reveal weak points is our responsibility and aren’t you guys constantly repeating and stressing the strong points?
Comment by Potala:
I totally understand the blogger. He is not covering anything up. He is even less disrespecting those who struggle for the preservation and development of Tibetan culture. Of course he knows about other people’s strong points. Everyone should be aware of this important situation, everybody should make an effort.
Comment by Tubozhizi:
Your insults towards Tibetan scholars are unworthy. Of course there exist some of the problems you mentioned but they only refer to a small group. Why don’t you also write about some good things and make a comparison?Author’s response: Thanks for sharing your opinion.
Comment by Potala:
Over the past few years, there have been 4 so-called representative scholars who gave talks at a conference in Beijing. They claimed that the 20th century Tibetology is our Tibetology and we have great faith in the future. None of those 4 people could write or even speak a single word of Tibetan, what kind of future is that?
SFT India Lobbies MPs to Take Action for Ngaba
SFT India’s Tenchoe and Jigdal are in New Delhi to lobby Members of the Indian Parliament to increase the pressure on China to end the military siege in Ngaba, eastern Tibet, and to release all those detained in recent weeks, including 300 monks from Kirti Monastery whose whereabouts remain unknown.
Video: Meeting with Indian MPs to highlight the situation in Ngaba
Meeting with Indian MPs to highlight the situation in Ngaba: Day 2
Chinese troops descended on Kiri Monastery in the days following the self-immolation of a 20-year-old monk, Phuntsok Jarutsang on March 16th, 2011 and continue to beat, detain and intimidate the monks and any Tibetan who dares to protest their repressive actions. Two elderly Tibetans died after being beaten by police for trying to stop the arrest of 300 monks at the monastery on the evening of April 21st.
Tibetans and their supporters worldwide are demanding world government’s immediately condemn China’s actions and call for a withdrawal of troops from the region and for international observers to be allowed into Ngaba.
TAKE ACTION: 10 Ways You Can Help Stop the Crackdown in Ngaba
Update on the Indian Parliament Lobby Effort:
In light of the recent crackdown in Ngaba, eastern Tibet, Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) – India has spearheaded an Indian Parliamentarian Lobby Effort. Yesterday and today we delivered appeal letters to Members of both houses of Parliament urging the Indian Government to press Beijing to immediately:
1. End the violent crackdown and repressive “patriotic re-education” campaign in Ngaba and withdraw troops from Kirti monastery and surrounding areas.
2. Unconditionally release all Tibetans arrested or imprisoned in Ngaba.
3. Allow an international and independent fact-finding mission to visit Kirti monastery in Ngaba, along with members of the foreign media.
4. Respect the right of Kirti monks to freely practice their religion and respect their right to movement.
“The situation in Ngaba is deteriorating as Chinese authorities continue their blatant violation of Tibetans’ human rights,” said Tenzin Choedon, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet – India. “Everyone we have met in the Indian Government is concerned about the dire situation in Ngaba and has expressed their solidarity with the Tibetan people.”
Over the course of 2 days, SFT – India’s delegation has met with senior parliamentarians from both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha including:
Shri Mohan Singh:
National Spokesperson of Samajwadi party
Hon’ Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.
Mr. C.M. Chang: IAS (Rtd.)
Nagaland People’s Front
Hon’ Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha.
Chaudhary Ajit Singh:
President of Rashtriya Lok Dal
Hon’ Member of Parliament, Lok Sabya
former Union Minister of India
Shri Satyavrat Chaturvedi:
Hon’ Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
Former minister in Madhya Pradesh Government
Former General Secretary and National Spokesperson of Congress
Shri Raghuvansh Prasad Singh:
Rashtriya Janata Dal
Hon’ Member of Parliament
Lok Sabha and former Union Minister of India.
Shri Raghuvansh raised Tibet’s independence during the last Parliament session in March, 2011.
“In the coming days, we will continue to visit people of influence here in New Delhi and appeal for their help in demanding the Chinese government end the military siege in Ngaba and release all those unjustly arrested,” said Tenzin Jigdal, Project Director of Students for a Free Tibet – India. “We also call on governments’ around the world to intervene before more innocent Tibetan lives are lost.”
SFT – India’s delegation will meet with Indian Parliamentarians in the coming days with the support of the Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Research Center. We will also be delivering appeal letters to various foreign missions in New Delhi.
Open Letter to Panchen Lama
April 22, 2011
Dear Gendun Choekyi Nyima,
I don’t think you will receive this letter. I know that you’re being watched, monitored and controlled 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But deep down I have this stubborn hope that maybe you will hear us. Maybe you’ll see us typing these words in New York, as you turn 22.
I am writing on behalf of Students for a Free Tibet, an organization with more than 50,000 members in over 100 countries. Every one of us are thinking of you at this moment. Ever since you were abducted by the Chinese government at age 6, we lost touch with you. We don’t know where you are, or how you are. But after all these years, we’re still thinking of you and fighting for your freedom. We’re not giving up.
22 is a great age to be, at least for the average boy. When I was 22, I was in my final year of college, excited but nervous at the prospect of entering the real world. I wonder how you’re feeling as you turn 22, another year in captivity, for committing no crime except that of being the Panchen Lama. The Chinese government has robbed you of your childhood, your adolescence, your identity, your rights, your friendships, and your country.
No matter what you’ve been told by your minders and tutors appointed by Beijing, there is a world out here where people are searching for you. Tibetans and supporters hang your photo in their homes or carry it in their wallets. Mothers hold your image to their chest, your photograph wet from tears and crumpled from years of separation. We have not forgotten you. In fact, with each passing year of your absence, your presence is burnt ever deeper into our memory.
Your previous incarnation, the 10th Panchen Lama, is remembered for his monumental contribution to the Tibetan nation. What is less known about him is that he was also a great Buddhist scholar. In this time of suffering and oppression, he would have enlightened us to the reality that nothing is permanent, not even China’s oppression in Tibet. Only freedom and truth will endure the test of time.
The Chinese empire stands on a foundation of lies, and these lies are falling apart. We know that the forces that keep you imprisoned are running out of time. As the world moves from darkness to light, from oppression to freedom, from dictatorship to democracy, we can see the fog clearing up on the horizon. The day is not far when you will join the real world, to live a free life, to take your rightful seat at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery.
Sending you wishes and prayers on your 22nd birthday. May you celebrate your next birthday in freedom.
Tibet will be free.
Most sincerely yours,
Tendor
Students for a Free Tibet
"Remembering The Young Monk, Phuntsog, Who Died from Self-Immolation" By Woeser
Woeser writes about the tragic self-immolation of young monk Phuntsog from Ngaba, Eastern Tibet, who self-immolated on March 16, 2011. As Woeser points, it is an incident reminiscent of the self-immolation of Tapey in February 2009.
Meanwhile the situation in Ngaba remains tense, see recent media reports such as this one from the BBC.
On March 16 2008, when monks and lay people took to the streets in Amdo Ngaba and raised their voices in protest, among the many people that were killed by the state machinery were a pregnant women, a 5-year-old child and also a 16-year-old female middle school student, Lhundup Tso. Thus three years later on this day, many Tibetans commemorate the victims by lighting butter lamps in temples and at home. Phuntsog, a monk from Kirti monastery, commemorated by setting himself on fire.
On a sunny afternoon, he left the monastery that was under close surveillance by military police and walked on his own to the end of the sun-drenched road; here he suddenly went up in flames. From within the fireball he shouted: “Let His Holiness Return!” “Tibet must be free!” “Long live the Dalai Lama!” People gathered around watching in a state of shock, the entire street filled up with heavily armed special, ordinary, armed and plain-clothed police forces using clubs ferociously striking at Phuntsog; was this to extinguish the fire or to beat him?
On March 17 at 3 am, Phuntsog passed away. He was only 20 years old, born in 1991. His parents were from the second village in Me’urama Township, Ngaba County. Two Buddhist monks from Kirti Monastery, one lived somewhere inside Tibet and the other had crossed the snow mountains to escape to Dharamsala last year. Myself and some other friends interviewed them. They said that when they saw the military police beating Phuntsog, some monks and ordinary people rushed over and lifted Phuntsog up to take him to the hospital next to the temple, but it was already passed the hours. So they once more took him up and carried him to the monks’ residence, where his parents burst into tears of shock. They took him to the county hospital, but people there refused to take him in. To save his life, the people finally decided to pass Phuntsog over to the authorities begging them to save his life. That was at around 5 pm.
Very late that evening, the hospital was finally granted permission to take Phuntsog in and save his life but, by then, there was no hope left; early in the morning, at around 3 am, he passed away. Yet, the hospital refused to give his remains back to his relatives until 4 pm. It is said that government officials came to inspect his dead body. The monastery was told to complete any funeral activities before 8 am on March 18; they were not authorized to keep the body.
Phuntsog’s tragic death was reported by various foreign media. Even the Chinese government news agency Xinhua had to admit that this event had occurred. But initial reports referred to the victim as 24-year-old Phuntsog; later on, it was said that he was a 16-year-old teenager suffering from epilepsy. According to Xinhua, the police patrolling in the area promptly extinguished the fire and quickly took Phuntsog to the hospital for immediate medical treatment, yet “despite his heavy wounds, a gang of monks from Kirti Monastery who entertained ulterior motives, forcibly took Phuntsog out of hospital and hid him inside the monastery” and only after continuous negotiations by the local authorities and the victim’s mother did the monastery release Phuntsog so that he could be taken to the county hospital at 3 am. “Because Kirti Monastery kept Phuntsog for such a long time, precious time was lost that could have been used for the treatment of his wounds and he died on March 17 at 3:44 am.”
Xinhua News Agency tried to portray Phuntsog as someone suffering from physical or mental illness, it tried to frame the monastery and monks as murderers. These phrases were also used on February 27 last year when Tapey, a monk from Kirti monastery set himself on fire on the street and was afterwards shot by the police. After many foreign media reported on this issue, Xinhua had to admit that “a man wearing robes” had indeed set himself on fire, but they did not admit that military police had shot at him. The doctor also denied that he had any bullet wounds, and instead claimed that his body only showed combustions. However, in reality the hospital wanted to amputate his leg and right arm after removing bullets from them to crush all evidence, but only because Tapey's mother tried everything possible to prevent this from happening, they eventually could not carry out the amputation.
Xinhua also reported that Phuntsog’s father said that his son “set himself on fire, there are only combustions and no other wounds”. This was just like Tapey's case last year, Xinhua "quoted a Tibetan monk to argue that the talk about shooting was just an invention by him”. In fact, Jiangkou, the monk from Kirti Monastery who had taken and disseminated photos of the military police shooting last year, was later sentenced to 6 years and is still in prison at this very moment.
Phuntsog did not die because he set himself on fire; apart from the combustions, he had wounds from the beatings; he was beaten to death, he was killed. So March 16, the day commemorating the oppression of the Tibetan people will always be remembered for the 20-year-old monk Phuntsog who died from self-immolation.
Beijing, March 22, 2011
Blessings for Yushu
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| Popular photo on Tibetan blogs commemorating the earthquake of April 14, 2010 |
It's been a year since a devastating earthquake struck Kyegundo (Ch: Yushu) in eastern Tibet on April 14, 2010. To commemorate the first year anniversary, the Tibetan blogosphere has been awash for the past two weeks with blogposts, photos and poems remembering the incident. High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a poem written for the anniversary by a female Tibetan blogger called Lhakyi Dolma and posted on her blog on April 1, 2011.
The recovery programmes are still ongoing, those who wish to donate to this important work can visit the pages of Tibetan Village Project in the US and Tibet Foundation in the UK.
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| Popular photo on Tibetan blogs commemorating the earthquake of April 14, 2010 |
A thousand butter lamps are lit for yesterday
Palms together in prayer, contemplating your name
Looking to the Source of Three Rivers from afar
That pure earth nurturing ten thousand souls
Gently carrying along my initial greeting
Yushu, are you well?
A stick of incense is burned for today
Facing the Buddha statue, offering thanks from the heart
Olive green, maroon red
You are the most faithful protective deity of the Land of Snows
Offering a pure white khata
Turning deep kindness into strength
Let the sun's warm ray
Carry along a greeting
Yushu, are you well?
Observing the dawn and dusk of Batang's grasslands
You can still dance with your long sleeves
You can still recite "Gesar"
If there are smiles, let them blossom
If there are tears, let them float
The earth embraces us
We embrace today
We calmly passed, scattering seeds and growing
Looking up at the source of Three Rivers
Gently carrying along my greeting
Yushu, are you well?
Prostrating, praying for the welfare of living beings
Spring’s recovery accompanied by the heartbreak
But the heart that is brave, can only carry on towards happiness
Sacred mountain Gardo Jowo still shines like silver
Flowers will still bloom, eagles will still take flight
Glaciers, snow mountains, pastureland, cows and sheep
Have been the mark of this land all along
The quiet greeting caresses and soothes the pain
Yushu, are you well?
The strong Khampa children possess power bestowed to them by the plateau
Tomorrow's happiness is already underway
The sun rays always greet us from ahead
Blessings for Yushu
Gently carrying my greeting
Yushu, take good care of yourself
April 1, 2011
Chabcha
Stand-off in Ngaba: Tibetan monks need your help
Tibetan monks at Kirti monastery in eastern Tibet are in danger – and need your help.
As Beijing intensifies its sweeping crackdown on dissent, Chinese troops in Tibet are on the verge of “disappearing” hundreds of monks.
Tibetan monks in Dharamsala, India have received an urgent call for help from Ngaba County (Chinese: Aba County). They are reporting that Chinese troops attempted to storm Kirti monastery this morning. According to reliable sources, residents fear Chinese authorities are planning to forcibly remove all monks between the ages 18 and 40.
Local Tibetans, being alerted to the troops’ arrival, rushed to block the monastery entrance. The armed police and soldiers tried to break through the crowd by beating the Tibetans and setting police dogs on them. In spite of the violent attacks, the Tibetans stood their ground and the troops failed to enter the monastery’s inner gates. As of now, the standoff continues.
Tibetans fear Chinese authorities are planning to transfer the monks from the monastery into local prisons where they will be subjected to China’s repressive political “reeducation”.
Tension in Ngaba has been high since the self-immolation of Phuntsok Jarutsang (pictured right), a 20-year monk from Kirti Monastery, on March 16, 2011. Chinese forces have been stationed around Kirti Monastery for weeks and more than a dozen monks have been arbitrarily arrested.
According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights & Democracy as of yesterday, troops had completely sealed off the monastery. The monks’ dwindling food supplies are prompting fears of starvation in the monastery. The lives of many Tibetans are at stake.
Take Action: Let the Chinese authorities know the world is watching
- Sign the petition and demand an end to the siege.
- Organize a solidarity rally at the Chinese consulate nearest you or at a public landmark in your community. Find details of protests here. Send information about your protest to grassroots@studentsforafreetibet.org so we can alert others.
- Spread the word. Forward this email to friends & family. Update your Facebook and Twitter status to “I stand with Tibetans in Ngaba”.
For more ways to take action, visit: http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/ngaba
Let’s work together to end the siege at Kirti monastery, and to protect the monks and local Tibetans who are defending the monastery.
For more information, read the reports & articles below:
Chinese armed police cordon Ngaba Kirti Monastery, 2500 monks face food shortage (TCHRD)
http://www.tchrd.org/press/2011/pr20110411.html
Security step-up in Kirti monastery likely to starve monks (Phayul News):
http://is.gd/iaQ7tN
Ngaba Kirti Monastery Under Lockdown (Voice of America):
http://www.voanews.com/tibetan-english/news/Ngaba-Kirti-Monastery-under-Lockdown-119696874.html
More information about the incident on March 16th self-immolation:
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=2306
Tibetans boycott Chinese vegetable sellers in Kham
There is a developing story from Tibet that reminds one of the power of nonviolence displayed during the time of Gandhi and MLK. Tibetans in Nangchen, Kham in eastern Tibet are reported to be boycotting Chinese vegetables. Read the full story at Tibet Post International. What began initially as a response to skyrocketing food prices has now grown into an organized boycott of Chinese vegetable sellers. Many Chinese vegetable stores have lost much business since the boycott started, while Tibetans are now buying their vegetables from Tibetans who travel to Xining to buy vegetables in bulk.
- I support
on Statement on the self-immolation of a young Tibetan in Delhi, India
- Jeanett Clemon
on 2011: What we’ve achieved together for Tibet
- Tashi Wangdu
on Tibetan Activist Sets Himself on Fire: Hu Protests Conclude in Mumbai, Dharamsala
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