"Three Provinces of the Snowland, Losar Tashi Delek!" By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for broadcast on Radio Free Asia on March 1, 2011 and posted on her blog on March 4, 2011.

Woeser's blogpost is timed to coincide with Losar, Tibetan New Year. This year, there has been much discussion amongst Tibetan netizens on the regional variations when it comes to celebrating Losar, as well as the conflict in celebrating Chinese New Year when the timing does not coincide with Losar. For more on this topic, see the previous posting here on High Peaks Pure Earth titled "One Tibet, Many Tibetan New Years".





A few days ago, some people I had just made friends with made their way from Chengdu to their hometown somewhere in eastern Tibet to celebrate Losar, the Tibetan New Year. I asked them if they celebrated both Chinese New Year and Losar or whether they just chose one. They said that the people just like to celebrate Losar whereas their work units placed more emphasis on Chinese New Year. People in their hometown rely on livestock and also agriculture to make a living and it is hence different from places like Amdo and Kham; and with regards to New Year celebrations, they by no means have to celebrate Chinese New Year.

In the past few years, there has been a lively debate among Tibetans on the internet about the displacement of New Year’s celebrations. One of the opinions is that “the displacement of New Year’s celebrations in Amdo (Gansu, Qinghai) and Kham (Tibet) was caused by the historically, geographically and climatically transformed environment, but that the actual atmosphere of the celebrations has become more Tibetan”. I have always believed that since we know that our New Year has been somewhat displaced, we should try to gradually replace it; yet, after engaging in profound discussions and thus gaining a more comprehensive understanding, I now think that it is not really a question of displacement and replacement, but whether the choices we make are imposed or natural.

Over 90 years ago, the Minister for Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan, stationed in Tibet, Zhao Erfeng, instigated a brutal massacre in the Kham region, killing many Tibetan monks, thus promoting the system of “Liuguan”; he regarded the transformation of Tibetan folk customs as extremely important, calling it the “opening-up of a culture” and the “reformation of old habits”, which included forcing Tibetan disciples to study Mandarin and making Tibetan families take on Han Chinese family names. As a result, in today’s Kham region we find many people with Han Chinese surnames, of which many originate from that period. It also included making people celebrate Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival as well as putting an end to sky burials, instead burying the deceased in the ground. In the Amdo region, the 40-year-long reign of the Ma Bufang Hui nationality warlord family forced Tibetans to intermarry and to change their religious beliefs; it also spread and popularised Chinese New Year as well as other festival traditions, including dragon, lion and lantern dances.

The forced changes back then have turned into more soft changes today; it seems that they are better at capturing people’s weaknesses. For example, two years ago, the Tibetan Losar and the Chinese lunar New Year happened to be at exactly the same time, which meant that people could celebrate them together and it saved them from the problem of having to choose. But this year, both festivals are one whole month apart and as far as I know, Kardze Prefecture gave people 7 days holiday for Chinese New Year, but only 3 days for Losar. Not to mention that this is already a differentiation, they even decided to add those 3 days to the 7 days of Chinese New Year vacation, leaving 10 days of vacation around Lunar New Year and none for Losar.

This decision was in favour of those people who wanted to have a long holiday; my family in Dartsedo, for example, were happy to use those 10 days to go to Chengdu and enjoy themselves. It also didn’t matter to them that when it came to Losar celebrations, they were busy working and no festive emotions or atmosphere came up. In fact, many people, I am referring to those living in the cities and towns, already entertain an indifferent attitude towards the meaning of Losar. Yet, the above-mentioned decision has certainly let to the fading away of Losar. No matter whether intentionally or not, this is bound to weaken Losar, making it much less important than Chinese New Year.

However, on the other hand, as we can see on the internet, there are some young Tibetans who believe that incorporating some customs of Chinese New Year into Tibetan people’s lives is not at all inappropriate. For example, those triple antithetical couplets written in golden letters on red background are originally simply an imitation of the Han Chinese couplet, neither fish nor fowl; yet, it’s not simply about “likeness”. It is important to know that all the loss is first reflected in the details; every single detail embodies a little bit more loss until in the end, everything is lost.

I am not a narrow-minded nationalist. I realised that on this year’s Chinese New Year’s Eve, among the Happy New Year Messages I received, most of them were from Tibetans from Amdo and Kham; and there were not only MMS containing Tibetan songs and dance, there were also some SMS from monks reciting prayers and the classic scriptures. This admittedly conveyed a “pure Tibetan atmosphere”, but at the same time, it felt somewhat peculiar. Just like Wang Lixiong jokingly wondered, how is it possible that Tibetans are even keener on Chinese New Year than Han Chinese?

It is reported that the people of Kham, Batang, and Litang regions, whose customs and habits had been transformed long time ago by Zhao Erfeng, have in the past two years increasingly given up celebrating the Lunar New Year and have resumed celebrating Losar. Amdo is home to Chentsa County, which is rich in Tibetan cultural heritage and this year people started neglecting Chinese New Year, instead picking up Losar celebrations again. Perhaps the people of these regions really do not care about the restoration of those festivities. Maybe the celebrations will negatively affect local agricultural production. Or perhaps, in reality, there is no negative impact at all because the people who grew up on this land emanate the wisdom of their land and hence can make their own decisions based on this close relationship with their homeland.

Chengdu, March 1, 2011

Losar 2138: New Year, New Generation, New Hope

Today is Losar – the first day of the Iron Rabbit Year 2138 according to the Tibetan lunar calendar.

As we welcome the Tibetan New Year, we celebrate the spirit and resilience of a new generation bringing new hope for freedom to the Tibetan people.

All of us at Students for a Free Tibet wish you and your loved ones a Happy Losar.

As we work hard to speed up the winds of change blowing from the Arab world, we hope this year will bring an end to the suffering and oppression in Tibet.

Losar Tashi Delek,

Tendor, Kate, TenDolkar, Mary-Kate, Stefanie, Tentsetan and all of us at SFT HQ

Read & share Losar related blog posts below:

One Tibet, Many Tibetan New Years: Tibetan Bloggers Call for Unity
http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2011/03/one-tibet-many-tibetan-new-years.html

Tsampa Eaters and Sweet Tea Drinkers: Tibetan Identity Assertion Through Food
http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2011/02/updated-tsampa-eaters-and-sweet-tea.html

In Defense of Tibetan Cooking (Part I)
http://www.jamyangnorbu.com/blog/2011/02/07/in-defence-of-tibetan-cooking-part-i/

One Tibet, Many Tibetan New Years: Tibetan Bloggers Call for Unity

A Losar Card found on the popular social networking site RenRen.Com The Tibetan reads: Good Losar, Happy Losar, Hope after Losar There Will Be A Change

High Peaks Pure Earth has been monitoring Tibetan blogs in the run up to Losar (Tibetan New Year). In 2009, we noticed that many sites were closed down in this period for "maintenance", partly also because the sensitive date of March 10 was approaching and also because many blogposts had been appearing, urging Tibetans not to celebrate Losar that year. 

In 2010, there was an upsurge in online activity about being Tibetan and Tibetan identity that continued throughout the year. Also very popular on High Peaks Pure Earth last year was our posting of "The Tradition of Gu-thug Before Losar", Tibetans all around the world will be eating Gu-thug today, Losar this year falling on March 5, Saturday.

This year, there has been discussion amongst Tibetan bloggers on the subject of Losar itself. The issue is that Tibetans all over Tibet celebrate New Year at different times, for which there are various reasons. Particularly in Amdo and some parts of Eastern Tibet, New Year is celebrated at the time of Chinese New Year. High Peaks Pure Earth has selected and translated two recent blogposts, one in Tibetan and one in Chinese, that outline the debate and also some interesting comments.


The first blogpost was written in Tibetan and posted on AmdoTibet on January 24, 2011. The blogger outlines first how the regional Losar variations came about:
Due to different traditions and dissimilar farming periods of the various regions of Tibet, Losar is celebrated at different times. For instance, in the Kongpo region, it is celebrated on the first day of the tenth month in Tibetan calendar, and in Ngari's Puhreng county, in the south western part of Tibet, it is celebrated in the eleventh month. And many regions of central Tibet celebrate Farmer's New Year, which falls on the first day of the twelfth month. Therefore, there is no common Losar for Tibetans. However the main Tibetan New Year is generally celebrated on the first day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar. It is said the first day is the Lama's New Year, the second day is the King's New Year, and the third day is called Sepso Tuton, which means great feast or great party.

For Losar, Tibetans love to celebrate all festivals, and gather to feast, drink, and gamble. They celebrate the festivals of China, Mongolia, and the West. Is it because of they adore eating and drinking? In fact, the three provinces need to celebrate our Losar and other festivals. However there is no need to celebrate the festivals of all races, we must know the reasons for celebrating, and not celebrate every festival mindlessly. Oh, dear brothers and sisters, recognise who you are.

Losar, who inherits this sorrow?
Everyone says it is a joyful time.
But who has busted or emptied our home?
All those brothers and sisters who have passed away,
May their souls float on the top of the Potala this Losar?
When Losar comes, my heart is filled with sorrow.
Your student Dortse

If in all parts of Tibet only one Losar is commonly celebrated, then it will help to have a common language and unity among us! So many good things will come out of it. So let us spread the benefits by celebrating a common Losar...

The people from Amdo Chentsa will celebrate the central Tibetan Losar from this year; starting from this year, they will not celebrate the Chinese New Year.

The second blogpost was written in Chinese by a blogger called Muya Dorje and was posted online on February 7, 2011, just ahead of Chinese New Year. The title of the blogpost is “The Sound of Unity”, the same title as the popular song by Sherten that calls for Tibetans from all three provinces of Tibet to unite.



A while ago, I saw an article online called “Tibetan New Year and Chinese New Year”. In it, the article mentioned the problem with Amdo and Kham’s New Year celebrations, and stated that the people of Amdo and Kham were more accustomed to Chinese New Year. It was implied, that the people in these regions had neglected, or were indifferent to Tibetan Losar, and that to experience it properly, one had to be in Lhasa. One friend from Amdo decided to reply to this article. In the following passage, he says:

It’s not that after we have celebrated Chinese New Year, we don’t also celebrate Tibetan New Year. In terms of social importance, the preparations for Tibetan New Year start far earlier than Chinese New Year, and deep in our hearts, we all want to have a great Tibetan New Year, every year!

The rest of the blogpost takes the the theme of Losar to ruminate more largely on Tibetan identity and Tibetan unity:

Tibetan people nowadays keep on saying over and over again that we need to protect our culture, let it flourish and pass it on to the next generation. But internally, we are constantly bickering amongst ourselves, using disrespectful and undignified words to speak to one another. How can we protect and nurture our own culture if we treat each other like this? Today’s Tibetans are too smug and selfish. They only understand a little of our cultural heritage, which they are satisfied with, contently thinking that they are the model Tibetan. This appears to be very narrow-minded. In my point of view, in order to pass Tibetan culture onto the next generation, we also need to pass on the Tibetan spirit. We need to understand ourselves, from the depth of our soul and heart, what it means to be a Tibetan. Only then will future generations be able to inherit our culture, and our hearts will open.

If we open the pages of Tibetan history, we can understand the course of our people’s development to date. Why are there those who still deliberate over whether Amdo lies across a river in Hui territory, or if Kham has a valley in the Han land? Do you not realise you are consciously, or unconsciously, casting out fellow Tibetans simply for residing outside the Autonomous Region? Why do you look upon each other as if you are not one of the same? Lhasa is famous historically because of where it is, this we all know. But it doesn't give you the authority to brag about it. We who live outside the Autonomous Region all have the same lifelong dream of making a pilgrimage to the Holy City, to show our love for Tibet...

Please do not think that I am boasting or showing off in the above passages. I only wanted to inform my fellow Tibetans of how vast our land is, how rich and beautiful our culture is, and how great our nation is. Please do not try to separate you from me, or magnify the distance between us, or misunderstand each other. Even though there is a big difference in our dialects across these three regions, we all speak Tibetan, and we all bleed Tibetan blood. It doesn’t matter which region you are from, if someone asks you who you are, I trust that you will always loudly reply “I am Tibetan” every time.  We do not represent an individual or a region, we all represent Tibet.

Nowadays, many outstanding Tibetan people are committed to unity, so that our Tibetan hearts will all be connected to one another, and never drift apart. I hope that we can forget about our own accomplishments and glory. Heart to heart communication and heart to heart discussions, so we can have a frank understanding of each other. Only this way can our deep and profound culture be protected, allowed to flourish, and passed onto future generations.

I know that one person alone is unable to change a lot, but I believe that if we are united, and have faith...

Let us hold our hands together, place them on our hearts, and pray for our Land of Snows to be peaceful and tranquil. We are all brothers and sisters, and will always be one family...

After Metok County was “Opened Up” By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for broadcast on Radio Free Asia on January 29, 2011 and posted on her blog on February 17, 2011.






One month ago, all of China’s main media focused on southern Tibet, solemnly reporting that the Metok highway tunnel had been opened, announcing that “the history of generations of Metok people being cut off by the vast snow-capped mountains is finally over”. Indeed, we have always known that Metok was the only county not accessible by highway; yet, more importantly, we have always known that Metok was never a deserted area, in fact, it has always been a very extraordinary place, both in terms of religious significance and natural resources.

However, over 90 years ago, the Qing Dynasty official, Zhao Erfeng, with his red peacock feather hat, led his army into Tibetan territory and instigated a bloody massacre. The general working under him, Chen Liangzhen, who was later endlessly praised by the Chinese literati, came to realise the rich and fertile products of southern Tibet, but he collectively called all the inhabitants of the area “barbarians”; in his diary titled “Memoirs of My Trip to the Tibetan Plateau” he wrote: “When I first went to Tibet, I thought all Tibetans were simply ‘barbarians’. However, after living there for a while I realised that Tibetan barbarians are more civilised than ordinary barbarians.” And the place where the so-called “barbarians” lived, was the Pema Kong – Metok.

So, is today’s Metok still inhabited by “barbarians”? Since it was not accessible by highway, doesn’t that mean that compared to other places in Tibet, its Sinicisation process happened at a much slower pace? I have always wanted to visit Metok because of the deep religious association with Padmasambhava, and because of the many historical sites left behind by great individuals representing a spiritual oasis of comfort for many pilgrims. But travelling there was always inconvenient with many bloodthirsty leeches along the route, which left me in a state of hesitation. I thought many people would think similarly, that in this way the place would remain a kind of untouched and natural pure land. By saying natural I of course include the indigenous people living there.

A Chinese military reporter recorded the opening of the Metok Highway with photos and text on his blog and on Twitter. I came to understand that my initial imaginations of the place are no longer true. After the opening of the highway, some issues could be observed which are likely to increase in the future: as more and more people move to Metok, more and more natural resources will be taken away from Metok. Those “barbarians” who were once a nuisance to the invaders many years ago, are now turning into stage props to spice up the travel experience of all the tourists that will be flocking in; freely displaying their bodies draped in animal skin, the feathers pinned to their heads, singing and dancing in a rather “barbarian” fashion, they look more like rare domesticated animals living in a zoo.

About his experiences in Metok, this journalist wrote: “On the Tramok highway 80K there is a restaurant. It is the largest hub for commodity exchange. The small restaurant, opened by people from Sichuan, has a big sign outside, reading ‘Grand Canyon Restaurant’”, “a local party official explained that today, in the whole of Metok we already find over 200 shops”, “they have even opened a karaoke hall, which, despite the fact that it looks simple and crude, has a large sign saying ‘Made in Heaven’”, “The wall of the Deyang Restaurant in the Metok county town is full of messages left by travellers. Another Sichuan restaurant called ‘Seafood Restaurant’ has already become a stronghold on the walking routes of Metok”. And so on and so forth.

I asked the journalist on Twitter whether those over 200 shops were opened by local people or by people who had moved there. He replied that they were mainly run by people from Sichuan. This is exactly what I had expected. Not only was Lhasa many years ago referred to as Chengdu’s backyard garden or clone city, also the Nyingtri Region’s capital city, Bayi Town (literally meaning 8-1-Town), to which Metok belongs, was many years ago described as not referring to 8 Han Chinese and 1 Tibetan, but to 80 Han Chinese and 1 Tibetan. There is another widespread joke; there was a tourist who set out to venture into the unknown to explore Metok, but the result was that he was laughed at, people said that there was nothing to explore in Metok, some “young ladies” had already gone in there long time ago to open businesses.

The system of "Liuguan", which was promoted through the bloody massacre instigated by Zhao Erfeng wreaked havoc in the eastern Kham area of Tibet; fortunately, their closing in on central Tibet was brought to an early end with the outbreak of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution in China. But later on, the undertaking was completed by the Communist Party instead. Now, the national excitement triggered by the “Opening Up of Metok” brims over with a flavour that is repeatedly and commonly conveyed through words and found in various history or scientific books. It is a flavour of colonialists setting foot on new land, impatiently waiting to catch the big fish. What we will inevitably see in the future is that the “Opening Up of Metok” means the extermination of Metok. But for now, it is enough to say that with the endless stream of people moving into the area, the once “barbarian” indigenous inhabitants will soon be tamed.

Beijing, January 29, 2011

Tiananmen 2.0: Why China is not immune to the Tunisia effect

Below is an article I wrote on the Huffington Post. It’s at this link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tenzin-dorjee/tienanmen-20-why-china-is_b_827685.html

Last spring, I was waiting for a bus in Cairo. Dawn was just breaking, and Tahrir Square, where the bus station was located, was empty except for the omnipresent face of Hosni Mubarak, on posters that covered giant billboards and buildings all over the city. In the cafes where men sipped tea and smoked hookahs, there was no smell of a revolution brewing. Instead, there was a lingering sense of resignation that the country might be condemned to live under Mubarak forever.

Less than a year later in January, images of the Egyptian revolution flashed across TV screens worldwide, and Tahrir Square had become unrecognizable! As people power explodes across the Arab world ­ — first in Tunisia, then in Egypt, now in Bahrain, Libya and elsewhere — one can’t help but wonder if we may be witnessing the fourth wave of democratization. If so, can 1.5 billion people living under the Chinese Communist Party ride this wave to democracy and freedom?

Before the dust has settled on the Arab spring, analysts are citing poverty, unemployment and corruption as the three main causes of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Arguing that these socioeconomic conditions and statistics are missing in today’s China, some are quick to dismiss any possibility of Beijing’s rule being shaken by the Tunisia effect. But let us remember an enduring lesson from history. Statistics don’t make revolutions; people do.

A few years ago, I traveled to Palestine to attend a conference on nonviolence with a friend of mine. One evening, after the panels and workshops were over, we found ourselves sitting with the pioneering theorist of nonviolent conflict, Dr. Gene Sharp. Discussing the likelihood of mass protests in Tibet and China, we asked him what he thought was the single most important ingredient to make a revolution.

“Hope,” he answered, without a moment’s hesitation, in a tone that indicated mild surprise at how we could not know such a basic fact of life.

People rise up not just because they are poor or unemployed; people rise up when they believe change is possible. After the success of the Tunisian revolution, millions of Egyptians suddenly found new hope and poured into the streets to demand change. In fact, in both Tunisia and Egypt, the revolution was not led by the poor and unemployed; it was organized and largely executed by the educated, online, middle class youth who wanted a say in the way their country was run. If revolutions are created by poverty and unemployment, why are we seeing an uprising in Bahrain, an international banking center with an educated, middle class majority? If Chinese youth are financially better off today than a decade ago, it makes them more — not less — likely to demand freedom and democracy.

However, while hope can mobilize people, it cannot guarantee success, which depends on strategy and tools. The mass convergences in Tunis and Cairo that filled our TV screens for weeks were preceded by months and years of behind-the-scenes strategic planning, training and organizing by groups of activists and youth leaders, who wielded the power of the internet in their nonviolent struggle.

The internet has decentralized technology and exponentially strengthened the grassroots. Wael Ghonim, one of the heroes of the Egyptian uprising, said it best, “If you want to liberate a society, just give them the internet.” According to Mr. Ghonim, who aptly called their uprising “Revolution 2.0,” the Egyptian revolution began online.

Is China ready for a revolution 2.0? There are nearly half a billion internet users in China today. China’s social media networks are expanding rapidly — Chinese Facebook look-alike Renren has 170 million users and microblogging site Sina has 75 million users. In spite of China’s great firewall, Chinese netizens have learned to circumvent the censors and read between the lines. When “Egypt” disappears from the internet, they can surmise that Cairo is in tumult. In the age of the internet, any battle against information is futile.

Nevertheless, the ultimate success of a revolution in China will depend on the effective use of strategy. In Egypt and Tunisia, activists and organizers connected with other pro-democracy forces including the Serbian youth movement that helped topple Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. They gathered in living rooms and watched films such as “Bringing Down a Dictator” about the Serbian uprising, and read books like From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp, internalizing the lesson that nonviolent movements are more powerful when they are planned strategically than when they happen spontaneously. If Chinese activists can analyze the strategic decisions within the 1989 Tiananmen movement and draw lessons from its failure, they will have a much higher chance of succeeding the next time.

Some believe the Chinese state is too ruthless to allow a nonviolent revolution, arguing that protesters will be arrested long before they reach a critical mass. But mass protest, although the most visible, is hardly the most effective form of nonviolent resistance. In places where the crackdown on street protests is swift and brutal, noncooperation and civil disobedience tactics are often more advisable. These tactics of denying obedience to the rulers, while reducing the risk of arrest and increasing the sustainability of the movement, have crippled ruthless regimes.

Largely unknown to the world, Tibetans today are engaging in a growing noncooperation movement. Since a 2008 uprising erupted across Tibet, China’s militarization of the Tibetan plateau has snuffed out all signs of dissent in the streets. But the revolution did not disappear; it simply moved indoors. Tibetans are now making a conscious effort to speak only in Tibetan, to eat only in Tibetan restaurants, or to buy only from Tibetan shops. Tibetans are channeling their spirit of resistance into social, cultural and economic activities that are self-constructive (promoting Tibetan language and culture) and non-cooperative (refusing to support Chinese institutions and businesses). The fact that Tibetans are able to wage a quiet, slow-building nonviolent movement in the most repressive political climate shows that there is a way to mobilize people power against the Chinese regime.

In spite of China’s image as a high-functioning economy, many of the social causes of mass discontent that exploded in the Arab world — endemic corruption, income inequality, labor unrest, inflation, pollution — continue to plague the nation. Since 2008, China has witnessed the Tibetan uprising, the Uyghur uprising in East Turkestan, and 90,000 mass incidents of public unrest each year. The Chinese government spends almost as much money on maintaining internal security as on its national defense. This underlines the overwhelming danger the regime faces from within its own empire.

2011 marks exactly a century since a previous generation of Chinese overthrew the Manchu dynasty and established a republic that lasted till 1949. This week, as organizers of a “Jasmine Revolution” issued calls for protest rallies every Sunday in thirteen cities in China, I started to feel that the stars are aligned against dictatorships everywhere. If the Chinese people seize this opportunity by combining nonviolent tools with strategic planning, they stand to liberate a quarter of the world’s population. It is about time.

What Chinese are saying about Egypt

How are Chinese people viewing the pro-democracy uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia? That’s a question many are asking and few are answering. The Chinese state, of course, dislikes what’s happening along the Nile, so much so that it has banned the word “Egypt” in micro-blogging sites. But what are Chinese people thinking? Are they even aware that the Arab world is on fire?

Well, it appears that the Chinese netizens are not only aware of the Egyptian revolution, they’re in fact voicing their support and admiration for the Egyptian people right now. Below are some comments from Sina microblog from a few days back:

smartskym: They want freedom of information. Keeping the people in ignorance is out of the question, and will not work.
田野V8: It’s pity that many people have never seen Twitter or Facebook. So our people are: without any stance!
想睡的猫: Dictators can only live in lies.
NELLL: Frightened souls that were crushed over by tanks 22 years ago have learned to be selfish, to be obscure and to escape. Then, no one has ever heard the song “The most beautiful Chinese” that was played at the square.
Mr-Six: Why the f**k this seems to be talking about the heavenly kingdom?
捷克刀神: Egyptians and Tunisians have been very awesome lately.
李PENG: Exactly the same as what we need.
遗世独立Q苍苍_暖酱: We don’t want Xinwen Lianbo (CCTV prime time news). We also want Twitter and Facebook.
83年瑕疵品_我要瘦: Agree! And the water pipe! (Chinese nickname for Youtube)
pplove24: I tuned in for Xinwen Lianbo that I’d quit a long time specially. There was absolutely nothing…
erinfourteen Spot-on. //@亚洲的法语:AGREE!!!!!TOTALLY!!!
Pony菜菜: That’s why the two characters “Egypt” is now being banned and filtered out.
A李想: F**k. All four are controlled (in China)!
RShuJian: Before we asked for bread and milk. Now we ask for democracy and freedom. Mankind’s aspiration is also being constantly upgraded!
山水风中奇缘: In retrospect, the great Party is indeed brilliant. It built the grand GFW. (Great Fire Wall) Must have had foresight.
碧眼寰宇: I would think it were in China if it were not for the English…
信号山博攫: Revolution! Awesome Egyptian.
zhengxiaoshuo: Need free speech. No internet censorship
JennyL630: Chinese have none of these. So what? V5 (Sounds very similar to powerful in Chinese)
难淡: Twitter and Facebook turn out to be tools for revolutions. Haha. No wonder Z*F (An euphemism for the government, a form of self-censorship) is afraid.
憨鸟: This expression is very good. No bloodshed. Need communication. Need freedom.
東京上空30秒: God is so far away from some countries!
chen510260x: Need a lot of RMB (Chinese currency)
张颂zhangsong: Internet has infinite power!!! China doesn’t have tools for observation that the world of freedom has.
bobodiva: I disagree. These are tools for divulging secret information for a bunch of nosy people to look on. What’s the point of hiding at home, raising arms and shouting? Such revolutions are but virtual revolutions. Just go ahead with your dreams!
虾米虾米: We need (film) rating system; need legalization of red-light districts…
傻逼贾有财: We Chinese just don’t need these, as we don’t know about these for starters. They must be poisonous weeds sown by capitalism! We must firmly cast them aside!
宁财神: Need imdb! (Internet Movie Database) Need Emule; need google. No castration. Need original works.
Akimoon: Need wiki.
May733: Need individual freedom and a free society as well.
储扬: The majestic country has been terrified lately. None of the mainstream media covered the events. It seems it has silently admitted that its path is never a bright and broad road. It is dead determined to brag and allege that only the scenery here is beautiful.
侵略地球的火星猫: Right. We should learn from this method too.
独立旅鼠: Capturing a city is an inferior strategy. Capturing the minds is superior. China can become a real superpower only when it begins to export these things (referring to twitter and facebook).
飄忽小姐Valynn: I second it. Also need the right to take to the streets with signs.
王斌_im2点0: The one who held the sign might be a special agent from the U.S. CIA and is specially in charge of infiltrating and spreading ideology in the Third World.
李国庆: Internet is a nuclear weapon without fire.
古拉阁: Different skin colors, same wishes.

Farewell, Jigme Norbu la

All of us at SFT are shocked and extremely saddened by the news that Jigme Norbu, a tireless activist for Tibetan independence and son of Taktser Rinpoche, was killed yesterday while walking to raise awareness about Tibet. He had just started his Walk for Tibet in Florida, starting in St. Augustine and going south.

Jigme la has been a fierce and passionate activist for Tibetan freedom, inspired by the dedication of his own father Taktser Rinpoche, a brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Jigme la has covered 7,800 miles on his walks to promote awareness on the Tibetan cause. Most recently, he was in Taiwan, walking the island from north to south with members of SFT Taiwan. I met numerous Taiwanese who were inspired by Jigme la’s Walk for Tibet — people he met on the road, people who read about him in the news.

In life and in death, Jigme la has left a legacy of unwavering courage and enduring dedication to a free Tibet. His walks will be remembered, his sacrifice will be honored, and his dream of a free Tibet will be eventually realized.

CCTV Says Lhasa People Are “Happiest” By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for broadcast on Radio Free Asia on January 23, 2011 and posted on her blog on February 5, 2011.

In this blogpost, Woeser returns to themes that she explored earlier in a blogpost titled "Happiness Under Gunpoint" and also "What is Happiness". This is also a timely blogpost as Tibetan New Year and March 10 are both approaching and security is usually tightened in Lhasa at around this time, see our blogpost from a few days ago titled "Fear and Discrimination in Lhasa".

For readers curious about the CCTV 2010 Happiness Survery, see this analysis on the website Beijing Review.







It all started with a telephone interview with foreign media during which I was asked my opinion on Lhasa being rated the "city with the happiest people”. Receiving this unanticipated “gift” right in the beginning of the New Year represented the epitome of irony and I tried hard to imagine the reaction of many Lhasa people when confronted with this. I laughed and asked back, living under gunpoint day and night, being followed by snipers even when going to the temple to pray, how can there be any sense of happiness?

A few days later, this absolutely absurd news was released: CCTV’s financial channel, 'CCTV Economic Life Survey' announced the results of a happiness measuring survey in which Lhasa won the first prize and was awarded the "2010 City With the Happiest People". I remembered that it was not the first time that Lhasa was considered the "happiest”. I did a quick search on the internet and found that this was a survey carried out by China’s largest media corporation and had been running for the fifth year in a row; Lhasa had been called the  “happiest” for the fourth time in a row, it had always been the first out of a hundred Chinese cities. The only one time when Lhasa did not come in first, it was still rated third and wasn’t this one time in 2008? As everyone knows, in March 2008 the protests that erupted and spread over the whole of Tibet started in Lhasa, so if Lhasa people were all this “happy”, why would they protest?

In 2008, Lhasa people may not have been the "happiest" in 2009 and 2010, however, they were the "happiest” again, this is really rather peculiar. The Han Chinese have a saying to criticise those who forget the lessons learned from history, to "forget the pain once the wound is healed”. Is it possible that after such a short time, Lhasa people left behind the gory terror of 2008 and their faces were wreathed in smiles again? Also, in 2008, Lhasa people may not have been the “happiest”, yet, in the last two years, they were the "happiest”. Since they are happier than so many other people from many other Chinese cities, why do they still take to the streets?

Last year I spent over three months in Lhasa and I witnessed first hand that Lhasa was a city under military control. One day, in a residential area in the eastern part of the city, I first saw a propaganda vehicle equipped with big loudspeakers and decorated with red banners slowly passing by; from the speakers came a song by Tseten Dolma, a singer hired by the authorities: “No matter how bitter Tibetan people’s lives were, no matter how bitter, bitterness had an end, the bitterness has turned to sweetness after the Communist Party came,  the bitterness has turned to sweetness after the Communist Party came..." and what followed were over ten vehicles slowly driving past: a police van; then five armoured cars inscribed with the letters XZ and the numbers 001-005 drove passed, each had four snipers standing on top pointing their machine guns at the road ahead of them; then five minibuses filled with masked soldiers carrying guns followed; and finally, two armoured cars inscribed with the numbers 006 and 007 passed by.

A Tibetan intellectual, and also a retired cadre, said to me: “Over the past two years, Lhasa has more or less turned into ‘Baghdad’, with the Han Chinese in the western suburbs of course being the ‘settlers’. There are armed soldiers everywhere; even on the roofs around the Jokhang Temple we find snipers day and night. Do they point their guns at protesters? They obviously point them at an entire nationality. It can be said that Tibetans really have a strong aversion to this government; they only refrain from speaking out because of fear. Support from the people cannot be gained anymore, the unity between Tibetans and Han Chinese will never be achieved”.

I also heard of two Tibetans committing suicide. One of them was a young doctor from a hospital in Lhundrup County in Lhasa. He had felt deeply upset and depressed because in March 2008, during the protests, many monks and lay people had been arrested, so last year during the Tibetan New Year, he hanged himself in a hotel room in Lhasa. The other one was an over thirty-year-old Buddhist monk of Lhasa’s Gyudmed Tantric School. He felt great pain because he was forced to undergo “patriotic education” on a daily basis. He requested to go into retreat in the mountains, when this was not granted by his work team, in August last year he plunged into the river and drowned.

Perhaps these two examples are not sufficient to show that Lhasa people are not “happy”. I still remember the journalist from Phoenix TV, Hong Kong, who was standing in the streets of Lhasa on the fifth day after March 14, boasting that life in the city had already returned to normal; yet the so-called Lhasa people she interviewed were in fact all Han Chinese, thus leaving the impression that Lhasa had already turned into a harmonious Han city. This journalist was obviously being very selective. She did not take notice of Tibetans living in Lhasa; instead she portrayed the Han Chinese she interviewed as indigenous Lhasa people. This is why I think that perhaps those “Lhasa people” who are the "happiest” according to the CCTV survey are not actually Tibetans.

Beijing, January 23, 2011