Cultural Genocide in Tibet 60 Years of Chinese Misrule Arguing Cultural Genocide in Tibet
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
60 Years of Chinese Misrule Arguing Cultural Genocide in Tibet 60 Years of Chinese Misrule Arguing Cultural Genocide in Tibet A report by the International Campaign for Tibet Washington, DC l Amsterdam l Berlin l Brussels l London www.savetibet.org ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) report, “60 Years of Chinese Misrule/Arguing Cultural Genocide in Tibet” is drawn in part from a 2011 draft text, “Tibetocide,” written by the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) of the Central Tibetan Administration. The final version of the report was produced by the ICT Washington, D.C. office with an outside writer, who brought a coherent sense of narrative to this ambitious project and skillfully wove together the many complex issues that it seeks to address. The ICT staff in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, London, and in the field also provided essential editorial and substantive support throughout the process. In addition, this report was reviewed at various stages by international legal, policy and Tibet experts who provided invaluable guidance and suggestions that improved it immeasurably. Finally,many Tibetans—including ICT’s own Tibetan staff—provided important information used in this report. ICT is especially grateful to our expert advisors and reviewers, and others for their contributions to this report. Thanks also to Bill Whitehead, whose discerning eye made possible a quick turnaround in design and publication. Any errors or omissions in this report are solely the responsibility of its authors. Cover photo: Tibetan Buddhist monk standing at the doors of his monastery in Barkham (Chinese: Ma’erkang), Tibetan area of Sichuan province. He is flanked by propaganda posters: on his right, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin; on his left, Hu Jintao surrounded by Tibetan women stands in front of the Potala Palace, Lhasa. Photo credit: Gilles Sabrie Stamp image: The stamp image appearing throughout the report was used in a 2011 protest in Tibet. The Tibetan script inside the heart reads ‘Tibet’ and the script surrounding the heart reads ‘Long live His Holiness the Dalai Lama.’ FOREWORD This report, “60 years of Chinese Misrule/Arguing Cultural Genocide in Tibet,” is intended to provide a base-line understanding of Tibetan culture and the Chinese policies and practices that have deliberately sought to control and destroy it. As such, the report invites discussion on the circum- stances that define cultural genocide in Tibet. The International Campaign for Tibet particularly welcomes a closer look at issues of evidence and intent by genocide scholars. By releasing this report in April 2012, during International Genocide Prevention Month, we hope it will contribute to international efforts to prevent and combat genocide in all its manifestations, and to the realization of a world where fundamental human rights and human dignity are upheld by all governments and effectively protected through international legal instruments. While we hope this report will make such a contribution, its specific purpose is to make a persua- sive case that the situation in Tibet—the pattern of oppression throughout the 60 years of Chinese rule, up to the current crisis—requires the international community to respond in a qualitatively different manner than it has. Wewelcome a constructive examination of the concepts put forward in this report by international law and country studies experts, human rights advocates, policy makers, peoples whose cultural rights have been abused by the state and others who have a stake in understanding the kind of cultural and human rights violations that have characterized the situation in Tibet. Mary Beth Markey President, International Campaign for Tibet April 2, 2012 NOTE ON GEOGRAPHICAL TERMS Tibet was traditionally comprised of three main areas: Amdo (northeastern Tibet), Kham (eastern Tibet) and U-Tsang (central and western Tibet). The Tibet Autonomous Region was set up by the Chinese government in 1965 and covers the area of Tibet west of the Drichu or Yangtze River, including part of Kham. The rest of Amdo and Kham have been incorporated into Chinese provinces, and where Tibetan communities were said to have ‘compact inhabitancy’ in these provinces they were designated Tibetan autonomous prefectures and counties. As a result most of Qinghai and parts of Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces are acknowledged by the Chinese government to be ‘Tibetan.’ ICT uses the term ‘Tibet’ to refer to all Tibetan areas currently under the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China. CONTENTS SUMMARY......................................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 9 CULTURAL GENOCIDE: A WORKING DEFINITION ....................................................... 15 EARLY TIBETAN CULTURE ...................................................................................... 23 IndigenousReligiousTraditions ............................................................................ 25 IntroductionofBuddhism.................................................................................... 26 MonasticEducationSystemanditsImpact ................................................................ 28 Reincarnation ................................................................................................... 30 TibetanLanguage............................................................................................ 34 TibetanScientificThought.................................................................................. 34 PRINCIPLES AND STRUCTURES OF CHINESE COMMUNIST RULE IN TIBET .................... 37 IdeologicalandNationalistRoots........................................................................... 38 Tibetan Autonomy with Chinese Characteristics . 42 LegalFramework ...................................................................................... 43 Extra-Legal Framework: the Role of the Chinese Communist Party. 45 DEVASTATION OF TIBETAN CULTURE ..................................................................... 53 The Mao Era: Revolution, Repression and Resistance . 53 InvasionandOccupation ............................................................................. 54 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution . 60 TheReformandPost-ReformEras........................................................................... 64 Assaultonthe‘DalaiClique’.......................................................................... 67 Indoctrination through Education and Language. 72 EconomicandDemographicPolicies ................................................................. 73 Twenty-first Century Tibet: Coercion, Crackdown and Control . 75 Religion in Service of the Party: The Communist Party as Living Buddha . 78 i. Tibetan Self-Immolations and Other Protests . 86 Western Development, Nomad Settlement and Population Influx: Grasping with Many Hands. 89 i. TheWesternDevelopmentPlan .................................................................... 90 ii. NomadSettlement ................................................................................. 92 iii.PopulationInflux..................................................................................... 96 ThreatstoTibetanIntellectualLife................................................................... 98 i. Exclusion through Education and Language . 99 ii. AttacksonIntellectuals.............................................................................. 102 STRUGGLE FOR CULTURAL SURVIVAL .................................................................. 115 CulturalResilience.......................................................................................... 115 TibetanWriters....................................................................................... 120 TibetanPopularMusic............................................................................... 122 ChineseCulturalHegemony............................................................................... 123 TIBET, CULTURAL GENOCIDE, AND THE GENOCIDE CONTINUUM ................................ 129 Responding to the Real Danger of Cultural Genocide in Tibet . 136 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 143 RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................... 145 1 60 YEARS OF CHINESE MISRULE • ARGUING CULTURAL GENOCIDE IN TIBET 2 INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET SUMMARY his report is an examination by the International Tibet, Cultural Genocide Campaign for Tibet of the impact on Tibetan and the Genocide Continuum T culture of Chinese Communist Party rule in Tibet. Its publication comes at a time when the situation on the Because the term ‘cultural genocide’ is not codified in Tibetan plateau has reached a critical inflexion point. international law, there has been some ambiguity about Having compiled this report, ICT makes the following whether it is an appropriate label for the situation in Tibet findings: and what, if anything, the application of this label means • The Chinese authorities have engaged in a consistent for the Tibetan people, the Chinese authorities, and the effort over 60-plus years to replace authentic, organic international community. This report addresses these Tibetan culture with a state-approved and controlled ver- ambiguities by: sion