onejustworld

Han Chinese Racism in Tibet -

2010-07-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

and the Tibetan “Serfs Emancipation Day”, 28th March

A closer examination of the impact Tibetans experienced due to their encounter with the Han Chinese.

The Chinese government declared the 28th of March ‘Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day’, an annual holiday when the Tibetans are to celebrate their ‘liberation from serfdom’ by the Han Chinese.
When in 1950 the Chinese PLA invaded Tibet, they repeatedly told the Tibetans that the 'Han People’ had come to liberate and assist them.
See Footnotes: i

This begs a closer examination of the encounters and experiences by the Tibetans with these ‘Han People’, and what cause for celebration they might have on this day.

Introduction

Ever since ancient times the Han people would view ‘border people’, and in fact all other races, as barbarians and see them as beasts beneath the noble, superior Han race.
These ‘border people’ were referred to with the added characters of dog for the people of the north, a reptile for the Min and Man people and a sheep for the Qiang, etc.
The Tibetans were referred to in various terms, including ‘fan’ or ‘barbarians’; ‘t’u-fan’ or ‘agricultural barbarians’, and ‘hsi-fan’ or ‘western barbarians’; an attitude which primarily shaped their conduct and interactions with these other races.

These racist attitudes harboured by the Han people is best expressed by Wang Fuzhi, a contemporary of the late Ming and early Qing dynasty, in the following missive:

“And the Barbarians you may exterminate them and it will not be cruel, you may loot and plunder their lands and it won’t be unfair and unjust, you may deceive them and defraud them and it won’t be unrighteous; because all these notions only apply to man of verbal intercourse, and do not apply to different species.”

[1] Propaganda and Reality

Exhibitions assembled by the CCP to commemorate the ‘Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day’ depict all manner of torture instrument, photographs, documents, relics of bones and skulls, etc. to ‘prove the barbarity’ of the old Tibet.

The CCP has made this part of a diplomatic offensive designed to quash any questioning of the legitimacy of the Han nation ‘owning’ Tibet.
The Chinese, in newly found confidence over their economic success, are displaying supreme self assurance, and their bullying and cowering into compliance with their view of the world is taking on an ever more sinister and menacing degree, meted out to nations large and small.

CCP propaganda paints a picture of a downtrodden Serfdom and an exploitative and cruel Aristocracy, who ruled over the ‘Serfs’ as a class of slaves in brutal oppression.
In order to justify the ‘liberation’ of Tibet, the Chinese need to portray Tibetan society as “Hell on Earth” and turn it into a “Class Struggle”, which clearly is not borne out by historical facts, but is essential in the Marxist/Communist/CCP doctrine, where class is the nemesis of the egalitarian society and takes precedence over national identity.
We shall revisit “Hell on Earth” again later.
See Footnotes: ii

The type of social strata practised in Tibet in fact was a benign form of peasant / landowner relationship, with the landowners most often not much better off than the labourers themselves.
Indeed, there was a kinship amongst all of the population which was unique to Tibet, and bonded landlord and peasant in a much deeper sense than just their common economic fate. Peasants often had their own plot of land they could cultivate, and paid the landowner in service of labour or produce as their circumstances afforded them.

Tibet as a country was very poor but content, with very little difference between rich and poor.
The workers were not bonded to the aristocrats and could move on to work for other landowners if they felt they could improve their lives by doing so.

In “Tibet through dissident Chinese eyes”, Yiu Yung-chin and others express the sentiment that by contrast, China was a much more iniquitous society, where there were huge disparities of wealth, and widespread cruelty between the landowners and the peasants, with torture, beatings to death and rape of peasant tenants commonplace.

Gompo Tashi Andrugtsang, one of the main leaders of the Tibetan rebellion, commented on this in his memoirs by stating:
“Critics of the Tibetan agrarian and social system are apt to overlook some very relevant factors which countered its apparent faults. In spite of differences of status or material possessions, there was no great gulf between the rich and the poor. The landowner was more a patriarchal head of household than an exacting or oppressive master. The universal belief in the principles and teachings of Buddhism encouraged, on the one hand, generosity and desire to improve the lot of the less fortunate and, on the other, the absence of envy or resentment on the part of the
poor.”

Han Chinese propaganda repeats ad nauseum the allegation that in the old Tibet there were no schools, however there were several governmental efforts establishing public schools, many private schools were available, and the thousands of monasteries provided education to anyone, regardless of background or social status.

In his “Memories of life in Lhasa under Chinese rule” Tubten Khétsun relates his experience with schooling in the 1940s, first at one of the many private schools and then college at the Drepung monastery.
“This type of school suited the needs of the society at that time, and drew students from all social strata. .….. There was no set fee to be paid as a condition of attending school, and students paid different rates according to their means. …….the school gave exactly the same instruction to all students, regardless of the offerings they had made. ……. In Chinese Communist propaganda distributed both internally and externally, it is forcefully stated formerly only the Tibetan aristocracy had the opportunity of a formal education and that this was completely denied the ordinary people. Some foreigners have been misled by this without checking the facts for themselves and the allegation has been repeated in some foreign publications, and although the younger generation of Tibetans do not necessarily believe it, the fact that some foreigner has said so makes them doubtful, and if they lack determination to seek the truth, they do not bother to question those of us with direct experience of Tibetan society at that time about what it was really like.”

Catriona Bass writes of education pre Chinese occupation in her book “Education in Tibet: policy and practice since 1950”:
“Wealthy landowners or traders would make arrangements with religious or lay scholars to educate their sons and daughters in basic literacy and numeracy. Some families would gather a number of children together, sometimes educating the children of their servants, and, in the towns of Lhasa, Shigatse and Gyantse, small schools were established on this basis.”

Born in 1935, the current, fourteenth Dalai Lama, then still a teenager, also made many reforms in the short time he had as head of state. He established a reform committee which was charged with overseeing wide ranging reforms from the Judiciary, Public Education, Communications, Transport and other aspects of Tibetan society which the Dalai Lama intended to modernize and reform.
He quashed the practice of Debt Inheritance, breaking the chain of debt from one generation to the next and consequently exonerating the thus affected peasantry of any debt burden which may have encumbered them. He also declared an amnesty on all debt owed to the government, absolving all debtors of such obligations.

He also established an Independent Judiciary among other reforms.
On the agenda was a major land reform which would have seen the larger estates of the land owning families becoming wholly government owned and controlled again, and the land then allocated to the people who worked and cultivated it at the time, however the Chinese occupation terminated such efforts.

Even Goldstein argues that a link between the peasantry and feudalism is not only untenable, but that the peasantry were not serfs in the context of Tibetan society, but were often free to exonerate their obligation to the landowner and buy their own plot of land, and or / move to other estates, and even have their own employees working for them.

The many contemporary accounts from travellers, who had extensive first hand experience of Tibet as it was prior to the Chinese invasion, depict a country which was poor but content.
They consistently lack any such absurd descriptions as the CCP now tries to misrepresent, and foist on the old Tibetan society in an attempt to divert from the illegality of their occupation of the country.
What such travellers highlight though, is the gratuitous cruelty and barbarity the Chinese inflicted upon the Tibetans during times of military incursions and limited control they managed to exert at times over Tibet. See Part 2
Certainly not the sort of onerous ‘serfdom’ CCP tries to portray Tibetan society before their occupation.

Footnotes

Footnote: i
■ The notion of “Han” is in itself an invention which based its justification on the concept of a common people opposed to Manchu rule, and included all the people of very different cultural, linguistic and ethnic background and were earlier part of the Ming Dynasty.
It served the revolutionaries of the latter part of the fading Qing Empire to unite the disparate people under Manchu rule and foment the antagonism and common purpose required to overthrow the Qing rulers.
Today the notion of Han is deeply rooted in the psyche of the 'Chinese' and provides them with a sense of one race, one purpose and one nation.
Though genetically, nor culturally or ethnically, the Han race does not exist, but the term is used here for the purpose of identifying the people for whom the label is relevant in the context, and who now identify themselves to be of the 'Han race'.

Footnote: ii
■ Today we have the obscene spectacle of diplomats from all over the world obediently trotting through an exhibition in Beijing expounding the ‘cruelty and heartlessness’ of the old Tibet, and passing ingratiating judgements to their gleeful hosts based on this odious concoction of the most sordid denigration and vilification.

The South African Ambassador Ndumiso Ndima Ntshinga reportedly opined: ” Obviously, the quality of the life of Tibetans have changed dramatically since 1959. It is quite encouraging to see that the survivors of that horrible system of feudalism lived through”.

The Chilean Ambassador Fernando Reyes Matta is quoted as having voiced his opinion “that it is essential to put together such documents, photographs and various references so that foreigners had the chance to learn more about the truth and the reality of Tibet.”

• In the aftermath of the financial crisis, western countries have succumbed to prostrating themselves to the Han nation in ever more indecorous manners.
In another development but patently related in its acquiescence to Chinese demands, the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband overturned a longstanding position of Britain to regard Tibet, implicitly, as an occupied country by not recognising China’s sovereignty over Tibet.
Miliband slyly included this bombshell buried in a statement on the ministry’s website: "Like every other EU member state, and the United States, we regard Tibet as part of the People's Republic of China."
China’s response was an intensified recalcitrant and harrying demeanour towards the Tibetan delegation which was to resume ‘negotiations’ with Chinese officials over Tibet, and blasted the exiled Tibetans and the Dalai Lama with ever more contemptible rhetoric.

[2] Tibet and the Qing Dynasty

In 1638 – 39 the Great Fifth Dalai Lama accepted the Manchu Emperor’s wish to patronise the Tibetan religion and thus the two Sovereigns entered into the Chö-Yön relationship.
It is noteworthy that this Agreement was entered into well before the Manchus had conquered the territories of the Han, which did not occur until 1644.
Therefor this Agreement was solely between Tibet and the Manchus and did not include the Han in any way.
This Agreement did, however, not preclude subsequent Manchu rulers and administrations from endeavouring to usurp the spirit of this Chö-Yön relationship, and seek to increase their power way beyond the agreed principles set out therein.

This, for one, led in 1728 to the establishment of the office of the Amban, the Emperor’s envoy in Lhasa. The Manchu Emperors though, without exception, appointed Manchus to the post of Amban, thus emphasizing the fact that this relationship was unequivocally between the Manchu Emperor and the Tibetan Dalai Lama, and that the Han, which under the Manchu Empire made up the majority population, were not part of this relationship.
With the issue of the “29 Point Ordinance for the Efficient Governance of Tibet“ in 1793 by the Qing Emperor Qianlong, who at the same time appointed Fu Kang’an as Amban, the Manchus sought to further increase their influence in Tibet.
Thus, they insisted, among other points on the adoption of parts of the Manchu judicial system and punishments.

Xiaoming Zhang, a CCP writer, confidently proclaims in his book ‘China’s Tibet’: “…….The basic principles formulated in the 29-Article Ordinance remained the standard for the administrative and Legal System in Tibet for more than the next hundred years.

The Manchu presence in Tibet saw the introduction of such uniquely Han practises as “Ling Ch'ih”, known as ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts’, Boiling to death, the Cutting off of Limbs, the penetration of the Ear with an arrow, ripping asunder by horses or other means, lighting fires beneath suspended victims, etc. These were all alien forms of punishments to the Tibetans and instilled a deep loathing and abhorrence of the Manchu and Han presence among the population.

Wherever the Qing forces managed exert any power over Tibetans, they meted out these peculiar forms of Chinese ‘justice and punishments’.
Dr. Albert Shelton explicitly describes the “cooking of forty to fifty Tibetans” by the Han invaders, who witnessed their skeletons after the bodies were fed to the dogs.

The Manchu forces also introduced their instruments of torture, such as Pillories (chinese. Mu Chia 木枷) and Finger Presses etc. which, along with all the other forms of Han and Manchu judicial practices and punishments, are now attributed to the Tibetans by CCP propaganda and their compliant writers in a concerted drive to denigrate and demonise the Tibetans.

The Manchu and Han used these forms of torture, such as “ling ch’ih’ and forced the Tibetan populace to witness such acts of barbarism in an attempt to cower them into submission and as a powerful deterrent to resistance, wherever they managed to exert any influence.

Luciano Petech relates events of such summary Manchu justice, which occurred around November 1728 as follows:
“Na-p’od-pas and Lum-pa-nas were done to death by the slicing process (ling-ch’ih), the two churchmen were slowly strangled, the remaining thirteen were decapitated by three cuts of the sword.”
He contends that this terrible scene, which the Tibetans were forced to witness, made a deep impression and traumatised the Tibetans for years thereafter.
Before being lynched in these uniquely Chinese ways, the condemned men were first paraded naked on their way to the execution ground, the ‘Tent of Death’ to further humiliate and dehumanise them.

Flora Shelton further relates accounts of such Han barbarities of “Ling ch’ih” by the notorious Zhao Erfeng, who managed to invade and occupy eastern Tibet between 1908 / 10, and used it with great indulgence, to terrorise the Tibetan population there in this, and other barbaric ways peculiar to the Han Chinese.

In his book Journey to Lhasa and central Tibet‎ by Sarat Chandra Das, writes:
“The Chinese punishment of the cangue is now adopted throughout Tibet, the criminals wearing it being also heavily chained.”

An American missionary wrote the following in a foreign press journal in Shanghai on his long time observation in Eastern Tibet:
“There is no method of torture known that is not practised in here on these Tibetans, slicing skinning, boiling, tearing asunder, and all… To sum up what China is doing here in Eastern Tibet, the main things are collecting taxes, robbing, oppressing, confiscating, and allowing her representatives to burn loot and steal.”

The Tibetans viewed these Han practises of judicial punishments as so barbaric, inhumane and completely alien to them, that once they had fully regained power over their own affairs they wasted no time, and under the guidance of the Great Thirteenth Dalai Lama decreed the Death Penalty as illegal, reformed the legal code and banned all forms of cruel corporal punishments such as mutilation.

In fact, Tibet maintained a code of conduct which dates as far back as Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century, based on Buddhist principles and forbade the mistreatment of peasants, or any member of Tibetan society, and the administering of any form of corporal punishment was the sole preserve of the central government.

Thus, Tibet was one of the very first countries in the world to outlaw Capital Punishment in 1898, a practise which is now extensively used in the CCP ruled Han nation, indiscriminately meted out to thugs, petty criminals, regime critics, Tibetans for ‘splittist activities’, and Falun Gong practitioners alike, so that some estimated Ten Thousand, (10,000) hapless people are exterminated in this way annually by the CCP.
See Footnotes: i

Hence, what many early writers actually described, and today the Han CCP in their propaganda drive of demonisation depicts as Tibetan barbarism, were in fact Chinese forms of torture and cruelty, executed by, and imposed on the Tibetans, by the Chinese themselves.

Footnote: i
■ Today China runs, what they term Re-Education through Labour Camps, but in reality they are nothing more than slave labour camps, where the captives are imprisoned for mostly regime critical activities, such as exercising their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of expression or practising their religion, and there they are worked and mistreated to death in large numbers.
Today, the CCP also runs a very lucrative Organ harvesting programme where kidneys, corneas, hearts and other organs are removed from executed convicts, but mostly from live victims in this 'Laogai' system, Falun Gong members, regime critics and Tibetan disappeared, and sold to paying recipients.

[3] Tibet and the RoC - Republic of China 1912–1949

During the reign of the Manchu empire, i.e. the Qing dynasty, the Han Chinese were forced to wear the Manchu style pigtails from the time they were conquered in 1644, and once the 1911 revolution gathered pace the Han would cut off their pigtails to show their “Freedom from Manchu Oppression” as Mao himself described it.

The revolution of 1911 was unequivocally an uprising by one race against another; by the Han against the Manchu.
The revolution even flew the white Han flag, which bore just one character; ‘Han’, in the clearest indication that the revolution was a fight by the Han against their invaders and overlords, the Manchu, which the Han deeply despised and resented.
All the passion and rhetoric by Sun Yat-sen and his co-conspirators at the time was designed to whip up utmost fervour and zealotry amongst the Han against their foreign overlords, the Manchu.

But this racist sentiment and loathing of their 'alien overlords', the Manchus, soon caught up with a realization that the hegemonistic aspirations of the Han race, essentially expounded and formulated by Sun Yat-sen, were exactly synonymous with what the much hated Manchus had done almost 300 years earlier; conquering the Han, and then ruled over them continuously ever since, which of course gave rise to the very reason for the revolution.

See Footnotes: i

Thus, in order to justify the conquest and subjugation of the other Nationalities’ indigenous lands and territories and ‘claim’ them as part of the new Han Nation, Sun Yat-sen, in an inspiration of thinly veiled duplicitous racism, changed tack.
Instead of continuing to fly the Han flag, the most visible and ostensible sign that the Han now were in control, he declared the ‘Republic of China’ a “Multiethnic State, composed of Han, Mongols, Tibetans, Uighurs and Manchus”.
In reality though, it was, then as it is today, solely the Han who hold all the power, in this ‘Multiethnic Nation’.

With this declaration the Han Chinese sought to legitimize their claim to the territories of all the other nations, comprising over 60% of today’s China, in spite of the fact that none of these nations were remotely willing participants, or had any share in the economic, military or political power.
And neither does any of these minorities today.

In fact, first in late 1911 Mongolia, and then in 1912 Tibet had just reasserted their independence. This of course was a catalyst to change tack for the Han Chinese, who sought to dominate all the territories of their erstwhile overlords, the so much loathed and despised 'alien' Manchus, (and of course much more by additionally including Tibet).

This stroke of racist genius by Sun Yat-sen, by enunciating the ever latent hegemonistic aspiration of the Han race, more than anything else, unites the Communists of mainland China and the Nationalists of Taiwan today in celebrating him as the ‘father of modern China’, though he wasn’t even in the country for the best part of the revolution!

Thus, he is credited by both sides for laying the foundations to the greater Han Empire of today; though no consideration to any legitimacy is ever entertained, given the forcible and involuntary inclusion of the other Nationalities.
The fact that the Manchus were considered an ‘Alien, occupying race’ and had to be overthrown and expelled belies any notion that the Han Nation could ever claim legitimacy to all the Manchu Empire’s territories now occupied, let alone Tibet, which never was under Manchu control.

See Footnotes: ii

Indeed, Sun Yat-sen’s conviction of the racist supremacy of the Han was such that he made the proclamation that “the Han had the rightful authority to rule all of ‘China’ and that all these territories were bestowed to the Han race”, even though, in the same breath, he proclaims that the Manchu were an ‘Alien Race’.
In a logical extension, the Tibetans, and the other Nationalities, must be counted amongst these ‘Alien Races’, nevertheless the Han assumed the ‘inalienable’ right to rule over them and their territory, along with the other three minorities, the Mongols, Uighurs and the Manchus. This is manifestly an extension and continuation of the century old racism, condescension and hegemonistic attitudes towards other races harboured by the Han race.

The ordinary people of the Manchu race paid a very heavy price, as once the Han had established themselves as the new power to be reckoned with, and the Manchu reign had collapsed, widespread ethnic cleansing took place and an orgy of Manchu slaughtering spread throughout the new republic.
See Footnotes: iii

Footnotes

Footnote: i
■ Sun Yat-sen, in a most bizarre show of deference to Han superiority, even went to the Yongle Emperor’s ( 永樂 / Perpetual Happiness, third emperor of the Ming Dynasty) tomb and addressed him as though he were present:
“The policies of the Manchus have been one of obdurate tyranny, motivated by a desire for eternal subjugation of the Han. The Manchus have governed the country to the everlasting detriment of the people. Today, the Han race has finally restored the government to the Han people. Your people have come here today to inform your Majesty of the final victory.”

Footnote: ii
■ The first president of the new republic of China, after the ‘provisional president Sun Yat-sen, Yuan Shikai, ‘invited’ Tibet to join the republic and asked for the acceptance thereof by Tibet.
The thirteenth Dalai Lama replied as follows:
“The Republic has only just been proclaimed and the national foundations are far from strong. It behoves the President to exert his energies towards the maintenance of order. As for Thibet, the Thibetans are quite capable of preserving their existence intact and there is no occasion for the President to worry himself at this distance or to be discomposed. The reason why the Thibetans do not approve of the Central Government is entirely due to the excessive ill-treatment inflicted upon them by the Chinese troops in Thibet. Their indignation has been roused. How many, to take an instance, of the temples and shrines have been set on fire or demolished by the Chinese troops, while the officers in command have been quite powerless! How could the Thibetans fail to oppose China?"

Footnote: iii
■ Dr. Sun Yat-sen wrote in his
“The Manifesto of the Military Government of the Revolutionary Brotherhood”:

1. To drive away the Manchus
“……… Now is the time to raise an army and overthrow the Manchu government and regain the sovereignty of our country. Such Manchus and such Han in the Manchu army as repent themselves and surrender to us will be pardoned. We will kill those Manchus who oppose us, and also all Han who traitorously helped the Manchus.”

2. To restore “China” to the Han
The Chinese state belongs to the Han; her political institutions should be administered by Han alone. We must drive away the Manchus and restore our China to the Han. If any are bold enough to support the foreign tribe, like Shih Ching-tang and Wu San-kuei of old, it is the duty of all Han to see that they are killed.

3. To establish a Republic
“……. A constitution will be promulgated for the Republic and every citizen will be obliged to obey it. If anybody plots to restore despotism in China, we must kill him.”

Such firebrand racist rhetoric would hardly be deemed befitting of a National Hero by most other Nations, but would rather condemn him as a felon and an odious racist, yet for the Han it strikes at the core of their world view and ‘values’; the noble, superior Han, versus the rest as barbarians who don't deserve to be treated as equals or even as humans.
Sun Yat-sen must shoulder the preponderance of the responsibility for the ensuing litany of racist crimes and the wholesale slaughter of Manchus under his watch.

[4] Under PRC Occupation

When the Chinese invaded independent Tibet in 1950, the Tibetan economy was flourishing, with trade thriving and taking place with India, all its neighbours, and countries as far as England and the rest of Europe.
There were as many as 2,500 to 3,000 monasteries in Central Tibet alone and over 6,000 in whole of the Tibetan Plateau.

Theoretically the government owned all the land in Tibet and shared it out to the monasteries, estates and peasants. In practice the land was mostly passed on hereditarily and so the monasteries cultivated somewhere between thirty five and fifty percent of the arable land, while the larger estates held a little less than a quarter and the government also about twenty to twenty five percent, with peasants and nomads cultivating the balance in their own right. Peasants also cultivated about half of the land as their own plots on the estates they worked on and paid rental in produce or labour to the manor.

An other group, the 'Tsongpa' made up a large section of society and earned their living as traders and craftsmen and various skilled trades.
There was also a section of society which pursued vocations which were seen as less desirable, butchers, tanners, beggars or travelling entertainers, and also ferrymen or itinerant labourers.

Monks at that time numbered about ten to fifteen percent of the male population, so the close interconnection between the monasteries and the general population was very widespread and permeated the whole of society, from peasantry to gentry.

The monasteries acted also as financial institutions, and extended loans to peasants and aristocrats alike, besides financing social projects for the benefit of the whole society, as well as loans to the government and larger trading companies.

They were the banks and treasury of the Tibetan economy and provided the necessary capital for all commerce and trade.

It is important to understand the close interactions and connections the whole Tibetan society had with the monasteries through monastic family members, where almost every family had a member in the ecclesiastic community.
This provided access to finance and resources through the monasteries, which cared for the welfare of all of society.

A close knit society with the fabric woven and steeped in Buddhism and kinship, forged by the harsh conditions the land imposed on its inhabitants!

This can bee seen in the profound and deep rooted reverence and veneration monks were held, and the monastic society as a whole, by all of Tibetan society.
See Footnotes: i
Monasteries also took care of the supply of food staples and maintained granaries to store the harvest and distribute it as needed, and in times of shortage would see to equitable distribution.
They also held deposits in valuables of whatever nature, from gold, silver and anything of value borrowers would deposit, besides a vast accumulation of treasures of a proud heritage stretching back millennia, plus scriptures, texts and artworks of incalculable value.
All this amounted to virtually the total sum of Tibetan wealth, treasures and equity the country had accumulated through sweat, trade and industrious production over many millennia.

The monasteries also represented the social and religious hub and focal point of Tibetan society, the place of learning and education as they also acted as schools, the place to meet, to seek solace; the spiritual home for every Tibetan of whatever standing.

After the invasion, and particularly after the 59 uprising the Han Chinese went about to systematically destroy all the monasteries in Tibet, but not before they had looted them of the entire store of wealth, even all the granaries were looted to feed the Han invaders, every single scrap of valuables was stolen and taken back to China.
And what wasn’t of any immediate or obvious value in the eyes of the Han Chinese, like Buddhas or scriptures, pictures or artefacts was wantonly destroyed.

The entire population in turn was forced to hand over their personal valuables as well.
Anyone caught hiding anything deemed of value was severely tortured, brandished as a ‘reactionary’ or ‘counterrevolutionary’ and faced incarceration, life in a Laogai, or execution.

Most of the higher ranking lamas were tortured and killed, countless monks were incarcerated and disappeared in the many slave labour camps (Laogai) and were never seen again.
Out of the 6,000 monasteries, almost every single one, bar about six, was reduced to rubble by the Han Chinese, long before the onset of the Cultural Revolution.

Thus the Han Chinese looted the entire wealth of a sovereign nation, destroyed the entire heritage of a proud independent people and pursued the very last piece of meagre possessions even the poorest of farmer and peasant might have owned.
Every house was visited and looted, and even life stock and equipment was forcibly taken from every Tibetan.
As late as 1962, convoys of trucks were observed laden with this loot, taken from monasteries and forcibly appropriated from the Tibetan population, heading back towards China.

The so called “Agreement of the Central Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet” had this to say in point thirteen:
“13) The People’s Liberation Army entering Tibet shall abide by all the above-mentioned policies and shall also be fair in all buying and selling and shall not arbitrarily take a single needle or thread from the people.”

Countless tons of artefacts crafted in gold and silver were thus looted and molten down in china. Brass, wooden and other artefacts were either sold on the international market, molten down or destroyed.
In essence, Tibetan society was dispossessed of its entire assets, every possession, the entire cultural heritage; the whole fabric of Tibetan society was smashed, looted and destroyed.

This obliteration and looting of the entire inventory of temples is equal to any aggressor invading a country today, say Canada, the UK, US, China, or any other country, and pilfering the entire wealth from all the people, looting the treasury and all the banks, and destroying every bit of community assets, like town-halls, government buildings, schools, Universities, every single vestige of their entire civilisation built over thousands of years, wantonly destroyed. And simultaneously massacre all the clergy, administrators, public servants, teachers, educators, plus large section of society in addition.

Virtually nothing would remain, and the people would be left destitute and without any economic means for survival.

Tsering Dorje Gashi, in his book “New Tibet - Memoirs of a Graduate of the Peking Institute of National Minorities”, which was published in 1980, remarks:
"Priceless works of art, literature, and religious relics and works that were a model of Tibetan artistic perfection and achievement were taken out of the Potala and the various monasteries.
Idols and images made of gold, silver, brass and precious stones and metal were taken to China and eventually they found their way into the markets of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo where antique-collectors from the West bought them for exorbitant prices. A rough estimate of the foreign exchange earned by China from the sale of Tibetan religious and art objects is more than 80 billion American Dollars."

This was in 1980, yet does not take into account all the gold and silver artefacts which were molten down by the Han, plus everything else they've looted.

In 1962, well before the onset of the cultural revolution (1966-76) the Panchen Lama stated that “china’s democratic reforms in fact had already reduced the number of monasteries by some 97 percent and decimated the monastic population by 93 percent.

This translates to the destruction of 6,000 monasteries and nunneries with only less than a dozen being spared this orgy of malicious obliteration in the end.
Of the estimated 600,000 ecclesiastic population prior to the invasion, over 120,000 were murdered, executed and tortured to death, plus many more were forcibly defrocked, forced to publicly copulate with the opposite gender and were subjected to many more forms of depraved humiliations and barbarities.

Contrary to the Han CCP’s, and many apologist in the west’s claims hat the wanton destruction was part of the excesses of the ‘cultural revolution’ and that all of china had suffered the same fate at the forces unleashed by renegade members in the party, there was nothing left to destroy in 1966.
It was in fact a wilful and systematic annihilation of an entire heritage of a once proud and independent country.

As early as in their 1959 report on Tibet the ‘International Commission of Jurists’ has accused China of Genocide, and the numbers of deaths in Tibet under Chinese rule would qualify for such claims:

1.2 million dead, which is broken down as follows:
36% in combat, 28% starvation, 14% in prisons and labour camps, 13% by execution, 8% through torture, 1% suicide.

China violated the ‘Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide’ in every aspect.
Violations include such acts as:

• Mass killings, indiscriminate aerial bombing and shelling of monasteries and villages, the deportation of several tens of thousands of children to China, murder, indiscriminate imprisonment, systematic rape, forcible marriage of monks an nuns, torture and cruel and degrading treatment on a large scale, violations of rights of privacy, forcible transfer of family members, indoctrination of children and turning them against their parents, large scale deportations of Tibetans, confiscation and compulsory acquisition of private property, suppression of freedom of thought by acts of genocide against Buddhists to eradicate Buddhism, freedom of expression through the destruction of scriptures, the oppression and arbitrarily imprisonment of members of the Mimang Tsongdu movement, cruel punishments to anyone just expressing a desire for Tibet as an independent country, the banning of all assemblies of a few people other than the Chinese organised sessions for the purpose of indoctrination, public vilifications and denunciations, denial of economic, social and cultural rights where all economic resources are used for supporting Chinese forces and new settlers, etc.

After the invasion the Han invaders sought to break resistance to their presence by intimidation and “re-education”.
They ordered meetings called “Thamzing” (批判鬥爭大會 or in short 批鬥大會) "Struggle Sessions", and everyone in every village had to attend.
These meetings amounted to nothing more than sessions of denigration, persecution and torture.
Children would be forced to denounce their parents, and often ordered to torture or kill them.
Nuns and monks would be forced into sexual intercourse in public and forced to marry.
Peasants would be ordered to torture their former landlords, or their revered Lamas, and often forced to execute them in various hideous ways imposed by the Han.
These hapless peasants would be primed for weeks by indoctrination and told all manner of fabricated lies to encourage them to perform this public castigation and retribution as a showcase to encourage others to follow suit.

Victims of such persecution were not only the obvious targets of former landowners or Buddhist Lamas, but anyone who didn’t completely acquiesce and showed any resistance to Han presence and dictate.

Peasants became targets in the same way, for not handing over their meagre possessions, for instance such as farm animals, ornaments, coins or anything else of value, or for not denouncing their landlord, lama, relatives or family members.

In order to inflict maximum terror, and as a deterrence to any resistance, the Han conducted these Thamzing sessions all over occupied Tibet, in every village and town.
They employed the whole arsenal of tortures known to them.
Some had urine or excrements forced down their throats, others were hung from their wrists with their hands tied behind their backs and had fires lit below them, or were torn asunder by horses or dragged behind a horse till they succumbed to their horrific injuries. Or they were tied and thrown into a river, had their tongue ripped out or buried alive.
Others were forced to inflict barbaric beatings against their own family members, parents, siblings, or their revered Lama, all under the threat of incurring sever beatings and torture themselves, or being executed for resistance and being a counter-revolutionary.

During, and after these Thamzing session many had their arms, ears, fingers, nose and genitals cut off, burned or mutilated, and the female victims routinely were gang raped by their Han tormentors, time and again and finally killed.
A monk, who begged the Han not to use the Buddhist scriptures they had taken from his monastery as toilet paper, had his arm cut off and mocked to ask god to grow him another one.

Many who did not satisfy the Han in every respect and perform every depravity asked of them, were selected for execution and paraded through the village to the execution ground, or transported into a slave labour camp called Laogai, where they inevitably died a slow and agonising death through deprivation, hunger and lack of even the most basic human needs of sanitation and care.

Once the Tibetan uprising was quashed in 1959, the Han Chinese went on to completely wipe out all Tibetan independence and identity and implemented their own form of slavery through collectivisation, disowned all the Tibetans of their land, and settled the country with their own kin.
Tibetans, farmers and nomadic herders alike were forced into communes, which amounted to no more than labour camps run by the Han, for the benefit of the Han.
Executions and torture was commonplace and the ripping out of the tongue was a practise employed by the Chinese to prevent the Tibetan victims from shouting “Long live the Dalai Lama” or “Free Tibet” before their inevitable death.
Anyone resisting the Chinese occupiers was either executed or imprisoned in one of the many Laogai.
Other forms of torture employed by the Han were: burying and burning alive, beating to death, disembowelling, crucifixion, beheading, etc.

The Han ordered the Tibetans to plant hybrid wheat varieties instead of the traditional barley, which is well suited to the Tibetan conditions, but which the Han didn’t like.
Thus the Tibetans were forced to plant this Han crop, which inevitably failed, leading to food shortages in Tibet.

Tibet never before experienced any famine in its two thousand year recorded history until the Han Chinese forced the Tibetans to plant their ill suited crop.

It was virtually only Tibetans which suffered from these devastating famines as the Han requisitioned the available crop for themselves.
The Chinese never brought any provision with them to support the occupying forces, but requisitioned supplies from the meagre production of food from the Tibetans, and this added to the dire food shortages even in years of relatively good harvest yields.

The same “Agreement of the Central Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet” stated in point sixteen:
“16) Funds needed by the military and administrative committee, the military area headquarters and the People’s Liberation Army entering Tibet shall be provided by the central People’s Government……”

Tibetans suffered greatly from the famine of 1959 – 61 which had resulted from the Great Leap. None of the areas of Tibet had poor harvests at that time, but all food was forcibly taken from the Tibetans for the Han Chinese in Tibet and even the provinces adjacent to Tibet. The Chinese explained that the Tibetans were now part of the Chinese masses and therefore bore responsibility to share the fate of the Han; they must also support the PLA and Han Chinese cadres in Tibet in return for the help which they had provided to Tibet.

In all some 300,000 to 400,000 Tibetans died of starvation as a result of Han mismanagement and the confiscation of their food supplies for the Han themselves.

Footnotes

Footnote: i
■ Even under severe torture Tibetan peasants would refuse to denounce or accuse a monk, or physically harm them in one of the ubiquitous Thamzing sessions (so called ‘struggle sessions’, public gatherings where Tibetans were forced to denounce, torture or kill members of the community and often even their own family members) the Han Chinese would hold to inculcate the Tibetans of the “evils” of the old society they’ve come to destroy.
These peasants belie this propaganda smear, and demonstrate that the peasantry held no resentment against the monks, the monasteries, or even the gentry; quite to the contrary.

[5] The Present Situation in Tibet

Population control:

Even thought Tibetans are supposed to be allowed more than one child, the reality is that in cities a strict one child policy is enforced, with second pregnancies compulsorily terminated.
Abortions are carried out until full term of nine months, where the baby is killed by injecting it with a poison, which inevitably induces abortion.
Even if the mother manages to evade the attention of the Chinese authorities and gives birth to a healthy baby, it invariably is taken away and killed by the medical staff, and the mother is then told that the baby was still born, even though she could hear the baby’s first cry.
Thus, infanticide is part of the population control of Tibetans by the Han Chinese.
Here is an account of one Tibetan Doctor who had her second pregnancy forcibly terminated:
“First they insert a sort of flexible rubber tube with a pointed end into the cervix. There is no medicine in this. They leave this inside for 24 hours. Because it stimulates the birth canal, which opens up slowly and gives way to the flow of blood, a lot of bleeding starts after two hours. After one day they take it out. It has become bigger inside so it is easier for the knife to get inside. They insert an instrument which has a sort of long handle with a knife at the end. They put this inside and start to move it around, cutting the fetus in pieces…… Once it has been reduced to small pieces it is removed by using a sort of compressor. ……..Besides the lack of proper medical equipment to do that, I was not even given anaesthesia and thus experienced excruciating pain at the time. No words have the power to express the excruciating pain I experience during the operation. There was no medical treatment afterwards…. I do not know what has been damage inside me…My physical and mental well-being have been badly affected. After the abortion I was not well …… I had a period twice a month, sometimes for 15 days at a time…..”

As a consequence of such crude and makeshift ‘medical’ procedures infections, long term excruciating pain and complications, irregular periods and bleeding etc. are the norm and endemic, and in many instances the woman dies as a result of such inept medical conduct, and in at least one report which came to light a woman ended up paralysed.

The Han Chinese operate mobile birth control units which visit every village and town. Everyone must attend or face a fine of equal up to five years salary.
There, Tibetan women are forcibly sterilized by the Han Chinese team, which, under a quota system with financial incentives for them, is highly motivated to enforce as many sterilisations as possible.
These sterilisations are carried out in the same unethical fashion as abortions, with severe complications widespread among the Tibetan victims of such inept procedures.
Tibetan women who resist are threatened with having their valuables or household items confiscated, or face heavy fines, which they possibly could never pay. Loosing their job or other economic sanctions are also routinely used to force Tibetan women to submit to these forced sterilisations.

Women who have forcibly been sterilised by these roaming teams report excruciating pain, with no anaesthetic being administered, and that they literally had their fallopian tubes ripped out from their ovaries during their ‘operation’.
Severe long term complications are a routine consequence of such unethical ‘medical conduct’ for these Tibetan women.

Economic sanctions against Tibetan women who have additional children include permanent demotions and the potential loss of employment for both parents, as well as fines equating up to to 6 years salary.
‘Illegal’ children are denied legal papers which would give them the right to identity, attend school, own property, travel, participate in any legal work, or obtain a ration card.

Economic situation
The economic situation for Tibetans is as dire as all other aspects of their lives.
Many get forcibly removed from their land to make way for settlements for new Chinese immigrants, with no compensation to the Tibetans for the loss of their land. Recently several hundred thousand of Tibetan farmers, herders and nomads have forcibly been evicted from their traditional lands and housed in ghetto style compounds at their own expense without compensation. There they face unremitting surveillance, with armed PAP being constantly stationed outside such dour compounds. These ghettos are most often located in remote areas, too far to commute to any work.
This leaves these dispossessed Tibetans without means of earning a living, having been stripped of their entire economic base, land, farm animals, even being prohibited from gathering wild herbs and fruit on their traditional lands.

Discrimination
The new Han migrants are encouraged through very lucrative incentives to settle in Tibet, a policy designed to sinocize Tibet, and in the process to eradicate Tibetan identity.
This is in an attempt to legitimize Chinese annexation of Tibet, once the Tibetan Diaspora, in their own land, has largely been eliminated.

Annual wages for Chinese employees are some 87% higher in Tibet than in China. Han Chinese entrepreneurs receive special tax exemptions and loans at very low interest rates, whereas for Tibetans to start an enterprise in their own homeland, even just getting a license to do so is virtually impossible.
Han Chinese settlers also enjoy benefits of three months paid vacation back in China, special pension, healthcare, schooling and housing benefits, subsidized food; none of which is available to the indigenous Tibetans. Some of these preferential benefits are escalated the longer Chinese settler remain in Tibet.

Further discriminations against Tibetans include: virginity testing, verbal abuse, preferential treatment for Han workers e.g. grants of leave or promotions not granted to Tibetans, higher wages for Han Chinese, dismissal if a family member is deemed to be a “separatist”, widespread sexual harassment by Chinese of Tibetan women, sexual extortion under the threat of loosing their jobs, etc.

With this background of economic disadvantage and clear discrimination, it is impossible for Tibetans to compete on any level with Chinese settlers.
Inevitably most businesses and shops are owned by Chinese and hiring practices by the Han Chinese favour their own kin, leaving Tibetans unable to benefit from any economic improvement.
Indeed, this so called economic growth is proving a clear disadvantage to Tibetans as the inevitable price increases, the massive influx of Han Chinese, subsidies and development for the benefit of these settlers, leaves Tibetans ever further behind and unable to compete, and as a consequence Tibetans are severely disenfranchised and suffer a much lower standard of living.

Schooling
The schooling provided for Tibetans in most areas in the TAR is often of very little value to students if any at all, that is if there are schools available.
Very few if any of the primary level teachers are qualified, for middle school about one third are not qualified and for High School only about forty percent are qualified; that is sixty percent have no experience or qualifications to teach.
Reports by students and parents describe a situation where the Chinese teachers would appear some days for a while and then go to run their restaurant in town, leaving the students to their own devices, and of course untaught.
These Han “teachers” only speak in Mandarin, a language foreign to most Tibetan students, and hence they gain very little to nothing from such teachers, even if, in the few instances, they apply themselves to the teaching job they’re paid for.

This is a very widespread situation affecting Tibetan students, relegated to the status of third class citizens in their own country and consigned to ‘dustbin’ classes reserved for Tibetans only.

However, the Han Chinese are closing down large numbers schools run by Tibetans who dedicated themselves to fill the vacuum and meet the need for education for Tibetan children. One such recent casualty was the Vocational Education School, in Driru County, Nagchu Prefecture, which was financed with support from the International Red Cross Society.
The curriculum included English, Tibetan and Chinese languages, it also taught physics, medicine, chemistry, art and mural paintings. The school had over 250 pupils and a staff of 20 teachers.
Thereafter the Han Chinese converted this school into a state run school and dismissed all staff except for the founder teacher, Tenzin Thabkhey, but demoted him to a lowly position.
Today, locals report that no serious learning is taking place there and the teachers just ‘while their time away’.

Many other schools financed and run by Tibetans have been closed down by the Han Chinese, one other example is the ‘Pad-kar School’ founded and built by Lobsang Nyandrak who mortgaged his personal property, and raised donations from local Tibetan people in Nagchu County, Nagchu Prefecture. The school had over 200 pupils and taught a similar range of subjects to eager pupils for free.

The Han Chinese’s program they tout as Affirmative Action or Positive Discrimination in education provides another tool for the marginalisation of the Tibetan people and their culture.
Schools where Tibetan children can get a higher education are not situated in Tibet, but are located in mainland China.
These middle schools are provided after passing examination and are designed to thoroughly sinicize young Tibetans in a process of grooming them for administrative position in the TAR.

The rationale is clear; after these children spent most of their formative years away from their families, Tibet and Tibetan culture in far away mainland China and are exclusively exposed to Chinese indoctrination and way of thinking they can then become trusted leaders and administrators in the Tibetan areas, being of Tibetan ethnicity but with the minds of Han Chinese.

This course of discrimination by inverse action is part of the CCP’s policy of eradicating every aspect of Tibetan culture and identity and allows them to use such terms as ‘affirmative action’ in their papers, reports and propaganda, which are all one and the same.

[6] Religious Freedom

The Han CCP is proclaiming that Tibetans enjoy full Freedom of Religion and that they support and assist monasteries financially and otherwise.

Recently the Han Chinese have installed CCTV cameras in most monasteries to control the monks’ every activity, they maintain a tight security presence around the clock, and even opened Police stations inside, or right next to many monasteries.

Not only are the number of monks and nuns strictly controlled and limited, the curriculum and extent of the teachings is also controlled and prescribed by the Han Chinese with many aspects of traditional teachings banned for being deemed to be “too politically sensitive”.
These restrictions and transformations render the Buddhist teachings almost meaningless, to the point of having become an instrument of Han CCP indoctrination and brainwashing.
Monks must pass exams in political ideology, denounce the Dalai Lama and are required to swear allegiance to local communist party authorities, or be expelled from monastic life.

Politics is one such subject prescribed, and monks must undergo such political indoctrination, pass exams in patriotism, prove their ‘love for the motherland’ and denounce the Dalai lama, or they forfeit the right to be a monk.
As an example, the correct answer to one of the political questions is:
"The Dalai is the head of the Serpent and the Chieftain of the separatist organization conspiring for independence in Tibet and he is the root-cause of all social instability in Tibet."

This psychological terror strikes at the very heart of Tibetan identity and their most treasured principles.
Such willful humiliation is what compels many monks into committing suicide rather than having to renounce and pervert their deepest and most sacred convictions.
Reports list literally dozens of monks who commit suicide annually rather than become a lackey to the Han Chinese and betray their very own Tibetanness and convictions.

If a monk is expelled he will almost certainly be unable to find work, and will thereafter be treated as a criminal by the Han authorities.

The teaching of Buddhism is also an ongoing process of learning and investigation.
However, the Han Chinese have prohibited the studies towards, and examinations for a Geshe Lharampa Degree for 15 years, which is equivalent to a PhD in Tibetan Buddhism.
It has now been ‘reinstated’, not out of any concern for religious freedom or human rights, but as a tool to further humiliate and indoctrinate Tibetans, pervert their religion, and in the process prevent the true spirit of Buddhism from re-emerging.
Now candidates are required to study, and pass exams on six political ideology books written by the CCP.

All this clearly is designed to render the teachings of Buddhism unattractive and meaningless, and in doing so the Han perverted it into a tool for the indoctrination, humiliation and oppression of Tibetans.

In a clear exploit of scheming and fomenting the chasm which has plagued the exiled Tibetan community over the propitiation of Dorje Shugden, the Han Chinese are favouring and rewarding monasteries, which follow this practice, with money taken form other monasteries.

Monks report that often donations of money they received for the monastery had been confiscated by the Han Chinese.

They also report a climate of fear and mistrust, as probably every monastery has been infiltrated by paid undercover moles posing as monks, to the point of monks even mistrusting their own superiors, as they all have all been selected by the Han authorities on grounds of their ‘trustworthiness’ and ‘loyalty’ to the Han nation.

Tourists report that they were arrested for relics they had taken into Tibet and given to some monk in a monastery, such as photos of the Dalai Lama and tapes of his teachings. Later, that same monk was present at the police station to identify them.
Monks also report that prostitutes regularly appear in monasteries sent by the Han authorities to tempt them into breaking their vows of celibacy.

Further restrictions monks face are bans on the use of the internet, mobile phones, DVD’s and Videos.

The following is but a very small sample of recent cases, providing a glimpse of what monks, and Tibetans in general, have to endure in arbitrary arrests on trumped up charges, and the repression of their basic rights and freedoms of expression:

• Abbot Khenpo Jinpa was arrested and subsequently imprisoned for three years for the alleged distribution of leaflets in support of independence and the Dalai Lama.

• Rongye Adrak was sentenced to eight years in prison for inciting “separatism” by calling for the return of the Dalai Lama.
Three Tibetans who witnessed his arrest and had concerns over his fraudulent trial were themselves arrested for allegedly attempting to provide information to foreign organizations.
They were subsequently sentenced to ten, nine and three years in jail for the “crime” of “leaking intelligence” and “endangering national security”.

• A village leader, Penpa, was arrested and imprisoned for three years for allegedly being in possession of material relating to the Dalai Lama’s Kalachakara teachings.

• Choeying Khedrub was jailed for life for allegedly “endangering state security” and “supporting splittist activities”.
Many other monks were sentenced to life for the same alleged “crimes”.

• Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was framed and sentenced to death on trumped up charges, his supposed co-conspirator was executed immediately. Rinpoche was a very popular Lama and was a thorn in the side for the Han authorities for his independent mindedness, conservationist stance, assistance to nomads and support for Tibetan identity.

Anyone who is familiar with the conditions of prisons in Tibet and the treatment Tibetans are subjected to once incarcerated by the Han Chinese, for whatever trumped up charges, will be aware of the abject horror that awaits these hapless victims of Han racism.

The 11th Panchen Lama, Gedun Choekyi Nyima, identified by the Tibetans as the reincarnation of the previous Panchen, was abducted by the Chinese in 1995 at age 6, along with his family and teachers, and none of whom has ever been seen since.

The Han Chinese have installed their own puppet Panchen Lama, and use him for their propaganda purposes.
On his rare ventures out of Beijing to Tibet, monks in monasteries he visits must attend his audience, and they are sometimes bribed with 100 yuan, in propaganda stunts for footage of smiling monks ‘adoring their Panchen Lama’, to show how much he is ‘revered and respected’ by the Tibetan monks.
However he is simply referred to as the ‘Han Panchen’, and Tibetans wish nothing more than the return of their real Panchen Lama, if he is still alive, and of course the return of the Dalai Lama.
See Footnotes: i

In monasteries where tourists are likely to appear, there are plainclothes PAP in constant attendance. In remoter areas armed PAP is there in full regalia, ever present and controlling every activity day and night.

Monasteries are completely under the control of the Han CCP through their Democratic Management Committees, and their every activity and finance is regulated, controlled, and permissions have to be sought for any activity monks might want to undertake.

As part of true Buddhist teachings, monks will cultivate the Four Immeasurables, and thus after long and arduous training will transcend the mundane mindset of referential thinking and be detached from such follies of likes, dislikes, hate, anger, sorrow and attachment.
This is one aspect which can not be regulated, as it is part of meditation practices, and just requires the utmost undivided focus and attention.
Thus, a monk will be able to forgive and see their tormentors as ‘teachers’ who provide the ultimate ‘test’ for the application and realization of the Four Immeasurables.

This explains how monks, even after thirty years of constant torture and torment at the hands of their oppressors, bear no grudge or animosity towards their tyrannizing captors, and keep their smiles, as though their lives were one of constant bliss under Han occupation.
See Footnotes: ii

Some other measures to oppress Tibetans and their religious freedom include:

• Indoctrination sessions, which monks have to endure on a mostly daily basis, and these have now also been extended to business and government employees.

• A strict prohibition on pictures of the kidnapped 11th Panchen Lama and the much vilified 14th Dalai Lama, at the threat of very lengthy prison sentences.

• Permissions have to be sought from the Religious Affairs Bureau, RAB, for any activity a monastery wishes to undertake, or for a monk to travel outside his district and give teachings.

• A recent refusal by the RAB to grant permission for an annual religious event at the Tsodham Monastery in early 2010 is but one example of the RAB’s rigorous control and flagrant denial of religious freedom for Tibetans.

• Some 500 monks who originated from outside the TAR were expelled from monasteries in Lhasa and have never been allowed back since 2008.

Tibetan Monks and lay people, in an attempt to avoid the repressive controls and interference by the Han authorities have built new quarters known as Gars for the purpose of teaching and practising their religion. However they have drawn the same unwelcome attention as the traditional monasteries and have been closed down and demolished.
One of these, Larung Gar Religious Institute, which was situated in the Sichuan province was destroyed by the Han authorities. It had some 1,000 quarters for students of Buddhism, and at its peak had over 10.000 practitioners from Tibet, including a thousand from China, plus many from all parts of the world.

Footnotes

Footnote: i
■ Gyaltsen Norbu, an exiled Tibetan monk now living in India provides the following testimony:
"In 2003, the Panchen Zuma visited our monastery. Everyone who came to visit him was given 100 Yuan and a Khata [offering scarf]. Pictures were taken of him giving head-touching blessings to the local people. It was like a show. Honestly speaking, no one was happy with that, because we have no faith in him. But it was ordered by the Government and we had to do what we were told."

Footnote: ii
■ Here is an account of one monk released after 33 years of continuous Han Chinese abuse:
“I became a Buddhist monk when I was ten. When the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1959 I was twenty-nine years old. The Chinese arrested me for putting up posters that Tibet is an independent country. Because of this “crime”, I spent thirty-three years in Chinese prisons and labour camps."
The monk shared some of the details of his life in prison. He said that the Chinese guards wanted to see who would survive their torture and who would die.
"In the name of this “curiosity” they repeatedly tortured and humiliated prisoners. They would tie rope around the prisoners’ necks and pull back their arms, dislocating shoulders and elbows. The guards would lash the prisoners to beams and beat them with metal pipes and wooden boards studded with nails, until the prisoners could no longer control their bodily functions.
In the summer’s heat, the guards dangled their prisoners above a fire, or they dripped boiling water onto the prisoners’ naked bodies in the cold of winter. The prisoners were yoked to ploughs and forced to till the prison lands.
Because they were given only a cup of soup a day, they stayed alive by eating leather, grass, bones, mice, worms, insects, and, on rare and fortunate occasions, food that was meant for the pigs."
The monk told how the guards knocked out all his teeth and beat his head so he became deaf in one ear.
They split his tongue with a cattle prod, broke his nose with metal pipes, and tried to rip out his eyes. He showed us scars on his wrists from self-tightening handcuffs and rope burns on his neck and arms.
His arms could no longer extend.

[7] Denigration and Vilification

An exhibition in the Potala “Wrath of the Serfs” depicted 106 clay statues in various situations of ‘horrors’ which the serfs purportedly had to endure.

This display of distortion and denigration made all manner of outrages claims, such as monks burying children alive in the foundations of new monasteries.
This exhibition was categorised into the sections:
“Serfs Rise in Struggle an Yearn for Liberation”
“Feudal Estate Owners’ Manors: Miserable Infernos on Earth”
“Lamaseries: Dark Man-Eating Dens”
“Local Reactionary Government of Tibet: Apparatus of Reactionary Rule”

This exhibition was required viewing by tourists for many years, even though it had the effect of eliciting incredulity and amusement, and exposing the Han Chinese as manipulators of the historical facts, rather than the Tibetans as the villains it attempted to portray, for it was so outrageously histrionic and melodramatic.

In 1963 the Chinese released the movie “Serf” which was shown all over China in an attempt to vilify and depict the old Tibetan society as cruel and backward, in an underlying theme almost beyond any credibility.
This had a profound impact on Han Chinese who, after millennia of such dearly nurtured attitudes, would have had very little good sense to question the portrayal of the Tibetans in such demeaning and condescending terms. This propaganda flick at the same time portrayed the PLA as compassionate and benevolent, who altruistically came to help the Tibetans to improve their lives, and even called the soldiers an army of ‘Bodhisattvas’.
This is a Buddhist term denoting a Being seeking Enlightenment and practising altruistic compassion and benevolence; a truly bizarre twist of duplicitous propaganda, given the CCP’s relentless demonising of the Buddhist religion and its adherents.
See Footnotes: i

But the systematic denigration and vilification is not just confined to media such as movies or exhibitions, it permeates every aspect of communication and also appears in subtler and more insidious forms: Novels, TV, History Books, the reporting of News, even Sitcoms, Plays, Textbooks, News Papers, in fact every aspect of communication is employed.

The March 14th protests in 2008 provided the CCP with an occasion to demonstrate their well honed propaganda skills in subtle demonisation of the Tibetans.
Scenes of burning shops and cars were shown ad nauseam around the clock, underscored with the most vitriolic and inflammatory commentary to instil utmost resentment and odium amongst their only real constituency, the Han, against the Tibetans. They were constantly portrayed as ungrateful and ‘biting the hand that’s lifting them out of their backwardness’, with most Han Chinese referring to Tibetans as “white-eyed wolves”, inferring their ungratefulness at all the ‘help they’ve received from the Han people’.

In the aftermath of the protests, the Han Chinese arrested several thousand Tibetans, perhaps as many as six thousand, of which some one thousand are still missing, with their whereabouts unknown. Reliable sources report them as being surreptitiously moved to Qinghai, a known centre for organ harvesting.
Read more on the Laogai system here.

Tibetans who have been arrested after the protests report an underlying attitude by the Han Chinese of “This is our chance” and “Settling accounts after autumn harvest” (qiu hou suan zhang)”; a mindset of overt and unmitigated racism, which goes some way towards explaining the gratuitous brutality routinely experienced by detainees at the hands of the Han Chinese.

At least ten, but possibly many more, extrajudicial killings have come to light, that is Tibetans who have been so severely tortured and beaten that they died as a result, either while in custody or after their release, in connection with arrests after the 2008 protests.

The Chinese have sentenced scores of Tibetans to death and many received sentences ranging from lengthy terms to life imprisonment.
In the case of two Tibetans condemned to death, Loyak and Lobsang Gyaltsen, Xinhua opined that these two “must be executed to allay the anger of the people”.

The Nangpa La Pass Incident on the 26th September 2006 is but a small illustration of the process of vilification and inversion of the facts by the Han Chinese. It is also a clear demonstration of the deep rooted racism, condescension and contempt the Han reserve for the Tibetans.
While the whole world was witness to the true events thanks to this video below, Xinhua, the mouthpiece of the Han CCP first denied any such incident occurred, then was forced to admit that ‘an incident’ had occurred, but claimed that the border guards first tried to persuade the Tibetans to return and go home, but then were attacked by them and so they had to defend themselves and in the process shot and wounded two people.
See Footnotes: ii

Everything Tibetans are allowed to hear, see or read is tightly controlled and prescribed by the Han Chinese.
No Tibetan Textbooks are allowed to originate from Tibetan authors, any that do exist in the Tibetan language are translations from Mandarin.
Newspapers are mainly translations of the CCP’s own mouthpiece, Xinhua, and according to reporters who have worked in the media in Tibet, ninety nine percent of what’s published is form such predetermined sources.
The strict control of all media in Tibet is run by Han Chinese, mostly CCP members, and heavy penalties are meted out to anyone transgressing the limits of censorship. One Tibetan journalist who escaped to India summed it up as follows: "We were all afraid. Anyone who defies the censors can expect the worst".

Recent convictions of Tibetans for ‘infringing’ CCP censorship in connection with the internet and writings alone include:

• Dasher, sentenced to 10 years for allegedly sending photos and reports of the 2008 riots via internet abroad.

• Kunga Tseyang, sentenced to 5 years for posting material on the internet.

• Kunchok Tsephel, sentenced to 15 years jail for allegedly divulging “state secrets”.

• Tseyang, sentenced to 5 years prison for allegedly writing “separatist” articles and posting them on the internet.

• Tsephel, a well know intellectual, writer and founder of the internet site Chodme was sentenced to 15 years jail for content on the site.

• Gyaltsing, sentenced to 3 years in prison for allegedly ‘communicating information to contacts outside China’, after he was intercepted downloading photos of the Dalai Lama.

• Norzin Wangmo, sentenced to 5 years in jail for talking about the situation in Tibet over the phone and internet.

• Migmar Dhondup, a passionate conservationist, sentenced to 14 years in prison for “espionage”. His charity work included working with impoverished communities, protecting the environment and encouraging Tibetans to preserve what’s left of Tibetan culture and language.

• Dhondup Wangchen, sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for his brave attempt of giving Tibetans a voice and letting them express their views on the Olympics in his short movie, "Leaving Fear Behind".

• Dolma Kyab, sentenced to ten and a half years in prison for alleged “espionage”. Dolma, a passionate teacher and writer wrote a book, unpublished of course, about Tibetan history, religion and geography.
In a letter smuggled out of prison he wrote: "Chinese officials think that what I wrote about nature and geography was also connected to Tibetan independence. This is the main reason of my conviction. But according to Chinese law, the book alone would not justify such a sentence. So they announced that I am guilty of the crime of espionage."

This is but a very small sample of the repression Tibetans face on a daily basis at the hands of the Han Chinese.

In all it is estimated that over 50 Tibetans were arrested and sentenced to lengthy prison terms just in connection with disseminating information about the 08 riots alone. But other activities such as downloading pictures of the Dalai Lama, posting Tibetan language poetry, blogging about life in Tibet, or just communicating with the outside world reaps Tibetans lengthy jail terms on the usual trumped up charges of “espionage” or “revealing state secrets”.

But thousands more Tibetans are being incarcerated, for exercising their constitutionally and UN Charter guaranteed rights of freedom of speech and expression, on such trumped up charges.

Most Tibetans imprisoned experience degrading treatment, severe beatings and torture on a routine basis and suffer extremely harsh conditions, affecting their physical and mental health as a consequence.

In addition to the heavily censored media content, the Han Chinese are jamming all broadcasts from outside the Han nation, such as Voice of Tibet (VOT), which is funded by Norwegian NGO’s, Voice of America (VOA), etc. violating UN resolutions and even its own Constitution by doing so.

The internet is also tightly controlled and monitored, every internet café gets visited every day and every pc scrutinised for content viewed over the internet, so that even in public access to the net Tibetans are sure to be surveyed at every moment of the day. It would be unthinkable for a Tibetan to attempt downloading such banned material as pictures of the Dalai Lama in his own home, as every connection is closely monitored and would lead to instant arrest.

The Han Chinese have installed a CCTV surveillance system, SkyNet Project, all over Tibet to strictly monitor Tibetans in every public place, street corner, and alleyway, covering every village, town and city on the entire Tibetan plateau.

Han CCP propaganda has managed to turn their destruction and looting of Tibet into an act of benevolence and selfless munificence in the eyes of their Han constituency, and even the wider world at large, and the oppression and brutal subjugation of the Tibetan people into a ‘liberation and empowerment’.

As a result of such incessant propaganda and calculated denigrations, Han people view the Tibetans as ‘white-eyed wolves’, inferring that they are an ‘ungrateful bunch of howling wolves’, and don’t appreciate all the ‘selfless investments and aid’ the Han people have poured into Tibet.

The reality is that any investments made in Tibet are solely for the benefit of Han Settlers, the movement of their Military, the extraction of mineral wealth from gold to copper and many other mining activities, facilitating logging, the building of hydroelectric power stations, and in so claiming the country of Tibet for the Han Nation.

The looting of all the precious artefacts, silver and gold stolen in the fifties and sixties from the Tibetans alone amounts to many multiples of what the Han Chinese so conceitedly tout as having ‘invested’ in Tibet, alas not out of altruistic motives or to any benefit to the Tibetans, but for purely egocentric purposes.

But of course since then the country of Tibet has continually been ransacked for most of its ancient forests, mineral wealth, and today the rapacious looting and extraction continues at an ever accelerated pace.

Footnotes

Footnote: i
■ Wei Jingshen, a well known Chinese dissident writes that when his parents learned of his girlfriend’s ethnicity, a Tibetan, they threatened to disown him, unless he immediately terminated this relationship. Although his parents never met any Tibetans, they thought that Tibetans were half human, half animal. This racist stereotype is farily typical amongst Han people, and is a result of a society which through the ages has unremittingly harboured such incongruous bigotry, and which under the CCP has further been thoroughly conditioned with relentless vilification and denigration of the Tibetan people.

This attitude towards the Tibetans is as ancient as it is contemporary, with writers through the ages portraying the Tibetan race in these condescending and denigrating terms; denying them any form of culture, learning, or even products of value to the superior Han.
Successive Ming Emperors sought to expand their influence over other territories by sinicizing bordering ‘barbarian’ races by way of converting them into some second rate honorary Han. This, they thought, could be accomplished by bestowing them with honorific titles, which they liberally issued to mostly low ranking lames. Most Tibetan lamas were invited by the Emperors for such purposes, however, many just simply ignored it, but lower ranking ones would often accept these invitations. But the real reason though they would make the long and arduous journey to the Ming court was that they would receive gifts from the Emperor, which they could sell at a respectable profit back in Tibet.
So for these lamas this was a lucrative enterprise, and a small price to pay for displaying some expedient deference to this foreign ruler.
These envoys in turn would also carry some gifts for the Emperor, which by CCP writers now is reinterpreted as ‘tributes’, however, this was just a reciprocal exchange, of gifts and honorific titles; customary at the time throughout Asia and a show of mutual respect.
However court chroniclers recorded that the Ming Emperor and his court held the view that these ‘barbarians’ in reality had nothing of value to offer to the Emperor, only curios, artefacts and handicraft for his amusement, despite them often being exquisitely crafted artefacts.

A clear indication that this was not a ‘tribute system’ as modern CCP writers would now have it, but a lucrative revenue racket for the Tibetan lamas, is that these envoys of lamaseries were so numerous that the court would issue an edict and restrict each monastery or Lama to one visit every three years.

Footnote: ii
■ A recent study of Tibetan refugees arriving in India by “BMC International Health and Human Rights” concluded that most of the refugees in the study had experienced torture.
With the most common torture techniques being:
Beatings (73%), electrical torture (43%), being forced to provide blood (19%), and being kept naked (25%).
These refugees also were further traumatised by sleep deprivation (36%), witnessing murder (37%), kidnapping of family and friends (37%), and disappearances of family and friends (13%).
They conclude as follows:
“Our findings demonstrate that torture is commonly reported amongst Tibetan refugees, and that those who have experienced torture often suffer significant psychological effects.”

[8] Conclusion

The examination of the complex relationship between the Tibetan Nation and the Han people throughout history reveals but one consistent underlying theme, that of racism in all its unpleasant forms and guises.

But it is by and large a story untold and unknown, denied, suppressed and falsified by the victors who get to write the history books.
And also today by the political powers that be; pusillanimous politicians and diplomats all around the world, the Western Press, and despite the many good books on Tibet, by many authors too timid or downright fallacious to confront the truth, but all kowtowing to the masters of the most populous nation; afraid to jeopardise their lucrative trade, cosy arrangements or relationships in whatever form they may be, with these autocrats of the Han empire.

Today the CCP employs the same thinly veiled tactics as Sun Yat-sen did after the 1910 revolution, where he duplicitously called the ROC a "Multi-ethnic" nation.
Thus in order to clad their racist regime in a veneer of ‘legitimacy’ the PRC is called a "Nation of 56 Nationalities", with the inference of ‘inclusiveness’ and ‘communality’ amongst the races.
This of course bears no semblance to any reality, where only the Han CCP holds all the power, and where all UN conventions, and even the PRC’s own constitutional guarantees and rights, are flagrantly disregarded in respect to the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples.

This construct of the nation of 56 Nationalities serves the sole purpose of cloaking the occupation and sinicizing of all of these minorities’ lands in some tenuous legitimacy.
In the CCP’s calculation this would validate the intended eradication of the cultural and hereditary claim these people legitimately have over their ancestral lands once and for all, and in turn pervert any claim to self determination under UN Conventions signed up to by the PRC by joining the UN.

The old South Africa offers little comparison to the Racism perpetrated in Tibet.
The racism in SA was of a candidly overt nature, and the regime there made no attempts to gloss over the fact that racism was institutionalised policy.
In Tibet, the Han nation is practising a much more pernicious and intractable Racism.
A covert, veiled and disguised Racism, vehemently denied, and smothered in a plethora of propaganda, that attempts to portray a harmonious, inclusive and egalitarian society, the very opposite to the reality of their policies.
In many ways the Racism perpetrated in Tibet is much more insidious, and for the victims of a far more heinous and callous nature.
The old SA did not arbitrarily arrest blacks, or systematically torture and mistreat their prisoners as a matter of course.

There were also no Slave Labour Camps as in Tibet, called Laogai, where inmates are forced to perform hard labour and are assigned dangerous tasks without adequate protection or standard precautions.
Needless to say the majority suffer longterm ill health and many die as a consequence.

And in the old SA, speaking out on issues of whatever nature, or carrying a picture of Nelson Mandela did not result in a very lengthy jail term, with all the associated horrors of torture and maltreatment, as is the case in Tibet today.

The deliberate and systematic denigration and vilification of the Tibetan people and their history is unique to Han racism.
The complete abrogation of any culture, or even according Tibetans achievements of any merit in their own right, i.e. where all the ‘civilizing and culture’ has come from the Han people over the entire course of their history, is but the grossest form of racism, and without equal.
Han Chinese records and ‘literature’, historical and contemporary, are replete with such condescending and patronising falsehoods and inversions of historical facts, and serves but one purpose, the self-aggrandizing of the Han race at the expense of the Tibetan people, who after all are forever to be kept in their place as ‘barbarians’.

The Han Chinese regime has taken to touring the globe with their sordid exhibition commemorating their duplicitous “Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day”, ramming their racist vilification of the Tibetan people down everyone’s throat, where no country would dare to refuse to host such blatant racism on their soil for fear of economic retribution, as is always at the forefront of anything the Chinese undertake in international relations.

The mere fact that this regime would go to the extreme of touring the world with such hateful propaganda is universally viewed as the grossest form of racism, where every other nation would be utterly ashamed and mortified to stoop to such squalid tactics, the Han people evidently have never displayed such sensitivities or even pangs of conscience.
To the contrary, the supreme conceit displayed in their denials of everything they commit betrays a mindset utterly bereft of such common civilities.

But it is the very nature of the PRC, which is exacting the heaviest toll on the Tibetan people, and other minorities; the loss of their Country, their ancestral land inhabited for millennia as a proud, independent nation.
It is in the way the Han nation came into being, by brute force and violent subjugation by the Han race, against the will of the minorities, first by Sun Yat-sen’s RoC and then by Mao’s PRC.
The self appointed rulers over an empire of ‘alien’ races, as the Manchu’s were branded, and by extension all the other subjugated races!
But nevertheless, the Han race sees itself as the ‘rightfully anointed rulers’ over these alien territories, against all Conventions, International Law, and the will of the subjugated people.

The old SA was rightfully ostracised and sanctioned and forced into change and reform; but then it never could match the economic clout of today’s China.

Today the Han nation has the economic and financial muscle to cower even the most ‘principled’ and well meaning politician, ‘respectable’ News Organisation, or Corporation into indecorous acquiescence to their haughty demands.

(Google being a recent and laudable exception; making for a heartening exclusion from such ignominious submission and abandonment of purported principles.)

An independent Tibet has all the ingredients to be a very prosperous and flourishing country in its own right.

An authentic Tibet, not the artificial one duplicitously run by the Han Chinese for the purpose of tourism, would be one powerful driver where the Tibetans could for once genuinely benefit enormously, and attract a much wider audience of tourists in search of a truly unique culture and people on the roof of the world.

Also, the Han Chinese loot Tibet annually of billions of Dollars worth of natural resources, from forests, minerals and gold, to hydroelectric power, without regards for the environment and to no benefit for the Tibetans.
This natural wealth again would afford the rightful owners vast economic benefit and income if they were to be paid fairly for the natural wealth, now being plundered from them.

The Tibetans have all the constituents for a successful modern state, a fact demonstrated during millennia of independence and evidently during the period of 1910 – 1950, where they largely managed to stay out of the turmoil engulfing the world at large, and demonstrated their fierce independence and will to modern Nationhood.
Alas, their efforts to build a modern nation and national pride were brutally quashed by the invasion in 1950, and their country plunged into the darkest of ages by their “liberators”.

Indeed, the “Hell on Earth” of “old Tibet” now depicted by the CCP is more than uncannily reminiscent of what Tibetans suffered at the hands of the Han people over the centuries, but particularly over the last sixty years, and continue to endure today, in the 21st century no less, without the least display of any pangs of conscience, let alone remorse, by the perpetrators.

The racism and contempt the Han reserve for the Tibetan people is evident in the contemptuous violation of all UN conventions the PRC has signed up to, the vicious treatment meted out to detainees on a routine basis, the discrimination, denigration and third class citizen status Tibetans are subjected to, and the complete and contemptible disregard of any human rights, despite countless reports branding the perpetrators for these horrific crimes.

The horrendous suffering will only end when the last Han Chinese has forcibly been evicted from Tibetan soil, like once before in 1910, and the Tibetan people can restore their dignity, live by their cherished culture, and manage once again their own economic, political and social affairs in their uniquely Buddhist and Tibetan approach.

One day again the Snow Lion Flag will fly over the Potala and signify a free, independent Tibet - RANGZEN

Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day, 28th March, Part 8 - Conclusion

2010-04-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

This is Part 8 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7

A closer examination of the impact Tibetans experienced due to their encounter with the Han Chinese.

[8] Conclusion

The examination of the complex relationship between the Tibetan Nation and the Han people throughout history reveals but one consistent underlying theme, that of racism in all its unpleasant forms and guises.

But it is by and large a story untold and unknown, denied, suppressed and falsified by the victors who get to write the history books.
And also today by the political powers that be; pusillanimous politicians and diplomats all around the world, the Western Press, and despite the many good books on Tibet, by many authors too timid or downright fallacious to confront the truth, but all kowtowing to the masters of the most populous nation; afraid to jeopardise their lucrative trade, cosy arrangements or relationships in whatever form they may be, with these autocrats of the Han empire.

Today the CCP employs the same thinly veiled tactics as Sun Yat-sen did after the 1910 revolution, where he duplicitously called the ROC a "Multi-ethnic" nation.
Thus in order to clad their racist regime in a veneer of ‘legitimacy’ the PRC is called a "Nation of 56 Nationalities", with the inference of ‘inclusiveness’ and ‘communality’ amongst the races.
This of course bears no semblance to any reality, where only the Han CCP holds all the power, and where all UN conventions, and even the PRC’s own constitutional guarantees and rights, are flagrantly disregarded in respect to the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples.

This construct of the nation of 56 Nationalities serves the sole purpose of cloaking the occupation and sinicizing of all of these minorities’ lands in some tenuous legitimacy.
In the CCP’s calculation this would validate the intended eradication of the cultural and hereditary claim these people legitimately have over their ancestral lands once and for all, and in turn pervert any claim to self determination under UN Conventions signed up to by the PRC by joining the UN.

The old South Africa offers little comparison to the Racism perpetrated in Tibet.
The racism in SA was of a candidly overt nature, and the regime there made no attempts to gloss over the fact that racism was institutionalised policy.
In Tibet, the Han nation is practising a much more pernicious and intractable Racism.
A covert, veiled and disguised Racism, vehemently denied, and smothered in a plethora of propaganda, that attempts to portray a harmonious, inclusive and egalitarian society, the very opposite to the reality of their policies.
In many ways the Racism perpetrated in Tibet is much more insidious, and for the victims of a far more heinous and callous nature.
The old SA did not arbitrarily arrest blacks, or systematically torture and mistreat their prisoners as a matter of course.

Standard issue torture instruments used in prisons in Tibet on a regular basis

There were also no Slave Labour Camps as in Tibet, called Laogai, where inmates are forced to perform hard labour and are assigned dangerous tasks without adequate protection or standard precautions.
Needless to say the majority suffer longterm ill health and many die as a consequence.

And in the old SA, speaking out on issues of whatever nature, or carrying a picture of Nelson Mandela did not result in a very lengthy jail term, with all the associated horrors of torture and maltreatment, as is the case in Tibet today.

The deliberate and systematic denigration and vilification of the Tibetan people and their history is unique to Han racism.
The complete abrogation of any culture, or even according Tibetans achievements of any merit in their own right, i.e. where all the ‘civilizing and culture’ has come from the Han people over the entire course of their history, is but the grossest form of racism, and without equal.
Han Chinese records and ‘literature’, historical and contemporary, are replete with such condescending and patronising falsehoods and inversions of historical facts, and serves but one purpose, the self-aggrandizing of the Han race at the expense of the Tibetan people, who after all are forever to be kept in their place as ‘barbarians’.
The Han Chinese regime has taken to touring the globe with their sordid exhibition commemorating their duplicitous “Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day”, ramming their racist vilification of the Tibetan people down everyone’s throat, where no country would dare to refuse to host such blatant racism on their soil for fear of economic retribution, as is always at the forefront of anything the Chinese undertake in international relations.

The mere fact that this regime would go to the extreme of touring the world with such hateful propaganda amounts to the grossest racist depravity, where every other nation would be utterly ashamed and mortified to stoop to such squalid tactics, the Han people evidently have never displayed such sensitivities or even pangs of conscience.
To the contrary, the supreme conceit displayed in their denials of everything they commit betrays a mindset utterly bereft of such common civilities.

But it is the very nature of the PRC, which is exacting the heaviest toll on the Tibetan people, and other minorities; the loss of their Country, their ancestral land inhabited for millennia as a proud, independent nation.
It is in the way the Han nation came into being, by brute force and violent subjugation by the Han race, against the will of the minorities, first by Sun Yat-sen’s RoC and then by Mao’s PRC.
The self appointed rulers over an empire of ‘alien’ races, as the Manchu’s were branded, and by extension all the other subjugated races!
But nevertheless, the Han race sees itself as the ‘rightfully anointed rulers’ over these alien territories, against all Conventions, International Law, and the will of the subjugated people.

The old SA was rightfully ostracised and sanctioned and forced into change and reform; but then it never could match the economic clout of today’s China.

Today the Han nation has the economic and financial muscle to cower even the most ‘principled’ and well meaning politician, ‘respectable’ News Organisation, or Corporation into indecorous acquiescence to their haughty demands.

(Google being a recent and laudable exception; making for a heartening exclusion from such ignominious submission and abandonment of purported principles.)

An independent Tibet has all the ingredients to be a very prosperous and flourishing country in its own right.

An authentic Tibet, not the artificial one duplicitously run by the Han Chinese for the purpose of tourism, would be one powerful driver where the Tibetans could for once genuinely benefit enormously, and attract a much wider audience of tourists in search of a truly unique culture and people on the roof of the world.

Also, the Han Chinese loot Tibet annually of billions of Dollars worth of natural resources, from forests, minerals and gold, to hydroelectric power, without regards for the environment and to no benefit for the Tibetans.
This natural wealth again would afford the rightful owners vast economic benefit and income if they were to be paid fairly for the natural wealth, now being plundered from them.

The Tibetans have all the constituents for a successful modern state, a fact demonstrated during millennia of independence and evidently during the period of 1910 – 1950, where they largely managed to stay out of the turmoil engulfing the world at large, and demonstrated their fierce independence and will to modern Nationhood.
Alas, their efforts to build a modern nation and national pride were brutally quashed by the invasion in 1950, and their country plunged into the darkest of ages by their “liberators”.

Indeed, the “Hell on Earth” of “old Tibet” now depicted by the CCP is more than uncannily reminiscent of what Tibetans suffered at the hands of the Han people over the centuries, but particularly over the last sixty years, and continue to endure today, in the 21st century no less, without the least display of any pangs of conscience, let alone remorse, by the perpetrators.

The racism and contempt the Han reserve for the Tibetan people is evident in the contemptuous violation of all UN conventions the PRC has signed up to, the vicious treatment meted out to detainees on a routine basis, the discrimination, denigration and third class citizen status Tibetans are subjected to, and the complete and contemptible disregard of any human rights, despite countless reports branding the perpetrators for these horrific crimes.

The horrendous suffering will only end when the last Han Chinese has forcibly been evicted from Tibetan soil, like once before in 1910, and the Tibetan people can restore their dignity, live by their cherished culture, and manage once again their own economic, political and social affairs in their uniquely Buddhist and Tibetan approach.

One day again this Flag will fly over the Potala and signify a free, independent Tibet - RANGZEN

This is Part 8 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7

Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day, 28th March, Part 7 - Denigration and Vilification

2010-04-22T01:39:00.000-07:00

This is Part 7 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 8

A closer examination of the impact Tibetans experienced due to their encounter with the Han Chinese.

[7] Denigration and Vilification

An exhibition in the Potala “Wrath of the Serfs” depicted 106 clay statues in various situations of ‘horrors’ which the serfs purportedly had to endure.

This display of distortion and denigration made all manner of outrages claims, such as monks burying children alive in the foundations of new monasteries.
This exhibition was categorised into the sections:
“Serfs Rise in Struggle an Yearn for Liberation”
“Feudal Estate Owners’ Manors: Miserable Infernos on Earth”
“Lamaseries: Dark Man-Eating Dens”
“Local Reactionary Government of Tibet: Apparatus of Reactionary Rule”

The exhibition was required viewing by tourists for many years, even though it had the effect of eliciting incredulity and amusement, and exposing the Han Chinese as manipulators of the historical facts, rather than the Tibetans as the villains it attempted to portray, for it was so outrageously histrionic and melodramatic.

In 1963 the Chinese released the movie “Serf” which was shown all over China in an attempt to vilify and depict the old Tibetan society as cruel and backward, in an underlying theme almost beyond any credibility.
This had a profound impact on Han Chinese who, after millennia of such dearly nurtured attitudes, would have had very little good sense to question the portrayal of the Tibetans in such demeaning and condescending terms. This propaganda flick at the same time portrayed the PLA as compassionate and benevolent, who altruistically came to help the Tibetans to improve their lives, and even called the soldiers an army of ‘Bodhisattvas’.
This is a Buddhist term denoting a Being seeking Enlightenment and practising altruistic compassion and benevolence; a truly bizarre twist of duplicitous propaganda, given the CCP’s relentless demonising of the Buddhist religion and its adherents.
See Footnotes: i

But the systematic denigration and vilification is not just confined to media such as movies or exhibitions, it permeates every aspect of communication and also appears in subtler and more insidious forms: Novels, TV, History Books, the reporting of News, even Sitcoms, Plays, Textbooks, News Papers, in fact every aspect of communication is employed.

An undercover policeman 'rioting' but was later identified as a Chinese agent provocateur by independent sources

The March 14th protests in 2008 provided the CCP with an occasion to demonstrate their well honed propaganda skills in subtle demonisation of the Tibetans.
Scenes of burning shops and cars were shown ad nauseam around the clock, underscored with the most vitriolic and inflammatory commentary to instil utmost resentment and odium amongst their only real constituency, the Han, against the Tibetans. They were constantly portrayed as ungrateful and ‘biting the hand that’s lifting them out of their backwardness’, with most Han Chinese referring to Tibetans as “white-eyed wolves”, inferring their ungratefulness at all the ‘help they’ve received from the Han people’.

In the aftermath of the protests, the Han Chinese arrested several thousand Tibetans, perhaps as many as six thousand, of which some one thousand are still missing, with their whereabouts unknown. Reliable sources report them as being surreptitiously moved to Qinghai, a known centre for organ harvesting.
Read more on the Laogai system here.

Tibetans who have been arrested after the protests report an underlying attitude by the Han Chinese of “This is our chance” and “Settling accounts after autumn harvest” (qiu hou suan zhang)”; a mindset of overt and unmitigated racism, which goes some way towards explaining the gratuitous brutality routinely experienced by detainees at the hands of the Han Chinese.

At least ten, but possibly many more, extrajudicial killings have come to light, that is Tibetans who have been so severely tortured and beaten that they died as a result, either while in custody or after their release, in connection with arrests after the 2008 protests.

The Chinese have sentenced scores of Tibetans to death and many received sentences ranging from lengthy terms to life imprisonment.
In the case of two Tibetans condemned to death, Loyak and Lobsang Gyaltsen, Xinhua opined that these two “must be executed to allay the anger of the people”.

The Nangpa La Pass Incident on the 26th September 2006 is but a small illustration of the process of vilification and inversion of the facts by the Han Chinese. It is also a clear demonstration of the deep rooted racism, condescension and contempt the Han reserve for the Tibetans.
While the whole world was witness to the true events thanks to this video below, Xinhua, the mouthpiece of the Han CCP first denied any such incident occurred, then was forced to admit that ‘an incident’ had occurred, but claimed that the border guards first tried to persuade the Tibetans to return and go home, but then were attacked by them and so they had to defend themselves and in the process shot and wounded two people.
See Footnotes: ii

Everything Tibetans are allowed to hear, see or read is tightly controlled and prescribed by the Han Chinese.
No Tibetan Textbooks are allowed to originate from Tibetan authors, any that do exist in the Tibetan language are translations from Mandarin.
Newspapers are mainly translations of the CCP’s own mouthpiece, Xinhua, and according to reporters who have worked in the media in Tibet, ninety nine percent of what’s published is form such predetermined sources.
The strict control of all media in Tibet is run by Han Chinese, mostly CCP members, and heavy penalties are meted out to anyone transgressing the limits of censorship. One Tibetan journalist who escaped to India summed it up as follows: "We were all afraid. Anyone who defies the censors can expect the worst".

Recent convictions of Tibetans for ‘infringing’ CCP censorship in connection with the internet and writings alone include:

• Dasher, sentenced to 10 years for allegedly sending photos and reports of the 2008 riots via internet abroad.

• Kunga Tseyang, sentenced to 5 years for posting material on the internet.

• Kunchok Tsephel, sentenced to 15 years jail for allegedly divulging “state secrets”.

• Tseyang, sentenced to 5 years prison for allegedly writing “separatist” articles and posting them on the internet.

• Tsephel, a well know intellectual, writer and founder of the internet site Chodme was sentenced to 15 years jail for content on the site.

• Gyaltsing, sentenced to 3 years in prison for allegedly ‘communicating information to contacts outside China’, after he was intercepted downloading photos of the Dalai Lama.

• Norzin Wangmo, sentenced to 5 years in jail for talking about the situation in Tibet over the phone and internet.

• Migmar Dhondup, a passionate conservationist, sentenced to 14 years in prison for “espionage”. His charity work included working with impoverished communities, protecting the environment and encouraging Tibetans to preserve what’s left of Tibetan culture and language.

• Dhondup Wangchen, sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for his brave attempt of giving Tibetans a voice and letting them express their views on the Olympics in this short movie, "Leaving Fear Behind" which can be viewed here.

• Dolma Kyab, sentenced to ten and a half years in prison for alleged “espionage”. Dolma, a passionate teacher and writer wrote a book, unpublished of course, about Tibetan history, religion and geography.
In a letter smuggled out of prison he wrote: "Chinese officials think that what I wrote about nature and geography was also connected to Tibetan independence. This is the main reason of my conviction. But according to Chinese law, the book alone would not justify such a sentence. So they announced that I am guilty of the crime of espionage."

This is but a very small sample of the repression Tibetans face on a daily basis at the hands of the Han Chinese.

In all it is estimated that over 50 Tibetans were arrested and sentenced to lengthy prison terms just in connection with disseminating information about the 08 riots alone. But other activities such as downloading pictures of the Dalai Lama, posting Tibetan language poetry, blogging about life in Tibet, or just communicating with the outside world reaps Tibetans lengthy jail terms on the usual trumped up charges of “espionage” or “revealing state secrets”.

But thousands more Tibetans are being incarcerated, for exercising their constitutionally and UN Charter guaranteed rights of freedom of speech and expression, on such trumped up charges.

Most Tibetans imprisoned experience degrading treatment, severe beatings and torture on a routine basis and suffer extremely harsh conditions, affecting their physical and mental health as a consequence.

In addition to the heavily censored media content, the Han Chinese are jamming all broadcasts from outside the Han nation, such as Voice of Tibet (VOT), which is funded by Norwegian NGO’s, Voice of America (VOA), etc. violating UN resolutions and even its own Constitution by doing so.

The internet is also tightly controlled and monitored, every internet café gets visited every day and every pc scrutinised for content viewed over the internet, so that even in public access to the net Tibetans are sure to be surveyed at every moment of the day. It would be unthinkable for a Tibetan to attempt downloading such banned material as pictures of the Dalai Lama in his own home, as every connection is closely monitored and would lead to instant arrest.
In the latest twist of repressive measures, Tibetan internet café owners must install scanning soft and hardware and every user of the internet at publicly accessible points must swipe his ID card, and so have all his details and activities monitored and recorded immediately.

The Han Chinese have installed a CCTV surveillance system, SkyNet Project, all over Tibet to strictly monitor Tibetans in every public place, street corner, and alleyway, covering every village, town and city on the entire Tibetan plateau.

Han CCP propaganda has managed to turn their destruction and looting of Tibet into an act of benevolence and selfless munificence in the eyes of their Han constituency, and even the wider world at large, and the oppression and brutal subjugation of the Tibetan people into a ‘liberation and empowerment’.

As a result of such incessant propaganda and calculated denigrations, Han people view the Tibetans as ‘white-eyed wolves’, inferring that they are an ‘ungrateful bunch of howling wolves’, and don’t appreciate all the ‘selfless investments and aid’ the Han people have poured into Tibet.

The reality is that any investments made in Tibet are solely for the benefit of Han Settlers, the movement of their Military, the extraction of mineral wealth from gold to copper and many other mining activities, facilitating logging, the building of hydroelectric power stations, and in so claiming the country of Tibet for the Han Nation.

The looting of all the precious artefacts, silver and gold stolen in the fifties and sixties from the Tibetans alone amounts to many multiples of what the Han Chinese so conceitedly tout as having ‘invested’ in Tibet, alas not out of altruistic motives or to any benefit to the Tibetans, but for purely egocentric purposes.

But of course since then the country of Tibet has continually been ransacked for most of its ancient forests, mineral wealth, and today the rapacious looting and extraction continues at an ever accelerated pace.

Footnotes

Footnote: i
■ Wei Jingshen, a well known Chinese dissident writes that when his parents learned of his girlfriend’s ethnicity, a Tibetan, they threatened to disown him, unless he immediately terminated this relationship. Although his parents never met any Tibetans, they thought that Tibetans were half human, half animal. This racist stereotype is farily typical amongst Han people, and is a result of a society which through the ages has unremittingly harboured such incongruous bigotry, and which under the CCP has further been thoroughly conditioned with relentless vilification and denigration of the Tibetan people.

This attitude towards the Tibetans is as ancient as it is contemporary, with writers through the ages portraying the Tibetan race in these condescending and denigrating terms; denying them any form of culture, learning, or even products of value to the superior Han.
Successive Ming Emperors sought to expand their influence over other territories by sinicizing bordering ‘barbarian’ races by way of converting them into some second rate honorary Han. This, they thought, could be accomplished by bestowing them with honorific titles, which they liberally issued to mostly low ranking lames. Most Tibetan lamas were invited by the Emperors for such purposes, however, many just simply ignored it, but lower ranking ones would often accept these invitations. But the real reason though they would make the long and arduous journey to the Ming court was that they would receive gifts from the Emperor, which they could sell at a respectable profit back in Tibet.
So for these lamas this was a lucrative enterprise, and a small price to pay for displaying some expedient deference to this foreign ruler.
These envoys in turn would also carry some gifts for the Emperor, which by CCP writers now is reinterpreted as ‘tributes’, however, this was just a reciprocal exchange, of gifts and honorific titles; customary at the time throughout Asia and a show of mutual respect.
However court chroniclers recorded that the Ming Emperor and his court held the view that these ‘barbarians’ in reality had nothing of value to offer to the Emperor, only curios, artefacts and handicraft for his amusement, despite them often being exquisitely crafted artefacts.

A clear indication that this was not a ‘tribute system’ as modern CCP writers would now have it, but a lucrative revenue racket for the Tibetan lamas, is that these envoys of lamaseries were so numerous that the court would issue an edict and restrict each monastery or Lama to one visit every three years.

Footnote: ii
■ A recent study of Tibetan refugees arriving in India by “BMC International Health and Human Rights” concluded that most of the refugees in the study had experienced torture.
With the most common torture techniques being:
Beatings (73%), electrical torture (43%), being forced to provide blood (19%), and being kept naked (25%).
These refugees also were further traumatised by sleep deprivation (36%), witnessing murder (37%), kidnapping of family and friends (37%), and disappearances of family and friends (13%).
They conclude as follows:
“Our findings demonstrate that torture is commonly reported amongst Tibetan refugees, and that those who have experienced torture often suffer significant psychological effects.”

This is Part 7 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 8

Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day, 28th March, Part 6 - Religious Freedom

2010-04-22T01:25:00.001-07:00

This is Part 6 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 7 / Part 8

A closer examination of the impact Tibetans experienced due to their encounter with the Han Chinese.

[6] Religious Freedom

The Han CCP is proclaiming that Tibetans enjoy full Freedom of Religion and that they support and assist monasteries financially and otherwise.

Recently the Han Chinese have installed CCTV cameras in most monasteries to control the monks’ every activity, they maintain a tight security presence around the clock, and even opened Police stations inside, or right next to many monasteries.

Not only are the number of monks and nuns strictly controlled and limited, the curriculum and extent of the teachings is also controlled and prescribed by the Han Chinese with many aspects of traditional teachings banned for being deemed to be “too politically sensitive”.
These restrictions and transformations render the Buddhist teachings almost meaningless, to the point of having become an instrument of Han CCP indoctrination and brainwashing.
Monks must pass exams in political ideology, denounce the Dalai Lama and are required to swear allegiance to local communist party authorities, or be expelled from monastic life.

Politics is one such subject prescribed, and monks must undergo such political indoctrination, pass exams in patriotism, prove their ‘love for the motherland’ and denounce the Dalai lama, or they forfeit the right to be a monk.
As an example, the correct answer to one of the political questions is:
"The Dalai is the head of the Serpent and the Chieftain of the separatist organization conspiring for independence in Tibet and he is the root-cause of all social instability in Tibet."

This psychological terror strikes at the very heart of Tibetan identity and their most treasured principles.
Such willful humiliation is what compels many monks into committing suicide rather than having to renounce and pervert their deepest and most sacred convictions.
Reports list literally dozens of monks who commit suicide annually rather than become a lackey to the Han Chinese and betray their very own Tibetanness and convictions.

If a monk is expelled he will almost certainly be unable to find work, and will thereafter be treated as a criminal by the Han authorities.

Hand picked Lamas receiving their Geshe Degree after passing their political exams

The teaching of Buddhism is also an ongoing process of learning and investigation.
However, the Han Chinese have prohibited the studies towards, and examinations for a Geshe Lharampa Degree for 15 years, which is equivalent to a PhD in Tibetan Buddhism.
It has now been ‘reinstated’, not out of any concern for religious freedom or human rights, but as a tool to further humiliate and indoctrinate Tibetans, pervert their religion, and in the process prevent the true spirit of Buddhism from re-emerging.
Now candidates are required to study, and pass exams on six political ideology books written by the CCP.

All this clearly is designed to render the teachings of Buddhism unattractive and meaningless, and in doing so the Han perverted it into a tool for the indoctrination, humiliation and oppression of Tibetans.

In a clear exploit of scheming and fomenting the chasm which has plagued the exiled Tibetan community over the propitiation of Dorje Shugden, the Han Chinese are favouring and rewarding monasteries, which follow this practice, with money taken form other monasteries.

Monks report that often donations of money they received for the monastery had been confiscated by the Han Chinese.

They also report a climate of fear and mistrust, as probably every monastery has been infiltrated by paid undercover moles posing as monks, to the point of monks even mistrusting their own superiors, as they all have all been selected by the Han authorities on grounds of their ‘trustworthiness’ and ‘loyalty’ to the Han nation.

Tourists report that they were arrested for relics they had taken into Tibet and given to some monk in a monastery, such as photos of the Dalai Lama and tapes of his teachings. Later, that same monk was present at the police station to identify them.
Monks also report that prostitutes regularly appear in monasteries sent by the Han authorities to tempt them into breaking their vows of celibacy.

Further restrictions monks face are bans on the use of the internet, mobile phones, DVD’s and Videos.

The following is but a very small sample of recent cases, providing a glimpse of what monks, and Tibetans in general, have to endure in arbitrary arrests on trumped up charges, and the repression of their basic rights and freedoms of expression:

• Abbot Khenpo Jinpa was arrested and subsequently imprisoned for three years for the alleged distribution of leaflets in support of independence and the Dalai Lama.

• Rongye Adrak was sentenced to eight years in prison for inciting “separatism” by calling for the return of the Dalai Lama.
Three Tibetans who witnessed his arrest and had concerns over his fraudulent trial were themselves arrested for allegedly attempting to provide information to foreign organizations.
They were subsequently sentenced to ten, nine and three years in jail for the “crime” of “leaking intelligence” and “endangering national security”.

• A village leader, Penpa, was arrested and imprisoned for three years for allegedly being in possession of material relating to the Dalai Lama’s Kalachakara teachings.

• Choeying Khedrub was jailed for life for allegedly “endangering state security” and “supporting splittist activities”.
Many other monks were sentenced to life for the same alleged “crimes”.

• Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was framed and sentenced to death on trumped up charges, his supposed co-conspirator was executed immediately. Rinpoche was a very popular Lama and was a thorn in the side for the Han authorities for his independent mindedness, conservationist stance, assistance to nomads and support for Tibetan identity.

Anyone who is familiar with the conditions of prisons in Tibet and the treatment Tibetans are subjected to once incarcerated by the Han Chinese, for whatever trumped up charges, will be aware of the abject horror that awaits these hapless victims of Han racism.

The 11th Panchen Lama, Gedun Choekyi Nyima, abducted by the Han Chinese in 1995 at the age of six and has never been seen again!

The 11th Panchen Lama, Gedun Choekyi Nyima, identified by the Tibetans as the reincarnation of the previous Panchen, was abducted by the Chinese in 1995 at age 6, along with his family and teachers, and none of whom has ever been seen since.

The Han Chinese have installed their own puppet Panchen Lama, and use him for their propaganda purposes.
On his rare ventures out of Beijing to Tibet, monks in monasteries he visits must attend his audience, and they are sometimes bribed with 100 yuan, in propaganda stunts for footage of smiling monks ‘adoring their Panchen Lama’, to show how much he is ‘revered and respected’ by the Tibetan monks.
However he is simply referred to as the ‘Han Panchen’, and Tibetans wish nothing more than the return of their real Panchen Lama, if he is still alive, and of course the return of the Dalai Lama.
See Footnotes: i

In monasteries where tourists are likely to appear, there are plainclothes PAP in constant attendance. In remoter areas armed PAP is there in full regalia, ever present and controlling every activity day and night.

Monasteries are completely under the control of the Han CCP through their Democratic Management Committees, and their every activity and finance is regulated, controlled, and permissions have to be sought for any activity monks might want to undertake.

As part of true Buddhist teachings, monks will cultivate the Four Immeasurables, and thus after long and arduous training will transcend the mundane mindset of referential thinking and be detached from such follies of likes, dislikes, hate, anger, sorrow and attachment.
This is one aspect which can not be regulated, as it is part of meditation practices, and just requires the utmost undivided focus and attention.
Thus, a monk will be able to forgive and see their tormentors as ‘teachers’ who provide the ultimate ‘test’ for the application and realization of the Four Immeasurables.

This explains how monks, even after thirty years of constant torture and torment at the hands of their oppressors, bear no grudge or animosity towards their tyrannizing captors, and keep their smiles, as though their lives were one of constant bliss under Han occupation.
See Footnotes: ii

Some other measures to oppress Tibetans and their religious freedom include:

• Indoctrination sessions, which monks have to endure on a mostly daily basis, and these have now also been extended to business and government employees.

• A strict prohibition on pictures of the kidnapped 11th Panchen Lama and the much vilified 14th Dalai Lama, at the threat of very lengthy prison sentences.

• Permissions have to be sought from the Religious Affairs Bureau, RAB, for any activity a monastery wishes to undertake, or for a monk to travel outside his district and give teachings.

• A recent refusal by the RAB to grant permission for an annual religious event at the Tsodham Monastery in early 2010 is but one example of the RAB’s rigorous control and flagrant denial of religious freedom for Tibetans.

• Some 500 monks who originated from outside the TAR were expelled from monasteries in Lhasa and have never been allowed back since 2008.

Tibetan Monks and lay people, in an attempt to avoid the repressive controls and interference by the Han authorities have built new quarters known as Gars for the purpose of teaching and practising their religion. However they have drawn the same unwelcome attention as the traditional monasteries and have been closed down and demolished.
One of these, Larung Gar Religious Institute, which was situated in the Sichuan province was destroyed by the Han authorities. It had some 1,000 quarters for students of Buddhism, and at its peak had over 10.000 practitioners from Tibet, including a thousand from China, plus many from all parts of the world.

Footnotes

Footnote: i

■ Gyaltsen Norbu, an exiled Tibetan monk now living in India provides the following testimony:
"In 2003, the Panchen Zuma visited our monastery. Everyone who came to visit him was given 100 Yuan and a Khata [offering scarf]. Pictures were taken of him giving head-touching blessings to the local people. It was like a show. Honestly speaking, no one was happy with that, because we have no faith in him. But it was ordered by the Government and we had to do what we were told."

Footnote: ii
■ Here is an account of one monk released after 33 years of continuous Han Chinese abuse:
“I became a Buddhist monk when I was ten. When the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1959 I was twenty-nine years old. The Chinese arrested me for putting up posters that Tibet is an independent country. Because of this “crime”, I spent thirty-three years in Chinese prisons and labour camps."
The monk shared some of the details of his life in prison. He said that the Chinese guards wanted to see who would survive their torture and who would die.
"In the name of this “curiosity” they repeatedly tortured and humiliated prisoners. They would tie rope around the prisoners’ necks and pull back their arms, dislocating shoulders and elbows. The guards would lash the prisoners to beams and beat them with metal pipes and wooden boards studded with nails, until the prisoners could no longer control their bodily functions.
In the summer’s heat, the guards dangled their prisoners above a fire, or they dripped boiling water onto the prisoners’ naked bodies in the cold of winter. The prisoners were yoked to ploughs and forced to till the prison lands.
Because they were given only a cup of soup a day, they stayed alive by eating leather, grass, bones, mice, worms, insects, and, on rare and fortunate occasions, food that was meant for the pigs."
The monk told how the guards knocked out all his teeth and beat his head so he became deaf in one ear.
They split his tongue with a cattle prod, broke his nose with metal pipes, and tried to rip out his eyes. He showed us scars on his wrists from self-tightening handcuffs and rope burns on his neck and arms.
His arms could no longer extend.

This is Part 6 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 7 / Part 8

Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day, 28th March, Part 5 - The Present Situation in Tibet

2010-04-22T01:06:00.000-07:00

This is Part 5 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

A closer examination of the impact Tibetans experienced due to their encounter with the Han Chinese.

[5] The Present Situation in Tibet

Population control:

Even thought Tibetans are supposed to be allowed more than one child, the reality is that in cities a strict one child policy is enforced, with second pregnancies compulsorily terminated.
Abortions are carried out until full term of nine months, where the baby is killed by injecting it with a poison, which inevitably induces abortion.
Even if the mother manages to evade the attention of the Chinese authorities and gives birth to a healthy baby, it invariably is taken away and killed by the medical staff, and the mother is then told that the baby was still born, even though she could hear the baby’s first cry.
Thus, infanticide is part of the population control of Tibetans by the Han Chinese.
Here is an account of one Tibetan Doctor who had her second pregnancy forcibly terminated:
“First they insert a sort of flexible rubber tube with a pointed end into the cervix. There is no medicine in this. They leave this inside for 24 hours. Because it stimulates the birth canal, which opens up slowly and gives way to the flow of blood, a lot of bleeding starts after two hours. After one day they take it out. It has become bigger inside so it is easier for the knife to get inside. They insert an instrument which has a sort of long handle with a knife at the end. They put this inside and start to move it around, cutting the fetus in pieces…… Once it has been reduced to small pieces it is removed by using a sort of compressor. ……..Besides the lack of proper medical equipment to do that, I was not even given anaesthesia and thus experienced excruciating pain at the time. No words have the power to express the excruciating pain I experience during the operation. There was no medical treatment afterwards…. I do not know what has been damage inside me…My physical and mental well-being have been badly affected. After the abortion I was not well …… I had a period twice a month, sometimes for 15 days at a time…..”

As a consequence of such crude and makeshift ‘medical’ procedures infections, long term excruciating pain and complications, irregular periods and bleeding etc. are the norm and endemic, and in many instances the woman dies as a result of such inept medical conduct, and in at least one report which came to light a woman ended up paralysed.

The Han Chinese operate mobile birth control units which visit every village and town. Everyone must attend or face a fine of equal up to five years salary.
There, Tibetan women are forcibly sterilized by the Han Chinese team, which, under a quota system with financial incentives for them, is highly motivated to enforce as many sterilisations as possible.
These sterilisations are carried out in the same unethical fashion as abortions, with severe complications widespread among the Tibetan victims of such inept procedures.
Tibetan women who resist are threatened with having their valuables or household items confiscated, or face heavy fines, which they possibly could never pay. Loosing their job or other economic sanctions are also routinely used to force Tibetan women to submit to these forced sterilisations.

Women who have forcibly been sterilised by these roaming teams report excruciating pain, with no anaesthetic being administered, and that they literally had their fallopian tubes ripped out from their ovaries during their ‘operation’.
Severe long term complications are a routine consequence of such unethical ‘medical conduct’ for these Tibetan women.

Economic sanctions against Tibetan women who have additional children include permanent demotions and the potential loss of employment for both parents, as well as fines equating up to to 6 years salary.
‘Illegal’ children are denied legal papers which would give them the right to identity, attend school, own property, travel, participate in any legal work, or obtain a ration card.

Economic situation
The economic situation for Tibetans is as dire as all other aspects of their lives.
Many get forcibly removed from their land to make way for settlements for new Chinese immigrants, with no compensation to the Tibetans for the loss of their land. Recently several hundred thousand of Tibetan farmers, herders and nomads have forcibly been evicted from their traditional lands and housed in ghetto style compounds at their own expense without compensation. There they face unremitting surveillance, with armed PAP being constantly stationed outside such dour compounds. These ghettos are most often located in remote areas, too far to commute to any work.
This leaves these dispossessed Tibetans without means of earning a living, having been stripped of their entire economic base, land, farm animals, even being prohibited from gathering wild herbs and fruit on their traditional lands.

Discrimination
The new Han migrants are encouraged through very lucrative incentives to settle in Tibet, a policy designed to sinocize Tibet, and in the process to eradicate Tibetan identity.
This is in an attempt to legitimize Chinese annexation of Tibet, once the Tibetan Diaspora, in their own land, has largely been eliminated.

Annual wages for Chinese employees are some 87% higher in Tibet than in China. Han Chinese entrepreneurs receive special tax exemptions and loans at very low interest rates, whereas for Tibetans to start an enterprise in their own homeland, even just getting a license to do so is virtually impossible.
Han Chinese settlers also enjoy benefits of three months paid vacation back in China, special pension, healthcare, schooling and housing benefits, subsidized food; none of which is available to the indigenous Tibetans. Some of these preferential benefits are escalated the longer Chinese settler remain in Tibet.

Further discriminations against Tibetans include: virginity testing, verbal abuse, preferential treatment for Han workers e.g. grants of leave or promotions not granted to Tibetans, higher wages for Han Chinese, dismissal if a family member is deemed to be a “separatist”, widespread sexual harassment by Chinese of Tibetan women, sexual extortion under the threat of loosing their jobs, etc.

With this background of economic disadvantage and clear discrimination, it is impossible for Tibetans to compete on any level with Chinese settlers.
Inevitably most businesses and shops are owned by Chinese and hiring practices by the Han Chinese favour their own kin, leaving Tibetans unable to benefit from any economic improvement.
Indeed, this so called economic growth is proving a clear disadvantage to Tibetans as the inevitable price increases, the massive influx of Han Chinese, subsidies and development for the benefit of these settlers, leaves Tibetans ever further behind and unable to compete, and as a consequence Tibetans are severely disenfranchised and suffer a much lower standard of living.

Schooling
The schooling provided for Tibetans in most areas in the TAR is often of very little value to students if any at all, that is if there are schools available.
Very few if any of the primary level teachers are qualified, for middle school about one third are not qualified and for High School only about forty percent are qualified; that is sixty percent have no experience or qualifications to teach.
Reports by students and parents describe a situation where the Chinese teachers would appear some days for a while and then go to run their restaurant in town, leaving the students to their own devices, and of course untaught.
These Han “teachers” only speak in Mandarin, a language foreign to most Tibetan students, and hence they gain very little to nothing from such teachers, even if, in the few instances, they apply themselves to the teaching job they’re paid for.

This is a very widespread situation affecting Tibetan students, relegated to the status of third class citizens in their own country and consigned to ‘dustbin’ classes reserved for Tibetans only.

However, the Han Chinese are closing down large numbers schools run by Tibetans who dedicated themselves to fill the vacuum and meet the need for education for Tibetan children. One such recent casualty was the Vocational Education School, in Driru County, Nagchu Prefecture, which was financed with support from the International Red Cross Society.
The curriculum included English, Tibetan and Chinese languages, it also taught physics, medicine, chemistry, art and mural paintings. The school had over 250 pupils and a staff of 20 teachers.
Thereafter the Han Chinese converted this school into a state run school and dismissed all staff except for the founder teacher, Tenzin Thabkhey, but demoted him to a lowly position.
Today, locals report that no serious learning is taking place there and the teachers just ‘while their time away’.

Many other schools financed and run by Tibetans have been closed down by the Han Chinese, one other example is the ‘Pad-kar School’ founded and built by Lobsang Nyandrak who mortgaged his personal property, and raised donations from local Tibetan people in Nagchu County, Nagchu Prefecture. The school had over 200 pupils and taught a similar range of subjects to eager pupils for free.

The Han Chinese’s program they tout as Affirmative Action or Positive Discrimination in education provides another tool for the marginalisation of the Tibetan people and their culture.
Schools where Tibetan children can get a higher education are not situated in Tibet, but are located in mainland China.
These middle schools are provided after passing examination and are designed to thoroughly sinicize young Tibetans in a process of grooming them for administrative position in the TAR.

The rationale is clear; after these children spent most of their formative years away from their families, Tibet and Tibetan culture in far away mainland China and are exclusively exposed to Chinese indoctrination and way of thinking they can then become trusted leaders and administrators in the Tibetan areas, being of Tibetan ethnicity but with the minds of Han Chinese.

This course of discrimination by inverse action is part of the CCP’s policy of eradicating every aspect of Tibetan culture and identity and allows them to use such terms as ‘affirmative action’ in their papers, reports and propaganda, which are all one and the same.

This is Part 5 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day, 28th March, Part 4 - Under PRC Occupation

2010-04-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

This is Part 4 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

A closer examination of the impact Tibetans experienced due to their encounter with the Han Chinese.

[4] Under PRC Occupation

When the Chinese invaded independent Tibet in 1950, the Tibetan economy was flourishing, with trade thriving and taking place with India, all its neighbours, and countries as far as England and the rest of Europe.
There were as many as 2,500 to 3,000 monasteries in Central Tibet alone and over 6,000 in whole of the Tibetan Plateau.

Theoretically the government owned all the land in Tibet and shared it out to the monasteries, estates and peasants. In practice the land was mostly passed on hereditarily and so the monasteries cultivated somewhere between thirty five and fifty percent of the arable land, while the larger estates held a little less than a quarter and the government also about twenty to twenty five percent, with peasants and nomads cultivating the balance in their own right. Peasants also cultivated about half of the land as their own plots on the estates they worked on and paid rental in produce or labour to the manor.

An other group, the 'Tsongpa' made up a large section of society and earned their living as traders and craftsmen and various skilled trades.
There was also a section of society which pursued vocations which were seen as less desirable, butchers, tanners, beggars or travelling entertainers, and also ferrymen or itinerant labourers.

Monks at that time numbered about ten to fifteen percent of the male population, so the close interconnection between the monasteries and the general population was very widespread and permeated the whole of society, from peasantry to gentry.

The monasteries acted also as financial institutions, and extended loans to peasants and aristocrats alike, besides financing social projects for the benefit of the whole society, as well as loans to the government and larger trading companies.

They were the banks and treasury of the Tibetan economy and provided the necessary capital for all commerce and trade.

It is important to understand the close interactions and connections the whole Tibetan society had with the monasteries through monastic family members, where almost every family had a member in the ecclesiastic community.
This provided access to finance and resources through the monasteries, which cared for the welfare of all of society.

A close knit society with the fabric woven and steeped in Buddhism and kinship, forged by the harsh conditions the land imposed on its inhabitants!

This can bee seen in the profound and deep rooted reverence and veneration monks were held, and the monastic society as a whole, by all of Tibetan society. See Footnotes: i
Monasteries also took care of the supply of food staples and maintained granaries to store the harvest and distribute it as needed, and in times of shortage would see to equitable distribution.
They also held deposits in valuables of whatever nature, from gold, silver and anything of value borrowers would deposit, besides a vast accumulation of treasures of a proud heritage stretching back millennia, plus scriptures, texts and artworks of incalculable value.
All this amounted to virtually the total sum of Tibetan wealth, treasures and equity the country had accumulated through sweat, trade and industrious production over many millennia.

The monasteries also represented the social and religious hub and focal point of Tibetan society, the place of learning and education as they also acted as schools, the place to meet, to seek solace; the spiritual home for every Tibetan of whatever standing.

Ruins of the Drepung Monastery

After the invasion, and particularly after the 59 uprising the Han Chinese went about to systematically destroy all the monasteries in Tibet, but not before they had looted them of the entire store of wealth, even all the granaries were looted to feed the Han invaders, every single scrap of valuables was stolen and taken back to China.
And what wasn’t of any immediate or obvious value in the eyes of the Han Chinese, like Buddhas or scriptures, pictures or artefacts was wantonly destroyed.

The entire population in turn was forced to hand over their personal valuables as well.
Anyone caught hiding anything deemed of value was severely tortured, brandished as a ‘reactionary’ or ‘counterrevolutionary’ and faced incarceration, life in a Laogai, or execution.

Most of the higher ranking lamas were tortured and killed, countless monks were incarcerated and disappeared in the many slave labour camps (Laogai) and were never seen again.
Out of the 6,000 monasteries, almost every single one, bar about six, was reduced to rubble by the Han Chinese, long before the onset of the Cultural Revolution.

Thus the Han Chinese looted the entire wealth of a sovereign nation, destroyed the entire heritage of a proud independent people and pursued the very last piece of meagre possessions even the poorest of farmer and peasant might have owned.
Every house was visited and looted, and even life stock and equipment was forcibly taken from every Tibetan.
As late as 1962, convoys of trucks were observed laden with this loot, taken from monasteries and forcibly appropriated from the Tibetan population, heading back towards China.

The so called “Agreement of the Central Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet” had this to say in point thirteen:
“13) The People’s Liberation Army entering Tibet shall abide by all the above-mentioned policies and shall also be fair in all buying and selling and shall not arbitrarily take a single needle or thread from the people.”

Countless tons of artefacts crafted in gold and silver were thus looted and molten down in china. Brass, wooden and other artefacts were either sold on the international market, molten down or destroyed.
In essence, Tibetan society was dispossessed of its entire assets, every possession, the entire cultural heritage; the whole fabric of Tibetan society was smashed, looted and destroyed.

This obliteration and looting of the entire inventory of temples is equal to any aggressor invading a country today, say Canada, the UK, US, China, or any other country, and pilfering the entire wealth from all the people, looting the treasury and all the banks, and destroying every bit of community assets, like town-halls, government buildings, schools, Universities, every single vestige of their entire civilisation built over thousands of years, wantonly destroyed. And simultaneously massacre all the clergy, administrators, public servants, teachers, educators, plus large section of society in addition.

Virtually nothing would remain, and the people would be left destitute and without any economic means for survival.

Tsering Dorje Gashi, in his book “New Tibet - Memoirs of a Graduate of the Peking Institute of National Minorities”, which was published in 1980, remarks:
"Priceless works of art, literature, and religious relics and works that were a model of Tibetan artistic perfection and achievement were taken out of the Potala and the various monasteries.
Idols and images made of gold, silver, brass and precious stones and metal were taken to China and eventually they found their way into the markets of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo where antique-collectors from the West bought them for exorbitant prices. A rough estimate of the foreign exchange earned by China from the sale of Tibetan religious and art objects is more than 80 billion American Dollars."

This was in 1980, yet does not take into account all the gold and silver artefacts which were molten down by the Han, plus everything else they've looted.

In 1962, well before the onset of the cultural revolution (1966-76) the Panchen Lama stated that “china’s democratic reforms in fact had already reduced the number of monasteries by some 97 percent and decimated the monastic population by 93 percent.

Ruins of Ganden Monastery partially rebuilt

This translates to the destruction of 6,000 monasteries and nunneries with only less than a dozen being spared this orgy of malicious obliteration in the end.
Of the estimated 600,000 ecclesiastic population prior to the invasion, over 120,000 were murdered, executed and tortured to death, plus many more were forcibly defrocked, forced to publicly copulate with the opposite gender and were subjected to many more forms of depraved humiliations and barbarities.

Ruins of Drepung Monastery destroyed by Han Chinese bombardment

Contrary to the Han CCP’s, and many apologist in the west’s claims hat the wanton destruction was part of the excesses of the ‘cultural revolution’ and that all of china had suffered the same fate at the forces unleashed by renegade members in the party, there was nothing left to destroy in 1966.
It was in fact a wilful and systematic annihilation of an entire heritage of a once proud and independent country.

As early as in their 1959 report on Tibet the ‘International Commission of Jurists’ has accused China of Genocide, and the numbers of deaths in Tibet under Chinese rule would qualify for such claims:

1.2 million dead, which is broken down as follows:
36% in combat, 28% starvation, 14% in prisons and labour camps, 13% by execution, 8% through torture, 1% suicide.

China violated the ‘Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide’ in every aspect.
Violations include such acts as:

• Mass killings, indiscriminate aerial bombing and shelling of monasteries and villages, the deportation of several tens of thousands of children to China, murder, indiscriminate imprisonment, systematic rape, forcible marriage of monks an nuns, torture and cruel and degrading treatment on a large scale, violations of rights of privacy, forcible transfer of family members, indoctrination of children and turning them against their parents, large scale deportations of Tibetans, confiscation and compulsory acquisition of private property, suppression of freedom of thought by acts of genocide against Buddhists to eradicate Buddhism, freedom of expression through the destruction of scriptures, the oppression and arbitrarily imprisonment of members of the Mimang Tsongdu movement, cruel punishments to anyone just expressing a desire for Tibet as an independent country, the banning of all assemblies of a few people other than the Chinese organised sessions for the purpose of indoctrination, public vilifications and denunciations, denial of economic, social and cultural rights where all economic resources are used for supporting Chinese forces and new settlers, etc.

After the invasion the Han invaders sought to break resistance to their presence by intimidation and “re-education”.
They ordered meetings called “Thamzing” (批判鬥爭大會 or in short 批鬥大會) "Struggle Sessions", and everyone in every village had to attend.
These meetings amounted to nothing more than sessions of denigration, persecution and torture.
Children would be forced to denounce their parents, and often ordered to torture or kill them.
Nuns and monks would be forced into sexual intercourse in public and forced to marry.
Peasants would be ordered to torture their former landlords, or their revered Lamas, and often forced to execute them in various hideous ways imposed by the Han.
These hapless peasants would be primed for weeks by indoctrination and told all manner of fabricated lies to encourage them to perform this public castigation and retribution as a showcase to encourage others to follow suit.

Victims of such persecution were not only the obvious targets of former landowners or Buddhist Lamas, but anyone who didn’t completely acquiesce and showed any resistance to Han presence and dictate.

A representative photo of Thamzing session held all over Tibet

Peasants became targets in the same way, for not handing over their meagre possessions, for instance such as farm animals, ornaments, coins or anything else of value, or for not denouncing their landlord, lama, relatives or family members.

In order to inflict maximum terror, and as a deterrence to any resistance, the Han conducted these Thamzing sessions all over occupied Tibet, in every village and town.
They employed the whole arsenal of tortures known to them.
Some had urine or excrements forced down their throats, others were hung from their wrists with their hands tied behind their backs and had fires lit below them, or were torn asunder by horses or dragged behind a horse till they succumbed to their horrific injuries. Or they were tied and thrown into a river, had their tongue ripped out or buried alive.
Others were forced to inflict barbaric beatings against their own family members, parents, siblings, or their revered Lama, all under the threat of incurring sever beatings and torture themselves, or being executed for resistance and being a counter-revolutionary.

Drawing of a Thamzing session held to brutalize the Tibetan population

During, and after these Thamzing session many had their arms, ears, fingers, nose and genitals cut off, burned or mutilated, and the female victims routinely were gang raped by their Han tormentors, time and again and finally killed.
A monk, who begged the Han not to use the Buddhist scriptures they had taken from his monastery as toilet paper, had his arm cut off and mocked to ask god to grow him another one.

Many who did not satisfy the Han in every respect and perform every depravity asked of them, were selected for execution and paraded through the village to the execution ground, or transported into a slave labour camp called Laogai, where they inevitably died a slow and agonising death through deprivation, hunger and lack of even the most basic human needs of sanitation and care.

Once the Tibetan uprising was quashed in 1959, the Han Chinese went on to completely wipe out all Tibetan independence and identity and implemented their own form of slavery through collectivisation, disowned all the Tibetans of their land, and settled the country with their own kin.
Tibetans, farmers and nomadic herders alike were forced into communes, which amounted to no more than labour camps run by the Han, for the benefit of the Han.
Executions and torture was commonplace and the ripping out of the tongue was a practise employed by the Chinese to prevent the Tibetan victims from shouting “Long live the Dalai Lama” or “Free Tibet” before their inevitable death.
Anyone resisting the Chinese occupiers was either executed or imprisoned in one of the many Laogai.
Other forms of torture employed by the Han were: burying and burning alive, beating to death, disembowelling, crucifixion, beheading, etc.

The Han ordered the Tibetans to plant hybrid wheat varieties instead of the traditional barley, which is well suited to the Tibetan conditions, but which the Han didn’t like.
Thus the Tibetans were forced to plant this Han crop, which inevitably failed, leading to food shortages in Tibet.

Tibet never before experienced any famine in its two thousand year recorded history until the Han Chinese forced the Tibetans to plant their ill suited crop.

It was virtually only Tibetans which suffered from these devastating famines as the Han requisitioned the available crop for themselves.
The Chinese never brought any provision with them to support the occupying forces, but requisitioned supplies from the meagre production of food from the Tibetans, and this added to the dire food shortages even in years of relatively good harvest yields.

The same “Agreement of the Central Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet” stated in point sixteen:
“16) Funds needed by the military and administrative committee, the military area headquarters and the People’s Liberation Army entering Tibet shall be provided by the central People’s Government……”

Tibetans suffered greatly from the famine of 1959 – 61 which had resulted from the Great Leap. None of the areas of Tibet had poor harvests at that time, but all food was forcibly taken from the Tibetans for the Han Chinese in Tibet and even the provinces adjacent to Tibet. The Chinese explained that the Tibetans were now part of the Chinese masses and therefore bore responsibility to share the fate of the Han; they must also support the PLA and Han Chinese cadres in Tibet in return for the help which they had provided to Tibet.

In all some 300,000 to 400,000 Tibetans died of starvation as a result of Han mismanagement and the confiscation of their food supplies for the Han themselves.

Footnotes

Footnote: i
■ Even under severe torture Tibetan peasants would refuse to denounce or accuse a monk, or physically harm them in one of the ubiquitous Thamzing sessions (so called ‘struggle sessions’, public gatherings where Tibetans were forced to denounce, torture or kill members of the community and often even their own family members) the Han Chinese would hold to inculcate the Tibetans of the “evils” of the old society they’ve come to destroy.
These peasants belie this propaganda smear, and demonstrate that the peasantry held no resentment against the monks, the monasteries, or even the gentry; quite to the contrary.

This is Part 4 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day, 28th March, Part 3 - Tibet and the RoC

2010-04-21T06:18:00.000-07:00

This is Part 3 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

A closer examination of the impact Tibetans experienced due to their encounter with the Han Chinese.

[3] Tibet and the RoC - Republic of China 1912–1949

During the reign of the Manchu empire, i.e. the Qing dynasty, the Han Chinese were forced to wear the Manchu style pigtails from the time they were conquered in 1644, and once the 1911 revolution gathered pace the Han would cut off their pigtails to show their “Freedom from Manchu Oppression” as Mao himself described it.

The revolution of 1911 was unequivocally an uprising by one race against another; by the Han against the Manchu.
The revolution even flew the white Han flag, which bore just one character; ‘Han’, in the clearest indication that the revolution was a fight by the Han against their invaders and overlords, the Manchu, which the Han deeply despised and resented.
All the passion and rhetoric by Sun Yat-sen and his co-conspirators at the time was designed to whip up utmost fervour and zealotry amongst the Han against their foreign overlords, the Manchu.

But this racist sentiment and loathing of their 'alien overlords', the Manchus, soon caught up with a realization that the hegemonistic aspirations of the Han race, essentially expounded and formulated by Sun Yat-sen, were exactly synonymous with what the much hated Manchus had done almost 300 years earlier; conquering the Han, and then ruled over them continuously ever since, which of course gave rise to the very reason for the revolution.

See Footnotes: i

Thus, in order to justify the conquest and subjugation of the other Nationalities’ indigenous lands and territories and ‘claim’ them as part of the new Han Nation, Sun Yat-sen, in an inspiration of thinly veiled duplicitous racism, changed tack.
Instead of continuing to fly the Han flag, the most visible and ostensible sign that the Han now were in control, he declared the ‘Republic of China’ a “Multiethnic State, composed of Han, Mongols, Tibetans, Uighurs and Manchus”.
In reality though, it was, then as it is today, solely the Han who hold all the power, in this ‘Multiethnic Nation’.

With this declaration the Han Chinese sought to legitimize their claim to the territories of all the other nations, comprising over 60% of today’s China, in spite of the fact that none of these nations were remotely willing participants, or had any share in the economic, military or political power.
And neither does any of these minorities today.

In fact, first in late 1911 Mongolia, and then in 1912 Tibet had just reasserted their independence. This of course was a catalyst to change tack for the Han Chinese, who sought to dominate all the territories of their erstwhile overlords, the so much loathed and despised 'alien' Manchus, (and of course much more by additionally including Tibet).

This stroke of racist genius by Sun Yat-sen, by enunciating the ever latent hegemonistic aspiration of the Han race, more than anything else, unites the Communists of mainland China and the Nationalists of Taiwan today in celebrating him as the ‘father of modern China’, though he wasn’t even in the country for the best part of the revolution!

Thus, he is credited by both sides for laying the foundations to the greater Han Empire of today; though no consideration to any legitimacy is ever entertained, given the forcible and involuntary inclusion of the other Nationalities.
The fact that the Manchus were considered an ‘Alien, occupying race’ and had to be overthrown and expelled belies any notion that the Han Nation could ever claim legitimacy to all the Manchu Empire’s territories now occupied, let alone Tibet, which never was under Manchu control.

See Footnotes: ii

Indeed, Sun Yat-sen’s conviction of the racist supremacy of the Han was such that he made the proclamation that “the Han had the rightful authority to rule all of ‘China’ and that all these territories were bestowed to the Han race”, even though, in the same breath, he proclaims that the Manchu were an ‘Alien Race’.
In a logical extension, the Tibetans, and the other Nationalities, must be counted amongst these ‘Alien Races’, nevertheless the Han assumed the ‘inalienable’ right to rule over them and their territory, along with the other three minorities, the Mongols, Uighurs and the Manchus. This is manifestly an extension and continuation of the century old racism, condescension and hegemonistic attitudes towards other races harboured by the Han race.

The ordinary people of the Manchu race paid a very heavy price, as once the Han had established themselves as the new power to be reckoned with, and the Manchu reign had collapsed, widespread ethnic cleansing took place and an orgy of Manchu slaughtering spread throughout the new republic. See Footnotes: iii

Footnotes

Footnote: i
■ Sun Yat-sen, in a most bizarre show of deference to Han superiority, even went to the Yongle Emperor’s ( 永樂 / Perpetual Happiness, third emperor of the Ming Dynasty) tomb and addressed him as though he were present:
“The policies of the Manchus have been one of obdurate tyranny, motivated by a desire for eternal subjugation of the Han. The Manchus have governed the country to the everlasting detriment of the people. Today, the Han race has finally restored the government to the Han people. Your people have come here today to inform your Majesty of the final victory.”

Footnote: ii
■ The first president of the new republic of China, after the ‘provisional president Sun Yat-sen, Yuan Shikai, ‘invited’ Tibet to join the republic and asked for the acceptance thereof by Tibet.
The thirteenth Dalai Lama replied as follows:
“The Republic has only just been proclaimed and the national foundations are far from strong. It behoves the President to exert his energies towards the maintenance of order. As for Thibet, the Thibetans are quite capable of preserving their existence intact and there is no occasion for the President to worry himself at this distance or to be discomposed. The reason why the Thibetans do not approve of the Central Government is entirely due to the excessive ill-treatment inflicted upon them by the Chinese troops in Thibet. Their indignation has been roused. How many, to take an instance, of the temples and shrines have been set on fire or demolished by the Chinese troops, while the officers in command have been quite powerless! How could the Thibetans fail to oppose China?"

Footnote: iii
■ Dr. Sun Yat-sen wrote in his
“The Manifesto of the Military Government of the Revolutionary Brotherhood”:

1. To drive away the Manchus
“……… Now is the time to raise an army and overthrow the Manchu government and regain the sovereignty of our country. Such Manchus and such Han in the Manchu army as repent themselves and surrender to us will be pardoned. We will kill those Manchus who oppose us, and also all Han who traitorously helped the Manchus.”

2. To restore “China” to the Han
The Chinese state belongs to the Han; her political institutions should be administered by Han alone. We must drive away the Manchus and restore our China to the Han. If any are bold enough to support the foreign tribe, like Shih Ching-tang and Wu San-kuei of old, it is the duty of all Han to see that they are killed.

3. To establish a Republic
“……. A constitution will be promulgated for the Republic and every citizen will be obliged to obey it. If anybody plots to restore despotism in China, we must kill him.”

Such firebrand racist rhetoric would hardly be deemed befitting of a National Hero by most other Nations, but would rather condemn him as a felon and an odious racist, yet for the Han it strikes at the core of their world view and ‘values’; the noble, superior Han, versus the rest as barbarians who don't deserve to be treated as equals or even as humans.
Sun Yat-sen must shoulder the preponderance of the responsibility for the ensuing litany of racist crimes and the wholesale slaughter of Manchus under his watch.

This is Part 3 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day, 28th March, Part 2 - Tibet and the Qing Dynasty 清朝

2010-04-21T03:38:00.000-07:00

This is Part 2 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

A closer examination of the impact Tibetans experienced due to their encounter with the Han Chinese.

[2] Tibet and the Qing Dynasty

The Great Fifth with Emperor Shunzhi, with the Dalai Lama seated in the most revered position reserved only for foreign sovereigns!

In 1638 – 39 the Great Fifth Dalai Lama accepted the Manchu Emperor’s wish to patronise the Tibetan religion and thus the two Sovereigns entered into the Chö-Yön relationship.
It is noteworthy that this Agreement was entered into well before the Manchus had conquered the territories of the Han, which did not occur until 1644.
Therefore this Agreement was solely between Tibet and the Manchus and did not include the Han in any way.
This Agreement did, however, not preclude subsequent Manchu rulers and administrations from endeavouring to usurp the spirit of this Chö-Yön relationship, and seek to increase their power way beyond the agreed principles set out therein.

This, for one, led in 1728 to the establishment of the office of the Amban, the Emperor’s envoy in Lhasa. The Manchu Emperors though, without exception, appointed Manchus to the post of Amban, thus emphasizing the fact that this relationship was unequivocally between the Manchu Emperor and the Tibetan Dalai Lama, and that the Han, which under the Manchu Empire made up the majority population, were not part of this relationship.
With the issue of the “29 Point Ordinance for the Efficient Governance of Tibet“ in 1793 by the Qing Emperor Qianlong, who at the same time appointed Fu Kang’an as Amban, the Manchus sought to further increase their influence in Tibet.
Thus, they insisted, among other points on the adoption of parts of the Manchu judicial system and punishments.

Xiaoming Zhang, a CCP writer, confidently proclaims in his book ‘China’s Tibet’: “…….The basic principles formulated in the 29-Article Ordinance remained the standard for the administrative and Legal System in Tibet for more than the next hundred years.”

Death by a Thousand Cuts, a uniquely Han form of torture!

The Manchu presence in Tibet saw the introduction of such uniquely Han practises as “Ling Ch'ih”, known as ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts’, Boiling to death, the Cutting off of Limbs, the penetration of the Ear with an arrow, ripping asunder by horses or other means, lighting fires beneath suspended victims, etc. These were all alien forms of punishments to the Tibetans and instilled a deep loathing and abhorrence of the Manchu and Han presence among the population.

Wherever the Qing forces managed exert any power over Tibetans, they meted out these peculiar forms of Chinese ‘justice and punishments’.
Dr. Albert Shelton explicitly describes the “cooking of forty to fifty Tibetans” by the Han invaders, who witnessed their skeletons after the bodies were fed to the dogs.

The Chinese Finger Presses now blamed on the Tibetans by the Han CCP in their exhibitions

The Manchu forces also introduced their instruments of torture, such as Pillories (chinese. Mu Chia 木枷) and Finger Presses etc. which, along with all the other forms of Han and Manchu judicial practices and punishments, are now attributed to the Tibetans by CCP propaganda and their compliant writers in a concerted drive to denigrate and demonise the Tibetans.

The Manchu and Han used these forms of torture, such as “ling ch’ih’ and forced the Tibetan populace to witness such acts of barbarism in an attempt to cower them into submission and as a powerful deterrent to resistance, wherever they managed to exert any influence.

A representative picture of Chinese execution of Tibetans by beheading

Luciano Petech relates events of such summary Manchu justice, which occurred around November 1728 as follows:
“Na-p’od-pas and Lum-pa-nas were done to death by the slicing process (ling-ch’ih), the two churchmen were slowly strangled, the remaining thirteen were decapitated by three cuts of the sword.”
He contends that this terrible scene, which the Tibetans were forced to witness, made a deep impression and traumatised the Tibetans for years thereafter.
Before being lynched in these uniquely Chinese ways, the condemned men were first paraded naked on their way to the execution ground, the ‘Tent of Death’ to further humiliate and dehumanise them.

Flora Shelton further relates accounts of such Han barbarities of “Ling ch’ih” by the notorious Zhao Erfeng, who managed to invade and occupy eastern Tibet between 1908 / 10, and used it with great indulgence, to terrorise the Tibetan population there in this, and other barbaric ways peculiar to the Han Chinese.

In his book Journey to Lhasa and central Tibet‎ by Sarat Chandra Das, writes:
“The Chinese punishment of the cangue is now adopted throughout Tibet, the criminals wearing it being also heavily chained.”

An American missionary wrote the following in a foreign press journal in Shanghai on his long time observation in Eastern Tibet:
“There is no method of torture known that is not practised in here on these Tibetans, slicing skinning, boiling, tearing asunder, and all… To sum up what China is doing here in Eastern Tibet, the main things are collecting taxes, robbing, oppressing, confiscating, and allowing her representatives to burn loot and steal.”

The Tibetans viewed these Han practises of judicial punishments as so barbaric, inhumane and completely alien to them, that once they had fully regained power over their own affairs they wasted no time, and under the guidance of the Great Thirteenth Dalai Lama decreed the Death Penalty as illegal, reformed the legal code and banned all forms of cruel corporal punishments such as mutilation.

In fact, Tibet maintained a code of conduct which dates as far back as Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century, based on Buddhist principles and forbade the mistreatment of peasants, or any member of Tibetan society, and the administering of any form of corporal punishment was the sole preserve of the central government.

Thus, Tibet was one of the very first countries in the world to outlaw Capital Punishment in 1898, a practise which is now extensively used in the CCP ruled Han nation, indiscriminately meted out to thugs, petty criminals, regime critics, Tibetans for ‘splittist activities’, and Falun Gong practitioners alike, so that some estimated Ten Thousand, (10,000) hapless people are exterminated in this way annually by the CCP.See Footnotes: i

Ling Ch'ih, a torture widely practiced by the Han Chinese in Tibet

Hence, what many early writers actually described, and today the Han CCP in their propaganda drive of demonisation depicts as Tibetan barbarism, were in fact Chinese forms of torture and cruelty, executed by, and imposed on the Tibetans, by the Chinese themselves.

Footnote: i

■ Today China runs, what they term Re-Education through Labour Camps, but in reality they are nothing more than slave labour camps, where the captives are imprisoned for mostly regime critical activities, such as exercising their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of expression or practising their religion, and there they are worked and mistreated to death in large numbers.
Today, the CCP also runs a very lucrative Organ harvesting programme where kidneys, corneas, hearts and other organs are removed from executed convicts, but mostly from live victims in this 'Laogai' system, Falun Gong members, regime critics and Tibetan disappeared, and sold to paying recipients.
Read more here

This is Part 2 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 1 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day, 28th March, Part 1 - Propaganda and Reality

2010-04-21T01:09:00.000-07:00

This is Part 1 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

A closer examination of the impact Tibetans experienced due to their encounter with the Han Chinese.

The Chinese government declared the 28th of March ‘Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day’, an annual holiday when the Tibetans are to celebrate their ‘liberation from serfdom’ by the Han Chinese.
When in 1950 the Chinese PLA invaded Tibet, they repeatedly told the Tibetans that the 'Han People’ had come to liberate and assist them. See Footnotes: i
This begs a closer examination of the encounters and experiences by the Tibetans with these ‘Han People’, and what cause for celebration they might have on this day.

Introduction

Ever since ancient times the Han people would view ‘border people’, and in fact all other races, as barbarians and see them as beasts beneath the noble, superior Han race.
These ‘border people’ were referred to with the added characters of dog for the people of the north, a reptile for the Min and Man people and a sheep for the Qiang, etc.
The Tibetans were referred to in various terms, including ‘fan’ or ‘barbarians’; ‘t’u-fan’ or ‘agricultural barbarians’, and ‘hsi-fan’ or ‘western barbarians’; an attitude which primarily shaped their conduct and interactions with these other races.

These racist attitudes harboured by the Han people is best expressed by Wang Fuzhi, a contemporary of the late Ming and early Qing dynasty, in the following missive:

“And the Barbarians you may exterminate them and it will not be cruel, you may loot and plunder their lands and it won’t be unfair and unjust, you may deceive them and defraud them and it won’t be unrighteous; because all these notions only apply to man of verbal intercourse, and do not apply to different species.”

[1] Propaganda and Reality

Propaganda painting depicting the “exhilaration of serfs over their liberation"

Exhibitions assembled by the CCP to commemorate the ‘Tibetan Serfs Emancipation Day’ depict all manner of torture instrument, photographs, documents, relics of bones and skulls, etc. to ‘prove the barbarity’ of the old Tibet.

The CCP has made this part of a diplomatic offensive designed to quash any questioning of the legitimacy of the Han nation ‘owning’ Tibet.
The Chinese, in newly found confidence over their economic success, are displaying supreme self assurance, and their bullying and cowering into compliance with their view of the world is taking on an ever more sinister and menacing degree, meted out to nations large and small.

Propaganda Item of a purported Stone Cap used for Eye Gouging

CCP propaganda paints a picture of a downtrodden Serfdom and an exploitative and cruel Aristocracy, who ruled over the ‘Serfs’ as a class of slaves in brutal oppression.
In order to justify the ‘liberation’ of Tibet, the Chinese need to portray Tibetan society as “Hell on Earth” and turn it into a “Class Struggle”, which clearly is not borne out by historical facts, but is essential in the Marxist/Communist/CCP doctrine, where class is the nemesis of the egalitarian society and takes precedence over national identity.
We shall revisit “Hell on Earth” again later.
See Footnotes: ii

The type of social strata practised in Tibet in fact was a benign form of peasant / landowner relationship, with the landowners most often not much better off than the labourers themselves.
Indeed, there was a kinship amongst all of the population which was unique to Tibet, and bonded landlord and peasant in a much deeper sense than just their common economic fate. Peasants often had their own plot of land they could cultivate, and paid the landowner in service of labour or produce as their circumstances afforded them.

Tibet as a country was very poor but content, with very little difference between rich and poor.
The workers were not bonded to the aristocrats and could move on to work for other landowners if they felt they could improve their lives by doing so.

In “Tibet through dissident Chinese eyes”, Yiu Yung-chin and others express the sentiment that by contrast, China was a much more iniquitous society, where there were huge disparities of wealth, and widespread cruelty between the landowners and the peasants, with torture, beatings to death and rape of peasant tenants commonplace.

Gompo Tashi Andrugtsang, one of the main leaders of the Tibetan rebellion, commented on this in his memoirs by stating:
“Critics of the Tibetan agrarian and social system are apt to overlook some very relevant factors which countered its apparent faults. In spite of differences of status or material possessions, there was no great gulf between the rich and the poor. The landowner was more a patriarchal head of household than an exacting or oppressive master. The universal belief in the principles and teachings of Buddhism encouraged, on the one hand, generosity and desire to improve the lot of the less fortunate and, on the other, the absence of envy or resentment on the part of the
poor.”

Han Chinese propaganda repeats ad nauseum the allegation that in the old Tibet there were no schools, however there were several governmental efforts establishing public schools, many private schools were available, and the thousands of monasteries provided education to anyone, regardless of background or social status.

In his “Memories of life in Lhasa under Chinese rule” Tubten Khétsun relates his experience with schooling in the 1940s, first at one of the many private schools and then college at the Drepung monastery.
“This type of school suited the needs of the society at that time, and drew students from all social strata. .….. There was no set fee to be paid as a condition of attending school, and students paid different rates according to their means. …….the school gave exactly the same instruction to all students, regardless of the offerings they had made. ……. In Chinese Communist propaganda distributed both internally and externally, it is forcefully stated formerly only the Tibetan aristocracy had the opportunity of a formal education and that this was completely denied the ordinary people. Some foreigners have been misled by this without checking the facts for themselves and the allegation has been repeated in some foreign publications, and although the younger generation of Tibetans do not necessarily believe it, the fact that some foreigner has said so makes them doubtful, and if they lack determination to seek the truth, they do not bother to question those of us with direct experience of Tibetan society at that time about what it was really like.”

Catriona Bass writes of education pre Chinese occupation in her book “Education in Tibet: policy and practice since 1950”:
“Wealthy landowners or traders would make arrangements with religious or lay scholars to educate their sons and daughters in basic literacy and numeracy. Some families would gather a number of children together, sometimes educating the children of their servants, and, in the towns of Lhasa, Shigatse and Gyantse, small schools were established on this basis.”

Born in 1935, the current, fourteenth Dalai Lama, then still a teenager, also made many reforms in the short time he had as head of state. He established a reform committee which was charged with overseeing wide ranging reforms from the Judiciary, Public Education, Communications, Transport and other aspects of Tibetan society which the Dalai Lama intended to modernize and reform.
He quashed the practice of Debt Inheritance, breaking the chain of debt from one generation to the next and consequently exonerating the thus affected peasantry of any debt burden which may have encumbered them. He also declared an amnesty on all debt owed to the government, absolving all debtors of such obligations.

He also established an Independent Judiciary among other reforms.
On the agenda was a major land reform which would have seen the larger estates of the land owning families becoming wholly government owned and controlled again, and the land then allocated to the people who worked and cultivated it at the time, however the Chinese occupation terminated such efforts.

Even Goldstein argues that a link between the peasantry and feudalism is not only untenable, but that the peasantry were not serfs in the context of Tibetan society, but were often free to exonerate their obligation to the landowner and buy their own plot of land, and or / move to other estates, and even have their own employees working for them.

The many contemporary accounts from travellers, who had extensive first hand experience of Tibet as it was prior to the Chinese invasion, depict a country which was poor but content.
They consistently lack any such absurd descriptions as the CCP now tries to misrepresent, and foist on the old Tibetan society in an attempt to divert from the illegality of their occupation of the country.
What such travellers highlight though, is the gratuitous cruelty and barbarity the Chinese inflicted upon the Tibetans during times of military incursions and limited control they managed to exert at times over Tibet. See Part 2
Certainly not the sort of onerous ‘serfdom’ CCP tries to portray Tibetan society before their occupation.

Footnotes

Footnote: i
■ The notion of “Han” is in itself an invention which based its justification on the concept of a common people opposed to Manchu rule, and included all the people of very different cultural, linguistic and ethnic background and were earlier part of the Ming Dynasty.
It served the revolutionaries of the latter part of the fading Qing Empire to unite the disparate people under Manchu rule and foment the antagonism and common purpose required to overthrow the Qing rulers.
Today the notion of Han is deeply rooted in the psyche of the 'Chinese' and provides them with a sense of one race, one purpose and one nation.
Though genetically, nor culturally or ethnically, the Han race does not exist, but the term is used here for the purpose of identifying the people for whom the label is relevant in the context, and who now identify themselves to be of the 'Han race'.

Footnote: ii

TV crews eager to depict the “achievements" of the Han Chinese in Tibet

■ Today we have the obscene spectacle of diplomats from all over the world obediently trotting through an exhibition in Beijing expounding the ‘cruelty and heartlessness’ of the old Tibet, and passing ingratiating judgements to their gleeful hosts based on this odious concoction of the most sordid denigration and vilification.

The South African Ambassador Ndumiso Ndima Ntshinga reportedly opined: ” Obviously, the quality of the life of Tibetans have changed dramatically since 1959. It is quite encouraging to see that the survivors of that horrible system of feudalism lived through”.

Foreign diplomats obediently trotting through this exhibition and imbibing some of the most gratuitous propaganda and denigration of Tibetans.

The Chilean Ambassador Fernando Reyes Matta is quoted as having voiced his opinion “that it is essential to put together such documents, photographs and various references so that foreigners had the chance to learn more about the truth and the reality of Tibet.”

• In the aftermath of the financial crisis, western countries have succumbed to prostrating themselves to the Han nation in ever more indecorous manners.
In another development but patently related in its acquiescence to Chinese demands, the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband overturned a longstanding position of Britain to regard Tibet, implicitly, as an occupied country by not recognising China’s sovereignty over Tibet.
Miliband slyly included this bombshell buried in a statement on the ministry’s website: "Like every other EU member state, and the United States, we regard Tibet as part of the People's Republic of China."
China’s response was an intensified recalcitrant and harrying demeanour towards the Tibetan delegation which was to resume ‘negotiations’ with Chinese officials over Tibet, and blasted the exiled Tibetans and the Dalai Lama with ever more contemptible rhetoric.

This is Part 1 of a series of 8 Articles best read in conjunction.
Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

The connection between the Chinese Laogai Camp system and Organ Harvesting

2010-04-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

A brief examination of how the CCP can offer such large numbers of Organs for transplant.

Chinese dissidents, religious practitioners, Falun Gong members, or any Chinese citizen who would wish to speak up for any of the countless injustices in China, must be very wary of the ensuing consequences.
For daring to exercise one’s guaranteed basic freedoms represents a grave and immediate danger to their very existence.

They might just end up in one of the many Laogai, 中国, (Reform through Labour) camps.
There are as many as a thousand, or possibly many more of these slave labour camps, where prisoners are abused, tortured and forced to perform excruciating, hard labour.
Laogai inmates are made to carry out dangerous tasks and handle toxic substances without any adequate protection, and under appalling conditions.
Sleep and food depravation as tools of intimidation and punishment are routinely used besides physical abuse and torture.

There is no requirement for a trial to be sent to one of these slave labour camps for up to three years, justification can be made by police officers or other officials on grounds of “social cohesion and stability”, or if the person is deemed to be “dangerous to society”.

These Laogai are also the source of most of the transplant organs sold to paying foreign customers.
The way to becoming an unwitting donor of organs follows a fairly set procedure for the prisoners, unaware what is in store for them.
First they are transferred to a military hospital, or military doctors and nurses appear in the labour camps, and the prisoners are given a ‘check-up’; testing for kidney and liver function, usability of the cornea, and have blood samples taken for tissue matching.
The large quantities of blood taken are another clear indication that this is for more than just ‘routine checkups’, besides, the state never pays for regular checkups, or otherwise ever shows any concern for condemned prisoners’ health.

Anyone suitable for a transplant is then a marked person, but is comfortingly told that “the party is very much concerned about their health” and that they’ll keep and eye on their health.
As soon as their tissue type is a match for one of the recipient patients on their waiting list, they will be taken away in the darkness of night and disappear for good.

The PLA, the CCP’s own organ for the control of its citizenry, is very much engaged in this lucrative business; at $75,000 for a kidney transplant, $120,000 for a new liver and some $200,000 for a heart, this is the sort of income stream even drug lords or the mafia could only dream of!
Of course anyone in the Laogai system is a target victim, though it is clear that the preferred victims are Falun Gong practitioners, as they practise a healthy lifestyle and abstain from alcohol and smoking, plus it is a particularly callous form of vengeance on part of the CCP.
The CCP claims that most of the organs come from condemned prisoners, though clearly this is not credible.
Comparing the rate of executions and transplants leaves a shortfall of some 10,000 donors annually, even if one allows for very generous rates of suitability for condemned prisoners!
In China less than 2% of donated organs come from relatives or next of kin.
Ample testimony has been documented to show the systematic and methodical way in which Laogai inmates are scanned, selected and then disappear for this organ harvesting programme run by the CCP.

Falun Gong Torture victim before she died of her massive injuries

Falun Gong members also are a convenient target for such ghastly disappearances, as they routinely refuse to give their names and any details of their identity or address, and so become a nameless victim with only a number as identification in the system.
Their whereabouts are never known to the relatives, as is the case for most such victims, like Tibetan prisoners, and this makes them untraceable, and the system wholly unaccountable for their wellbeing.

In the run-up to the Olympics in a show of ‘compliance with undertakings given’, the CCP hurriedly passed a law forbidding the sale of organs without donor consent.
The CCP’s own programme run by the PLA was somewhat curtailed to pretend that this sort of atrocity was not committed by the host of the Olympics, but since the closing ceremony, it has become fully open season once more.

Further more, prices had skyrocketed as a consequence of the temporary short squeeze, so the CCP is not out of coffers, in fact the revenue stream from this sordid business is truly staggering.
Taiwanese doctors contacted confirm that the availability of organs has dramatically increased again since the closing of the Olympics.
These doctors also confirmed that, after questioning, they’ve been assured hat the organs come from very healthy individuals, Falun Gong members, who practice a healthy lifestyle and abstinence from tobacco and alcohol.

Map of known Laogai locations

Now, ‘ordinary’ Chinese citizens might regard such misfortune will never befall them, but consider that some estimated fifty million, (50,000,000), or perhaps many more have been through the Laogai system!
(What were their offences; mostly being on the wrong side of the CCP, regime critics, members of religious groups, and now of course Falun Gong members, Tibetans, "Splittists", etc.)

And then there is the glaring discrepancy of the numbers of organs, which must come from somewhere, if not from 'criminals' sentenced to death, then from Loagai inmates, which is now well established through countless testimony.

“Criminal” though is to be understood as a very loose terminology in China, one might just as easily be a framed victim for whatever reason, a Dissident, Falun Gong member, or a Splittist, to be labelled such.

Besides, Chinese doctors have unwittingly confirmed, in taped phone conversations, that the organs come from ‘young and healthy Falung Gong individuals who practiced a healthy lifestyle’.

The CCP continuously ensures a steady supply of organ 'donors' from any source deemed unfriendly to their regime.
Tibetan sources estimate that some one thousand Tibetans have simply disappeared after being arrested in the aftermath of the Lhasa protests, and sources report that they were transported to Qinghai for organ harvesting purposes.
Falun Gong estimates that some three (3) million of their practitioners languish in Chinese jails or Laogai, and that they disappear at an alarming rate.

Does Tibet really have an historical claim to independence?

2008-11-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

A brief examination of Tibet's History and its claim to independence.

_____________________

The price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance -
and sometimes your Life!
_______________________________

Tibetans are a uniquely distinct Race, different from all the surrounding Peoples.

They inhabited their own Territory for many Millennia as a cohesive and homogeneous Race.

Tibet’s recorded History stretches as far back as 127 BC.

As with all great Nations on this planet, the interactions with its neighbours was numerous; sometimes violent, often they prevailed over their adversaries, and at times proved less successful.

Between the seventh and ninth centuries, the Tibetan Nation often defeated the T'ang dynasty in the many battles fought during this era.

In 641 The T'ang emperor Taizong, 太宗, (貞觀) ceded Princess Wen Cheng plus a dowry of large quantities of gold and other treasures to King Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Yarlung Dynasty, which he demanded after the Tibetan army occupied large swathes of Chinese territories, and in an attempt to avert certain defeat at the hands of the Tibetans.

In 763, under the Tibetan ruler Trisong Detsän (Detsen), the Tibetan army captured Chang’an, the T'ang Dynasty’s capital and extracted a hefty tribute of 50,000 bolts of silk, plus an annual tax to the victorious Tibetans. The Tibetans installed a puppet prince who signed an agreement to fulfil this annual tribute; however he didn’t last too long on the throne after the departure of the Tibetan army.

During the era, 663 to 692, the Tibetans occupied vast swathes of T'ang Dynasty territories in the Tarim Basin, Dzungaria, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Gansu.

In 821 Tibet, under Ralpacan, and T'ang Dynasty under the Ruler Hwang Te entered into a Treaty as independent Nations.
The T'ang Dynasty had made many pacts and signed peace treaties with Tibet before, of which none lasted too long, until the powerful Tibetans clearly threatened the existence of the T'ang Empire and consequently this bilingual treaty was drafted and signed.

The Treaty in part reads:
"The two Nations, Tibet and China, shall keep the country and frontiers which they now possess. The whole region to the East of that being the country of Great China and the whole region to the West being assuredly the Country of GREAT TIBET, from either side there shall be no warfare, no hostile invasions, and no seizure of territory…………
And in order that this Agreement establishing a great era where Tibetans shall be happy in TIBET, and Chinese shall be happy in China shall NEVER be changed, the Three Jewels, the body of Saints, the sun and the moon, planets and stars have been invoked as witnesses."

This Treaty was engraved on three stone pillars of which one is still standing in front of the Johkang Cathedral.
[see Footnotes: a]

During the 13th Century, China was conquered and subjugated by the Mongols, who established the Yuan Dynasty, and was ruled thereafter directly by Mongol rulers.

The Mongols divided the Chinese territory into twelve provinces for administration, and Tibet was not one of these.

By contrast, Tibet entered into an Agreement (Cho-Yon) with the Mongols, pledging allegiance, and in turn became their Spiritual Advisors and Mutual Friends.
The importance of this relationship is expressed in the fact that Kublai Khan invited the Tibetan Sakya Lama to become the Protector and Religious Figurehead to his Empire.

Tibet was ruled by Tibetan Rulers during the Mongol Empire.
The Yuan Dynasty was evidently a Mongol Dynasty ruled by Mongols, and the last Mongol emperor Toghon Timur Kham, 孛兒只斤妥懽帖睦爾, was only driven out in 1368.

Tibet left the Mongol Empire in 1354, well prior to China, as it was always treated as a separate State, with Chang-chub Gyaltsen assuming and reorganising governance over Tibet.
[see Footnotes: b]

After the demise of the Mongol Empire, during the Ming Dynasty, Tibet had little close associations with any other nation for 300 years and, as always, conducted its own internal and external Affairs.
The first Ming Emperor Hung-wu, 洪武, referred to Tibet as a Foreign Nation in explicit and unequivocal terms.
As the Ming emperor perceived any threat to be primarily coming from the north, namely the Mongols they courted friendly relations with Tibet in order to eliminate any threat from the west.
They were very mindful of the T’ang dynasty years where Tibet posed such a powerful threat and occupied vast swathes of T’ang territories.
Hung-wu was a devout and ardent follower of Buddhism and in 1378 sent a Buddhist monk to Tibet to collect as many Buddhist texts and artefacts he could gather.

Ming Emperors bestowed some honorific titles to Tibetan Lamas and religious figure heads, which conferred nothing else than an honour bestowed to an esteemed and revered religious leader and did not influence the independence and succession of temporal Tibetan rulers, who exercised effective and sovereign power in Tibet.
Such exchange of titles was a contemporary practice between sovereign nations and merely conferred respect and honour to the recipient nation.
[see Footnotes: c]

The Ming Emperor Yongle, 永樂, invited several Tibetan religious leaders, some of which declined the invitation by this foreign ruler.
in 1403 Yongle dispatched his envoy Hou-shien with a letter of invitation to the Fifth Karmapa.
The Fifth Karmapa Dezhin Shekpa accepted the invitation, and in 1407 in an extraordinary display of deference, Yongle travelled a fair distance out of his palace and town to greet the Karmapa, an honour only bestowed to the most revered and respected foreign Sovereign. The exalted treatment conferred on the guest was such that he was seated to the left of Emperor Yongle, the place of honour, and on a higher, more elaborate throne than his own, He was lavished with exquisite gifts and treated to exceptional deference during his stay.

During the 17th Century the Han Chinese were conquered again, this time by the Manchus, which established the Qing Dynasty. The Manchus today are a minority under Chinese occupation, the Han make up the largest ethnic group by far.

The Han Chinese regarded the Manchu Rulers as foreign occupiers, and in 1911 the Qing Dynasty was overthrown and Manchu rule came to an end.

In 1639 Tibet entered into another “Cho-Yon” as equal partners with the Manchu Emperor, well before the conquest of China by the Manchus.

In 1652 the fifth Dalai Lama accepted an invitation for a State Visit by the first Qing Emperor Shun Xi, 順治.
Upon arriving at the Chinese border the Dalai Lama requested the Emperor meet him at the border.
Shun Xi wishing to oblige agreed but would meet him inside the border of China at Chenlo’u, some distance from his palace. The Emperor also had a palace specially built for the visiting foreign dignitary at Kheritaka so he could rest on his way to see him.

As a welcoming Gala, the Emperor hosted an unprecedented lavish reception for the visiting Dalai Lama, an honour and courtesy which no other foreign Sovereign or dignitary was treated to at the Emperor’s Court.
[see Footnotes: d]

During most of the reign of the Manchu Empire Tibetans fought their own battles with the Manchus assisting Tibet only for a short period of time.

Frictions between Nepal and Tibet was a constant irritant, which led to numerous skirmishes fought between the two adversaries.
In 1788 the Nepalese Army made some inroads into Tibet, encouraged by sectarian Tibetan rebel groups, who had a motive to destabilize the Tibetan central Government. The Nepalese retreated quickly after an Accord was reached.

In 1791 the Gorkhas launched another incursion and managed to occupy some major passes and sacked the monastery Tashilumpo in Shigatse. This incursion, on the request of the Tibetan Government, prompted the Manchu Emperor to dispatch a 15,000 strong contingent, who assisted the Tibetan army in repelling the Gorkhas back to Nepal.

This intervention under the Cho-Yon Agreement marked the pinnacle of Manchu involvement in Tibetan affairs, and was the fourth time the Tibetans requested military assistance under the Cho-Yon Agreement.
This resulted in the Qing Emperor Qianlong, 乾隆, issuing a 29 point paper of recommendations to improve Tibetan governance and the defence of Tibet.
[see Footnotes: e]

Thereafter the Qing Emperors never provided any assistance to the Tibetans.
The Tibetans fought their own war against the Dogras of Jammu in 1841 - 1842, which ended with the two adversaries signing a Peace Treaty, without any involvement of the Manchus.

Neither did the Qing Emperor provide any assistance to the Tibetans in their war against the Nepalese in 1854, Tibet alone repelled the Nepalese Gorkha and in 1856 Tibet signed a Peace Treaty with them, as a fully Independent Nation. Through this treaty the Gorkhas attempted to assume the role of the protector of Tibet and replace the Manchus by de facto.

Nor did the Qing Emperor provide any assistance, which the reciprocal Cho-Yon relationship required, when the British invaded Tibet in 1903 - 04.

During the latter part of the Manchu Empire the Qing Emperor was never able to fulfil his side of the provision under the “Cho-Yon” Agreement, out of weakness.

[see Footnotes: f]

In 1911 Tibet expelled the Qing emperor’s forces out of Tibet and shortly thereafter the colonial Manchu Empire completely ceased to exist and any treaty it may have ever signed along with it.

In 1912 Tibet again reasserted and declared its Sovereignty & Independence.

During the Nationalist Government Reign the Chinese President Yuan Shih-kai, 袁世凱,
repeatedly 'invited' Tibet to join China, which Tibet steadfastly rejected.
Tibet in fact demanded that Territories of Greater Tibet be returned, which have come under foreign influence.

Then in 1931 the Kuomintang Army of the Nationalist Government attempted to invade and take by force the Tibetan provinces of Amdo and Kham, which the Tibetans successfully repelled.
In 1936 Tibet also drove Mao’s armed forces out of its own territory.

Then in 1949, Tibet expelled the last remaining Chinese Representatives.

During WWII, Tibet refused permission for the Allies to cross its Territory and maintained its declared Neutrality.

All up until the invasion by China, Tibet conducted its own Internal & External affairs without any interference from any other nation.

Tibet ran all its own public services:
• Postal Service
• Signed Treaties
• Collected Taxes
• Issued its own Currency!
• Foreign Affairs
• Issued Passports
• Even evicted the Diplomatic Representatives of the Kuomintang Government

Stamps Issued by the independent Government of Tibet.

Tibetan Bank NoteTibetan Passport:
[see Footnotes: g]

Recognized by Other Nations
Bears the stamps of many countries:
France, India, Italy, United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland

Before the Invasion there was to be found in Tibet:
• No Chinese judge
• No Chinese law
• No Chinese policemen
• No Chinese newspaper
• No Chinese soldier
• No Chinese writ which ran in Tibet
• Not even a Chinese Government Representative!

Tibet, just like every other Sovereign Nation, conducted its own Affairs and had the Status of a Sovereign, Independent Nation.

Mao declared, on having to cross Tibetan Territory on his “Long March” and being looked after and fed by local Tibetan People:

"This is our only Foreign Debt, and some day we must repay the Tibetans for their Hospitality and the Provisions we were obliged to take from them".

In 1950 the Chinese Communist Government negotiated with the Tibetans as an independent Nation and ‘offered' the 17 Point Agreement, alas at the point of the gun, as at the same time the Chinese Communist forces had already invaded Tibet.
While occupying vast tracts of Tibet, the Han Chinese Communists coerced, by threat of (more) violence, the signing of the “17 Point Agreement”, which was rescinded later.

Propaganda Photograph of signing.

This “17 Point Agreement” clearly has no legal basis in International Law.
It was imposed under duress, by unequal partners, the Deputation had no authority to sign, which was clearly conveyed to the Chinese by the Tibetan Delegation, and the Seal was forged by the Chinese.

Unable to declare their non-acceptance of the forced Agreement while under such forbidding occupation, the Dalai Lama finally repudiated this ignominious treaty on the 20th June 1959, once in freedom in India.

The Chinese Communists issued many pronouncements to the effect that they would never annex Tibet:
Mao Zedong ‘promised’ the Dalai Lama that the Chinese will leave Tibet once 'liberation' is complete.

In 1950, before full scale Invasion, China "assured" India that China had no intention of ‘incorporating’ Tibet into China by Force or Otherwise!

In 1956, Chou En-lai assured Nehru that China did not consider Tibet as a Province of China, but as an Autonomous Region.

The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists, in its 1960 report, examined the legal status of the Tibetan Government and Nation:

“The view of the Committee is that Tibet was, at the very least, a de facto independent State when the Agreement on Peaceful Measures in Tibet was signed on the 23 May 1951, and the repudiation of this Agreement by the Tibetan Government on the 20 June 1959 was found to be fully justified.
In 1950, there was a people and a territory, and a government which functioned in that territory, conducting its own domestic affairs free from any outside authority. From 1913-1950 all foreign relations of Tibet were conducted exclusively by the Government of Tibet and countries with whom Tibet had practice as an independent State”.

The primary precept of International Law is the preservation and integrity of Sovereign Nationhood.
Therefore the existence of Sovereign Nationhood cannot be repudiated or invalidated by extraneous influences or events which may befall a nation.
The aggrieved nation always enjoys the presumption of continuation of independence and sovereignty.
The burden of proof is on the aggressor, the aggrieved Nation is not required to tender proof of its continued sovereignty.

In the case of Tibet, China clearly is bereft of any credible 'proof' to sovereignty over the Tibetan Nation.

International Law holds that recognition of a Nation’s Sovereignty can occur either by Explicit, or Implicit acts, including such as negotiations, treaties, and diplomatic relations.

In fact, the Tibetan nation has been explicitly recognized by many countries and enjoyed diplomatic relations with most countries prior to the invasion by the Han Chinese Communists:

• El Salvador formally requested that China's aggression against Tibet be placed on the agenda of the U.N. General Assembly.

• During the four U.N. General Assembly debates on Tibet in 1959, 1960, 1961, and 1965, many countries including the Philippines, Ireland, Thailand, United States, Nicaragua explicitly stated that Tibet was an independent country, illegally occupied by China.

• Irish Representative to the UN, Frank Aiken, stated:
"For thousands of years, or for a couple of thousand years at any rate, (Tibet) was as free and as fully in control of its own affairs as any nation in this Assembly, and a thousand times more free to look after its own affairs than many of the nations here. "

• The Thai Ambassador to the UN stated: "The majority of states refute the contention that Tibet is part of China.”

• "Aggression" and "Invasion" were widely used terms to describe the Chinese occupation of Tibet during these debates.

• The U.N. passed three resolutions in 1959, 1961, and 1965 regarding Tibet, stating that Tibetans are deprived of their inalienable rights to self-determination through the illegal occupation by China.

• The Nepalese government in its 1949 application to the UN for membership listed Tibet as an independent country with which Nepal maintained full diplomatic relations. The Nepalese diplomatic mission in Lhasa maintained full embassy status, staffed with an Ambassador right up until 1962.
[see Footnotes: h]

• Mongolia explicitly recognized Tibet's sovereignty by signing the 1913 Treaty with Tibet called the ‘Treaty of Friendship and Alliance’, signed by both Nations.

• In a 1943 note to the U.S. State Department, the British embassy in Washington explicitly stated that, "Tibet is a separate country in full enjoyment of local autonomy, entitled to exchange diplomatic representatives with other powers."

• In December 1950 the U.S. State Department declared the following in a public statement:
“The United States, which was one of the early supporters of the principle of self- determination of peoples, believes that the Tibetan people have the same inherent right as any other to have the determining voice in its political destiny. The United States Government recognizes the de facto autonomy that Tibet has exercised since the fall of the Manchu Dynasty, and particularly since the Simla Conference. "

• The CCP themselves, in a draft constitution drawn up in 1931, stated the following: "National minorities may either join the Union of Chinese Soviets or secede from it."
This implicitly included the Tibetan Nation.

• Prior to the invasion, Tibet independently maintained diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations with various countries such as Mongolia, Nepal, Sikkim, British India, China, Russia and Japan.

• Britain, Nepal, Bhutan, India, and even China before their expulsion, maintained diplomatic missions in Lhasa. The Tibetan Foreign Office conducted talks with President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he sent representatives to Lhasa to discuss the allied war effort against Japan during World War II.

• China's own last Head of Mission in Lhasa, Shen Tsung-Lien, wrote after leaving the country in 1948, "Since 1911 Lhasa (i.e. the Tibetan Government in Lhasa) has to all practical purposes enjoyed full independence".

[see Footnotes: i]

China’s untenable claim over Tibet is based solely on the influence which the Mongols in the thirteenth, and Manchu emperors in the eighteenth century, with varying degrees, exercised over Tibet.
In the case of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty the claim is nonsensical, as already examined the two nations were separate entities under Mongol rule, separately administered and treated entirely differently.

And in the case of the Manchus the degree of influence at best was very limited, did not extend to governance of Tibet, and was so sporadic and short lived, that it is entirely meaningless as a claim to suzerainty over, let alone “ownership” of Tibet.

In any case, since Tibet enjoyed unfettered Sovereignty and independent Nationhood for so many decades prior to the invasion, de facto sovereignty is well established in International Law and therefore requires no explicit recognition by any other country, and distant historic events become irrelevant.

As members in the UN debates have clearly noted: Tibet has enjoyed and displayed unfettered independence to a much larger degree than most countries presently in the UN, and perhaps more so than “China” which always was at best a very fluid concept over the millennia and was ruled by foreign administrations for centuries.

If China's methodology were to be applied universally, most countries would have a claim over their neighbours, but more importantly, Tibet would have an equal claim to "ownership" over 'China'.

Presenting the facts in any other light is not only untenable, but is evidently in conflict with all the accepted historical data and International Law!

______________________

History is written by the Victor -
But the Truth will never die.
__________________________________

Conclusion:

In 1949 there were a unique, cohesive people, which inhabited their ancestral territory for millennia.

A fully functional, sovereign Government and Nation, which enjoyed unfettered independence for four decades, domestically, and on the International stage.

A sovereign nation, which refused to be allied to any other state, and was fiercely defending this right to stay neutral and independent.
A people, which refused to be subjugated by a foreign invader and rebelled against this occupier against all odds.

International Law is, beyond any reasonable doubt, on the side of the Tibetans; only the callous obduracy of the Chinese occupiers, and pusillanimous international expediency towards a powerful nation, economically and militarily, is preventing a fair solution to be implemented for the Tibetan populace - namely Independence.
Who after all have the inalienable right to self determination, enshrined in Law and signed by the occupying nation.

Today, Tibetans are deeply unhappy and live in a state of constant fear and terror, so much so that they risk their lives, lengthy prison sentences, torture and abuse, and very often their lives for just carrying a photo of the Dalai Lama, to protest the degradation and atrocities endured, or to defy the callous Chinese rule.
And every year several thousand flee their homeland to India in an attempt to escape a life of oppression and denigration and risk being shot like dogs by the Chinese border guards, if they are spotted on their way to Freedom.

A claim to self-determination by the Tibetan people clearly is unquestionably valid on all counts under International Law:

• As a distinct people
• As a people being ruled by an illegitimate government
• And continuing to be an occupied, independent, sovereign nation after having exercised unfettered sovereignty for at least the four decades prior to the invasion by Chinese forces, but effectively for two millennia of its proud existence as an Nation!
[see Footnotes: j]

________________________________________________

Footnotes:

■ a) The PRC under the CCP has systematically reinterpreted and rewritten Tibetan history, to the extent that most of the notable scholars on the subject are exasperated at the scope of distortion and fabricated untruths.

Every aspect of Tibetan history is used as a propaganda tool:

• To justify the occupation and annexation of Tibet
• To ‘prove’ Chinese “ownership” of Tibet.
• To portray Tibetan history as feudal, backward and barbaric who now should be grateful at being ‘liberated’.
• And to generally denigrate the Tibetans as a lesser people than the Han Chinese, who now ‘benefit’ from the economic development brought by all the Han Chinese settlers.
• Even their version of historic accounts employ this theme, and for instance portray Princess Wen Cheng as the source of all that’s civilized and notable about Tibetan culture and achievements.

Following is an inscription of an earlier Pillar, the “Pillar of the Zhöl Quarter”, relating events prior to 763, and giving some context to the 823 treaty:

“…..the two great commanders were ordered to carry war to Keng-shi. On the bank by the ford of Chi-hu Chir a great battle was fought with the Chinese. Tibet put them to flight …. many Chinese were killed. The Chinese King Kwang Peng Wan also fled from the fort to Sshem-ci’u…. Keng-shi was captured….”

The pillar inscriptions were deliberately damaged by the Chinese, with the missing words reinterpreted and the meaning of the text materially altered to suit their purpose.
However existing photographs and historical accounts of the inscriptions still relate the true context and meaning.

■ b) Chinese ‘historians’ today claim that the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty was in fact “Chinese” and hence the Ming emperors ‘inherited’ sovereignty over Tibet from this era, (the Mongols) but no other respected scholar can come to this conclusion, and is invariably described as 'nonsensical and absurd'.
This disregards that the Emperors were Mongols and the administration was Mongol, with no Chinese appointed to government positions, and most importantly, the Manchus were eventually overthrown and driven out.

■ c) The Chinese today claim to have installed the Dalai Lama lineage and bestowed them with their title and powers.

In 1577 the Mongol prince Altan Khan, on advice of his nephew, invited the famed Sonam Gyatso, head of the Gelupga, or Yellow Hat School, to visit him, and to impart his renowned and celebrated teachings to him.
The two met in June the following year, and as was customary, the two sovereigns exchanged honorific titles. And in doing so Altan translated the Tibetan word Gyatso, meaning “oceanic virtue”, into the equivalent Mongolian word “Dalai”, meaning ocean.
The Tibetan word Lama was always reserved for reincarnations of important Buddhist teachers, or Tulkus, and the first two “Dalai Lamas” were in fact never called such, but known as Gedun Drupa and Gedun Gyatso respectively.
This honorific title ‘Dalai Lama’ was then retrospectively and posthumously applied to the previous two Gyatso Lamas and so they became the first and second, and Sonam Gyatso the third ‘Dalai Lama’.
However, Altan merely translated the existing Tibetan title, Gyatso, into Mongolian, and to this day every Dalai Lama since the second, still bears the name Gyatso, as in the XIV^th Tenzin Gyatso, so even the Mongolian “Dalai” does not amount to any granting of title, or honorific thereof, but was merely a Mongolian translation of the existing Tibetan title.

It was Gushri Khan, ruler of the Qshot Mongol tribe, who defeated the rivals of the Dalai Lama faction, and the ‘Great Fifth’ Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsan Gyatso 1617-1682, was enthroned in 1642, who had already been recognized as the incarnation of the previous Dalai Lama.
He ruled supreme over a unified Tibet, with the Mongols subordinate to him.

■ d) The Manchu Emperor’s ulterior motives were to curry favour with the influential Tibetans, and also to indirectly assuage the potential threat the Mongols posed. The Tibetans maintained a very close and mutual relationship with the Mongols, who still proved to be a feared military power, potentially threatening the Manchu empire.

■ e) In fact, that the ‘29 point decree’ amounted to nothing more than well intentioned suggestions under the Cho-Yon agreement is clearly evident in the Envoy General Fu K'ang-an’s statement to the Eighth Dalai Lama on presenting the paper:

"The Emperor issued detailed instructions to me, the Great General, to discuss all the points, one by one, in great length.
This demonstrates the Emperor's concern that Tibetans come to no harm and that their welfare be ensured in perpetuity. There is no doubt that the Dalai Lama, acknowledging his gratitude to the Emperor, will accept these suggestions once all the points are discussed and agreed upon. However, if the Tibetans insist on clinging to their age-old habits, the Emperor will withdraw the Ambans and the garrison after the troops are pulled out.
Moreover, if similar incidents occur in the future, the Emperor will have nothing to do with them. The Tibetans may, therefore, decide for themselves as to what is in their favour and what is not or what is heavy and what is light, and make a choice on their own".

This clearly demonstrates that:
• The 29 point edict was nothing more than nonbinding suggestions,
• The relationship between the Manchu Emperor and the Tibetans was not one of overlord and subordinate, but rather one of two nations on equal footing, associated by an Agreement, which, at the time, vexed the Emperor after the Manchus having to comply four times under the terms of the Cho-Yon Agreement with requests for assistance.(1720, 1728, 1751, 1792)
• The Amban, envoys of the Emperor’s court, had no say in the running of the Tibetan Governments affairs, and were merely Ambassadors to a sovereign Nation.

And to illustrate these points further:
The Amban Yu Tai related in 1903 to Mortimer Durand, the then Foreign Secretary of the Government of India that he were “only a guest in Lhasa, not a master” and he “could not put aside the real masters”, and as such he had “no force to speak of”.

The Tibetan Government paid only scant regard to this 29 point paper and electively followed the advice where it suited them, and disregarded other points deemed unsuitable for running Tibetan affairs.

An apparently minor, but vital point is that none of the Ambans were Chinese, each one of them was a Manchu, a distinction which highlights the personal relationship the Manchu Emperors maintained with the Tibetans under the Cho-Yon Agreement.

Early in the seventeen hundreds, a resident Jesuit described the Dalai Lama's and his temporal Government's role as follows:
"The hierarchy which exists in Tibet is not secular but superior to all temporal and regular government. Head of all is the Grand Lama of Tibet.
He rules not only over religious, but over temporal matters, as he is really the absolute master of all Tibet."

■ f) The Qing Emperors in essence never exerted any meaningful, or even extended control over Tibet, and the relatively short period of very limited influence after 1792 amounted to a tiny fraction of the 2,000 year time span of proud, recorded Tibetan history!

However, regardless of the duration, extent or nature of any control a nation may have exerted over another in the distant past, such becomes irrelevant once the subordinate state achieves independence and sovereignty over its affairs.
In the case of Tibet, which enjoyed such unfettered Sovereignty for four decades, and by all intents and purposes for at least two millennia prior, safe the interlude of the Mongol Empire where Tibet pledged allegiance, but governed itself and even became the Patron to the Mongol Empire, the question of past alliances is irrelevant.
This would be the case even if Tibet would have been to a degree subordinate to China, which was not the case.
The very limited degree of influence the Manchu Empire managed to exert falls a very long way short of control, suzerainty or sovereignty, as China today claims.
If this principle were to be applied, the law of the jungle would indeed prevail and just about every state could lodge claims over every other.

The Buddhist Dalai Lamas did not maintain strong armies for defence, unlike their predecessors of the powerful and feared Tibetan Kingdom, but relied on the Cho-Yon agreement for defence of their country.
This pacifist approach was to become a point of exploitation by the Manchus who sought to increase their influence over Tibet, but only marginally managed to exert some very limited degree of influence.
However the Tibetans never viewed the affairs between their states in this light, and always fiercely maintained their independence.
The intent of an aggressor, the Manchus in this case, could never legitimize any control they may have managed to exert over another, sovereign state.

■ g) Tibet commenced the issue of its own currency in coins, the Tamka, from 1792, which was based on the Nepalese currency as its model.
Paper Banknotes and Postage Stamps were issued from 1890 and both currencies were in use until 1950 after the invasion and occupation by China.

The coins and Banknotes bore the Government Seal of a Lion and the Date of Issue.

In 1947-8 the Tibetan Government sent a Trade Delegation to India, UK, US and China.
They were issued with official Tibetan Government Passports and travel documents which were recognized by every Government of all the countries visited. The UK issued them with diplomatic visas.

■ h) The Purposes of the United Nations are:

Article 1.2.
To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;

In essence every member to the UN has singed up to the principle of People's right to Self-Determination, including China.

The “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” states the following in Part I, Article 1:

1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

3. The States Parties to the present Covenant, including those having responsibility for the administration of Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories, shall promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect that right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.

China is a signatory to this treaty and therefore bound by its covenants.

The UNESCO meeting of Experts on Further Study of the Rights of Peoples held in Paris in February 1990 stated the following conclusion:

"A People for the rights of peoples in International Law, including the right to self determination, has the following characteristics:
1. A group of individual human beings who enjoy some of all of the following common features:
a) A common historical tradition;
b) Racial or ethnic homogeneity;
c) Cultural homogeneity;
d) Linguistic unity;
e) Religious or ideological affinity;
f) Territorial connection;
g) Common economic life;

2. The group must be of a certain number who not be large (e.g. the people of micro states) but must be more than a mere association of individuals within a State;
3. The group as a whole must have the will to be identified as a people or the consciousness of being a people - allowing that groups or some members of such groups, though sharing the foregoing characteristics, nay not have the will or consciousness;
4. Possibly the group must have institutions or other means of expressing its common characteristics and will for identity.

The Experts concluded that the Tibetan People satisfied these requirements as a distinct and homogenous people for International Law purposes.

It was also noted that even the PRC explicitly treated the Tibetans as a distinct People, in law, under the Constitution, and in establishing the TAR.

The Tibetan people however are denied the right to self determination they are entitled to under International Law

UN Resolutions 1353, 1723 and 2079 recognized the Tibetan People as a distinct people under International Law, and Resolution 1723 and 2079 explicitly express the right of the Tibetan People to Self Determination.

■ i) China was enthusiastically in favour of Timor Leste achieving independence and argued that “the choice of the Timorese people should be respected”.
A fundamental right, enshrined in the UN Charter and the ‘Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’, both of which China is a signatory to, but which the Tibetan people are denied by their occupiers.

■ j) China claims that the right to self-determination was never designed to facilitate secession, and claims that it can not be used to undermine its territorial integrity. A claim it clearly only wishes to apply to its 'own territory', but not for others like Indonesia in the case of Timor Leste, or Serbia for Kosovo, who both rightfully gained their independence, to which China lent its explicit support.
Firstly, as already examined, the PRC can not demonstrate that Tibet ever was an integral part of what today is considered as “China”.
Secondly however, a government has to be the legitimate representative of a people to use this claim, but even then, the Tibetan people, being a distinct and cohesive race and having occupied their ancestral lands for millennia, still always have the right to self-determination.
An illegitimate government can never raise a claim of territorial integrity.
A government who engages in conduct contrary to International Law, Treaties and Conventions, which does not originate from the will of the people it governs, and does not abide by universally enshrined Human Rights and Freedoms, is not the legitimate government of these people.

China clearly is not the legitimate government of the Tibetan people, as it has, and continues unabated, to grossly violate all these conventions, treaties and covenants China has signed up to and is legally bound by.

A claim to self-determination by the Tibetan people clearly is unquestionably valid on all counts under International Law:

• As a distinct people
• As a people being ruled by an illegitimate government
• And continuing to be an occupied, independent, sovereign nation after having exercised unfettered sovereignty for at least the four decades prior to the invasion by Chinese forces, but effectively for two millennia.

_______________________

Bibliography:
Tibetan Paintings: Pratapaditya Pal
The Circle of Bliss: John Huntington, Dina Bangdel, Robert Thurman
China's Tibet Policy: Dawa Norbu
Early Ming policy toward Tibet: Elliot Sperling
Tibet: Robert McCorquodale, Nicholas Orosz
Chinese Sculpture: Angela Falco Howard, Li Song, Wu Hung, Yang Hong
Secret Visions of the Fifth Dalai Lama: Samten Gyaltsen Karmay
High Frontiers: Kenneth Bauer
Tibetans in Yüan China: Herbert Franke
History as Propaganda: John Powers
Empire of Emptiness: Patricia Ann Berger
The Cambridge History of China: Denis Twitchett, John King Fairbank, Frederick W. Mote
United Nations
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Center For World Indigenous Studies
Tibet and Nationalist China’s Frontier
BBC
Die Weltwoche
NZZ
Xinhua

A horrendous story of one too many….

2008-09-06T17:24:00.001-07:00

.... for the Road!

It is estimated that each year over 1.2 million people are killed in road crashes globally.
Additionally, 20-50 times that number suffer from serious injuries.

This translates into 3,300 deaths and over 70,000 serious injuries each day, or over 2 road deaths per minute.

The cost of these casualties is estimated to be over half a trillion US Dollars.

For males aged 15 to 44 road fatalities account for the second leading cause of death behind Aids.

The Asian region accounts for 45% of all deaths, with a share of 16% of all motor vehicles.

In developing countries like Thailand and Vietnam, a very high proportion of road deaths are alcohol related, with 50 to 60% of all victims showing alcohol in their blood.

A study in Ireland found that 90% of all crashes where the driver was under the influence of alcohol, that driver was male. 37% of all fatal crashes involved alcohol as a leading cause, but in 62% of all single vehicle crashes alcohol was a factor.

Other studies found that drivers whose blood alcohol level is measured at 80mg/100ml are three (3) times more likely to be involved in a crash than drivers with a zero level. Above the 80mg level this risk increases exponentially.
Over half the fatal drivers had levels of over 150mg/100ml blood alcohol.

The combination of alcohol and speed is a particularly toxic mix.
With almost half the alcohol related fatal accidents speed is part of the cause.

Drunk driving is a mainly male problem, with global estimates of 85% to 95% of drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes being male.

The question is how tolerant a society should be towards this antisocial behaviour of drinking and driving?

One person’s freedom stops where another’s starts; the freedom to drive and not having to tolerate the additional, and unnecessary risk of being killed by a (male) Drunk Driver.

Every society must have rules which safeguard one section’s freedoms, and needs to restrict another’s to allow all citizens to enjoy maximum safety and quality of life.

We all are at one time members of one group enjoying freedoms, and at others we belong to a group ceding a small portion of our ‘freedoms’.

The most worrying aspect is that young people are becoming less responsible and more reckless, with a culture of excess drinking, binge drinking and alcohol related problems at an alarming increase.

So, should there be zero tolerance for blood alcohol levels for motor vehicle drivers?
And how severely should offenders be disciplined for transgressions?

Tibet, the real, new Shangri-La!

2008-08-27T00:21:00.000-07:00

If one wanted to know what life in a Utopian society feels and ‘tastes’ like, one would have to live there for some time and be a member of that society, and live through all their experiences, as if being one of them. Live all their hopes and fears, their anxieties and joys, and their frustrations and pains.

Tibet is a very fortunate country, indeed.
Tibetans have the Han Chinese who take care of pretty much everything for them.

The Han Chinese build roads, and railways, so that their military can be deployed at much faster rates, and be on the spot almost instantly wherever the Tibetan people need them for their protection.
These same roads also facilitate the movement of Han Chinese settlers who will charitably occupy the land which the Tibetans have so willingly and generously donated to the Han Chinese Communist Government.
In return the Tibetans enjoy the privilege of having the option of buying into nicely grey tinged, walled in housing complexes in remote areas, which are too far for any work to commute to. In these housing complexes they enjoy the protection of the PAP, People’s Armed Police, day and night, just in case some untoward event should befall the Tibetan community while herded into this walled in reservation, lacking any such awful modern distractions, as running water, electricity or a reticulated sewerage system.
Of course, if the Tibetans don’t opt into this scheme, then they will enjoy the gracious custody of the Han Chinese in a more smallish confinement.

Tibetans don’t have to bother with their ancient, awkward language, for it will not get them anywhere, anywhere at all. Mandarin is the language of this paradise and Tibetans can enjoy everything they need to know on tv, radio, or print, all in Mandarin, right there pre-digested and in simple form, so all can understand the profound truths they convey. They’re also reminded not to be so foolish to ever use their deprecated language for any purpose whatsoever in Tibet, for this might not be the most prudent thing to do.

Tibetans are also spared the bother of wasting their time queuing up for any social services, government schemes, or health care services, for more often that not they’ll always find Han Chinese in front of them, regardless how long hey wait. These services were never meant for Tibetans anyway, and they wouldn’t be able to afford any such scheme in any case. Great time saver indeed, and in reality an inverse discrimination!

The Han Chinese also take care of all the natural resources on behalf of the Tibetans, they will extract these for them, and use those very roads to ship them away from Tibet into the safe hands of Han Chinese, out east. These same Han Chinese also have already clear felled just about all the ancient forests and left the hillsides denuded and open to erosion, so that the Tibetans don’t ever again need to worry about some ‘evil spirits’ living in the woods.

The Han Chinese also have, free of charge, rendered huge tracts of land, and groundwater supplies so contaminated with nuclear and chemical waste that Tibetans don’t have to worry about cultivating this land ever again, or using the groundwater for irrigation, drinking or any purpose whatsoever, for eternity. Really a great boon to the Tibetans this, when they have so much land and so few people to take care of it.

The Tibetans also enjoy free patriotic education during their working time, when they would otherwise have to work to earn a living, that is, if they are unfortunate enough to be in employment.
This free education will really get their employment prospects up, being able to say “the Dalai Lama is a separatist and splittist”, and “the CCP is our real Buddha”, and “the Motherland will never be split by the evil DL clique”, very useful – and free of course. They can pass a test after this education programme to prove their academic prowess in being able to repeat the Han Chinese’s highly intellectual musings.
Every Han Chinese employer can check this diploma and decide how useful it is for the job applied, or already held. Though it is not the norm that Han Chinese would employ Tibetans, for the Han Chinese will rather employ other Han Chinese, so that the Tibetans don’t have to work and can enjoy a long, healthy fast.
Of course if they happen to fail that test then, being a monk for instance, they wouldn’t need to go back to arduous monastic life, or as an employee, go back to their boring jobs.

And the Tibetans don’t need to run their own government, the Han Chinese do it all happily for them.
The Han Chinese will tell them how to run every aspect of their lives, what is allowed and what is tolerated, and what will get them into First Class Han Chinese accommodation, where they will enjoy some very special massages and electric titillation, how kind and convenient of the Han Chinese.
Tibetans rarely come back to tell of this wonderful experience they’ve enjoyed while in the care of the Han Chinese. Their relatives are also spared the expense of a burial, and the sight of their love one, for this could really upset them. The Han Chinese will take care of the body for them, free of charge of course.
Most often the Han Chinese won’t upset the relatives by informing them about the untimely departure of their love ones, for this would only cause them grieve.

The Tibetans don’t even have to write their own history for the Han Chinese have already kindly written it for them, a great service for the Tibetans, for they had a very contrary, and obviously erroneous account of their own history.
They foolishly thought, along with all the eminent historians and international law experts, that they were an independent and sovereign country.

Tibetan women don’t have to bear more than one child, for even though they are exempt from the one child policy, they get sterilisation on the spot from roaming Han Chinese teams catching them like some stray dogs on the road.
They don’t even have to go to a clinic, for this treatment, it is carried out on the spot by wonderfully unqualified teams of Han Chinese, who out of the goodness of their hearts, will give this service freely so that Tibetans don’t multiply beyond their own ‘good’ for their creed. It would be a shame if there would be too many recipients of such Han Chinese generosity in this paradise created by them.

Now just recently the Tibetans are the lucky beneficiaries of a Closed Circuit TV, CCTV, surveillance system, the SkyNet.
This system allows the Han Chinese to oversee the whole of Tibet, every prefecture, every town, every village, all over, everywhere where Tibetans live there are CCTV systems installed, just to ensure their safety, day and night.

In fact, Tibetans are really well taken care of, right now there are thousands in the pampering care of the Han Chinese, and almost all have enjoyed their special massages and electric titillation, some even have been treated to a special kind of water treatment.
Many, many more have already been through this treatment and have already been released again.
Many of the released Tibetans now no longer need to work, for their wonderful experience has given them a special yearning, and now they are just looking forward to their early departure from this incarnation, just as many already have departed, thanks to the special treatment by the Han Chinese.

Sadly, soon there won’t be any Tibetans left to enjoy all these benefits bestowed by the Han Chinese, for the plans the Han Chinese have for them and their land they so erroneously think of as their homeland, will see them rendered invisible, a minute forgotten minority, a creed delivered into oblivion, razed from their land and erased from the world’s conscience.

Now if this is a Utopian society, and Orwell has not, in his wildest imagination, envisaged anything like this ever being visited upon this planet, let alone in the enlightened 21st century, then how can anyone know what it would feel like to live there?

Of course this a is a very abridged account of life in this Utopian society, there are many more benefits these people, called Tibetans, are able to enjoy.

Like free Fear, real Fear, Fear down through to the bone, Fear day and night, Fear of what is going to happen next, will they be arrested for no reason at all and end up enjoying this special Han Chinese treatment they give so freely while in their tender care, and from which they most likely will never emerge again ………

Well, as enunciated before, just a Utopian Society!

Such unspeakable barbarity could never be perpetrated by one creed against another, be it out of wanton callousness, greed, and or ignorance.
Ignorance of the circularity of one’s deeds, the karmic dividends ensuing from every thought, utterance and deed!

Humans would never be capable of descending to such depraved depths, a hell below, and beyond animalistic behaviour, not in the 21^st century, not ever, surely?

FOOTNOTE:
And in case you’re wondering, of course, this is all just made up; a CIA / USA / Western Powers / Media Propaganda beat up, lies, lies and more lies to besmirch the benevolent Han Chinese Communists who are not really barbaric and racist like this at all. This is just all part of a vile Western conspiracy to vilify the wonderful Han Chinese and put them back into their place!

And yes, all the Tibetan eyewitnesses, the people with first hand experiences, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, all the Independent Researchers, all the people who fled from this Shangri-La and related their first hand accounts about life there, of course they are all in on it, they too are all unconscionable Liars ; for there is no truth like the CCP’s own sweet, palatable truth!

Just a Utopian Society, obscured and hidden from the conscience of the world by mist and clouds, behind the world's highest mountains!

Continue reading here:
Can the Olympic Spirit survive?
Fervent Chinese Nationalism?
In the spirit of the Olympics, indeed!
Letter to Hu Jintao
Of Patriotism and Motherlands.
Cultural Genocide?

The rape of Tibet

2008-08-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

The CCP’s Propaganda machine is in overdrive telling the world what China is ‘investing’ and spending on ‘developing’ Tibet, and how much it is helping Tibetans to achieve better living standards!
Here are some sobering facts behind this propaganda drive:

By Partha Gangopadhyay

China is incurring huge expenditure in transferring and consolidating the Chinese population in Tibet. Massive investment has been made to build a network of modern highways all over Tibet. China can also boast of having laid the highest railway track in the world that connects Lhasa with Beijing. In fact, China often complains that its "civilizing" mission in Tibet is costing the government and people of China large amounts in terms of subsidies to an under-developed region. According to official Chinese statistics, the level of annual subsidies to the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) in the late 1980s was around 1 billion yuan or $270 million. However, all the infrastructure that China has built in Tibet has not made the lives of the native Tibetans any better; it has only taken the exploitative apparatuses of the Chinese government deeper.

China's Ministry of Land and Resources has announced monumental new resource discoveries all across Tibet. The findings are the culmination of a secret seven-year, $44 million survey project, which began in 1999. More than 1,000 researchers were divided into 24 separate groups and fanned out across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to geologically map the entire Tibetan region. Their findings have lead to a discovery of 16 major new deposits of copper, iron, lead, zinc and other minerals worth an estimated $128 billion. These discoveries add to Tibet's proven deposits of 126 minerals, with a significant share of the world's reserves in lithium, chromite, copper, borax, and iron. "Lack of resources has been a bottleneck for the economy," Meng Xianlai, director of the China Geological Survey, had once complained in his statements. The discoveries in Tibet "will alleviate the mounting resources pressure China is facing."

Tibet is now said to hold as much as 40 million tons of copper - one third of China's total, 40 million tons of lead and zinc, and more than a billion tons of high-grade iron. Among the Tibet discoveries is China's first substantial rich-iron supply. A seam called Nyixung, is alone expected to contain as much as 500 million tons. That's enough to reduce Chinese iron import by 20 per cent. The new copper reserves are no less substantial. A 250-mile seam of the metal has been found along Tibet's environmentally sensitive Yarlung Tsangpo Gorge. One mine there, called Yulong, already described as the second-largest reserve in China, is now estimated to hold as much as 18 million tons, according to the government news site Xinhua and could soon become the largest copper mine in the country, helping to feed China's increasing demand of the metal used for electrical wiring and power generation. China, which until now has imported much of its copper from Chile, is estimated to hold 5.6 per cent of the world's copper and is its seventh largest producer.

The riches that China expects to extract from Tibet in the near future, perhaps better explains the money that China annually spends on Tibet than the empty claims of modernizing Tibet.

In fact, an official web site of China has itself disclosed that "Once-quiet, northern Tibet has become a scene of bustle and excitement since a number of inland enterprise marched into the region in response to the government call for speeding up the development of western China. Northern Tibet has more than 200 mining areas with 28 kinds of mineral ores, and is rich in oil and hot springs."

The China National Star Petroleum Corporation and the China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corporation have recently dug up the first oil well in the Lunpola Basin, which has a proven oil reserve of three million tons. This reserve is in addition to the over one million tons of crude oil that Amdo's oil fields produce per year. Further, the Chinese have opened two alluvial gold mines in Nagqu and built a gem processing plant in Lhasa. Soinam Dorje, an official of the Nagqu Prefecture, has welcomed inland and foreign investors to exploit the gold, oil and antimony resources on the plateau of northern Tibet. This also goes far to explain the need to invest in infrastructure all over Tibet. Apart from its rich mineral wealth, Tibet has many other resources that may provide China the edge in its race to emerge as the world's richest economy.

The volume of timber that China has taken away from Tibet itself far exceeds the amount that it has spent to build the infrastructural facilities in Tibet. In 1949, Tibet's ancient forests covered 221,800 sq km. By 1985 they stood at 134,000 sq km - almost half. Most forests grow on steep, isolated slopes in the river valleys of Tibet's low-lying south-eastern region. The principal types are tropical montane and subtropical montane coniferous forest, with spruce, fir, pine, larch, cypress, birch, and oak among the main species. The tree line varies from 3,800 mt in the region's moist south to 4,300 mt in the semi-dry north. Tibet's forests were primarily old growth, with trees over 200 years old predominating. The average stock density is 272 cubic mt/ha, but U-Tsang's old growth areas reach 2,300 cubic mt/ha - the world's highest stock density for conifers. Once pristine forests are reached, the most common method of cutting is clear felling, which has led to the denudation of vast hill sides. Timber extraction until 1985 totaled 2,442 million cubic mt, or 40 per cent of the 1949 forest stock, worth $54 billion.

Deforestation is a major source of employment in Tibet: in the Kongpo area of the TAR alone, over 20,000 Chinese soldiers and Tibetan prisoners are involved in tree felling and transportation of timber. In 1949, Ngapa, in Amdo, had 2.20 million hectares of land under forest cover. Its timber reserve then stood at 340 million cubic mt. In the 1980s, it was reduced to 1.17 million hectares, with a timber reserve of only 180 million cubic mt. Similarly, during 30 years, till 1985 China exploited 6.44 million cubic mt of timber from Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. As new roads increasingly penetrate remote areas of Tibet, China is finding new excuses to increase the rate of deforestation in the region.

China's primary objective of constructing roads in Tibet is to deploy occupying forces like the People's Liberation Army, along with defence materials, and immigration of Chinese, as well as to exploit the natural resources of Tibet, which are transported primarily to China. Roads may run through most Tibetan villages, but a public transport system is almost non-existent in the majority of rural Tibet. The Chinese modern means of transport do not benefit the majority of Tibetans. Tibetans in most places continue to use horses, mules, yaks, donkeys and sheep as modes of transportation. Thus, the Chinese claim of investing heavily in "civilizing" the Tibetans is one of the most shameless lies that one can perpetuate.

The Tibetan plateau gives birth to some of the longest rivers of the world; The Machu (Huang Ho, or Yellow River), the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), the Drichu (Yangtze), and the Senge Khabab (Indus). Tibet also has over 2,000 natural lakes spread over a combined area of more than 35,000 sq km, some of which are sacred and play a special role in local culture. Steep slopes and the abundant water of these rivers and lakes make them extremely valuable as sources of hydroelectric power. Tibet has an exploitable hydropower potential of 250,000 megawatts, the highest of any country in the world and the TAR alone has a potential of 200,000 megawatts. China has built some large hydroelectricity projects all over Tibet. These projects are designed to tap Tibet's hydro potential to provide power and other benefits to the Chinese population and industries both in Tibet and China.

While the Tibetans are displaced from their homes and lands, tens of thousands of Chinese workers are brought up from China to construct and maintain these dams. Take the case of the Yamdrok Yutso hydropower project. The Chinese claim that this project will greatly benefit the Tibetans. The Tibetan people in general, particularly the late Panchen Lama and Ngapo Ngawang Jigme, opposed and effectively delayed its construction for several years. The Chinese, nevertheless, went ahead with the construction and with the help of more than 1,500-strong PLA troops are guarding the construction area and no civilians are allowed near it. But the environmental, human and cultural toll of these hydroelectricity projects will have to be borne by the Tibetans. Tibet also possesses high solar energy potential per unit only after the Sahara, an estimated annual average of 200 kilocalorie/cm, as well as significant geothermal resources. Despite such abundant potential from small, environmentally-benign sources, the Chinese have built huge dams, such as Longyang Xia, and are continuing to do so, such as the hydropower station at Yamdrok Yutso. Tibet is made to play a pivotal role in fulfilling the huge demand for power in China at the cost of its own helpless, poor natives.

Furthermore, Tibet has been made a hub of nuclear facilities. This reduces the radioactive risks that China could suffer if an accident takes place in such installations. Again, since such facilities are located in a colonized region, the Chinese authorities do not take the necessary precautions that are mandatory for such facilities. Official Chinese pronouncements have confirmed the existence in Tibet of the biggest uranium reserves in the world. Apart from Amdo, since 1976 uranium has been mined and processed in the Thewo and Zorge regions of Kham also. According to reports, the uranium mining and processing in Tibet is done with unforgivable callousness. The Ninth Academy, China's Northwest Nuclear Weapons Research and Design Academy in Tibet's north-eastern area of Amdo, is reported to have dumped an unknown quantity of radioactive waste on the Tibetan plateau, according to a report released by International Campaign for Tibet, a Washington, D.C.-based organization:

"Waste disposal methods were reported to be casual in the extreme. Initially, waste was put in shallow, unlined landfills... The nature and quantity of radioactive waste generated by the Ninth Academy is still unknown... During the 1960s and 1970s, nuclear waste from the facility was disposed of in a roughshod and haphazard manner. Nuclear waste from the academy would have taken a variety of forms - liquid slurry, as well as solid and gaseous waste. Liquid or solid waste would have been in adjacent land or water sites."

Given the fact that underground water supplies in Amdo have been diminishing at a rapid rate and usable underground water is very limited, the radioactive contamination of groundwater is of great concern in the region. Many local Tibetans have died after drinking contaminated water near a uranium mine in Ngapa, Amdo. They have also reported deformed birth of humans and animals.

The existence of Chinese nuclear bases and nuclear weapon manufacturing centres in Tibet has been reported from time to time. China is reported to have stationed approximately 90 nuclear warheads in Tibet. (The Northwest Nuclear Weapons Research and Design Academy or the Ninth Academy, the most secret organization in China's entire nuclear programme and an important and high security military weapons plant, is based at Dhashu (Chinese: Haiyan), which is in the Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It was responsible for designing all of China's nuclear bombs through the mid-70s. It served as a research centre for detonation development, radiochemistry and many other nuclear weapons related activities. It also assembled components of nuclear weapons. Several missile bases are located to the south of Lake Kokonor in Amdo, and Nagchukha. Another nuclear missile site in Tibet is located at Delingha, about 200 km south-east of Larger Tsaidam. It also houses DF-4s, and is the missile regimental headquarters for Amdo, containing four associated launch sites. It has been reported a number of times that China has carried out chemical defence manoeuvres in the high altitude zones of Tibet. There are also reports that China has been conducting nuclear tests in several areas of Tibet in order to determine radiation levels on the human population.

Not only is its economy, China's military might too is growing because of its colonization of Tibet.

China is exploiting far more from Tibet than what it is giving back. While China is proudly hosting the Olympics with its spectacular stadia and dazzling shows, the future of Tibet is turning gloomier.

http://woodsmoke.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/how-china-is-plundering-the-natural-resources-of-tibet/

- Partha Gangopadhyay

Buddhism an anti religion Religion?

2008-08-21T02:43:00.000-07:00

Religion is a belief system based on faith in a supernatural being, power or entity, or the plurals thereof, which is usually regarded as omniscient, omnipotent and the creator or originator of all that we perceive.

These attributes imply that everything, our every thoughts and deeds, are under the scrutiny of this supernatural agency.
This leads to a prescribed set of conduct for the faithful to follow, and to the ceremonial worship of this deity, to please and appease it through rituals and practices.

Through the supernatural properties attributed to them, these deities acquire the exalted status of being considered divine, infallible, sacred and sacrosanct.

All this formalizes and institutionalizes the belief system into a religion, where followers have a prescribed framework of spiritual practices, beliefs, set of answers, and a code of conduct to lead their lives by.

Followers of religions usually find that their practise provides a measure of solace, succour, belonging, direction and meaning to their lives. And this is probably the core essence most followers would derive and behold of religion, though this may not necessarily concur with the intended function by the originator(s) of the religion.

Inherent in any belief system is the implicitly assumed quality of intrinsic wisdom, truth or knowledge it contains and provides.
Though some religions go beyond the simple prescription of dogma and explicitly claim exclusive rights to such ‘truths’, and also concurrently create demarcations for their followers from ‘non believers’, brandishing the latter as “infidels, heretics, judases, godless, agnostics, or any such label designed to denigrate non followers and to elevate their own flock.

One of the definitions of a meme/cult is the explicit insistence of exclusive tenure to the truth; in whatever guise this truth may manifest itself with the religion in question.
This is manifested in circulatory self attestation; a train of reasoning reliant on acceptance, at blind faith, of any one of the arguments in the circle.
One other defining notion for a cult is the portrayal of their dogma as being the true, primary essence of the core religion it derives its canon from; i.e. fundamentalism.
A third element employed by cults is fear; if a member does not wholly acquiesce and dedicate his life to, and faithfully follows the dogma, wrathful vengeance will be incurred.

Most religions contain elements of circulatory reasoning, fundamentalism and fear, so there is a fine borderline between a religion and a cult.

Belief systems and religions per se, and cults in particular, have a tendency for their followers to acquire traits of self righteousness, exclusivity, condescension and derision.
Their religion/belief becomes an all consuming aspect, point of reference, and the meaning of life itself.

Nothing has any meaning until we, us sentient beings, attach any such meaning to it.

And this really is the essence.
To make sense of, or understand anything with our ordinary mind, meaning thereof can only be derived through reference to past experiences, acquired knowledge, or accepted truths at faith.

As per the last point, belief in any religion or dogma literally is a leap of faith; for to believe is to subordinate logic, reason and analytical thinking to faith in the veracity of prescribed answers and meaning. Answers which are readily provided and enshrined in organized religions.

Now what if there were a framework which dispensed with prescribed dogma, would negate the existence of intrinsic truth, and would not even tender prescribed tenets unless they could be verified as bona fide by the practitioner itself?

A framework where the practitioner is the discoverer, judge and verifier of truths him, or herself all in one, and progress on the ‘spiritual path’ is not advanced unless such verification has been accomplished at each step along the way.

Where referential thinking quintessentially is anathema, and deemed an encumbrance, and contrary to arriving at the truth.

Where in fact the conquest, and escape from the tyranny of the genes and memes is the prime, and quintessential focus of the practice.

Now, such a framework would in fact have to liberate the mind, allow unconditioned, analytical investigation and examination of any issue concerning mankind.
It would facilitate unprecedented personal growth, for humanity to achieve a new level of comprehension, interaction and approach to dealing with hitherto intractable problems besetting humanity.
If practised universally, this framework could even lead to mankind achieving a harmonious existence; humanity living in peace with itself, and in harmony with nature!

Buddhism is fundamentally at variance with the accepted definitions of religions.
It is indeed all of the above, and more.

Buddhism is:

• Non theistic; there is no supernatural, almighty being commonly referred to as God, Allah etc.

• Unquestioning faith is anathema to Buddhism. (see above)

• One’s fate is the result of one’s own actions: karma. There is no fate in the sense of punishment or reward dished out by a benevolent or vengeful deity.

• There is no surrender to any god, dogma or practice. It is in fact unconditioned, single pointed, mindful practice which is required.

• There is no dogma, word of god, or holy scripture transmitted through any agency, such as a prophet. The Dharma exists independent of any framework, it may be discovered by any sentient being.

• It is not enough to just do good with reward in mind. Compassionate deeds require true altruistic motivation for merit to arise. Attachment to good deeds defiles the actions and their karmic dividends.

• Buddhist compassion and considerations extend to all sentient beings; animals are part of our ambit of compassionate responsibility.

• Buddhism has neither heaven nor hell. The various realms described in Buddhism are the result of karmic effects. Just as this incarnation is a mind attached to a biological body, the mind can undergo experiences in different realms, hellish or heavenly, according to one’s karma. (dreams are but an indication of these realms the mind can undergo)

• Buddhism is not prescribed as a doctrine or dogma one needs to follow for ‘salvation’, and if a practitioner strays from the path there is no revenge or retribution.

• No almighty god is enacting upon, or interfering in our lives, or the universe. Dependent Origination, or Conditioned Arising explains all physical and psychological phenomena in scientific terms.

• No concept of blasphemy, desecration, sin, or infidel, for there is no sacrosanct dogma, relic or sacred deity.

Taking all the main points of difference into account, Buddhism in essence is diametrically opposed to religion.

Buddhist practices explicitly involve:

• The abandonment of all referential thinking. No truth to be accepted unless it is personally experienced and verified.

• The training of the mind to conquer the tyranny of the memes and genes; to be one’s own master; be in control of one’s destiny.

• Take responsibility for one’s own actions, for karmic effects will ensue from every thought, pronouncement and deed. There is no escape from karma. No vengeful god, fate or bad luck.

• The training of the mind to abandon all attachments and aversions, and pursue compassion with indiscriminate detachment. The four Immeasurables: Love, Compassion, Equanimity, Joy are a practice to clear the mind of preconditioned and ingrained desires and disdains arising from conditioned and referential thinking.

Buddhism in essence is the anti religion ‘Religion’ (or ‘Framework’, for want of a better expression), the Science of the Mind, and the tool for the liberation of one’s mind.

Alas, it seems that humanity is not ready to have that comfort soother religion pulled out just yet.
And the practice of Buddhism is, by any measure, but iron discipline & self control, and extremely diligent, arduous practice!

Footnotes:
Buddhism is self deprecating in the sense that it lays no specific claim to any truth or knowledge. In fact it describes itself as merely being the finger pointing at the moon, and once the moon is spotted the finger becomes redundant.

The appearance of Buddhism as a religion with ritualized worship, ceremonies and offerings by the masses is merely superficially valid.
Buddhas are the liberated minds of Buddhist practitioners having attained enlightenment; the objective of Buddhism. They chose to remain in this realm to assist and guide other sentient beings through their endless cycle of incarnations.
The reverence paid to the Buddhas is an expression of gratitude, as in the case of Buddha Sakyamuni for the discovery and dissemination of the Dharma, and Buddhas generally are revered for their guidance and compassion. Of course there are many variances in the many different traditions, but on the whole all the above points are applicable to Buddhist traditions in general.

It is apparent that Reincarnation, and the realm of Becoming, the state in between incarnations, has amply been validated through scientific research. Jim Tucker is but one such exponent, and has made his research available in his book ‘Life before Life’.

Can the Olympic Spirit survive? Atrocities in Tibet belie the glitz and glamour!

2008-08-05T20:22:00.000-07:00

When on the 8th of the 8th of 08, yes superstition lives on, the head of state of China opens the Olympic Games, and the world’s “Dignitaries” are at his feet, over one billion Chinese citizens are glued to their TV screens in adulation of their country’s glory, and the world at large has tuned in to watch this spectacle, he will bask in the grandeur of many who have gone before him in opening the ‘Nobel Games’.

This is the pride and glory, the country of the Han Chinese, will claim as recognition of their rightful place in the sun.
How rightful is this place?
Are the ‘dignitaries’ disgracing themselves by even attending these Olympics?
Should the Olympics have been awarded to China in the first place, and is China a worthy host for such a prestigious event?
The Chinese chose “One World one Dream” as the motto of these Olympics, so let’s see what sort of dream they’re referring to.

Here is a small selection of news reports which give but a tiny glimpse of a side of China many may not be aware of, or by all accounts, apparently do not really care about:

“On 15 July, Kunsang Tsering, a 22-year-old monk from Dhargye Langna monastery in Karze county, undertook a peaceful protest in front of the county Public Security Bureau (PSB) office. He was shot during his arrest by the PAP.

Tenzin Lhamo, a girl from Ugyen Mey village in Gaden Choekhor township, Lhundrup county, was given arbitrary sentence to 10 years of imprisonment for merely participating in a peaceful protest in Lhundrup county on 16 March. Samdup, a man from the same locality, was also sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Similarly, three others, including Kalden from Dhey village in Jangkha township, Lhundrup county, were sentenced to 20, 17 and 12 years in prison. Their details are not available.

Lobsang, a monk from Dzongkar monastery in Rebgong county, Tibet, was arrested in March from Lhasa. He was studying at the Drepung monastery in Lhasa during his arrest. Currently, he is being held in a prison in Gormo (Ch: Golmud) where he was also severely beaten.
Similarly, his friend Jigme Phuntsok was also arrested from Drepung monastery as reported earlier and then transferred to a prison in Gormo. It is reported that he died on 22 June from torture in prison.
Ngodup Dorjee, a 25-year youth from Phuk-Yi-Nang-Tsek-Lek village in Lhopa township, Karze county, staged a peaceful protest in the market of the county at 10:30 a.m. on 23 June.
During the protest, he shouted slogans such as “His Holiness the Dalai Lama should be invited to Tibet. We want religious freedom. Tibet belongs to Tibetan.” He was horribly beaten with metal batons by the People’s Armed Police (PAP) and then taken away.

From ABC Radio Australia reporting on a visit to Tibet by Dr. Powers:
Speaker: Dr Powers, a scholar in Tibetan religion and culture at the Australian National University

POWERS: Well, the most striking one was from a monk that I met at a Buddhist pilgrimage spot in China, who had escaped from a monastery in Eastern Tibet and he said that when he was there at his monastery, this was in late March, after the demonstration, some Chinese troops came into his monastery and started shooting the monks, randomly so it wasn’t that they were looking for people in the protest. It was pure retaliation for the fact that they protested. He said that three of his closest friends had been shot dead right in front of him. He started running, and he heard more shots and more monks falling and then he managed to escape travelling by night over the next couple of weeks and he has no idea of what actually happened, because he hasn’t been able to get any information in or out to his monastery.”

In June, Wanglo, a monk from the lower division of Tachok-tsang village in Serthar county, Tibet, was horribly beaten and arrested by the Chinese authorities concerned for taking photo of the ongoing “patriotic re-education” class in his village. When requested by his relatives for his release, the authorities demanded 20,000 Yuans as a punishment. Detailed information is not available.

Jigme Phuntsok, a 22-year monk from Drepung monastery, died from torture in a prison located in Amdo on June 22.

Media reports about transfer of a huge number of monks, who were arrested from Lhasa, Tibet, in March, to Gormo, Lanzhou, and other places are being confirmed.

On June 15, Tenzin was sentenced to 15 years for being one of the leaders of March protests, and Tenzin Gyatso for 13 years for replacing the Chinese flag with the Tibetan flag in a school in Dho-khor township.

Tibetan escapee recounts the horror of Chinese inhumanity

“There were gun shots and mass chaos while the streets were filled with smoke. I saw people around me fall down and my friend Nyima, was shot in the chest. A nun died in front of my eyes as did six others during the course of the demonstrations. The Army tanks were quick to come and clear up those who were either wounded or dead to dispose of any physical evidence.”

The Chinese raided our houses and confiscated our belongings. I had some 30-40,000 Chinese Yuan from my small business which the officials took away. My family in my native village later told me they had confiscated our ancestral property after they learned I had escaped into India,” he further added.

“Chinese officials torture Tibetan prisoners and extract false confessions out of them. They would only release Tibetans when there is no hope of the victims surviving from the wounds inflicted on them. Needless to say, they die in a day or two after being released from Chinese prisons.”

"In the beginning, many injured Tibetan protesters were taken to Chinese hospitals, where they were treated. Later, when injured Tibetans were taken to hospitals, they were detained instead of receiving medical attention. In fact, on the second day of the protests, even Tibetans who had bruises were treated as suspects and detained. So Tibetans who were injured had no choice but to wait for death … "

"Now, the situation for Tibetans in Lhasa is very tense. If a Tibetan argues over prices with a Chinese grocery-shop owner, the shop owner calls the police and the Tibetan is detained as a suspect. Any Tibetan without a residence permit is also detained. Even elderly Tibetans who cannot walk straight and Tibetan schoolchildren are searched. The Han Chinese don't need residence permits. Their spoken Mandarin language is itself their permit."

A report from multiple local sources the following day (also in Times of London) told the actual story. Police descended on the area, where hundreds of Tibetans were taking refuge in the mountains (after hundreds of others had been taken away by the security forces). Police had come to arrest a 22 year-old monk, Choetop, and shot him dead right then and there.
All this because Choetop had pulled down a Chinese flag a month earlier. The mouthpieces had called him an "insurgent leader."

"When I went to fetch some water for him, I saw another Khampa who had been hit and was bleeding. Later, I heard that the young boy died. He was only around 16. He had not even been in the protests. Even Lhakpa Tsering, who was killed, had gone to the hospital to see his mother and was shot on his way back. There was also a young girl of about 16 who had been shot. Her whole body was covered in blood—we could see only her white hand. Her mother was crying, since the girl was her only child. When other Tibetans tried to console her by putting some money in a box, she threw the box away. She said that her daughter had died in a good cause and that she had no regrets."
One night, I saw a Tibetan whose hands had been tied and pulled up behind his back. As he was being dragged away, he stumbled over a drain and fell. They beat him, and I heard them saying in Chinese, 'Shoot him!' 'Kill him!' On March 14 and 15, gunshots could be heard going off just like fireworks during festivities. We weren't allowed to go out. I also saw many young Chinese and Tibetan girls and women dressed in Tibetan clothes. I was told that they were all Chinese informers and that several of them had been 'planted' in the community."

"...My brother, who suffers from tuberculosis, my sister and two uncles, who have never been involved in any type of demonstration or protest, were detained without cause... My brother and sister were first taken... beaten with rifles, kicked and thrown into a truck. They were taken out of the city to an unknown location, and were put into a small concrete room with 400 other Tibetans. There were no washrooms, and they received no food, nor water for two days and nights. Hardly anyone could stand up by themselves because of the beatings.
When they released my brother and sister, they kept my brother's watch and his rosary, which had some semi-precious stones, and all the money they had (they don't use banks and keep most of their money on them)..."
“There may not be any more uprisings: There are troops in every town that has paved roads.
The army marches through town streets three times a day, paralyzing the Tibetans with fear. Surveillance cameras were installed in places that don't even have running water.”

Most of the Tibetan families whose loved ones were killed could not be traced. It was difficult to know whether they were alive or dead or under detention. Most of the dead bodies were taken away and disposed of by the Chinese."

Four Tibetans were killed by sniper fire while they were marching near Kirti monastery… Then a little later, another three were killed. They were shot from a distance.

"Five Tibetans succumbed to injuries at the nunnery hospital in Lhasa—it's the Tsangkhug nunnery in Lhasa. Two Tibetans who were at the hospital were injured and they complained their legs were broken. The body of a young boy is still lying here unclaimed. Several other dead bodies were brought, and many of them were claimed by relatives."—

Today when the Tibetans were demonstrating, many Tibetans were killed. We Tibetans had no weapons to fight back. When the Tibetans were gathered in front of the Jokhang [temple], the Chinese fired at us. I have personally seen more 100 Tibetans killed when the Chinese fired at the Tibetan crowd. It was the Chinese army who fired and that happened in Lhasa and I personally witnessed the tragedy. Many of those killed were young Tibetans, both boys and girls. ...It started around 10 a.m.

Tibetan businessmen across China have also been targeted with harsh restrictions. Reports from Beijing indicate that as many as 300 Tibetans in Beijing’s Sunday Market have been told to sell their homes and leave Beijing in the lead up to Olympics, implying that they’re being kicked out for good.”

The fate of thousands of monks and ordinary Tibetans remains unknown.
These people disappeared after being arrested, and their whereabouts or wellbeing is unknown.
Chinese authorities don’t inform relatives of arrested people, this way there is no trace back to summary executions and people who succumb to their torture while in custody of the Chinese.
The bodies of all so deceased torture victims and secretly executed detainees, are being withheld by the Chinese authorities and immediately cremated to avoid proof and photographic evidence being gathered.

The scale of the atrocities in Tibet is immense indeed, the entire Tibetan population of 7 million is being subjected to the most horrendous harassment, intimidation, wanton arrest, dispossession, disenfranchisement, summary execution, and much more.
The arrested are routinely, and almost without exception, tortured in the most horrific ways and countless have been rendered life long cripples, or have died as a result of the injuries sustained.
As a particularly insidious policy and ‘technique’, the occupying Chinese aim to inflict as much internal injuries, so as to render the victim certain to die from internal bleeding.

Is this the sort of county the IOC should have honoured with awarding the Olympics?

The world has been cowered into the most craven servitude to a regime which knows no scruples, shame nor civilities.
The Han Chinese CCP’s rule over a “China’, which is an imperial empire occupying huge swathes of lands which are ethnically distinct and sovereign countries in their own right, is far more brutal and racist than the old South Africa ever was.
The Uighurs, Mongols, Tibetans are not part of this self-assured China, and are unlikely to celebrate this feat of having the entire world cravenly at your feet; all for the sake of lucrative trade with the most populous nation.

Has the IOC ever contemplated the implications of being the facilitators of an Olympics, held under the darkest of clouds of the most overt racism, oppression and secretive mass murder?

These, indeed are the Han Chinese Games of Shame, though this nomer now seems ever more a gross understatement!

The Han Chinese populace is obliviously complicit, and has unwittingly been manipulated into this racist malevolence, and their culpability extends as far as their fervent, zealous denial, and their explicit support thereof.

It is time for an honest re-appraisal, and profound soul-searching on part of the perpetrators of such acts of barbaric atrocities in the 21st century.

We all need to constantly assess our own place, and the soundness of our actions, for if we let ourselves to be (mis)led, we will stray into dangerous territory bereft of conscious accountability, though accountability never ceases.

One world, one Nighmare.

Credits and news sources:
http://bhodrangzen.blogspot.com/2008/05/what-witnesses-are-saying.html
http://www.tibetoffice.com.au/update-tibet-25-june/
http://agamsgecko.blogspot.com/2008/07/they-shoot-monks-dont-they-new.html

Continue reading here:
Fervent Chinese Nationalism?
In the spirit of the Olympics, indeed!
Letter to Hu Jintao
Of Patriotism and Motherlands.
Cultural Genocide?

Fervent Chinese nationalism or just reflex?

2008-08-04T00:17:00.000-07:00

Why are the Chinese, at least the Han Chinese that is, so fervently patriotic and hypersensitive when it comes to any criticism of Chinese, or rather their regime’s, the CCP’s, actions and (mis) deeds?

The power of constant inculcation on their subjects’ minds is such a powerful tool, totalitarian regimes like to exploit to the full.
In the case of China, the indoctrination has been polished and raised to new and unprecedented levels, and turned into an art form. It starts at an early age, and never ceases for Chinese citizen’s entire lives.

The CCP’s influence is all pervasive and ubiquitous indeed. Their tentacles extend into every aspect of Chinese citizen’s lives, and the party is almost omniscient in its awareness what the rank and file, every citizen is thinking and doing.

The Chinese Communist Party is organized in three tiers according to age.

The first encounter young, receptive minds have with Communist doctrine is in the ‘Young Pioneers’.
These are captured from the age 6 through to 14, and boasts a membership of about 125m.
It is structured along the lines of grassroots cells, and so has all the appearance of an organisation with democratic principles.

Except in the case of the CCP in whatever guise; Young Pioneers, Youth League or CCP, the command flow is strictly from the top down, and there is no probability that any ‘ideas’ will ever percolate their way up the chain for eventual consideration and inclusion into policy.

The Young Pioneers are organized into Small, Medium and Large Detachments, complete with Leaders, Deputies, and Committees in a hierarchical structure. These groups in turn are controlled by appointed adults drawn from the Communist Youth League.
Which budding future leader and up and coming highflier wouldn’t want to be part of such an important organisation, and assume an esteemed leadership role at the tender age of 6?

Being part of the YP is not just an exciting experience for the young child; to wear the red scarf, or being one of the crowd, or just the allure of holding an ‘important’ superior position; it is essential for survival and acceptance in a society where there is no tolerance of individuality or deviation from the ‘norm’.

During the Cultural Revolution this organisation was reorganized as the Little Red Guards and was an active protagonist in the mayhem and atrocities committed.
These little darlings were busy denouncing their own parents, family members and teachers, or anyone fitting the profile of the counterrevolutionary, and so reaped reward for their bravery and unflinching struggle for the cause of the party; bestowed by the party.

The motto of the YP is:
“Be ready to struggle for the Communist cause.”

With the refrain:
“Always be ready.”

At the age of fourteen members automatically graduate into the Communist Youth League of China, CYLC which boasts a membership of over seventy million.

The system rewards ‘loyalty’ and conformism and is geared to be completely exclusive, either you’re for the party or you’re a traitor and a bourgeoisie reactionary.

You’re not likely to get into any high ranking position in commerce, unless you’ve proven yourself to be a completely loyal and committed party member throughout your life. And of course political appointments are a direct result of having an impeccable record of membership from the Young Pioneers through to CYLC to the CCP, and unquestioning loyalty and compliance along party lines.

Independent thought is snuffed out before it has a chance to emerge. It would be foolhardy to voice any dissent in such a stifling atmosphere of absolute, uncompromising allegiance.

Conformism is all that counts, and the repetition of the Party’s doctrine and pronouncements is the only viable option available; and what ultimately is tolerated.
Anyone wanting to be accepted, and rewarded with privileges and promotion has no other choice; be a party hack or be ostracised and face a life strewn with hidden obstacles and glass ceilings.

The CCP of course maintains complete control over what the Chinese citizen is allowed to know, and what their version of the truth is.
The riots in Tibet provide a graphic example of this:

“BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The head of Tibet's regional government has denied that security personnel carried or used lethal weapons in dealing with the violent riots in Lhasa last Friday. “
"The security personnel showed restraint in the entire process of handling the incident," said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Autonomous Regional Government in Tibet, at a news briefing in Beijing on Monday.”

This in spite the world media being awash with reports from first hand eyewitness accounts in Tibet relating the hearing of gunshots, seeing monks and civilians gunned down and accounts of possibly hundreds killed by gunfire, and the (unexpected) emergence of pictures depicting dead Tibetans with gunshot wounds.

In the aftermath of the ‘riots’ every Tibetan house throughout Tibet was ransacked and searched, ostensibly to look for pictures of the Dalai Lama, the true target were pictures of the riots, as the CCP was desperate to avoid the emergence of photographic evidence which would provide graphic prove of the massacre perpetrated by the Han Chinese security forces.
Verbal accounts are much easier to dispel than photographic evidence.

But of course, these inversions of the facts by the CCP’s own media are mainly aimed at domestic consumption, so what the rest of the world thinks does not concern the Chinese media controllers.
And as there is no alternative news source allowed, the Chinese citizenry has no means of verifying the accuracy of Xinhua press releases.
Or more to the point, why would one even dare to doubt the veracity of the ‘motherly’ party’s version of events?

To this day there has only ever been
this version of events, which has been thoroughly discredited by the world’s independent press. But admissions or retractions are not part of CCP vocabulary.

The CCP’s sole raison d'être is selfpreservation, the grip onto exclusive, unfettered power.

The party rules by fear, the fear of being on the wrong side of the ‘law’, or more aptly, the fear of incurring the wrath of the party for whatever reason.
Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the constitution, so why is there no free press?

By the same token, constitutionally the party’s rule is completely sacrosanct and unchallengeable, and with it socialist thought, or more precisely whatever the party decrees and adopts as their dogma.

This ‘no go territory’ is so nebulous, far reaching and all encompassing that chances are that if you utter anything not already official party line, you might be inside this formless description of what is not allowed.

This enforces some very onerous self censorship; for being accused of being an enemy of the state could prove hazardous to one’s life indeed.

The Chinese ‘independent’ press just runs Xinhua press releases, this way they’re always sure of being inline with party doctrine and aren’t transgressing the foggy line into territory of offending the party.

This way the party has sole access to its citizen’s minds, and the constant fear factor imposes an all pervasive, self limiting censorship.

This lifelong, exclusive exposure to CCP propaganda cements in all the beliefs, doctrines, and the version of events the regime wants its population to behold.

All these instilled dogmas, doctrines and ‘facts’ become the only points of reference, and hence whatever is being assessed or reasoned over is judged against this all pervasive, exclusive ‘knowledge’ base.
It leaves no room for any lateral, independent or analytical thought.

Perhaps next time, on encountering a victim of such ‘programming’, it might be wise contemplating the futility of expending any energy attempting to have a reasoned debate which draws on logic, facts or proof.

To answer the title’s question; of course it is both, unfettered nationalistic patriotism, and a programmed reflex reaction arising from being denied the right of ever having to make choices, deliberating over the veracity and merits of pronouncements and never having the luxury of being allowed a healthy dose of scepticism.

We take it for granted to question, to probe, to seek alternative views and to debate, even just internally, issues at hand and so draw a reasoned conclusion on the merits and reliability of a story.
Sometimes we might be wrong, but at least we are open to accept alternative view points and opinions.
And for next time we will have learnt an incremental lesson and incorporated this into our understanding of the world, and so progressed a little along a path of eternal growth and learning.

No such cultivation of original, lateral and analytical thought for Chinese citizens.

Wouldn’t the hysterical nationalistic fervour, the frenzied demonstrations, the irrational calls for boycotts, witch hunts, vendettas and vitriolic persecution of perceived ‘Chinese traitors’, which has been sweeping (Han Chinese) China, graphically illustrate this?

Have your bowels been irritable lately? A tale of IBS gone, or even a cure for IBS?

2008-07-31T22:56:00.000-07:00

A cure for IBS / Irritable Bowel Syndrome?

Don’t be put off by the title, there are no graphic descriptions about recalcitrant bowels, or emergency runs to the lavatory!

This is a personal story my friend would like to share with her fellow sufferers of IBS in the hope that it will be useful to someone, and alleviate, or even cure the suffering she has experienced for many years and knows so well.

Now if you’re like my friend, afflicted with IBS, you might have travelled from doctor to doctor, to herbalist, to quack, to find a remedy for your affliction, and in the process spent the equivalent of a ticket for a suite on QE II, upper deck no less, for a round the world cruise.
Or at least, the funds, which would get you into a small Castello on the Cinque Terre coast.

Her remedy will not cost you a penny, in fact it could safe you enough dosh to buy you a ticket on Branson’s inaugural spaceflight, if and when it takes off. And then at least you won’t have to worry about butterflies……..

Now, if your condition has the same underlying cause, and or your constitution is of a similar makeup, then this might just be the answer for you, or at least some help, or then again even just worth a trial.

To establish a loose connection at least, between my friend’s and anyone else’s condition, we have to digress somewhat into a healing system which recognizes and deals with the whole body/mind/spirit continuum; Traditional Chinese Medicine.

TCM describes various ‘patterns of disharmony’ which are the underlying causes for ailments and afflictions.
In the case of this friend, lets call her Annie, her pattern appears to be a case of internal heat. And this heat is mostly in the lower Triple Energizer, the area of the digestive visceral organs, and here apparently the intestinal tract is mostly affected.

This manifests in a tongue which is slightly red, and has a yellow coating.
Other diagnostic means TCM doctors employ is the palpation of the pulse. There are a myriad of pulse types describing various patterns of disharmony and invading evils causing illness.
But this diagnostic method is obviously beyond our ability to employ, so suffice to say that if your tongue has a yellow coating this may, note the rider, may, indicate that your pattern has similarities to Annie’s.
Other influences which may play a part are the Six Pernicious Influences, also called the Six Evils: Cold, Fire/Heat, Wind, Dryness, Dampness and Summer Heat.
These can be literal or more metaphysical concepts.

As we are not giving medical advice here, this is just a little background information to give some understanding to the workings, or cause of this disability and why Annie’s remedy worked for her.

Now Annie is an avid tea drinker and her favourite drink has long been Kukicha, a tea which almost entirely is constituted of just twigs from the Camellia sinensis tea bush. Hers is the roasted variety and I must say, it is the most delicious of beverages, has an irresistible aroma and a most palatable taste to match.

This is a great drink, is healthy, contains no caffeine to speak of, aids digestion and alkalises the blood in the process.
Her only downfall to all these benefits is that she loves to imbibe her Kukicha hot, piping hot, several cups of it.
Now I can empathize with anyone having a penchant for this drink, as it is deliciously irresistible, at least to us.

Now, this got us thinking, and the course of action devised was that my friend would try and give up her piping hot cuppas and see if it makes a difference to her IBS.

Now several years later of being completely restraint and disciplined, and having gone on the wagon of (exceedingly hot) Kukicha and food, her IBS has all but packed up and scuttled off to oblivion.

Now of course the same would also apply to any piping hot beverage or food; tea, milk, coffee, porridge, even just water, if it is too hot it will introduce heat into a body susceptible to such a pernicious extraneous influence!

Of course Kukicha in itself has a mildly warming energy, and hence this should be borne in mind and taken with care by people who are afflicted with IBS and or are subject to internal heat.

The gist of her cure is that she now refrains from imbibing anything hot; drinks, food; whatever passes her lips is either cold, or at least cool enough, that for any restaurant serving such tepid tucker it would earn them an ‘Avoid at all costs’ from even the most benevolent and mild mannered of food critics.

This might sound a tad eccentric, alas, it is a very small price to pay for the freedom from such an insidious affliction, which apparently can not only prove highly embarrassing, but be exceedingly painful and debilitating!

And now her drink is mostly cold water, not cold juice, or soft drinks, just plain cold water, cheap and mostly free from your local municipal water supply.

Of course she has a water filter removing the unwanted additives of mostly fluoride and chlorine. The take on these is that they are (very) detrimental to your health, but that will be another subject to explore some other time.

Other things to strictly avoid are foods that have ‘hot energies’. Into this category fall the following foods and herbs:

Dried Ginger, fresh Ginger, Cinnamon, Lemongrass, Chilly, Nutmeg, Capsicum

It might also be helpful to avoid:

Garlic, Vinegar, Pepper, Acidic Foods and Fruits, Soybean Oil, Pepper

This might be a starting point for experimentation and hopefully a lasting cure, at least for some unfortunate sufferers of this apparently mostly intractable affliction.

We now enjoy our Kukicha cold from the fridge; as it is the “heat”, literal and of the ‘energy’ type, which is causing the bowels to display these patterns of distress and discomfort.

Any feedback and experience with this simple method, pro and con, is very welcome.

Note:
This is not medical advice and is just an account of one person’s successful method, which has cured her affliction of IBS.

Are we really alone?

2008-07-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

What, or who is out there, beyond the blue sky we see at daytime, or the mysterious blackness, interspersed with a myriad of twinkling stars dazzling us at nighttimes?

Is there any life out there beyond the tiny sliver of our biosphere, any creatures, perhaps just single cell amoebas, or creatures we might recognize, or even someone else, just like us?

This question is probably as old as the rise of our conscious faculties, and must have puzzled peoples around the globe alike for millennia.

Frank Drake pioneered the search for extraterrestrial life in the early 60s when he listened for signals that might be distinguished from the known cosmic ‘noise’, and emanate from some unknown intelligent civilisation beyond our own fragile spaceship. But since then, no signal candidate has emerged which might give us hope that indeed we’re not alone.

Now the conditions for life to emerge in the vastness of the Universe appear quite stringent, we seem to be extremely lucky to live on a planet, and in a solar system which enjoys just the right conditions.

First, the star providing the necessary energy to warm a planet circling it, plus powering the required photosynthesis for plant growth, and ultimately food production for higher animals, must be of the ‘right kind’.

This means the star must fall into the right range on the HR diagram. 1.)

To keep it brief:

A star must be: of the right spectral type, long lived, stable.
‘Metallicity’, the elements other than H and He in astronomers’ parlance. A star, and hence planets circling it must be born of a gas cloud with high metallicity. So its candidate planets must be similar to earth: rocky, contain Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and all the other elements required for life. 1.)
Planets of a terrestrial type must be placed in the Goldilock’s Zone, i.e. at a distance from the star for it to be not too hot or too cold, and have water in liquid form.
The planet must rotate so as not to fry one side and freeze the other.
The planet must enjoy long periods free from meteor impacts.

Quite an ask one might contend.

Yet, we can safely assume the following:
All laws of physics are the same anywhere in the Universe.

Therefore, all the dynamics are the same throughout the Universe.

This means that the formation of stars, and solar systems with planets, follows the same dynamics as in our own.
Rocky planets form closer to the star, near the ‘Goldilock’s Zone’, and larger gaseous planets at the outer fringes.

To date some 300 plus extra solar planets around 260 individual stars have been identified, which might indicate that there should be planets circling most every star in the Universe. Though the planets identified to date are not of the terrestrial type like earth and mars, as they are too small to detect, as yet, the search for these is just intensifying.

We also know the approximate number of stars in our own Galaxy, and a (very) rough guess of the number of Galaxies in the visible Universe:

Stars in the Milky Way Galaxy: perhaps 200, maybe up to 400 billion.

Galaxies in the ‘visible’ Universe: perhaps up to many trillions, but ‘decent’ sized ones perhaps 300 billion.

Stars in the ‘visible’ Universe: perhaps 50 billion trillion, i.e. (50 sextillion) 50x10²¹.

One can discard a very large number of stars that would not qualify and meet the stringent criteria for life to emerge, and still be left with a rather impressive number of probable stars with solar systems that could be harbouring life!

Keep just one in a thousand and you’ll still be left with 50x10¹⁸ possible worlds.

Or keep only one in a million: That leaves 50x10¹⁵

Or even just one in a trillion: You’re left with 50x10⁹

That is still Fifty Billion probable worlds in the visible universe as we know it.

Enough probable solar systems with planets to provide the conditions for life, one might contend.

Now even in the solar neighbourhood a probable 10 to 30 percent of stars would meet these conditions; that is the stars, as we don’t know about any planets circling them.

By comparison, in nature as we know it, maybe one in a ten, or even just one in a hundred of seeds may sprout and grow into a plant.
Or on the other end of the scale, one out of 200 to 400 Million sperms has the fortitude and good fortune to be the one to fertilize a waiting egg!

Nature’s largesse is splendid, but so is also its harshness!

Will we ever in the future, or have been in the past, be visited by extraterrestrial beings?

No

The distances are just too great, and time travel is, and will remain a topic for science fiction writers.

Just to travel to the nearest star system Alpha Centauri at the fastest speed of any man made object ever achieved (250,000km/h by Helios) it would take close to 20,000 years, one way.
This would men a lot of provisions to take along for the ride! And presumably a very large spaceship harbouring enough “breeding stock” to prevent inbreeding over the 1,000 generations or so it would take to get there. Of course frozen sperm could be the answer to that, but this would make the journey all the more tedious!

And as an ultimate test for human nature, would they’ve wiped each other out in the close confines during this rather lengthy journey, before they even arrive?

Will we ever communicate with extraterrestrial beings?

Perhaps

Again because of the vast distances and the time it takes even for signals travelling at the speed of light, communication might be rather awkward.

Conversation’ with intelligent beings on the nearest probable planet in the Alpha Centauri star system:

“Hello, is anybody there”

8 ½ years later:
ñ౜ٶ䁲1ἲŁ}ش ŀ}ش£}ش핾ñ}ش ౜ٶ䁲1ٶ䁲1ἲŁŀ ἲ}ش Ł ش£ŀ}ش£

Reply:
“Sorry Chaps, didn’t get that, can you translate that into Earth-Language”, preferably English if you don’t mind!

On a philosophical level the question is one of whether we should assume that our solar system, our planet earth, and that we, ourselves, warrant to be considered a special case in the Universe.

Now if you’re of a religious bent that may come naturally.
For as we marvel at the smooth workings of the solar system, the meticulous turning of our planet, the clockwork like appearance of the sun, moon, day and night, and the natural flow of the seasons, there seems to be the hand of superior being at play.
We might just be the chosen ones and enjoy the benevolence and generosity of this supernatural being.

Yet fortunately science has provided answers for most every question we might have asked in the past and is uncovering more and more as we search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the Universe.

To Nature, life is cheap; it is engendered easily for its virility, and yet lost just as quickly for its fragility.

So again, our solar system could hardly be of such uniqueness that in all the vastness of probabilities no other solar system should have provided the same conditions for life to emerge and evolve to the stage of questioning beings like us.

Then yet again, should a star explode in a massive supernova nearby, or even just our own sun have some unexpected ructions before she is ‘due’ to die, and expand inexorably in about 5 to 10 billion years; we’d all be doomed in an instant!

Nature is profligate in its giving and its taking!

Or one more of those massive meteorites or comets hit our fragile spaceship, and we’d perish in a slow, agonising demise.
Not quite the fate one would expect from a benevolent provider and protector of life on a unique oasis, in an otherwise desolate expanse of an unfathomably vast Universe.
But these are the distinct possibilities we have to contend with, and that they haven’t happened to date is not proof of a superior protector, or the uniqueness of our planet.
Meteorites have struck earth and wiped out whole arrays of species, the most famous, and most recent perhaps, being the mighty Dinosaur, 60 million years ago, which is very recent, indeed in astronomical terms.
It is also no proof that things always work this way, for the numbers are just too “astronomical”, so that many worlds out there might have perished along with all its precious cargo of life, at whatever stage of evolution.
Equally, myriads of worlds must have endured for the required billions of years for life to evolve to the stage of “intelligent” beings, as we like to call ourselves, which ponder and ask questions such as these:

Why are we here, how did we get here, and is anyone else out there?

The HR diagram plots the stars according to their colour, (spectral type) versus luminosity.
The categories are classified as:O B A F G K M
Ranging from (O) the Hottest, Largest, Shortest Lived and of the colour Blue, to (M) the Coolest, Smallest, Longest Lived, and of the colour Red.
The sun is a G2 star, so placed somewhere in the lower middle range.
Metallicity is a development which comes with age of a galaxy. All matter in the universe was created in the Big Bang, mainly H and He, and that’s the same for all galaxies. Now some galaxies may be slower and some faster in developing stars which manufacture these higher elements, and then in dying contribute it to the galaxy. Larger Galaxies have an advantage over smaller ones in the formation of new stars.
Metallicity varies from older, ‘metal’ poorer stars to younger, ‘metal’ richer ones.

In the spirit of the Olympics, indeed!

2008-07-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

Just a short few weeks away and the regime in Beijing will have pulled off one of the most remarkable stunts at deception and disingenuousness in human history, and this is filled with trickery and dishonesty indeed, from politicians and regimes alike.
All the promises of freedoms, liberalisations and improvements in human rights to come will have all but disappeared in the thick, choking smog of the host city.

Indeed, so smug and arrogant is this regime that even after having been extraordinarily rebuked by the IOC after their vitriolic outburst in Lhasa, Tibet, a blatant politicising of the torch relay, they audaciously scoffed at the reprimand and anyone highlighting their brazen abuse of the Olympic spirit, and their obligations they’ve signed up to as the Olympic host.

In fact it was the Chinese who ‘promised’ to use the Olympics to improve their human rights situation. But by any examination, this has grown far worse in the lead up to, and, due to the Olympics.

The grotesque spectacle of the torch relay jetting around the globe in its own plane filled with PAP thugs to guard it was another blatant politicisation of the Olympics.
This torch relay deserved to be disrupted and used as a rallying point, at every stop, to highlight all the flagrant contraventions of human rights this regime is perpetrating.

The Chinese imperial nation is an invention by the Han creed, and their justification thereof is based on the grotesque fabrication of the ‘nation family of 56 ethnic groups’.
It is an attempt at masquerading their occupation, annexation and settlement of all these minorities’ lands, from the Tibetan, Uighurs, Mongols to the Manchus etc.

Only the Han hold the power, and only the Han dictate what’s allowed, it is a racist regime far worse than the old Apartheid regime ever was.

Just on the overt racism alone the Olympics should never have been awarded to this regime.
Let alone the blatant human rights abuses, the abominable oppression in Tibet, executions on demand for the organ trade, and all the other travesties this regime commits, yet shows not the least bit of compunction, or pangs of conscience.

Awarding them the Olympics is a lasting shame and blemish on the “Nobel” Games.

Perhaps it is time to have the Olympics located permanently in Greece.
At least in ancient times the participants laid down their arms and ceased hostilities to pursue the high ideals, and uphold the ‘Olympic spirit’.

Beijing is only busy trying to hide all the atrocities and human rights abuses, and is engaged in one of the least subtle games of deception by having tightly controlled journo tours to Tibet, and suddenly allowing the odd foreign internet site.

There is no way that journalists will be able to verify what happened in Tibet over the last few months, what the fate is of all the monks and all the missing Tibetan people, thousands of them.

Still incarcerated, and many of them massacred by the Han Chinese security forces is what the trickle of information emanating from the completely locked-down Tibet is proving.

What would the outcry have been had the IOC awarded the Olympics to the old South Africa?
But then there wasn’t as much lucrative trade in the offing.

Letter to Hu Jintao, 给胡锦涛的信件

2008-07-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

Mr. President

Let me take you on an imaginary journey, if you dare.

Instead of being a member of the ruling, and by numbers, the overwhelmingly largest and domineering creed, picture yourself now as a member of a society, race and country that is uniquely distinct and different from all the surrounding peoples and countries, and which is just a small minority, overwhelmed by your own creed.

You only number a few million, but your people are very proud of your own identity, heritage, culture and country, and have conducted all your own affairs for millennia, have fought wars, defeated enemies, conquered territories and occupied lands during your long history.

From time to time your country entered into bilateral agreements with neighbouring states which were mutually beneficial to the signatories.
Your country, at all times always knew that you were an independent nation and that these arrangements never inferred any impingement on your own sovereignty.
Your country ran all the civil services, as any country does, issued your own currency, post stamps and passports, which were accepted by other countries.
There were no foreign diplomats, no government officials, no representatives, no residents of any sort at all present in your country from your, by numbers, domineering neighbouring state.

Your country knew it was a sovereign nation and conducted itself accordingly on the international stage.
You were so fiercely independent that you refused permission for Allied forces to cross your sovereign country, as you wanted to maintain being a neutral, non-aligned state.
Yet, even so, your country was arbitrarily and illegally invaded by this overwhelming neighbour, without provocation, justification or rationale.
They held a gun to your head and forced you, by threat of complete invasion, to sign an agreement, which they themselves never honoured, not one clause of it.
They’ve destroyed your culture, heritage, massacred your people, and are oppressing you, even today, for almost 60 years now, in medieval fashion more akin to ancient barbarism than to 21st century enlightened behaviour.

They’ve reinvented history, falsified and fabricated documents and harked back to ancient times and reinterpreted arrangements between your country and a historical, neighbouring state this creed themselves was only a part of, at the time.
Though this past state now no longer exists, as this hegemonistic Empire collapsed over ninety years ago, and with it any contractual arrangements, obligations and treaties it may have had, they still claim, by virtue of their fabrications and lies, that they 'own' your country.

You contend that there is something deeply and profoundly perverse and depraved about this other ethnic group, claiming to “own” your land, your soil, your country, and with it your people.
Even if this claim were not based on lies and deceit, which you know it is of course, it would strike you as the most grotesque perversion and violation of all international laws and conventions, and an abject abrogation of any human notion of fairness and moral and ethical conduct.

And that is exactly what all eminent scholars and legal experts have found; your nation was illegally invaded, it was a sovereign, independent country, and to this day has the all rights to full, unfettered sovereignty, enshrined in international law.

Your leaders have attempted, through dialogue and peaceful negotiations, to bring about an improvement to the suffering of your oppressed people.
But your oppressors have never shown even the slightest hint of sincerity and honest intent, and only engage in puerile, disingenuous berating of your leader and questioned his sincerity and legitimacy of representing your people.

But you know that the questionable legitimacy lies in fact with your oppressors, as they rose, and only hold on to power at the barrel of the gun, and never have been democratically elected.
And this ethnic creed holds not just your country, Tibet, under occupation but also the Uighurs, the Mongolians, the Manchus and many other minorities’ lands.
This ruling creed has invented the myth of the ‘Nation family of 56 ethnic groups’ to justify their occupation, annexation and settlement of your, and these other minorities’ lands.
But you know, and experience, that it is only this creed, the Han which holds the power, only the Han have all the rights, only the Han make all the decisions, only the Han language, customs, culture, values have any acceptance and are tolerated under their repressive rule.

In fact, all experts and Human Rights organisations have found that this creed is perpetrating the most onerous racist policies in Tibet, far outstripping the old Apartheid Regime in malice and inequity.

The world is in disbelief and utterly aghast over these deplorable contraventions of all accepted standards, international laws and conventions.

But your country has committed itself to a peaceful resolution to this longstanding, illegal occupation and refrained from violent actions or even guerrilla warfare to free itself from this horrific yoke.
All appeals to fairness, justice and adherence to international laws has fallen on deaf ears, and your country is at the end of its tether, for it is at the complete mercy of a recalcitrant regime of the most dissolute and repugnant mindset.

Mr President, by now, if there is a soul, and a human heart beating inside you, your blood just be boiling at the iniquities and injustices perpetrated against your people and nation, and you must be questioning what your country has to do to end this illegal, malevolent occupation and oppression of your people.

Would you call to arms, would you use any tactic from civil disobedience, to guerrilla warfare, to assassinations of the perpetrators, from the President of your occupying regime on down; for he particularly is well remembered by your people as the 'Butcher of Lhasa' for the mass murder of hundreds of innocent, peacefully protesting monks?
And you know in your heart that this is what freedom struggles throughout history have always been; an oppressed peoples’ only recourse, and by all accounts, Legitimate means of fighting for their Just Cause.

But your country has vowed to pursue non-violent means, and is waiting patiently for some semblance of rational and ethical behaviour on the part of your tormentors.
Or perhaps a leadership change which would finally see people in charge with a moral and ethical conscience, and sense of integrity and justice more commensurate with 21st century enlightened principles than ancient barbarism.

You wait and hope, and the whole world is crying out and grieving with you and is imploring your oppressors for acceptance and implementations of international laws, conventions and treaties, to which they are subject to, and bound to comply with.

But you and your people might be running out of patience, for you’ve taken the civilized, and compassionate path and displayed the most admirable, inconceivable forbearance, but only run up against a cold, heartless, brutally dissolute adversary for far too long with your despotic oppressors.......

I leave you now to ponder your accountabilities and the scrutiny of your conscience!

onejustworld

Freedom, Justice, Equity for All - from Tibet to Myanmar, to Darfur to North Korea to Zimbabwe …..

Of Patriotism and Motherlands - the Tibet issue.

2008-07-24T02:05:00.000-07:00

The Chinese machinations behind the Riots in Tibet, and the incitation of fervent Patriotism.

The incessant invocation by the CCP of “Motherland”, the “Splitting of the Chinese Motherland”, “Splittist” “Dalai Lama Clique”, “Separatists” etc is a very dangerous game indeed, and has been played to disastrous results during the thirties in Germany by the Nazis, as we all know.
The incantation was the same then; just the semantics had a masculine slant.

It is clearly designed to rally the masses behind the Powers that Be, i.e. the CCP, for they’re in deep trouble with an unruly, discontented and disillusioned population.
60,000 “mass incidents”, speak protests, per annum must be a troublesome development for a ruling junta that has not tolerated any dissent, protest or free expression for over 50 years.
But drag out the tried and proven scheme of inciting patriotism, and labelling anyone who’s not screaming along at full cry, or isn’t absolutely one hundred percent engrossed in the madness and hysteria, a traitor, and you’ve diverted the anger from yourself to some hapless, unsuspecting target.
The Jews learnt this to their horror during the Nazi era, and the ensuing mass slaughter has only been made possible by this ‘paving the way’ of patriotic fervour and hysteria.

The frantic hysteria sweeping across China, and the globe in the expat Chinese community, aided and abetted by their ‘minders’ from the Chinese Embassies is testimony to the dangerous excesses possible when playing with this fire.
The parents of one unsuspecting student wanting to bridge the chasm between the rabid Chinese mobs and Tibetans had to go into hiding after receiving death threats and their personal ID details were made public, details only the Authorities in China could have disclosed!

In 2008 the Tibetans find themselves the target of just this same devious scheming, with the CCP’s labelling of the “Dalai Lama Clique” as the perpetrator and instigator of the March 14th riots.
Chinese Media and CCTV showed scenes of burning Lhasa ad nauseam, underscored with the most vitriolic commentary, and accusing the Tibetans of the most heinous crimes.
It was a carefully orchestrated plot by the CCP to divert the ire of their disgruntled masses away from themselves to the Tibetan People.
The venom and vitriolic diatribes emanating from the highest ranking cadres on down, including Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, are clear testimony to this sly plot.

The notions of Patriotism and Motherland should be seen in the light of all the misery and atrocities committed in their name, and are by any measure an outdated and derisory concept.
Today’s world has its fair share of hatred and conflict based on racism, xenophobia and them against us, so a feeling of belonging to a particular group of ethnicity or nationality only incites the sentiments of them and us and exclusivity instead of inclusiveness.

Humanity should move on from such whimsy comfort notions if we are ever to overcome the scourge of mankind; hatred, war, conflict, oppression of the ‘other’, exploitation of the weaker and ignorance.
For ignorance arises from just such dangerous concepts and becomes a meme, and once hostage to such, the ability to discern, seek the truth and follow one’s true conscience and speak for a better world becomes impossible for fear of loosing that soother.

Cultural Genocide in Tibet under Chinese rule?

2008-07-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

Is the Dalai Lama justified in his claim of Cultural Genocide in Tibet?

There is a group of CCP and military cadres, implementing the expressed policies of the top echelons of the CCP, including Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, [see Footnotes: a] and devising and executing this meticulously planned attack on Tibetans and their identity and culture.

Wang Lequan, current Member of the Politburo in Beijing, Li Dezhu, Head of the Ethnic Affairs Commission, Zhang Qingli current Party Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party of the Autonomous Region Tibet, General Tong Guishan and General Zhang Guihua

Purported picture of General Zhang Guihua

have systematically implemented policies, accompanied with an ever accelerated mass Han migration into Tibet, which are designed to wipe out Tibetan identity once and for all.
[see Footnotes: b]
And with it of course, the desire of a distinct people to be free, and their legitimate demand for genuine Autonomy and Independence.
To quote Li Dezhu: "The Problem with minorities will definitively be solved by mass Han Chinese migration once and for all".

China’s “Final Solution” for Tibetans!

The real political power in Tibet - Zhang Qingli, Wen Jiabao, Wang Lequan, Hu Jintao, Li Dezhu (left to right)

Dezhu has been behind the official policy of “abandoning the preservation of ethnic identities” and to ruthlessly eradicate any vestiges of culture and ethnicity with which ethnic minorities could identify with.
He is also behind the policy labelled "Destroying ethnic cultures and disintegrating religious minorities through the promotion of materialism".

Zhang Qingli, protégé of Hu Jintao and Bovver Boy for the CCP in Tibet has ruthlessly attacked the Tibetan culture and identity by introducing policies to “change man” and to refashion them, in the truly archaic, Maoist doctrine mould.
He reinforced “patriotic education”, which is code for the repetition by rote of the CCP’s doctrine of "Love for the Chinese Motherland", and denouncing the Dalai Lama and anything Tibetan. For monks for instance these gruelling sessions have to be endured for over half the available time, that is up to 20 days per month.

To quote this guy: "For China the Tibetans are children which must be indoctrinated with the love for China…… The real Buddha for Tibetans is the Central Party Committee."

As a further illustration of the general hue and lofty intellect these indoctrination sessions are made of, the answer to one of the questions about the Dalai Lama is:

"The Dalai is the head of the Serpent and the Chieftain of the separatist organization conspiring for independence in Tibet and he is the root-cause of all social instability in Tibet."
(Note the omission of the word Lama, designed as an added insult, first tendered by Wen Jiabao to belittle and denigrate the Dalai Lama while brandishing him as a "Liar", and now repeated ad nauseam by hundreds of millions of Han ultra nationalist net propagandists in the form of 'DaLie'.)

Wang Lequan has ample experience in eradicating the Uyghur identity and to dilute and wipe them out through his ruthless policies:
• The deportation of hundreds of thousands of young girls of marriageable age, 16 to 23, to east coast factories to prevent ‘ethnic breeding’.
• The outlawing of the Uyghur language in schools and a forced mass migration of Han Chinese into the Uyghur territory to dilute and destroy their identity once and for all.

He since has turned his “skills” in cultural genocide to Tibet with intensified vigour and brutality and extended these policies.

These policies have robbed the Tibetans of their basis for cultural identity; the loss of their language in school, commerce, in dealings with authority, news, and even entertainment.
They have lost the right to freely practising their beloved religion, the adherence to the Tibetan way of life, they've lost their once sacred, pristine environment, and their confidence as a people, for they’re truly treated as third class citizens in their own country under Han Chinese occupation.

From here it is a small step to the complete eradication of a once unique and proud, contented and confident people through the marginalisation by mass migration, which would render them an insignificant minority. A minority that can be completely overlooked and ignored, for the Han Chinese hold all the power; economic, military, financial and political.

The Han Chinese “reasoning” goes, that once Tibetans no longer exist as a distinct people, and their land is settled with a majority of Han Chinese, China will have “legitimised” their illegal occupation and annexation of Tibet.

The looting and pillaging of natural resources of Tibet of course has long since escalated into a feeding frenzy.
With no environmental controls or regulations to speak of, Han Chinese are stripping the land bare of forests, minerals, gold and anything of value, with all of it shipped east back to China.

Tibetans have an innate desire to follow their customs and traditions, to be left alone and to self determination.
Independence is a dream that will never die, but with China’s complete intransigence and puerile obstinacy, pragmatism would dictate that the least they could hope for is some form of Autonomy within China.
An autonomy which was guaranteed by Mao's China as part of the ‘17 Point Agreement’, and which is enshrined in the PRC's Constitution, and guaranteed under the UN conventions signed up to by the PRC, but as all other legal undertakings entered into by the CCP, blatantly flouted and contravened. Read more here
However talk, and paper, is cheap, and it is unlikely that this leopard will ever change its spots.

There shouldn’t be any delusion that China has any honourable intentions in Tibet, or is even sincere with talks sporadically being held with representatives of the TGE (Tibetan Government in Exile).

The ‘stakes’ are far too high for the Han Chinese Communists; Tibet is a prize they’ll never let go without a huge fight.

• Militarily highly strategic as a buffer and playground
• Vast, sparsely populated land mass for migration
• Huge natural resources to be exploited
• Source of vital river systems with huge hydroelectric power production

Though anachronistic, and their occupation of Tibet illegal under International Law, Han ruled and dominated “China” is, and has always been a racist and imperialistic power; a power without a conscience, intent on expansion and conquest of other peoples’ lands.

The invention of the ‘Nation of a family of 56 ethnic groups’ is but a racist ploy, which has always been just a façade to masquerade Han Chinese imperialism, and the forceful subjugation of all the other, hapless, oppressed minorities! See more details here

For further details of cultural genocide and systematic repression see here and here
Footnotes:

■ a) Though the CCP maintains a façade of Tibetan autonomous self-rule and government, the real power, as everywhere in China, rests with the party, which is strictly ruled from the top down, and there ultimately with the CCP Politburo Standing Committee.
There is no real power vested outside the party, but policy is delegated to regional party branches and the execution of directives is their responsibility.
In Tibet unfettered power thus is vested with the Party Secretary, Zhang Qingli and his executive henchman of the military, the army commander of Tibet General Tong Guishan.

Present members (2009) of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee:

1) Hu Jintao - President of the People's Republic of China, General Secretary of the CPC, Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

2) Wu Bangguo - Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress

3) Wen Jiabao - Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China

4) Jia Qinglin - Chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference

5) Li Changchun: ‘Propaganda Chief’

6) Xi Jinping - Vice President of the People's Republic of China, top-ranked member of CPC Secretariat

7) Li Keqiang - Executive Vice Premier

8) He Guoqiang - Head of Central Commission for Discipline Inspection

9) Zhou Yongkang - Head of Political and Legislative Affairs Committee

Present members of the Politburo of the CCP Central Committee:

Hu Jintao
Wen Jiabao
Wang Lequan
Hui Liangyu
Liu Qi
Liu Yunshan
Li Changchun
Wu Yi
Wu Bangguo
Wu Guanzheng
Zhang Lichang
Zhang Dejiang
Luo Gan
Zhou Yongkang
Yu Zhengsheng
He Guoqiang
Jia Qinglin
Guo Boxiong
Cao Gangchuan
Wang Zhaoguo
Zeng Qinghong
Zeng Peiyan

■ b) The list of men accused of genocide and crimes against humanity and facing trial in a Spanish court are:

• Liang Guanglie - Defence Minister
• Geng Huichang - Minister for State Security
• Zhang Qingli - Communist Party Secretary in Tibet
• Wang Lequan - Politburo member
• Li Dezhu - Ethnic Affairs Commission head
• Tong Guishan - People’s Liberation Army Commander in Lhasa
• General Zhang Guihua - Political commissar in the Chengdu military command

Tibet's Loss - China's gain, the Dorje Shugden controversy!

2008-07-23T06:36:00.000-07:00

Now this Dorje Shugden deity controversy is marked with all the intrigues and underhand tactics worthy of a high-power-play political thriller.

Are these street protesters aware of the shadowy background to their perceived grievances they so vocally scream out in servitude to their masters?

Do they question the motivation behind the rhetoric, the origin to the murky, unsubstantiated allegations, or the methods used in their leader’s ‘war’ against the Tibetan people?

These Shugden warriors sadly have become to be the naïve puppets of a much wider power play waged by the very masters of Deception and Propaganda-Lies, and occupiers of the Tibetan homeland; the CCP.

These unwitting propaganda soldiers surely are carrying out one of the more sordid smear campaigns against the Tibetans, the CTA, and particularly the Dalai Lama in order to undermine their legitimacy to represent the Tibetans and their just cause.

Divide and rule; sow dissent and reap power over a divided society, so the CCP’s motives.

While the CCP is busy exploiting this rift by favouring, and handing out grants to monks and funding monasteries if they are a hotbed of Shugden worship inside Tibet, they foment this split in the Tibetan society inside and outside Tibet in order to destroy any unity and opposition to their oppressive rule over Tibet.

Expatriot Tibetan monks of the Shugden persuasion are frequent and welcome visitors to Chinese run, and tightly controlled Shugden monasteries inside Tibet, and they carry the seed of dissent and disharmony back to the exiled Tibetan communities.

One only has to look at the methods used by the Kadampa sect and their servile propaganda warriors carrying placards with their vitriolic slogans to get an idea of what their credentials really are:

Calling press conferences that attract world wide media including, of course, the CCP’s mouth piece Xinhua etc.
Where they decry the Dalai Lama with vitriolic venom copied straight from the CCP’s own Propaganda-Lies Unit.

Court action in Indian Courts against the CTA, the Dalai Lama, and the Tibetan people by proxy.

The release of rancorous press releases with copies sent to the President, Prime Minister and Government Ministers of India to undermine the very tenuous existence the homeless refugee Tibetans manage to cling to in India.

The dissemination of anonymous pamphlets full of lies, in a smear campaign more like it is coming straight from the CCP’s own Propaganda-Lies Unit.

Propaganda foot soldiers taking to the streets with their bizarre accusations to publicly vilify and embarrass the Dalai Lama , which, by any examination, has no basis in fact whatsoever.

Ask, are these the actions of true Buddhists, who by virtue of just simply claiming to be ‘Buddhists’ would refrain from any of these actions?

Are these the deeds of anyone having even a seed of compassion, concern, or just the least bit of consideration for the effects of their activities, and for the implications to the Tibetan cause?

Or are they so bereft of any morals or ethics, or the slightest bit of insight into the wider issue that they’re incapable of questioning their own motives and actions, and are immune to any pangs of conscience?

Perhaps it is in the nature of their cult, and or the worship of this Shugden deity which has taken hold of their moral compass and blinded them completely from seeing, and seeking the facts and truth.

Their actions, behaviour and pronunciations are clearly that of a cult in the true sense; servile, perfunctory mob behaviour, slogan shouting and recitation of prescribed propaganda lines, and the sole acceptance of the one “truth”, authority and Guru.

And anyone who’s not exactly of the same belief, mind, or school is a non-believer, deviant and a heretic.

The Dalai Lama now has taken on this role in their minds, so they can project their venom and emotions against this perceived “villain”.

They’ve become so entangled in their referential, circulatory and delusionary thinking, and strayed so far from the path of Dharma, that they’re truly in need of help and compassion.

The sad thing is that probably they’ve started out with sincere motives, wanting to become true Buddhists and serve all sentient beings through their practise of the tenets and ideals of Buddhism.

They’ve been led astray by amoral leaders pursuing their unholy vendetta and aims, and in the process their beliefs have become an insidious meme.

And once such a pernicious meme has gotten hold of a feeble mind, it is but a puppet on a string at the command of the puppeteer, with the puppet unaware of the surreptitious manipulation.

To complete the picture, they seem to be afraid of even investigating the issue and questioning their leader’s motives for fear of having their beliefs shaken and loosing that soother of a meme.

By the sweetest of irony, they, the Shugden cult themselves are the ultimate rationale and attestation for the Dalai Lama’s advice to refrain form propitiating this Shugden deity.

By their very inconsiderate and un-Buddhist actions they’ve demonstrated just the very point; the objectionable disharmony, sectarianisms and split they’ve wreaked on the Tibetan society at a time they just don’t need any such externally incited torment.

But that’s just the CCP’s game-plan; the Shugden puppets have taken the bait, hook, line and sinker, and even gone to extraordinary lengths to serve the CCP’s heinous purpose.

1:0 to the CCP, and an irreparable setback to the Tibetan cause!

Well done Shugdeneers!

More background information about this cult:

http://info-buddhism.com/Western_Shugden_Society_unlocked.html

http://www.tibetinfonet.net/content/update/116

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?article=His+Holiness+the+Dalai+Lama's+Advice+Concerning+Dolgyal+(Shugden)&id=21437

http://info-buddhismus.de/new_kadampa_tradition.html