The serfdom in Tibet controversy is a prolonged public disagreement over the extent and nature of
serfdom
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...
in
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
prior to the
annexation of Tibet into the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
(PRC) in 1951. The debate is political in nature, with some arguing that the ultimate goal on the Chinese side is to legitimize Chinese control of the territory now known as the
Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, and others arguing that the ultimate goal on the Western side is to weaken or undermine the Chinese state. The argument is that Tibetan culture, government, and society were
barbaric
A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...
prior to the PRC takeover of Tibet and that this only changed due to PRC policy in the region. The pro-
Tibetan independence movement
The Tibetan Independence Movement () is the political movement advocating for the separation and independence of Tibet from the People's Republic of China. It is principally led by the Tibetan diaspora in countries like India and the United Stat ...
argument is that this is a misrepresentation of history created as a political tool in order to justify the
Sinicization of Tibet
Sinicization of Tibet includes the programs and laws of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which force "cultural unity" in Tibetan areas of China, including the Tibet Autonomous Region and surrounding Tibetan-designated ...
.
[Powers 2004, pg. 7]
Chinese government claims commonly portray
Tibet from 1912 to 1951 as a
feudal society
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
and both the
13th and
14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
s as
slave owners
The following is a list of slave owners, for which there is a consensus of historical evidence of slave ownership, in alphabetical order by last name.
A
* Adelicia Acklen (1817–1887), at one time the wealthiest woman in Tennessee, she inhe ...
. These claims further highlight statements by the PRC that, prior to 1959, 95% of Tibetans lived in feudal serfdom, and cite cases of abuse and cruelty which are allegedly inherent to the traditional Tibetan system.
[Goldstein 1997, p.56] Pro-Tibetan independence forces and countries which are sympathetic to their cause, especially many
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
countries, often scrutinize the Chinese claims.
The idea of Tibet and the concept of serfdom
One of the central points of contention in the debate about labour and human rights in the historical region of Tibet before and after its incorporation into the modern state of the People's Republic of China is the very definition of Tibet and serfdom itself, with some scholars claiming that the debate is framed around
Eurocentric
Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism)
is a worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it over non-Western civilizations. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western world ...
,
Sinocentric
Sinocentrism refers to the worldview that China is the cultural, political, or economic center of the world. It may be considered analogous to Eurocentrism.
Overview and context
Depending on the historical context, Sinocentrism can refer to ...
and
anachronistic
An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type ...
ideas about statehood and society which are projected onto the history of the area in a way that distorts understanding. Some western scholars reject claims of "serfdom in Tibet" outright based on the view that "Tibet" cannot be defined as one political entity or
social system
In sociology, a social system is the patterned network of relationships constituting a coherent whole that exist between individuals, groups, and institutions. It is the formal structure of role and status that can form in a small, stable group. ...
; its political and
socioeconomic
Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local ...
structures have varied greatly over time and between sub-districts. The various polities comprising Tibet have changed significantly over the past 2,000 years, and even during the modern period there have been dramatic changes in what Tibet is, as anthropologist Geoff Childs writes:
" ibethas undergone numerous political transformations from a unified empire (640–842) incorporating parts of what are now Nepal, India, Pakistan, and several provinces of China (Gansu, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Yunnan), to a collection of independent and sometimes antagonistic kingdoms and polities associated with various monasteries (842–1248), to protectorate under the power of an expanding Mongol empire (1248–1368), back to a collection of independent and sometimes antagonistic kingdoms and polities associated with various monasteries (1368–1642), to a centralized state under the clerical administration of the Dalai Lamas (1642–1720), to a protectorate of the Manchu Qing Dynasty (1720–1911), and finally to a nation having de facto independence under the clerical administration of the Dalai Lamas (1911–1951)"
Although the central leadership in
Lhasa
Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...
had authority of these areas for various periods, some Western writers claim that this did not imply the kind of political control seen in modern Western states. According to
Luciano Petech
Luciano Petech (8 June 1914, Trieste – 29 September 2010, Rome) was an Italian scholar of Himalayan history and the early relations between Tibet, Nepal and Italy. He was Chair of History of Eastern Asia at the University of Rome from 1955 to 1 ...
, "K'ams
he Kham region, largely synonymous with the province of Xikang">Kham.html" ;"title="he Kham">he Kham region, largely synonymous with the province of Xikang which was abolished in 1950] was practically independent of Lhasa under its great lamas" in the 18th century CE.
[Petech 1973, pp. 51, 98] Furthermore, the areas of
Qinghai
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...
with large Tibetan populations were not continuously ruled by Lhasa, including in the period leading up to the establishment of the PRC (in the late 1930s and 1940s) when the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
Muslim warlord
Ma Bufang
Ma Bufang (1903 – 31 July 1975) (, Xiao'erjing: ) was a prominent Muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the province of Qinghai. His rank was Lieutenant-general.
General Ma started an industrialization pro ...
ruled Qinghai within the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
(ROC).
The
definition of Tibet has been contested with a map of competing claims identifying six distinct types of Tibetan regions claimed by various entities. In the
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
(1644-1912) and in the ROC (1912–1949), the part of Tibet governed by Lhasa was limited to the modern
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...
, and did not include the Kham (
Xikang) Province of China. Meanwhile, the western part of Xikang (i.e.
Qamdo
Chamdo, officially Qamdo () and also known in Chinese as Changdu, is a prefecture-level city in the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Its seat is the town of Chengguan, Chamdo, Chengguan in Karuo District. Chamdo is Tibet's t ...
) and
Qinghai
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...
was only occupied by Lhasa in the Tibet-Kham War which lasted from the 1910s to 1930s.
Generally, the government of the PRC also limits Tibet to the area it has designated the
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...
, consisting of the traditional areas of Ü, Tsang,
Ngari
Ngari Prefecture () or Ali Prefecture () is a prefecture of China's Tibet Autonomous Region covering Western Tibet, whose traditional name is Ngari Khorsum. Its administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Shiquanhe.
History
Ngar ...
, along with Qamdo (i.e. the western Kham/Xikang) which was legally incorporated into the TAR when Xikang Province was abolished by the
NPC in 1955. The Tibetan government in exile claims that other ethnically Tibetan areas to the east and to the north also belong to Tibet, i.e. "
Greater Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
". These areas now respectively belong to Qinghai Province,
Gansu Province
Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province.
The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibeta ...
,
Sichuan Province
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
and
Yunnan Province
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...
of China.
[Powers 2004, pg. 163] Scholarship frequently represents a limited survey, restricted to the central region of Tibet, and may not accurately represent the whole of cultural Tibet or all Tibetan speaking peoples.
Discussing the
social structure of Tibet inevitably leads to difficulties with defining terms. Not only may
serf
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...
and
feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
be Western terms inappropriate for Asian use but the geography and peoples of Tibet vary according to interpreter. The lack of agreement of the various sides as to terminology highlights that the "serfdom in Tibet" controversy is a politicised debate, with the term "feudal serfdom" largely being used by the People's Republic of China as a justification for their taking control of Tibet. According to the PRC:
...there was a historically imperative need for the progress of Tibetan society and the welfare of the Tibetan people to expel the imperialists and shake off the yoke of feudal serfdom. The founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 brought hope for the deeply distressed Tibetan people. In conforming to the law of historical development and the interests of the Tibetan people, the Central People's Government worked actively to bring about Tibet's peaceful liberation. After that, important policies and measures were adopted for Tibet's Democratic Reform, regional autonomy, large-scale modernization and reform and opening-up.
However, the
Tibetan Government-in-Exile
The Central Tibetan Administration (, , ), often referred to as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, is a non-profit political organization based in Dharamshala, India. Its organization is modeled after an Parliamentary system, elective parliament ...
responds:
...the Chinese justifications make no sense. First of all, international law does not accept justifications of this type. No country is allowed to invade, occupy, annex and colonize another country just because its social structure does not please it. Secondly, the PRC is responsible for bringing more suffering in the name of liberation. Thirdly, necessary reforms were initiated and Tibetans are quite capable of doing so.
Competing versions of Tibetan history
It is difficult to find academic consensus on the nature of society in Tibetan history. Sources on the
history of Tibet
While the Tibetan plateau has been inhabited since pre-historic times, most of Tibet's history went unrecorded until the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism around the 6th century. Tibetan texts refer to the kingdom of Zhangzhung (c. 500 BCE – 625 ...
are available from both pro-Chinese and pro-Tibetan writers.
Pro-Chinese materials may be published by mainstream Western publishers, or within the People's Republic of China. Tibetan materials, similarly, may be published by mainstream Western publishers, or by the
Tibetan Government in Exile
The Central Tibetan Administration (, , ), often referred to as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, is a non-profit political organization based in Dharamshala, India. Its organization is modeled after an elective parliamentary government, compo ...
. Both sides hope to persuade foreign readers to support their own point of view through these publications.
[Powers 2004, pp. 6–7]
Many of the pro-Chinese works in English on the subject were translated from Chinese. Asian studies scholar
John Powers concludes that ideology was the most powerful influence on the translations: "In contemporary China, the Communist Party strictly controls the presentation of history, and several formal resolutions have been issued by the Central Committee, which are intended to guide historians in the "correct" interpretation of historical events and actors."
[Powers 2004, p. 12]
Western authors' writings on Tibetan history are sometimes controversial. For example, whilst
Hugh Richardson, who lived in Lhasa in the 1930s and 1940s, before the takeover by the PRC in 1951, writes in ''Tibet and Its History'' that Chinese versions of Tibetan history are contemptible and he considers the Chinese rule brutal and illegal,
[Powers 2004, pg. 16] Israel Epstein
Israel Epstein (20 April 1915 – 26 May 2005) was a Polish-born Chinese journalist and author. He was one of the few foreign-born Chinese citizens of non-Chinese origin to become a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
Early life and educatio ...
, a naturalized Chinese citizen born in Poland who similarly claims the authority of first-hand knowledge, this ''knowledge'' was gained post PRC annexation following the Chinese takeover of Tibet and must be viewed as Pro-PRC, supported Chinese rule.
[Powers 2004, pp. 17–18] There are few academic assessments of the recent history of Tibet. Anthropologist and historian
Melvyn Goldstein
Melvyn C. Goldstein (born February 8, 1938) is an American social anthropologist and Tibet scholar. He is a professor of anthropology at Case Western Reserve University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
His research focuses on ...
, who is fluent in Tibetan and has done considerable fieldwork with Tibetans in exile and in Tibet, considers pre-1950 Tibet to have been a feudal theocracy impaired by corrupt and incompetent leaders.
[Powers 2004, pg. 21] It was ''de facto'' independent of China from 1911 to 1949, but not recognized as ''de jure'' independent of China by any nation, even its protective power Great Britain.
The Chinese side seeks to persuade international perception as to the appropriate nature and justifiability of Chinese rule in Tibet. Their position is that Tibet truly and historically belongs to China, that affairs of Tibet are internal matters, and Tibetans seek to internationalize their cause, in part by convincing readers that Tibet was independent.
[Powers 2004, pg. 8] Concentrating as it does on questions of national sovereignty, the official position of the
Tibetan Government in Exile
The Central Tibetan Administration (, , ), often referred to as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, is a non-profit political organization based in Dharamshala, India. Its organization is modeled after an elective parliamentary government, compo ...
is more moderate in tone than that of some of its more extreme supporters who conflate the rule of the lamas with
Tibetan Buddhist
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
ideals, seeking to promote a Buddhist dogma that competes with the Marxist dogma of "feudal serfdom" by portraying Tibet under the
lama
Lama (; "chief") is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term ''guru'', meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. The Tibetan word "lama" means "hi ...
s as, in
Robert Thurman
Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (born August 3, 1941) is an American Buddhist author and academic who has written, edited, and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at ...
's words: "a mandala of the peaceful, perfected universe".
Tibetologist Robert Barnett writes:
:"Chinese references to preliberation conditions in Tibet thus appear to be aimed at creating popular support for Beijing's project in Tibet. These claims have particular resonance among people who share the assumption—based on nineteenth-century Western theories of "social evolution" that are still widely accepted in China—that certain forms of society are "backward" and should be helped to evolve by more "advanced" societies. This form of prejudice converges with some earlier Chinese views and with vulgar Marxist theories that imagine a vanguard movement liberating the oppressed classes or nationalities in a society, whether or not those classes agree that they are oppressed. Moreover, the Chinese have to present that oppression as very extensive, and that society as very primitive, in order to explain why there were no calls by the Tibetan peasantry for Chinese intervention on their behalf.
:The question of Tibet's social history is therefore highly politicized, and Chinese claims in this respect are intrinsic to the functioning of the PRC, and not some free act of intellectual exploration. They have accordingly to be treated with caution. From a human rights point of view, the question of whether Tibet was feudal in the past is irrelevant. A more immediate question is why the PRC does not allow open discussion of whether Tibet was feudal or oppressive. Writers and researchers in Tibet face serious repercussions if they do not concur with official positions on issues such as social conditions in Tibet prior to its "liberation," and in such a restrictive climate, the regime's claims on this issue have little credibility."
[Barnett 2008, p. 84]
The political debate
Chinese sources portray Tibet before 1950 as feudal serfdom in which serfs suffered terribly under the despotic rule of
lama
Lama (; "chief") is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term ''guru'', meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. The Tibetan word "lama" means "hi ...
s and
aristocrat
The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...
s. Some Tibetan sources describe the people as happy, content, and devoted to Buddhism.
[Powers 2004, pp. 18–19] On the other hand, the Tibetan
Phuntsok Wangyal
Phüntsok Wangyal Goranangpa (2 January 1922 – 30 March 2014), also known as Phüntsog Wangyal, Bapa Phüntsok Wangyal or Phünwang, was a Tibetan politician. A major figure in modern Sino-Tibetan relations, he is best known for being the fou ...
, who founded the
Tibetan Communist Party
The Tibetan Communist Party was a small communist party in the Tibet, which functioned in secrecy under various names. The group was founded by Phuntsok Wangyal and Ngawang Kesang in 1943. It emerged from a group called the Tibetan Democratic Y ...
in the 1940s, describes the old system as unequal and exploitative.
One of the earliest publications in English to apply the term "serf" to Tibet was
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
journalist
Anna Louise Strong
Anna Louise Strong (November 24, 1885 – March 29, 1970) was an American journalist and activist, best known for her reporting on and support for communist movements in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.Archives West,Anna Loui ...
's work from 1960, ''When Serfs Stood up in Tibet'', published by the Chinese government.
[Powers 2004, pg. 167] Another seminal promoter of the term is historian
A. Tom Grunfeld
A. Tom Grunfeld (born 22 May 1946) is an American academic who is SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor at Empire State College of the State University of New York, who specializes in the modern history of East Asia, particularly of China and Tib ...
, who based his writings on the work of British explorers of the region, in particular
Sir Charles Bell
Sir Charles Bell (12 November 177428 April 1842) was a Scottish surgeon, anatomist, physiologist, neurologist, artist, and philosophical theologian. He is noted for discovering the difference between sensory nerves and motor nerves in the s ...
. It has been argued that his book is not supported by traditional Tibetan, Chinese, or Indian histories, that it contains inaccuracies and distortions,
[Powers 2004, pg. 21][Powers 2004, pg. 167] and that Grunfeld's extracts from Bell were taken out of context to mislead readers.
Grunfeld is a polarizing figure for the Chinese, who praise his work, his scholarship, and his integrity; and the Tibetans, who match this praise with condemnation,
[Powers 2004, pg. 165] calling him a "sinologist" who lacks authority on Tibetan history due to his inability to read Tibetan and his not having been to Tibet before writing his book.
Political scientist
Michael Parenti
Michael John Parenti (born September 30, 1933) is an American political scientist, academic historian and cultural critic who writes on scholarly and popular subjects. He has taught at universities as well as run for political office. Parenti i ...
's 2003 (revised in 2007) essay ''Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth''
was largely based on the preceding work of Stuart and Roma Gelder (''Timely Rain: Travels in New Tibet'' 1964), Strong and Grunfeld.
Melvyn Goldstein
Melvyn C. Goldstein (born February 8, 1938) is an American social anthropologist and Tibet scholar. He is a professor of anthropology at Case Western Reserve University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
His research focuses on ...
has produced many works on Tibetan society since the 1960s and used "serf" to translate the Tibetan term ''mi ser'' (literally "yellow person";
[Powers 2004, pg. 168] also translated as peasant"
) and to describe both the landless peasant classes and the wealthier land holding and taxpaying class of families. He has written, "with the exception of about 300 noble families, all laymen and laywomen in Tibet were serfs (''Mi ser'') bound via ascription by parallel descent to a particular lord (dPon-po) though an estate, in other words sons were ascribed to their father's lord but daughters to their mother's lord."
[Goldstein, Central Asiatic Journal, pg. 15] In his 1989 book ''A History of Modern Tibet'' Goldstein argued that although serfdom was prevalent in Tibet, this did not mean that it was an entirely static society. There were several types of serf sub-status, of which one of the most important was the "human lease", which enabled a serf to acquire a degree of personal freedom. This was an alternative which, despite retaining the concept of lordship, partially freed the ''mi ser'' from obligations to a landed estate, usually for an annual fee.
[Goldstein, ''Journal of Asian Studies'', May 1971, pp. 521–34] In 1997 Goldstein used the term "serf" in the following, more cautious, way "...monastic and aristocratic elites ... held most of the land in Tibet in the form of feudal estates with hereditarily bound serflike peasants."
[Goldstein 1997, p.35] Powers has characterized Goldstein as "generally pro-China"
[Powers 2004, pg. 24] but also called his ''History of Modern Tibet'' "the most balanced treatment".
[Powers 2004, pg. 17] Goldstein describes himself as having conservative political views. According to William Monroe Coleman, China misrepresents Goldstein's usage as support for their version of Tibetan history.
Goldstein distinguished serfdom from feudalism, and applied the term "serfdom" but not "feudalism" to old Tibet.
Furthermore, he made some effort to avoid appearing to support China's invasion of Tibet, writing that the PRC left the traditional system in place, not only after the invasion of 1950, but even after the Dalai Lama's flight into exile in 1959. He pointed out that in 1950, Chinese rhetoric claimed that China was freeing Tibet, not from serfdom, but from imperialist influence.
[Goldstein, "Reexamining Choice" (1986), pg. 109] Nevertheless, his usage has been misinterpreted as support for the Chinese Marxist viewpoint, in which feudalism and serfdom are inseparable, and old Tibet is consistently described as "feudal serfdom".
Not all writers who use the term "serfdom" to describe the pre-1950 society in Tibet do so pejoratively.
Pico Iyer
Siddharth Pico Raghavan Iyer (born 11 February 1957), known as Pico Iyer, is a British-born essayist and novelist known chiefly for his travel writing. He is the author of numerous books on crossing cultures including ''Video Night in Kathmandu ...
, a journalist whose father is a friend of the Dalai Lama and who has himself been in private conversation with him for over thirty years writes: "Almost as soon as he came into exile, in 1959, the Dalai Lama seized the chance to get rid of much of the red tape and serfdom that had beset Tibet in the past".
[Iyer 2008, p.176] The Dalai Lama himself used the term "serf" in 1991, saying: "The relationship between landlord and serf was much milder in Tibet than in China and conditions for the poor were much less harsh."
Several Tibetan sources portray Tibetan peasants and workers to support their own view of a Tibetan people who were not only independent of China, but found the Chinese alien and incomprehensible, and who suffered genocide under Chinese rule.
[Powers 2004, pp. 9–12] Richardson
Richardson may refer to:
People
* Richardson (surname), an English and Scottish surname
* Richardson Gang, a London crime gang in the 1960s
* Richardson Dilworth, Mayor of Philadelphia (1956-1962)
Places Australia
* Richardson, Australian Cap ...
, the British Trade Envoy to Tibet in the 1940s, agrees with Tibetan authors, stating there was little difference between the rich and the poor.
[Powers 2004, pg. 22]
Journalist Thomas Laird notes that scholars debate the applicability of these terms to Tibet, and struggle with a lack of sufficient data.
[Laird 2006, pp.317–9] Journalist Barbara Crossette asserted in 1998 that "scholars of Tibet mostly agree that there has been no systematic serfdom in Tibet in centuries."
The Tibetan Government-in-Exile says about conditions in Tibet pre-Communism:
Traditional Tibetan society was, by no means, perfect and was in need of changes. The Dalai Lama and other Tibetan leaders have admitted as much. That is the reason why the Dalai Lama initiated far-reaching reforms in Tibet as soon as he assumed temporal authority. The traditional Tibetan society, however, was not nearly as bad as China would have us believe.
The academic debate
The academic debate as to whether "serf" is an applicable term for a society such as pre-1950 Tibet continues to this day. Goldstein and Miller's exchanges in an academic journal between 1986 and 1989 were a notable part of this debate. The applicability of the concept of serfdom to Tibet was debated between Melvyn Goldstein and anthropologist Beatrice D. Miller of Wisconsin University over a series of five articles in the ''Tibet Journal''. The debate was initiated by Goldstein in the XI edition of the ''Tibet Journal'', in which he defended his description of the features of Tibetan society as being very comparable to European serfdom. He based the comparison on the features of serfdom described by French historian Marc Bloch including:
* The status was hereditary.
* A serf, unlike a slave, had rights and possessed but did not own productive resources (land).
* The lord had the legal right to command his serfs, including judicial authority over him or her.
Goldstein argued that Tibetan society fulfilled all these requirements, and argued in detail against the specific diverging opinions of fellow scholars Miller, Micheal, Dargyay and Aziz. He underpinned his assertions by research, first hand accounts and case studies, and responded to criticisms which had been voiced by these researchers in the preceding years.
Only Miller responded in the next ''The Tibet Journal'', in a short letter, in 1987. She acknowledged Goldstein's scholarship, stating "Goldstein's article ... cannot be faulted. It is an outstanding example of his exemplary collection of fine data."
[Miller (1987) p.65] She disagreed however with his interpretation, specifically the use of the word "serf" and challenged him by asserting the following:
* That a lord also had obligations to the central government, so the specific obligations of a peasant (Tibetan: "mi ser") to a lord were only examples of societal obligations which everyone had.
* That the obligations owed to a lord were by the family collective, and not "personal" or individual.
[Miller (1987) p.66]
* That the obligations of a peasant were not so onerous as it was easy to run away.
[Miller (1987) pp.66–67]
In the following issue Goldstein replied in brief arguing:
* The nature of the lord's relation with the central government was radically different from the peasant/lord relation and not relevant to the peasant/lord relation he was discussing.
* While corvee obligations fell primarily on households, a peasant's legal status very much related to his person was hereditary and not rescindable.
* He pointed out that running away was illegal, punishable, and that European serfs also ran away.
* He strongly disagreed with Miller's assertion that the peasant/lord relation was fundamentally contractual.
In a later publication and response Goldstein agreed to differ on the use of the word "serf" to prevent a terminological discussion distracting from the examination of societal conditions. He argued that running away was an act of desperation severing familial, social and economic ties. He discussed the form of partial manumission known as "human lease" and argued that: it only temporarily freed from daily service but not occasional service at the lord's discretion; the payment of an annual fee decided by the lord was required; it was revocable at will by the lord. Thus he felt it was a very weak form of manumission.
Coleman, integrating Goldstein's research with subsequent work done by other scholars including Rebecca French, Graham Clarke, and Franz Michael, argues that Goldstein overemphasized the ''de jure'' status of the ''mi ser'' at the expense of ''de facto'' characteristics – a high degree of social and economic mobility, and hence autonomy; frequently successful negotiations with lords to improve their status; and flight from untenable situations such as unpayable debts and exorbitant labor requirements.
He concludes that "serf" is a misleading term for the Tibetan ''mi ser''.
Human rights in Tibet
In the political debate regarding the nature of pre-1950 Tibet, Chinese sources assert
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
abuses as a justification for the Communist invasion. Both before and after the Communist takeover of 1950 there have been examples of human rights abuses, both state-sanctioned and otherwise. The political debate associated with the Serfdom in Tibet controversy rests on whether these incidents justify the positions of the opposing parties. Sympathisers of the Chinese government's position view the pre-1950s abuses as justifying the Communist regime in the
Tibetan Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of Ü ...
. Supporters of the Tibetan Government in Exile argue that the 13th Dalai Lama had already effected reforms which were ahead of the world at the time, and that further reforms were underway, and no outside intervention was justified.
Prior to 1950
Judicial mutilation – principally the gouging out of eyes, and the cutting off of hands or feet – was formalized under the
Sakya
The ''Sakya'' (, 'pale earth') school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug. It is one of the Red Hat Orders along with the Nyingma and Kagyu.
Origins
Virūpa, 16th century. It depict ...
school as part of the 13th century Tibetan legal code, and was used as a legal punishment until being declared illegal in 1913 by a proclamation of the
13th Dalai Lama.
[Barnett 2008, pp. 81–83] In this same reform, the Dalai Lama banned capital punishment, making Tibet one of the first countries to do so (preceding, for instance, Switzerland, Britain, and France). The 14th Dalai Lama's brother
Jigme Norbu
Thubten Jigme Norbu () (August 16, 1922 – September 5, 2008), recognised as the Taktser Rinpoche, was a Tibetan people, Tibetan lama, writer, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and professor of Tibetan studies and was the eldest ...
reports that, along with these reforms, living conditions in jails were improved, with officials being designated to see that these conditions and rules were maintained."
[Norbu 1968, pg. 317.][Laird 2006, p. 244]
Incidents of mutilation have been recorded in Tibet in the period between the start of the 20th century and the Chinese occupation. Tibetan communist Phuntso Wangye recalled his anger at seeing freshly severed human ears hanging from the gate of the county headquarters in Damshung north of Lhasa in 1945.
Robert W. Ford, one of the few Westerners to have been appointed by the
Government of Tibet
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of Ü ...
at the time of ''de facto''
independent Tibet, spent five years in Tibet, from 1945 to 1950, before his arrest by the invading Chinese army. In his book ''Wind Between the Worlds: Captured in Tibet'', he writes
Former
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
member
Heinrich Harrer
Heinrich Harrer (; 6 July 1912 – 7 January 2006) was an Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, ''Oberscharführer'' in the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS), and author. He was a member of the four-man climbing team that made the first ascent of th ...
, who lived in Tibet at the same time (1944 to 1951), wrote in his book "Return to Tibet" that these treatments had already ceased at that time:
Because Tibetan Buddhism prohibits killing, mutilation and other extremely cruel punishments were widely used instead in old Tibet. The mutilation of top level Tibetan official
Lungshar in 1934 gave an example. Tsepon
Lungshar, an official educated in England, introduced reform in the 1920s; after losing a political struggle the reformist was sentenced to be blinded by having his eyeballs pulled out. "The method involved the placement of a smooth, round yak's knucklebone on each of the temples of the prisoner. These were then tied by leather thongs around the head and tightened by turning the thongs with a stick on top of the head until the eyeballs popped out. The mutilation was terribly bungled. Only one eyeball popped out, and eventually the ragyaba had to cut out the other eyeball with a knife. Boiling oil was then poured into the sockets to cauterize the wound."
[Demystifying Tibet: unlocking the secrets of the Land of the Snows pp. 127][A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1951, Melvyn C. Goldstein pp. 208–209] This was sufficiently unusual that the untouchables (''ragyaba'') carrying it out had no previous experience of the correct technique and had to rely on instructions heard from their parents. An attempt was made at anesthetizing the alleged criminal with intoxicants before performing the punishment, which unfortunately did not work well.
As late as 1949 the Tibetan government still sentenced people to mutilation. When a CIA officer
Douglas Mackiernan
Douglas Seymour Mackiernan (April 25, 1913 – April 29, 1950) was the first officer of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to be killed in the line of duty.
Early life and career
Mackiernan was born in Mexico City, Mexico, to an adventurous f ...
was killed against official entry permit, six Tibetan border guards were tried and sentenced in Lhasa. "The leader was to have his nose and both ears cut off. The man who fired the first shot was to lose both ears. A third man was to lose one ear, and the others were to get 50 lashes each." The sentence was reduced to 200, 50 and 25 lashes, respectively, after another CIA agent
Frank Bessac
Francis Bagnall Bessac (pronounced bih-ZAK; January 13, 1922 – December 6, 2010) was an American anthropology, anthropologist who spent much of his life teaching the subject at the University of Montana, where he was appointed to the faculty ...
requested leniency.
Whipping was legal and common as punishment in Tibet including in the 20th century, also for minor infractions and outside judicial processes. Whipping could also have fatal consequences, as in the case of the trader Gyebo Sherpa subjected to the severe ''corca'' whipping for selling cigarettes. He died from his wounds 2 days later in the Potala prison. The Tibetan tibetologist
Tashi Tsering records being whipped as a 13-year-old for missing a performance as a dancer in the Dalai Lama's dance troop in 1942, until the skin split and the pain became excruciating.
The
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
states that
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
were 'severely infringed upon' by the
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
's administration. The evidence for these accusations is disputed.
According to writer Rebecca French, Tibetans viewed criminal offenses as uncommon, but there are few records to establish frequency. However, Tibetans also believe that theft and banditry were common especially along trade routes.
[French (1995) p.315-316] Because it was considered harsh by most Tibetans, they tended to seek alternative settlements and leniency from local courts instead of pursuing government action in disputes. Local officials were also more likely to find peaceful outcomes in a community setting than to resort to harsher government resolution.
Political power could play a role in a judicial process in Tibet. In the eye gouging case above the alleged criminal was a deposed member of the Kashag called Lungshar who had proposed democratic reform. The charge was planning a coup and the attempted murder of another Kashag member who opposed reform. It was strenuously denied by the accused. Conviction was based on the evidence of one informer who claimed to have seen a document which was never produced. He was richly rewarded, and the trial seems to have been a show trial by traditionalists seeking to prevent reform. From arrest to execution of the sentence was only ten days, limiting the possibilities of appeal.
One evidence of Chinese brutality in Eastern Tibet was reported by an American missionary in the following terms:
There is no method of torture known that is not practiced in here on these Tibetans, slicing, 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 and loot and steal.
Believing that the American missionary's account might be a mistake, Sir Eric Teichman, a British diplomat, noted that whatever brutality existed, it was "in no way due to any action of the Chinese government in Peking or the provincial authorities in Szechuana."
Slavery
Israel Epstein
Israel Epstein (20 April 1915 – 26 May 2005) was a Polish-born Chinese journalist and author. He was one of the few foreign-born Chinese citizens of non-Chinese origin to become a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
Early life and educatio ...
wrote that prior to the Communist takeover, poverty in Tibet was so severe that in some of the worst cases peasants had to hand over children to the manor as household slaves or
nangzan, because they were too poor to raise them.
[Epstein 1983, pg. 46] On the other hand, Laird asserted that in the 1940s Tibetan peasants were well off and immune to famine, whereas starvation was common in China.
[Laird 2006, pp. 318–9] According to other sources, the so-called "slaves" were domestic servants (nangtsen) and managers of estates in reality.
In 1904, a
British expeditionary force occupied the
Chumbi Valley
The Chumbi Valley, called Dromo or Tromo in Tibetan,
is a valley in the Himalayas that projects southwards from the Tibetan plateau, intervening between Sikkim and Bhutan. It is coextensive with the administrative unit Yadong County in the Ti ...
for four years, in the border region adjacent to Bhutan and India.
Sir Charles Bell
Sir Charles Bell (12 November 177428 April 1842) was a Scottish surgeon, anatomist, physiologist, neurologist, artist, and philosophical theologian. He is noted for discovering the difference between sensory nerves and motor nerves in the s ...
was put in charge of the district from September 1904 to November 1905 and wrote that slavery was still practiced in Chumbi but had declined greatly over the previous thirty years. He noted that only a dozen or two dozen slaves remained, unlike nearby
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
where
slavery was more widespread. Bell further remarked, "The slavery in the Chumpi valley was of a very mild type. If a slave was not well treated, it was easy for him to escape into
Sikkim
Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...
and
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
."
Tibetan welfare after the Chinese takeover
Just as the Chinese and the Tibetan exile community argue over whether common Tibetans suffered or flourished before the Chinese takeover, they take diametrically opposing views on the fate of ordinary Tibetans since 1950. This is understood to be highly important in persuading readers of the legitimacy or illegitimacy of Chinese rule. Chinese sources in English claim rapid progress for prosperous, free, and happy Tibetans participating in democratic reforms. Tibetans, on the other hand, write of Chinese genocide in Tibet, comparing the Chinese to the Nazis.
[Powers 2004, pp. 11–12] After the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
, according to Powers, scholar Warren Smith, whose work became focused on Tibetan history and politics after spending five months in Tibet in 1982, portrays the Chinese as chauvinists who believe they are superior to the Tibetans, and claims that the Chinese use torture, coercion and starvation to control the Tibetans.
[Powers 2004, pp. 23–24]
The Tibet Autonomous Region is much poorer than other provinces of China. In 1980, in order to help Tibet out of poverty, the 1st Tibet Work Forum (moderated by
Hu Yaobang
Hu Yaobang (; 20 November 1915 – 15 April 1989) was a high-ranking official of the People's Republic of China. He held the top office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1981 to 1987, first as Chairman from 1981 to 1982, then as Genera ...
, the
General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party
The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader o ...
), decided to give the Tibet Autonomous Region financial support, in order to build a "united, prosperous, civilized new Tibet". After this Forum, in the Tibet Autonomous Region, all taxes on agriculture and animal husbandry were waived, while other provinces had to wait until 2006 for the same. The old “
people's commune
The people's commune () was the highest of three administrative levels in rural areas of the People's Republic of China during the period from 1958 to 1983, until they were replaced by townships. Communes, the largest collective units, were div ...
” economic system was dismantled (while in other provinces it was ended in 1985), so farmland started to be used by the household, and livestock started to be owned and used by the household. In the People's Republic of China, the Tibet Autonomous Region is the only provincial level administrative region that enjoys some tax incentives, and after 1988 is the only provincial level administrative region that receives growing substantial quota subsidies from the central government. Under the "partner assistance" policy, all the rich provinces and municipalities directly under the Central Government, most of the Central Government organs, and some central enterprises respectively assist the prefectures and cities of the Tibet Autonomous Region. With this assistance, in 1988, the Tibet Autonomous Region eliminated its fiscal deficit for the first time in history. As the only provincial level "poverty-stricken areas which lie in vast, contiguous stretches" in the People's Republic of China, the Tibet Autonomous Region developed a lot of anti-poverty programs, and the impoverished population has been shrinking substantially. However, there are still many difficulties in poverty reduction.Until the end of 2012, the social security system in the Tibet Autonomous Region has been completely established. This system not only includes ordinary people, but also all the 29,000 monks and nuns of Tibetan Buddhism in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
There is also evidence of human rights infringements, including the 2006
Nangpa La shootings
The Nangpa La shooting incident occurred on 30 September 2006 when a group of unarmed Tibetan refugees attempting to flee Tibet via the Nangpa La pass were fired upon by Chinese border guards. Jonathan Green. ''Murder in the High Himalaya''. 2010 ...
. See
human rights in the People's Republic of China
Human rights in mainland China are periodically reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), on which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Government of China, government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and various fore ...
and
Human rights in Tibet Human rights in Tibet are a contentious issue. Although the United States advocates and provided funds to Dalai Lama's independence movement, the United States does not recognize Tibet as a country.US State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rig ...
(include all the Tibetan areas) for an overview. The ''Human Rights Watch World Report 2008: Events in China 2007'' states:
Widespread and numerous instances of repression target ordinary citizens, monks, nuns, and even children in an effort to quash alleged "separatism." Seven Tibetan boys in Gansu province
Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province.
The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibeta ...
were detained for over a month in early September after they allegedly wrote slogans on the walls of a village police station and elsewhere calling for the return of the Dalai Lama and a free Tibet. Ronggyal Adrak was detained and charged under state security offenses by police on August 1 after he called for the Dalai Lama's return at a horse race festival in Sichuan province
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
. He is awaiting trial. The Chinese government has failed to bring to justice those responsible for the shooting death by People's Armed Police officers of a 17-year-old nun, Kelsang Namtso, while trying to cross the border into Nepal on September 30, 2006.
It is notable in this report that most of the examples are not in the
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...
, but in other provinces of China, such as Gansu Province and Sichuan Province (Tibetan areas in Sichuan are the eastern part of Kham). These areas (i.e. the Tibetan areas in Sichuan Province, Gansu Province, Yunnan Province and Qinghai Province) were not included in political Tibet, so they were not involved in the Serfs' Emancipation, which was in the Tibet Autonomous Region. During the "
reform and opening up
The Chinese economic reform or reform and opening-up (), known in the West as the opening of China, is the program of economic reforms termed " Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and "socialist market economy" in the People's Republic of Ch ...
" after 1978, when the central government of the PRC gave numerous support policies and substantial financial support to the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Tibetan areas in the four provinces did not get the same. Although some of them (such as the
Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, also known as Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (; ) is an autonomous prefecture in Northwestern Yunnan Province, China. It has an area of . Its capital, which is also the largest city in the prefecture, ...
in Yunnan) are rich enough, others of them are not rich, and some of them in Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai are poor enough. The Tibetan areas in the four provinces ask the central government to benefit them as the Tibet Autonomous Region. And the poverty in these areas makes some of their Tibetan residents support the idea of "
Greater Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
" which is claimed by Tibetan exile groups.
In 2010, on the 5th Tibet Work Forum, the central government declared its intention to make the Tibetan areas in the four provinces steadily progress as well as the Tibet Autonomous Region. The goal is to bring the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Tibetan areas in the four provinces in line together with the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-around way in 2020.
Comparison to other regions
Debate continues as to whether pre-1950 Tibetan society was especially oppressive or was comparable to, or better than, similar social structures in nearby regions. According to the Tibetan Government-in-Exile: "In terms of social mobility and wealth distribution, independent Tibet compared favourably with most Asian countries"
the fact that most
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
s, including
Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama and
Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
, came from
peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...
families being cited as an example of this. Travelers who witnessed conditions in both China and Tibet in the 1940s found the Tibetan peasants to be far better off than their Chinese counterparts.
[Laird 2006, pp. 318–9] Academics debate whether tribal cultures, such as the Mongolian nomadic steppe culture, are feudal in nature. Much of
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
n,
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
and
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
political history is inter-related but the extent of their shared social culture is uncertain.
According to the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development,
bonded labor
Debt bondage, also known as debt slavery, bonded labour, or peonage, is the pledge of a person's services as security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation. Where the terms of the repayment are not clearly or reasonably stated, the pe ...
and other forms of economic exploitation currently exist in nearby regions including India, Nepal,
[United Nations Research Institute for Social Development]
''Layers of Silence:Links between women's vulnerability, trafficking and HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh, India and Nepal''
Draft paper, 2002. Source (accessed: 17 June 2008), and several Chinese provinces.
Kamaiya
Kamaiya and Kamlari (also called Kamalari) were two traditional systems of bonded labour practised in the western Terai of Nepal. Both were abolished after protests, in 2000 and 2006 respectively.
Origins
The system of bonded labour existed in ...
, the bonded labour system in neighbouring
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
, was formally abolished in the year 2000.
In 2007
Shanxi
Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
, China was the scene of its own
slave scandal that turned out to involve
human trafficking
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...
and
slave
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
labor in
Hebei
Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...
,
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
and
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
provinces as well. According to the U.S. Dept of State "Trafficking in Persons Report 2008,"
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
,
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
,
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
and
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
are all Tier 2 countries, with China and India both on the Tier 2 watchlist. However no local regions are in Tier 3.
See also
*
2007 Chinese slave scandal
The 2007 Chinese slave scandal () was a series of forced labour cases in Shanxi, China. Thousands of Chinese people including many children had been forced to work as slaves in illegal brickyards, and were tortured by the owners of the brickyards ...
*
Battle of Chamdo
The Battle of Chamdo (or Qamdo; ) occurred from 6 to 24 October 1950. It was a military campaign by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to take the Chamdo Region from a ''de facto'' independent Tibetan state.Shakya 1999 pp.28–32. The campai ...
*
Serfs Emancipation Day
Serfs' Emancipation Day, observed annually on 28 March, is a holiday in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China that celebrates the emancipation of serfs in Tibet. The holiday was adopted by the Tibetan legislature on 19 January 2009, and was pro ...
*
Tibetan sovereignty debate
The Tibetan sovereignty debate refers to two political debates. The first political debate is about whether or not the various territories which are within the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) that are claimed as political Tibet should separ ...
*
Tibetan Uprising Day
Tibetan Uprising Day, observed on March 10, Congressional Record: March 10, 2004 (Senate). Page S2538-S2539.Iyer 2008, pg. 225 commemorates the 1959 Tibetan uprising against the presence of the People's Republic of China in Tibet. The failure of ...
Notes
References
*Barnett, Robert
19: ''What were the conditions regarding human rights in Tibet before democratic reform? (Questions 12, 13, and 92, 2001)' in: Blondeau, Anne-Marie and Buffetrille, Katia (eds). ''Authenticating Tibet: Answers to China's 100 Questions'' (2008) University of California Press. (cloth); (paper).
*Bell, Charles
''Tibet Past and Present''*
*Crossette, Barbara (1998
in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' 5 July 1998
*Dalai Lama, Freedom in Exile (NY: HarperPerennial edition, 1991)
*Epstein, Israel. ''Tibet Transformed'' (1983) New World Press.
*
*French, Rebecca Redwood ''The Golden Yoke: The Legal Cosmology of Buddhist Tibet'' (1995) Cornell University Press.
*
*
*Goldstein, Melvyn. ''Central Asiatic Journal'' (1971). ''Taxation and the Structure of a Tibetan village''.
*Goldstein, Melvyn C. ''Reexamining Choice, Dependency and Command in the Tibetan Social System: "Tax Appendages" and Other Landless Serfs''. ''The Tibet Journal'' 11, no. 4 (1986) pp. 79–112. Available online at
*Goldstein, Melvyn C. ''A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State'' (1989) University of California Press.
*Goldstein, Melvyn C. ''The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama'' (1997) University of California Press.
*Goldstein, Melvyn C., Tsering, Tashi, and Siebenschuh, William. ''The Struggle for Modern Tibet: The Autobiography of Tashi Tsering'' (1997) East Gate.
*Goldstein, Melvyn C., Sherap, Dawei, and Siebenschuh, William. ''A Tibetan Revolutionary: The Political Life and Times of Bapa Phüntso Wangye'' (2004) UC Press.
*Iyer, Pico. ''The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama'' (2008) Bloomsbury.
*Laird, Thomas. ''The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama'' (2006) Grove Press.
*Norbu, Thubten Jigme and Turnbull, Colin M. ''Tibet: An account of the history, the religion and the people of Tibet'' (1968) Touchstone Books. New York.
*Petech, Luciano. ''China and Tibet in Early Eighteenth Century: History of the Establishment of the Chinese Protectorate in Tibet'' (1973) Hyperion Press.
*Pinfold, John. ''Tibet'' World Bibliographical Series (1991)
*Powers, John. ''History as Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles versus the People's Republic of China'' (2004) Oxford University Press.
*Smith, Warren W., Jr. ''Tibetan Nation: A History Of Tibetan Nationalism And Sino-Tibetan Relations'' (1997) Westview press.
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{{Tibet related articles
Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China
Buddhism-related controversies
Controversies in Tibet
Feudalism in Asia
Political science
Politics of Tibet
Serfdom
Tibetan independence movement