![Tibet Peaceful Liberation Monument, Potala Square](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Tibet_Peaceful_Liberation_Monument%2C_Potala_Square.jpg)
Sinicization of Tibet includes the programs and laws of the
Chinese government
The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...
and the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
(CCP) which force "cultural unity" in Tibetan areas of
China, including the
Tibet 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 à ...
and surrounding
Tibetan-designated autonomous areas
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αá½Ï„ο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...
. The efforts are undertaken by China in order to remake Tibetan culture into mainstream Chinese culture.
The changes, which have been evident since the
annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China
Tibet came under the control of People's Republic of China (PRC) after the Government of Tibet signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which the 14th Dalai Lama ratified on 24 October 1951, but later repudiated on the grounds that he rendered his ...
in 1950–51, have been facilitated by a range of economic, social, cultural, religious and political reforms which have been introduced to Tibet by the Chinese government. Critics cite the government-sponsored migration of large numbers of
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctiv ...
into the Tibet Autonomous Region, deemed
Chinese settlements, as a major component of sinicization.
According to the
government of Tibet 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 ...
, Chinese policy has allegedly resulted in the disappearance of elements of
Tibetan culture
Tibet developed a distinct culture due to its geographic and climatic conditions. While influenced by neighboring cultures from China, India, and Nepal, the Himalayas, Himalayan region's remoteness and inaccessibility have preserved distinc ...
; this has been called "
cultural genocide
Cultural genocide or cultural cleansing is a concept which was proposed by lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944 as a component of genocide. Though the precise definition of ''cultural genocide'' remains contested, the Armenian Genocide Museum defines i ...
".
[Samdup, Tseten (1993]
Chinese population – Threat to Tibetan identity
The government in exile says that the policies intend to make Tibet an integral part of China and control desire for Tibetan
self-determination. The
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 ...
and the
Central Tibet Administration have characterized Sinicization programs as
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...
or
cultural cleansing.
The Chinese government maintains that its policies have benefited Tibet, and cultural and social changes are consequences of
modernization. According to the government, Tibet's economy has expanded; improved services and infrastructure have improved the quality of life of
Tibetans
The Tibetan people (; ) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 6.7 million. In addition to the majority living in Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans liv ...
, and the
Tibetan language Tibetan language may refer to:
* Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
* Lhasa Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dialect
* Any of the other Tibetic languages
See also
* Old Tibetan, the languag ...
and culture have been protected.
History
Early developments
After the fall of 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-spea ...
and before 1950, the region which roughly corresponds to the modern-day Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) was a ''
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' independent state although unrecognized by other states. It printed its own currency and postage, and maintained international relations although it did not exchange ambassadors with other nations. Tibet claimed three provinces (
Amdo
Amdo ( ”am˥˥.to˥˥ ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being U-Tsang in the west and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ãœ-Tsang. Amdo is also the ...
,
Kham and
Ü-Tsang
Ü-Tsang is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the others being Amdo in the north-east, and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Geographically Ü-Tsang covered ...
), but only controlled western Kham and Ü-Tsang. Since 1950, China made eastern Kham part of
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=SìchuÄn; 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 western Kham part of the new Tibet Autonomous Region.
During the early-20th-century
Republic of China era which followed the Qing dynasty, Chinese Muslim general 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 ...
governor
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 ...
is accused by Tibetans of implementing sinicization and
Islamification policies in Tibetan areas.
Forced conversion
Forced conversion is the adoption of a different religion or the adoption of irreligion under duress. Someone who has been forced to convert to a different religion or irreligion may continue, covertly, to adhere to the beliefs and practices which ...
and heavy taxes were reported under his rule. After
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
won the Chinese civil war in 1949, his goal was the unification of the "five nationalities" as the People's Republic of China under the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
. The Tibetan government in
Lhasa
Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhas ...
sent
Ngabo (known as Ngabo in English sources) to
Chamdo
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 in Karuo District. Chamdo is Tibet's third largest city ...
in Kham, a strategic town near the border, with orders to hold his position while reinforcements came from Lhasa to fight the Chinese. On 16 October 1950, news arrived that the People's Liberation Army was advancing towards Chamdo and had taken the town of Riwoche (which could block the route to Lhasa). Ngabo and his men retreated to a monastery, where the People's Liberation Army surrounded and captured them.
Ngabo wrote to Lhasa suggesting a peaceful surrender instead of war. According to the Chinese negotiator, "It is up to you to choose whether Tibet would be liberated peacefully or by force. It is only a matter of sending a telegram to the PLA group to recommence their march to Lhasa." Ngabo accepted Mao's
Seventeen-Point Agreement, which stipulated that in return for Tibet becoming part of the People's Republic of China, it would be granted
autonomy. Lacking support from the rest of the world, in August 1951 the Dalai Lama sent a telegram to Mao accepting the agreement. The delegates signed the agreement under duress, and the Tibetan's government's future was sealed.
![Mao Zedong receives Tibetan Buddhist prayer scarf from Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet in 1954 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Mao_Zedong_receives_Tibetan_Buddhist_prayer_scarf_from_Tenzin_Gyatso%2C_the_14th_Dalai_Lama_of_Tibet_in_1954_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Although the incorporation of Tibet into China is known in Chinese
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...
as the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, 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 D ...
considers it a colonization
and the
Tibetan Youth Congress
The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) is an international non-governmental organization that advocates the independence of Tibet from China. With around 30,000 members in the Tibetan diaspora, it is the largest of the pro-independence organizations o ...
agrees that it was also an invasion. The Chinese government points to improvements in health and the economy as justifications for their assertion of power in what it calls a historically-Chinese region. According to the Dalai Lama, China has encouraged
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctiv ...
immigration into the region.
Before the agreement, Tibet's economy was dominated by
subsistence agriculture and the stationing of 35,000 Chinese troops during the 1950s strained the region's food supplies. When the Dalai Lama visited Mao Zedong in Beijing in 1954, Mao told him that he would move 40,000 Chinese farmers to Tibet.
As part of the 1960s
Great Leap Forward, Chinese authorities coerced Tibetan farmers to cultivate maize instead of barley (the region's traditional crop). The harvest failed, and thousands of Tibetans starved.
[Shakya, Tsering (1999) ''The Dragon in the Land of Snows'', Columbia University Press, ][Stein, Rolf (1972) ''Tibetan Civilization'', Stanford University Press, ]
Cultural Revolution
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 goa ...
, involving students and laborers of the Chinese Communist Party, was initiated by Mao and carried out by the
Gang of Four from 1966 to 1976 to preserve
Maoism
Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...
as China's leading ideology. It was an intra-CCP struggle to eliminate political opposition to Mao.
[MacFarquhar, Roderick & Michael Schoenhals (2006) ''Mao's Last Revolution'', Harvard University Press, , p. 102]
The Cultural Revolution affected all of China, and Tibet suffered as a result.
Red Guards
Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...
attacked civilians, who were accused of being traitors to communism. More than six thousand monasteries were looted and destroyed. Monks and nuns were forced to leave their monasteries to "live a normal life", with those who resisted imprisoned. Prisoners were forced to perform hard labor, tortured and executed. Although the
Potala Palace
The Potala Palace is a ''dzong'' fortress in Lhasa, Tibet. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and a World Heritage Site since 1994.
The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythic ...
was threatened, Premier
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 January 1976. Zhou served under Chairman Ma ...
intervened and restrained the Tibetan Red Guards.
Recent developments
![Tibet CCTV Surveillance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Tibet_CCTV_Surveillance.jpg)
China's National Strategic Project to Develop the West, introduced during the 1980s after the Cultural Revolution, encourages the migration of Chinese people from other regions of China into Tibet with bonuses and favorable living conditions. People volunteer to be sent there as teachers, doctors and administrators to assist Tibet's development.
Citing an unqualified labour force and less-developed infrastructure, the Chinese government has encouraged migrants to stimulate competition and change Tibet from a traditional to a market economy with
economic reforms set forth by
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CCP ...
.
Tibetans are the majority ethnic group in the Tibet Autonomous Region, making up about 93 percent of the population in 2008.
The 2008 attacks by Tibetans on Han- and Hui-owned property were reportedly due to the large Han Hui influx into Tibet.
According to George Fitzherbert, "To engage with China's arguments concerning Tibet is to be subjected to the kind of intellectual entrapment, familiar in the Palestinian conflict, whereby the dispute is corralled into questions which the plaintiff had never sought to dispute. Tibetans complain of being robbed of their dignity in their homeland by having their genuinely loved leader incessantly denounced, and of being swamped by Chinese immigration to the point of becoming a minority in their own country. But China insistently condemns such complaints as separatism, an offence in China under the crime of 'undermining national unity', and pulls the debate back to one about Tibet's historical status. Foreigners raise questions about human rights and the environment, but China again denounces this as a foreign intervention in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation, and pulls the debate back to Tibet's historical status."
The Chinese government has attempted to develop Tibet as part of its
China Western Development
China Western Development (), also Great Western Development Strategy or the Open Up the West Program, is a policy adopted for the Western China.
The policy covers 6 provinces ( Gansu, Guizhou, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Yunnan), 5 au ...
policy and has invested 310 billion yuan (about 45.6 billion U.S. dollars) in Tibet since 2001. In 2009 it invested over $7 billion into the region, 31 percent more than the previous year. The
Qinghai-Tibet Railway was completed in 2006 at a cost of $3.68 billion, leading to increased tourism from the rest of China. The Shanghai government contributed $8.6 million to the construction of the Tibet Shanghai Experimental School, where 1,500 Tibetan students receive a primarily-Chinese education. Some young Tibetans feel that they are Tibetan and Chinese, and are fluent in Tibetan and
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
.
In August 2020,
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 ...
Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, ...
gave a speech in which he stated that it is "necessary to actively guide Tibetan Buddhism to adapt to the socialist society and promote the Sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism."
In August 2021, the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
reported that
Wang Yang stated in front of the Potala Palace that efforts are needed to ensure that Tibetans share the "cultural symbols and images of the Chinese nation."
Religion
The Chinese government claims it will control how the 15th Dalai Lama will be chosen, contrary to centuries of tradition. Chinese government officials repeatedly warn "that he must reincarnate, and on their terms."
When the Dalai Lama confirmed a Tibetan boy in 1995 as the reincarnation of the
Panchen Lama
The Panchen Lama () is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas, h ...
, the second-ranking leader of the
Gelugpa
240px, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Bodhgaya (India).
The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous")Kay, David N. (2007). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantati ...
sect, the Chinese government took away the boy and his parents and installed its own child lama. The Dalai Lama's choice,
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima (born 25 April 1989) is the Dalai Lama appointed 11th Panchen Lama belonging to the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Central Government of China rejected such appointment. The 14th Dalai Lama recognized and announce ...
's whereabouts are still unknown. The Chinese government claimed he has a "stable" job and a “normal†life. In 2020
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that "
Tibetan Buddhists
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 ...
, like members of all faith communities, must be able to select, educate and venerate their religious leaders according to their traditions and without government interference," "We call on the PRC government to immediately make public the Panchen Lama's whereabouts and to uphold its own constitution and international commitments to promote religious freedom for all persons." The head of the
Kagyu sect, the
Karmapa
The Karmapa (honorific title ''His Holiness the Gyalwa'' ½¢à¾’ྱལ་བ་, Victorious One''Karmapa'', more formally as ''Gyalwang'' ½¢à¾’ྱལ་དབང་ཀརྨ་པ་, King of Victorious Ones''Karmapa'', and informally as the '' ...
Ogyen Trinley Dorje
Ogyen Trinley Dorje (, ; born 26 June 1985), also written as Urgyen Trinley Dorje () is a claimant to the title of 17th Karmapa.
The Karmapa is head of the Karma Kagyu school, one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Ogyen Trinley Do ...
, was also groomed by Chinese leaders, but at age 14 he fled to India in 1999.
Within Tibet, schools issue warnings to parents that students should not be attending classes at monasteries, a long-standing tradition, or engage in any religious activity. Punishments for doing so are severe, including loss of government welfare and subsidies.
The practice of removing
prayer flags
A Tibetan prayer flag is a colorful rectangular cloth, often found strung along trails and peaks high in the Himalayas. They are used to bless the surrounding countryside and for other purposes. Prayer flags are believed to have originated withi ...
, symbols of Tibetan culture and religious belief, has increased since 2010 as the persecution of religion escalates. In June 2020 Chinese authorities started a “behavioral reform,†program, begun in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Qinghai's Golog (in Chinese, Guoluo) and Tengchen (Dingqing) county in Chamdo, ordering the destruction of prayer flags. The 2019
Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is a Tibetan non-governmental nonprofit human rights organization.
The TCHRD investigates and reports on human rights issues in Tibet and among Tibetan minorities throughout China. It i ...
annual report found that Chinese police forces and surveillance teams moved into monasteries and villages to monitor Tibetan residents for signs of opposition to China's rule, “
facial-recognition software and careful
monitoring of digital spaces eredeployed to suppress political protests against the increased clampdowns on civil and political rights.â€
According to the
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is a U.S. federal government commission created by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the lead ...
, during the summer of 2019, the Chinese authorities demolished thousands of residences at the Yachen Gar Tibetan Buddhist center in Sichuan Province, displacing as many as 6,000 monks and nuns. In April 2019, China authorities closed the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy to new enrollment. Authorities also intensified a crackdown on possessing or displaying photos of the Dalai Lama, continued to monitor religious festivals, and, in some areas, banned students from attending festivals during their school holidays. In protest of repressive government policies, at least 156 Tibetans have self-immolated since February 2009.
Education, employment and language
The
Chinese Constitution
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the supreme law of the People's Republic of China. It was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982, with further revisions about every five years. It is the fou ...
guarantees autonomy in ethnic regions and says local governments should use the languages in common use. Since 1949 the Chinese government has used the minority-education system for Tibetans to acquire the Chinese language, considered a key tool of Sinicization pressure, contrary to UNESCO policy on cultural and linguistic diversity. Beginning in the early 2000s, there had been a process of Tibetanization of Tibetan education in Qinghai's Tibetan regions. Through grassroots initiatives by Tibetan educators, Tibetan had been somewhat available as the main language of instruction in primary, secondary and tertiary education in
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 ...
. Tibetan language in Qinghai remains even more marginalized in education and government employment, with a small number of public-service positions mandating a Tibetan degree or Tibetan language skills.
In 1987, the Tibet Autonomous Region published more explicit regulations calling for Tibetan to be the main language in schools, government offices and shops. Those regulations were eliminated in 2002 and state language policies and practices “jeopardize the continuing viability†of Tibetan civilization. In Tibetan areas, official affairs are conducted primarily in Chinese. It is common to see banners promoting the use of Chinese. Monasteries and schools often held classes on the written language for ordinary people, and monks gave lessons while traveling, but officials ordered monasteries and schools to end the classes. The Chinese Communist Party issued orders in December 2018 forbidding informal classes taught by Tibetan monks or other unapproved groups, and ordered schools to stop teaching all subjects in Tibetan, except the Tibetan language in first grade classes, in May 2019 in Golog, in Chinese, Guoluo, Tibet Autonomous Region.
Tibetan entrepreneur and education advocate
Tashi Wangchuk was detained for two years and then indicted in 2017 by court officials after speaking to The New York Times for a documentary video and two articles on Tibetan education and culture.
Tibetan ''neidi'' or boarding schools, in operation since 1985, have been increasing enrollment rapidly. Tibetan children are removed from their families, and Tibetan religious and cultural influences, and placed in Tibetan only boarding schools across China, well outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. Older students are allowed to leave the campus only if accompanied by a teacher.
Chinese government policy requires only Tibetan government job candidates to disavow any allegiance to the Dalai Lama and support government ethnic policies, as announced in October 2019 on the
TAR
Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...
government's online education platform, “Support the (Communist) Party's leadership, resolutely implement the
hinese CommunistParty's line, line of approach, policies, and the guiding ideology of Tibet work in the new era; align ideologically, politically, and in action with the Party Central Committee; oppose any splittist (division of Tibet from P.R.C.) tendencies; expose and criticize the Dalai Lama; safeguard the unity of the motherland and ethnic unity and take a firm stand on political issues, taking a clear and distinct stand.â€
In April 2020, classroom instruction was switched from Tibetan to Mandarin Chinese in
Ngaba, Sichuan.
Nomadic herders resettlement
The Chinese government launched an initiative that demanded the nomads to relocate to urban housing in newly constructed villages in 2003. At the end of 2015, in "what amounts to one of the most ambitious attempts made at social engineering, the Chinese government is in the final stages of a 15-year-old campaign to settle the millions of pastoralists who once roamed China's vast borderlands," the Chinese government claimed it will have moved the remaining 1.2 million nomad herders into towns that provide access to schools, electricity and modern health care. This policy, based on the government view that grazing harms grasslands, has been questioned by ecologists in China and abroad claiming the scientific foundations of nomad resettlement are questionable. Anthropological studies of government-built relocation centers have documented chronic unemployment, alcoholism and the fraying of millenniums-old traditions. Human rights advocates say the many protests by herders are met with harsh crackdowns by security forces.
In a 2011 report, the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food is a Special Rapporteur who works for the United Nations and reports on the right to food. The mandate was established in 2000 by the former Commission on Human Rights which appointed the first Rapporteu ...
, criticized China's nomad resettlement policies as overly coercive and said they led to "increased poverty, environmental degradation and social breakdown".
In 2017 Tibetan nomads previously forced from traditional grazing lands in a state-directed resettlement scheme in Qinghai were told to go back due to a new policy announced in 2016, so authorities could use their current homes for development as tourist centers and government employees housing. "After two years of living in the new towns, residents are now being forced to move back to their original grasslands without their animals, which are the main source of livelihood in Tibetan nomadic communities".
Population growth
![Butter Market, Lhasa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Butter_Market%2C_Lhasa.jpg)
Government-sponsored
Chinese settlements in Tibet has changed the demographics in population. In 1949, there were between 300 and 400 Han-Chinese residents in Lhasa. In 1950, the city covered less than three square kilometres and had around 30,000 inhabitants; the Potala Palace and the village of Zhöl below it were considered separate from the city. In 1953, according to the first population census, Lhasa had about 30,000 residents (including 4,000 beggars, but not including 15,000 monks).
In 1992 Lhasa's permanent population was estimated at a little under 140,000, including 96,431 Tibetans, 40,387 Han-Chinese, and 2,998
Chinese Muslims
Islam has been practiced in China since the 7th century CE.. Muslims are a minority group in China, representing 1.6-2 percent of the total population (21,667,000- 28,210,795) according to various estimates. Though Hui Muslims are the most nume ...
and others. Added to that figure were 60,000–80,000 temporary residents, primarily Tibetan pilgrims and traders.
Debate on the intention of the PRC
In 1989, high-profile French
criminal lawyer
Robert Badinter
Robert Badinter (; born 30 March 1928) is a French lawyer, politician and author who enacted the abolition of the death penalty in France in 1981, while serving as Minister of Justice under François Mitterrand. He has also served in high-lev ...
participated in an episode of ''
Apostrophes'' (a well-known French television program devoted to human rights) with the Dalai Lama. Referring to the disappearance of Tibetan culture, Badinter used the phrase "
cultural genocide
Cultural genocide or cultural cleansing is a concept which was proposed by lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944 as a component of genocide. Though the precise definition of ''cultural genocide'' remains contested, the Armenian Genocide Museum defines i ...
". In 1993, the Dalai Lama used the same phrase to describe the destruction of Tibetan culture. During the
2008 Tibetan unrest
8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9.
In mathematics
8 is:
* a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2.
* a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number o ...
, he accused the Chinese of cultural genocide in their crackdown.
In 2008,
Robert Barnett, director of the Program for Tibetan Studies at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, said that it was time for accusations of cultural genocide to be dropped: "I think we have to get over any suggestion that the Chinese are ill-intentioned or trying to wipe out Tibet." Barnett voiced his doubts in a review in the ''New York Review of Books'': "Why, if Tibetan culture within Tibet is being 'fast erased from existence',
oso many Tibetans within Tibet still appear to have a more vigorous cultural life, with over a hundred literary magazines in Tibetan, than their exile counterparts?"
[Robert Barnett]
Thunder from Tibet
a review of 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 ...
's book, ''The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama'', Knopf, 275 p. , in ''The New York Review of Books'', vol. 55, number 9. 29 May 2008.
See also
*
Chinese settlements in Tibet
*
Protests and uprisings in Tibet since 1950
*
History of Tibet (1950–present)
The history of Tibet from 1950 to the present includes the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950, and the Battle of Chamdo. Before then, Tibet had been a ''de facto'' independent nation. In 1951, Tibetan representatives in Beijing signed the Seven ...
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Chen Quanguo
Chen Quanguo (; born November 1955) is a retiring Chinese politician and the current deputy head of the CCP Central Rural Work Leading Group. Between 2017 and 2022, he was a member of the 19th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and was pre ...
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70,000 Character Petition
The 70,000 Character Petition ( bo, text=ཡིག་འབྲུ་à½à¾²à½²à¼‹à½–དུན་གྱི་སྙན་ཞུ, translit=Yig 'bru khri bdun gyi snyan zhu ( Wylie)), size=150%, label=Tibetan () is a report, dated 18 May 1962, written ...
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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 ...
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Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is a Tibetan non-governmental nonprofit human rights organization.
The TCHRD investigates and reports on human rights issues in Tibet and among Tibetan minorities throughout China. It i ...
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Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama
Lobsang Trinley Lhündrub Chökyi Gyaltsen (born Gönbo Cêdän; 19 February 1938 – 28 January 1989) was the tenth Panchen Lama, officially the 10th Panchen Erdeni (), of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. According to Tibetan Buddhism, ...
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Freedom of religion in China#Buddhism
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Chinese intelligence activity abroad#Modes of operation
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Religious persecution
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Han chauvinism
Han Chinese chauvinism is a political ideology that speaks out for the ethnic Han Chinese people and its uniqueness throughout history. Technically, it is slightly different from Chinese chauvinism, as it refers only to Han Chinese ethnicity wh ...
References
Citations
Sources
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Further reading
* Fischer, Andrew M
''Urban Fault Lines in Shangri-La: Population and economic foundations of inter-ethnic conflict in the Tibetan areas of Western China''Crisis States Working Paper No.42, 2004. London: Crisis States Research Centre (CSRC).
Kuzmin, S.L. ''Hidden Tibet: History of Independence and Occupation''. Dharamsala, LTWA, 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinicization of Tibet
Tibet
Cultural assimilation
Internal migration
Ethnic cleansing in Asia
Racism in China
Political repression in China
Human rights of ethnic minorities in China
Linguistic discrimination
Language policy in Tibet
Human rights abuses in China