Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Over the centuries Tibet has suffered from ill-defined borders and a lack of internal unity,
with large parts of Amdo, Kham and Ngari and independent tribes like the Goloks only
nominally ruled by Lhasa.
Socialist Paradise on the Roof of the World
The Chinese quickly consolidated their quelling of the Lhasa uprising by taking control of
all the high passes between Tibet and India and disarming the Khampa guerrillas. As the
Chinese themselves put it, they were liberating Tibet from reactionary forces, freeing serfs
from the yoke of monastic oppression and ushering in a new equitable socialist society,
whether the Tibetans liked it or not.
The Chinese abolished the Tibetan government and set about reordering Tibetan society
in accordance with their Marxist principles. The monks and the aristocratic were put to
work on menial jobs and subjected to violent ideological struggle sessions, known as
thamzing,
which sometimes resulted in death. A ferment of class struggle was whipped up
and former feudal exploiters - towards some of whom Tibet's poor may have harboured
genuine resentment - were subjected to cruel punishments.
The Chinese also turned their attention to Tibet's several thousand 'feudal' monasteries,
lhakhangs and shrines. Tibetans were refused permission to donate food to the monaster-
ies, and monks were compelled to join struggle sessions, discard their robes and marry.
Monasteries were stripped of their riches, Buddhist scriptures were burnt and used as toilet
paper. The wholesale destruction of Tibet's monastic heritage began in earnest.
Notable in this litany of disasters was the Chinese decision to alter Tibetan farming
practices, as part of an economic 'Great Leap Forward'. Instead of barley, the Tibetan
staple, farmers were instructed to grow wheat and rice. Tibetans protested that these crops
were unsuited to Tibet's high altitude. They were right, and mass starvation resulted. It is
estimated that by late 1961, 70,000 Tibetans had died or were dying of starvation. Across
China it is estimated that up to 35 million people died.
By September 1961, even the Chinese-groomed Panchen Lama began to have a change
of heart. He presented Mao Zedong with a 70,000-character report on the hardships his
people were suffering and also requested, among other things, religious freedom and an
end to the sacking of Tibetan monasteries. Four years later he was to disappear into a high-
security prison for a 14-year stay. Many more would soon join him.
