https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9WeiR0HFXA
A podcast that gives a deeper understanding of Tibet through conversations with
Tibetans, China watchers, scholars, environmentalists, security policy specialists and
writers.
In this episode to mark International Day of the Disappeared, two Tibetan scholars
Tenzin Choekyi and Darig Thokmay join Kate Saunders to give personal insights into
writers and artists who have been ‘disappeared’ by China’s Party state, describing how
their writings endure and continue to influence Tibetans and Chinese, both in and
outside Tibet. They discuss the life and tragic death of 25-year old Tibetan pop singer
Tsewang Norbu, who set fire to himself in Lhasa on 25 February 2022.
Xi Jinping’s oppressive campaign to compel Tibetans to conform to a Chinese
cultural nationalism defined by the Party state mean that virtually any expression
of Tibetan identity can be branded as ‘reactionary’ or ‘splittist’ and penalized with
a long prison sentence, or worse.
Pop stars, artists and writers have been tortured and imprisoned in a drive
against ‘cultural products’ with suspect ideological content – such as songs
referring to the Dalai Lama. In music bars Tibetan performers are no longer
allowed to address the audience as ‘Tibetan brothers and sisters’ because it is
considered ‘subversive’ to the ‘unity of the nationalities’.
Tibetans in Tibet, including leading writers, intellectuals and singers, continue to
‘disappear,’ often being taken from their homes in the middle of the night to face
extreme brutality in black jails.
And yet despite the dangers and devastating experiences of loss, torture and
imprisonment, Tibetans continue to express a deeply-felt Tibetan identity and
hold fast to an unquenchable sense of ‘being Tibetan’.
On this podcast Tenzin Choekyi and Darig Thokmay give insights into the stories of
writers and artists in Tibet including:
Go Sherab Gyatso, also known as Gosher, is a prominent Tibetan writer, a passionate
educator, and a fiercely outspoken public intellectual. In October 2020, Gosher was
detained for the fourth time. He was held in incommunicado detention for over a year
before being handed a 10-year prison sentence in a secret trial in December 2021. In
August 2021, the Chinese government issued a response to the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights that denied his “enforced disappearance” and stated
that Gosher was suspected of “inciting secession.” Unlike other persecuted Tibetan
writers and intellectuals from Kham and Amdo, Gosher was arrested in Chengdu
(Sichuan) by secret security personnel from the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and
the recent verdict was issued in Lhasa. Gosher’s current whereabouts still remain
undisclosed, and his life is at risk. He suffers from a lung condition and is unlikely to be
receiving medical treatment. From: https://gosherabgyatso.com/
“Pondering generally on the contemporary situation of the Tibetans, we are going
through the cataclysm of forced cultural integration, both intentionally and unintentionally. In this thick climate of cultural assimilation, the environment and the people, language and culture, traditional customs, and so forth are all subjected to acute destruction and decline. As a result, if we are to resist this historical situation, based on
individual passion, talent, or ability, we must leave no stone unturned in gaining control
over the reins of our future. There is nothing more important than that.”
– Go Sherab Gyatso
Rongwo Gendun Lhundup, 48, was sentenced to four years in prison for "inciting
separatism" on Dec. 1, 2021. He was known to have been arrested by the police and
driven away in a black car in December 2020, while on his way to a religious debate in
Rebkong (Tongren), Malho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture,
Qinghai. Gendun had faced multiple interrogations in the past for criticizing China's
"Sinicization" of Tibetan Buddhism. Soon after the publication of his poems titled
"Khorwa" (a Tibetan Buddhist term for the cycle of life, matter and existence), he was
detained. His poem, "The One Born in the Year of Pig," in praise of the Dalai Lama, is
popularly loved by readers in Tibet.
Lobsang Lhundup, known by his pen name Dhi Lhaden, is serving four years in
prison on the charge of "disrupting social order". Such charges are commonly employed
by the Chinese Communist Party to silence dissent, instil fear, and preserve a culture of
censorship amongst Tibetan scholars. Arrested in June 2019 in Chengdu City, the
sentencing came after two years of incommunicado detention. Tibet Watch sources
report that the writer's trial was held in secret, without the presence of his friends or
family members. Those close to Lhundup suspect that his arrest was linked to his
involvement in teaching Tibetan history at a private cultural education centre in
Chengdu.
Dhi Lhaden's book, 'The Art of Passive Resistance', was released in 2008 and translated
into English in 2015. https://www.tibetwatch.org/news/2021/12/6/notable-tibetan-writer-
imprisoned-for-four-years-after-a-secret-trial Tibetan monk Rinchen Tsultrim was ‘disappeared on 27 July 2019 apparently for sending online messages and is known to be detained in Mianyang Prison in Sichuan
Province. His whereabouts were completely unknown for over a year and a half. In 2021,
Rinchen’s family were told Rinchen Tsultrim had been sentenced to four years and six
months in prison. https://savetibet.org/tibetan-monk-jailed-for-online-messages-detained-
in-mianyang-prison/
Highlights of podcast
Tenzin Choekyi opens by speaking about the life of Go Sherab Gyatso and other writers,
and their significance in Tibetan society: “Writers are themselves observing the changes
of society, they write what is happening around them and sometimes they very boldly
write their own life stories, which then becomes a portal for us Tibetans in the diaspora
to look into understanding contemporary Tibet. Writers have such an important place
everywhere in the world especially in places where a dictatorship imposes such
censorship.”
“It is really hard [to contemplate] the censorship inside Tibet – a surveillance state is
being deliberately created inside Tibet and China. Even the saddest poem or essay that we are able to read out here, I think there are far more sad and true stories, heartbreaking, that we have yet to hear.”
Darig Thokmay speaks about the important perspectives from Tibetans educated in
Chinese schools and universities, who might be expected to blend more into Chinese
society, but then begin to critique it, using the language of China’s Constitution and laws:
“For instance when [the writer] Shokjang was arrested in 2016 he wrote a very important
letter to a local court – about how people could have freedom of speech, [criticizing]
China’s own constitution.” See High Peaks Pure Earth:
https://highpeakspureearth.com/should-one-follow-the-partys-instructions-by-shokjang/
Tenzin Choekyi: “Writers and artists live through the changes of time, they reflect what
the reality is but the Chinese Communist Party has only one vision of what so called
‘common prosperity’ of human beings should be – this phrase is being used widely by
Chinese state media – what is the version of reality, what you should speak, how you
should think, what you should not think. [The CCP] only intends to consolidate power
and knowledge, directed with a specific agenda. Writers and artists however are not
hungry for power, I think they seek to reflect life as it is. The Chinese Communist Party
are not willing to accept it or confront it so make a host of policies to silence it. It's the
refusal to open their imagination to freedom which everybody wants at the end of the
day.”
Thokmay explores the future of Tibetan literature, and the role of music in Tibet’s
freedom struggle. Since the uprisings of 2008, some songs have almost become
national anthems, part of Tibetan national identity. There has been another shift – music
has become more accessible to the public. While it used to cost a lot of money to do an
album, now anyone can publish online. Many Tibetans are moving into cities, from
traditional nomadic or mountain landscapes, and are developing new connections to
Tibetan culture.
The panel discusses the larger trends in self-immolations inside Tibet, and the
individuals who have set fire to themselves.
Darig Thokmay talks about the future for Tibetan literature – and how film-makers are
expanding the parameters of Tibetan cultural expression. Often they are basing their
films on well-known Tibetan novels, and they discuss questions of Tibetan identity at a deep level.
The self immolation of Tsewang Norbu
On 25 February, a young Tibetan man set fire to himself in front of the Dalai Lama’s
former home, the Potala Palace in Lhasa.
Both Tibetans and Chinese were shattered when they discovered that the young man
who had died was the famous and much loved pop singer, 25 year old Tsewang Norbu.
Tsewang Norbu was born on 9 October 1996, in Nagchu, the Tibet Autonomous Region.
He was exposed to music and arts from an early age and developed a rare dedication to
it. Norbu was known for singing modern, folk, popular, traditional and many other types
of songs – he also wrote and composed them.
In 2017, he was one of the finalists in a major Chinese TV show with his song ‘Nomad’s
Ballad’. He also performed on the major platform ‘Voice of China’ with a song called
‘Returning Home’. His deep love of Tibet and Tibetan culture shine through the lyrics.
On the day of his self-immolation, in his last social media post, Tsewang Norbu
expressed gratitude to his fans for their comments and messages about his most recent
song. There was an outpouring of grief on social media, quickly blocked and censored.
Tsewang Norbu had grown up watching his father, Choegyen, compose and create
music. In May, compounding the tragedy, Choegyen committed suicide following threats
and intimidation from Chinese police after his son's self immolation.
Tsewang Norbu's uplifting song Returning Home has been subtitled in English by High
Peaks Pure Earth: https://highpeakspureearth.com/my-beautiful-homeland-tibet-the-life-
and-music-of-tsewang-norbu/
Extracts from works cited on the podcast:
Go Sherab Gyatso wrote in tribute to Dr Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who tried
to issue early warnings about COVID but was told by police in December 2019 to stop
“making false comments”. Dr Li contracted the virus while working at Wuhan Central
Hospital and later died.
“Unfortunately, as a consequence of persecuting this and similar courageous
expressions of truth, the black tempest of the pandemic raged in all directions. Like the
thousands of lives, Mr. Li Wenliang also evaporated into the black tempest. I mourn in
helplessness. All I could do is to supplicate and pray for them to Bodhisattva
Avalokiteshvara.
Anyhow, since the wish of this honorable physician was to protect people from dying and
suffering from this pandemic, the most fitting way to commemorate this noble being is to
do our best at mitigating the spread of this epidemic.”
–Go Sherab Gyatso, February 7 2020, https://highpeakspureearth.com/a-must-know-
person-go-sherab-gyatsos-tribute-to-dr-li-wenliang/
“In a year that turned out like a raging storm […] we could not remain idle. [We] did not
commit to the foolishness of smashing this egg against a rock and knowingly leaping into
an abyss out of rashness or for the sake of reputation. We did so out of the pain of
separation from the tens of thousands of souls caught up in this deplorable violence, and
the tormenting thirst for freedom, democracy and equality for those who should have
them but do not.”
– From the afterword by editors of the banned magazine “Eastern Snow Mountain” (Shar
Dungri) about the Spring 2008 protests in Tibet. International Campaign for Tibet, ‘A
Raging Storm’, https://savetibet.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/05/Raging_Storm_complete.pdf
“I would like to tell you how it is that a great lake gets dried up by heat and a great mountain burned by fire…”
– An analysis of the crisis in Tibet today by Lunpo Nyuktok, in a collection
of banned writings from Tibet, the ‘Eastern Snow Mountain’ (Shar Dungri)
https://savetibet.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ICT_A_Great_Mountain_Burned_by_Fire.pdf
‘The three [great monastic] seats of Sera, Drepung and Ganden,
Are struck by the vapor of the poisonous snake,
Because of this sea of adverse circumstance,
There’s no right to diligently study the scriptural texts.
O Triple Gem! Kindly guide and protect us!
O Triple Gem! Come forth with speed.’
– song written by a monk being held in Golmud military prison, Qinghai, May, 2008,
published by Tsering Woeser on her blog and translated by High Peaks Pure Earth
