Exiled Tibetans guard their heritage from ‘cultural genocide’
Dharamsala – From teaching centuries-old crafts to cataloguing their language, exiled Tibetans guard the cultural identity of a homeland most have neither seen nor dare visit, and where they say Beijing is eradicating their heritage.
Crouched over a minutely detailed devotional thangka painting depicting Buddha, artist Lobsang Tenzin, 49, teaches students in northern India.
“It is important to keep the traditions of our history,” he says, dipping a needle-thin brush into rich-blue paint made from crushed lapis lazuli as six young Tibetan trainees watch.
“These skills were nearly lost, but we pass on the skills by teaching young artists.”
Yesterday, Tibetans marked the 65th anniversary of the 1959 uprising against Chinese forces that led to their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fleeing into exile. He was followed by tens of thousands of his compatriots.
Inside Tibet, the chaos of China’s 1966-76 Cultural Revolution left temples razed and monasteries reduced to ruins, destruction that continued in the decades that followed.
Activists decry what they say are Beijing’s determined efforts to erase what is left of Tibet’s cultural and religious identity.
Lhadon Tethong, head of the Tibet Action Institute, condemns the “cultural genocide”. This includes Beijing’s sharp restrictions on the Tibetan language with children “indoctrinated” at state-run boarding schools.
Beijing, which maintains that “Tibet is part of China”, fiercely rejects the accusations.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning recently said people in Tibet are “living a happy life” in response to the UN rights chief’s assertion that China was violating fundamental rights.
Tibet enjoys “social stability, economic growth, solidarity among all ethnic groups and harmony among various religious beliefs”, she added.
Tibet scholar Robert Barnett from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, calls Beijing a “foreign ruler deciding what’s best for a people whose culture it barely knows”.
“There is a gradual whittlingaway of a culture and a history. It is a process where you gradually eliminate all the elements of a history, a people, culture and of a society that are inconvenient to the new rulers,” adds Barnett.
Tibetan authorities say there are 130 000 exiles, many in India and Nepal, but also in more than 25 countries worldwide – just a fraction of the seven million living under China’s control.
Tibet’s Dharamsala-based government in exile says it is looking to keep the increasingly scattered community connected, including via online conferences teaching younger generations about their history. –