Professors recall Tibetan protests 50 years later

Looking to commemorate the 1959 violent political uprising in Lhasa, China, Lobzang Tenzin recalled his life under Chinese political control.

“One day, Chinese soldiers came to the monastery,” Tenzin said. “And then, the army surrounded the monastery with machine guns pointing at monks.”

A panel discussion at 6 p.m. Wednesday featuring Tenzin, central Eurasian studies professor Elliot Sperling, graduate student Nicole Willock and Tibetan language instructor Gendun Rabsal discussed the history of the Lhasa protests, the experience of life in Tibet during Chinese occupation and the ongoing situation.

On March 10, 1959, Sperling said “Tibetans rose up to China in Lhasa, a renunciation of Tibet being part of China.”

Rabsal said this year, on the 50th anniversary of the protests, one monk lit himself on fire, several arrests were made and monks were relocated by the army in addition to more protests.

Internet and cell phone service was reportedly cut across Tibet, and Sperling said the Chinese government described the protests as a celebration rather than a political uprising.

The Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s spiritual leader, again implored the international community on Tuesday to support Tibetan autonomy. Following the 1959 uprising, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet and has lived in exile in India ever since.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government has continued to paint a negative picture of the spiritual leader in recent weeks. In addition, leaders in Beijing maintain that political conflict in Tibet is a domestic Chinese affair, not one to be meddled in by foreign governments. 

“Here we are in 2009, and that propaganda is being resurrected,” Sperling said during the discussion. “It’s not a pretty picture.”

The protests led to division among the Tibetan community about whether to remain loyal to the Chinese government or seek independence for the region.

Tenzin said he witnessed a range of violence in the years after the 1959 protests.

For example, he said he remembers being forced to watch Chinese soldiers perform executions when he was 15 years old.

“That day, 17 people all had hands on their backsides and had name tags around their necks,” Tenzin said with the aid of a translator. “Then they executed those Tibetans and asked their religious groups for money for each bullet.”

He also remembered Chinese soldiers asking women to identify dead bodies.

“The Chinese soldiers would ask the Tibetan mothers, ‘Is this your child?’” Tenzin said.

Sophomore Samantha Hart, who attended the discussion as research for a project on Tibet, said hearing Tenzin’s stories was her favorite part of the lecture.

“Everybody knows about Tibet, but this is a different perspective,” Hart said.