Tibet riots: One year later

BEIJING — One year ago, Tibet erupted in violent protests that shook China, stunned the world and made many think twice about perceptions of China as a changed, more tolerant nation.

The March 10 riots erupted 49 years after Tibetans first tried to rise up against the fledgling rule of the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a politically thorny date for China, rife with emotion and misinformation for most Chinese.

With new protests already unfolding across the Tibetan plateau, you might think the Chinese government would let this politically dicey anniversary — 50 years since the first uprising and one year since the riots — pass quietly. You would, of course, be very wrong.

From sepia-toned photos of chained Tibetan slaves in the bad old days to Technicolor shots of broadly grinning Tibetans celebrating Chairman Mao and other Chinese communist leaders throughout the years, the story told inside an ongoing government-backed exhibit in Beijing is that of a liberated Tibet, freed from the bounds of a feudal past. It’s a story the visitors —3,000-4,000 every day — are not just buying but celebrating.

Rapt with interest, visitors move from photo to photo, video screen to map and pie chart, spread through three museum halls illustrating the Chinese changes to Tibet. The exhibit uses graphic photos and video testimony to describe Tibet before China took control, its influence on the region, and subsequent uprisings and crackdowns.

“The peaceful liberation in May 1951 freed Tibetans from the fetters of imperialistic encroachment to enter a new epoch,” reads the inscription at the front of the Beijing Cultural Palace of Nationalities. “Certain members of the ruling class were unwilling to adhere to the trend of historical development and dreamed to preserve serfdom.”

As the exhibit unfolds, through several stages of modern history, it becomes clear those “certain members of the ruling class” were the Dalai Lama and his “clique,” a somewhat mysterious group the government blames for last year’s riots.

The exhibit is clear in its viewpoint: Tibetans are happy with Chinese rule; the Dalai Lama is just trying to make trouble.

There is little question that this message of a previously oppressed Tibet, liberated by a new China with only its best interests at heart, is hitting home with everyday Chinese. Most Chinese have a romantic vision of Tibet, a keen interest in the subject and a firmly held belief that Tibet is an inseparable part of China. There is a massive gulf of misunderstanding between Chinese and Tibetans, and critics say this exhibit doesn’t do much but reinforce what is already taught to Chinese schoolchildren.

Kate Saunders, spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet, said the message illustrates Beijing’s unwillingness to negotiate on Tibet.

“The hardline position on Tibet and propaganda offensive against the Dalai Lama adopted by Beijing and demonstrated vividly by this exhibition has increased resentment, created deep divisions between Tibetans and Chinese, and led to further unrest in Tibet,” Saunders said.

And yet, the exhibit and its message seem undeniably attractive for the hundreds of ordinary Chinese pouring through the doors of the hall each day.

Ling Jingjing, 58, has dreamed of visiting Tibet since the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s. She asked permission to go work on the farms there when China’s youth were being sent to the countryside, but she was denied. Today she still wants to visit, but work and pressures of everyday life have further deferred her dream.

At the exhibit in Beijing, she carefully studied the words, photos and, in particular, the life-sized models of Tibetan serfs toiling in the dirt as a wealthy family dined and laughed in their terraced house above. To some, the scene would seem overly simplistic and, but for the clothing, an accurate picture of parts of today’s China. To Ling, it appeared to be the truth and reaffirmed what she has learned all her life about Tibet; that China had rescued most Tibetans from slavery.

“I didn’t know how hard their lives were before,” she said. “This exhibit explains things more exactly. I’ve heard it all before, but now I can see the details.”

For others who passed through, the exhibit seemed to reawaken emotions of last year, when a wave of post-riots nationalism swept China. There was no questioning whether China was correct in quelling the rebellion last March or its continuing heavy policing of Tibetan region. If something similar happened this year, they would fully support their government.

“These other countries have wanted to break China for a long time,” said one man who refused to give his name, after gazing a section on the “pro-Tibet” bias of foreign media in 2008. “They waited for this moment for a long time.”

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