Tibetan blogosphere is vibrant and empowering

As a place to meet, share and exchange, the Tibetan blogosphere has created opportunities for Tibetan netizens that would be unimaginable in the offline world. Keeping in mind the state of internet censorship in the People’s Republic of China today, these new spaces can be seen as new outlets but also as new areas involving personal risk. Tibetan cyberspace has opened up a new opportunity for expression, which has also brought new risks to this community.

There are several blog-hosting sites, both Tibetan and Chinese, that are favoured by Tibetans in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) today. One of the of the most popular Chinese language sites is called Tibetan Culture Net or simply TibetCul. TibetCul was started by two brothers, Wangchuk Tseten and Tsewang Norbu, and their head office is in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province. According to Alexa, the web Information Company, TibetCul receives over 400,000 hits every month. TibetCul is primarily a news and blog-hosting site but there are many different sections on the site related to Tibetan music, literature, films and travel. There is a BBS forum (bulletin board) and there is even a section dedicated to “overseas Tibetans”.

For all Tibet related news, blogs and cultural activities, TibetCul is an invaluable resource and source of information. Many posts translated into English by High Peaks Pure Earth come from TibetCul, such as the translation of the popular Tibetan hip-hop song “New Generation” by Green Dragon that was first featured on the group’s TibetCul blog in February 2010 in which a gang of Amdo rappers boldly proclaimed:

“The new generation has a resource called youth
The new generation has a pride called confidence
The new generation has an appearance called playfulness
The new generation has a temptation called freedom”

Full report here thecommentfactory

Modern day warrior

In 2002, Tenzin Tsundue climbed the scaffolding of the Mumbai building where Chinese premier Zhu Rongji was staying during his state visit. Tsundue carried a banner that read “Free Tibet: China, Get Out” and shouted slogans even as the police were carrying him out. He repeated the performance in 2005 when Chinese premier Wen Jiabao was addressing a conference at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, standing on the balcony of the 200ft-high tower with a red banner that read “Free Tibet”. This time the police were not as prompt. “I knew they would have to arrest me and I only wish they’d done it sooner,” says Tsundue, flashing a rare smile. The young Tibetan activist had hidden himself in the balcony overnight—and stayed there without food or water—because it would have been difficult to get past security on the day of the official visit.

In a 2006 essay published in The Guardian, Tsundue wrote, “We Tibetans have no political strings to pull, no money power or crude oil: but we are willing to sacrifice everything for a free Tibet.” He is acutely aware of the meagre resources he has on call. And for him, the media is the main weapon to amplify his activism. Of this, he talks in frank terms. “Why would the media cover a small guy like me shouting ‘Free Tibet’ on the streets? I have to find ways to make my protests stunning.” So, in his words, he “borrowed” the Chinese premier’s media. Every big media house had representatives stationed to cover Rongji’s visit. All of that got diverted to Tsundue’s high-wire stunt.

Full report here Mint

Author presents book on Tibet to Dalai Lama

Parvez Dewan, the author of Tibet: Fifty Years After presented a copy of his book to exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in the national capital on Thursday.

Dewan has co-authored the book with Siddharth Shrivastava, while the Dalai Lama has penned the foreword of the book. The book highlights the ancient culture of Tibet and gives an insight into the present situation in Tibet.

In the book, the Dalai Lama has pointed out that violence is counter-productive and produces misery, and advocated for return of peace in Tibet and China.

Full report here Oneindia

REVIEW: Memories of Life in Lhasa Under Chinese Rule

REVIEW

Memories of Life in Lhasa Under Chinese Rule
Tubten Khetsun (Author), Matthew Akester (Translator)
Columbia University Press / Penguin
Rs 450
Pp 318
ISBN: 0231142862
Demy

Blurb
Born in 1941, Tubten KhA(c)tsun is a nephew of the Gyatso Tashi Khendrung, one of the senior government officials taken prisoner after the Tibetan peoples' uprising of March 10, 1959. KhA(c)tsun himself was arrested while defending the Dalai Lama's summer palace, and after four years in prisons and labor camps, he spent close to two decades in Lhasa as a requisitioned laborer and "class enemy." In this eloquent autobiography, KhA(c)tsun describes what life was like during those troubled years. His account is one of the most dispassionate, detailed, and readable firsthand descriptions yet published of Tibet under the Communist occupation. KhA(c)tsun talks of his prison experiences as well as the state of civil society following his release, and he offers keenly observed accounts of well-known events, such as the launch of the Cultural Revolution, as well as lesser-known aspects of everyday life in occupied Lhasa.

Since Communist China continues to occupy Tibet, the facts of this era remain obscure, and few of those who lived through it have recorded their experiences at length. KhA(c)tsun's story will captivate any reader seeking a refreshingly human account of what occurred during the Maoists' shockingly brutal regime.

Review
Too far apart Financial Express
‘...as far apart as the earth and sky’, a highly evocative idiom that liberally peppers Tubten Khetsun’s book, Memories of Life in Lhasa Under Chinese Rule, could well be the defining depiction of the Tibetan and official Chinese accounts of the period following the People’s Liberation Army (PLA’s) march into Tibet in 1950. The book under review was originally published in India in Tibetan language under the title Dka’ sdug ‘og gi byung ba brjod pa (An account of painful events). It thus appears to be originally intended for the literate Tibetan audience. Subsequently, the Columbia University Press took it up with the help of Matthew Akester’s brilliant translation to bring it to the western and English readership in 2008 and finally Penguin India brought it out toward the end of 2009.

The author of the book under review, despite his admission as such, (pp 297) is not from the ranks of the ordinary Tibetans. By virtue of being the nephew of a senior government official, he belonged to the ranks of the minor aristocracy of Tibet as the brief family history at the start of the book informs us. He became involved, at the age of 18 years, in the Lhasa uprising of March 10, 1959. As rumours of Chinese plans to eliminate the Dalai Lama engulfed the city, Tubten Khetsun was among those who formed a defensive cordon around Norbulingka, the summer palace of the Dalai Lama, during which he was captured by the PLA. One-third of the book recounts the author’s experiences as a prisoner. Shorn of literary flourishes, and consistently austere, there is a calm, detached manner in which Tubten Khetsun describes his ordeal as also that of his fellow inmates in the different prisons he was sent to. A stark, but highly visual, description of an angry PLA official (pp 230) particularly remains etched in one’s mind, with due appreciation of the translator’s skills and understanding.