Growing Tibet

I had a few Tibetan friends in the UK. Being in the network of friends and Students for Free Tibet(SFT), an organization, I learnt a lot about Tibet: its culture, economy, politics, history and highly publicised China’s dominance over it. More importantly, I was amazed to know about the Tibetan Government in Exile. More than half a decade has passed since the annexation of Tibet by China in 1959, but the will of Tibetan people still remains the same – to remain strong and united, be it on foreign grounds.

I watched those heart-rending YouTube videos and listened to those stories of how my friends’ parents came to be in India. They were all inspirational. As a knock-on effect, I got to know how China is exploiting Tibet’s natural resources, destroying its unique culture, affecting the lifestyle of Tibetans and so on. However, we hardly talked about “Benefits of Chinese occupation to Tibet”. I remember it had never been a topic of discussion on our dinner table.

It starts with a lie. The 1953 census records the entire population of Tibet to be 1,273,964. However, the Tibet offices claim that 1.2 million lives had been lost during the period of suppression. Let’s do the maths: take away total deaths (1.2m) and total people who fled for refuge (around 100,00) from the total population. If the office statistics were right, the population of Tibet should have been wiped off long ago or only remain as a small tribe. Now, the population of ethnic Tibetans in Greater Tibet is 6 million. In the period from ‘before 1950’ to today, the average lifespan of the people increased from 35 to 68 and the infant mortality rate decreased from 43% to around 2%. This can be attributed to improved health services and standard of living in the area over the period. Besides, Tibetans are even allowed to have up to 3 children while China adopts one-child policy (now its policy has been relaxed with further exceptions). Likewise, 90% of the people were illiterate in 1951 which has decreased to 40% at present. It still remains very high illiteracy rate in comparison to the total illiteracy rate of China i.e. 4.92%. In the positive side, the decrease can still be seen as significant. Since 1999, more than 200 schools were built in Tibet which has increased the primary school enrolment from 85% to 98.8%. Perhaps, 200 schools may still be seen as minute development activity taking in account the huge and rapidly increasing population of Tibetans.

The economic and cultural policies implemented in 1980 had brought a major transformation in Phala region of Tibet. Decollectivization and tax reduction on nomadic people reverted their economy to traditional production and management. It preserved their culture as well, though the absence of open market still posed a threat in selling their products. The post 1980 policies have been aimed to foster a social and cultural revitalization. The various development activities of China have profound effects on the economy of Tibetans. For instance, due to the construction of Quinghai-Tibet railway the total number of tourists increased by 20% annually and the annual profit gained from each visitor made a whooping surge to US$138. This development project has also paved a way towards exploration of new resources like saline lakes. In contrary, China’s exploration and exploitation has been widely criticised in fear that it will have long term effects on Tibet’s ecology. Perhaps, it’s the most talked-about topic when it comes to the issue of China and Tibet. I agree that China’s rapid use of resources might have severe effects on Tibet, ranging from desertification to scarcity of resources. On the other hand, I stand on the view that the development of such a heavily industrialised country would be way more difficult and expensive if more attention were to be paid on sustainability of the development projects. Even the countries like South Korea and Great Britain (Industrial Revolution) focussed on resource exploitation to produce and develop, though at different times. It could rather be explained as one of the five stages of development (steps a country might need to go through to develop efficiently) in Walt Rostow’s Modernisation theory.

Many Tibetan refugees live in Nepal, India and various parts of the world. Being a citizen of Nepal, it’s an honour to offer a refuge in our country. While at the same time, any kind of protests – whether it be civil disobedience or self-immolation – which could hinder the peace in the society might not be acceptable. Aljazeera, on March, reported the death of a 16-year-old boy after the self-immolation to protest against Chinese rule. I understand it might be an acceptable form of protest in Buddhism. My concern is: how can such a young kid be so radical to be able to burn himself down? What radicalised him? Is it the effect of the society he was brought up in? Perhaps.

Now, the most significant issue: independence. Many Tibetans, both in exile and in Tibet, would want to see an independent state of Tibet. However, with freewill Tibetans are divided on the issue; even his holiness the Dalai Lama doesn’t call for an independent state, but a self-government of Tibet. People from all around the world knows that China suppresses Tibet and they participate in Tibetan Uprising Day, whatever nationality they represent. To be honest, many of them may not have ever thought “Has China done any good to Tibet?”; “Are the Tibetans in Tibet content with China’s ruling?”; “Would Tibet be well off independent?”.

Despite various oppressions that might have truly (not embroidered) occurred since the last five decades in Tibet, it has been hugely benefitting from China in all fronts. Many of these benefits have been criticised to have been selfish move of China. Well, in today’s world no one would do a favour to someone without expectations of any returns. Moreover, development of a region(Tibet) of the country(China) can’t be seen as a selfish act, it’s for everyone’s good.

Tibet is growing, not shrinking.