'Thank you Communist Party of China'

As a kid growing up in Tibet under China, the first song that I learned was The East Is Red. It was one of the most popular ‘red songs’ praising Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party (the CCP). This was adapted — like most Communist propaganda songs — from a traditional farming folk song from China’s Shaanxi province. My father, who could read Tibetan, taught the words to my mother so that she could recite them when the commune leader made random checks to test if the villagers had memorised the lyrics.

Mao - the 'new sun'

 ‘The east is red, the sun is rising.

China has brought forth a Mao Zedong.

He has brought happiness to the people.

Hurrah, He is the people’s great saviour!’

Tibetan Viagra

The year before I was smuggled out of Tibet in 1984, my brother and his friends were talking about going to pick up yartsa gunbu in the hills near our village. They refused to take me with them saying that I could not climb up the hill. When I threatened to tell on them to my grandfather, they allowed me to tag a long.

We climbed up the hill, negotiated the ruins of the monastery destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) and reached Gyalpo Ri or the King’s Peak. It was winter and the earth was frozen. We did not find a single yartsa gunbu. At the time, I did not know how the thing even looked like.

this is what the precious fungus looks like!

Yartsa Gunbu meaning Summer Grass Winter Worm is popularly known as caterpillar fungus/grass. This fungus, which is found in wild on the Tibetan Plateau, takes over the bodies of caterpillar larvae then shoots up like finger-size blades of grass out of the dead insects' heads.

The nutty-tasting caterpillar fungus is highly valued for its supposedly extraordinary curative powers such as a treatment for cancer, anti-aging and as a libido booster. This Tibetan aphrodisiac is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and is particularly coveted by the nouveau riche in China today. As a result, demand for the exotic fungus has sky-rocketed in far away booming cities like Beijing and Shanghai. By one account, the value of caterpillar fungus has shot up by 900 percent since the late 1990s.

Nomads scouring the hills for Yartsa Gunbu

Will Xi Talk to Dharamsala?

His Father's Son?
In 1954/55, when His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited China, he is said to have gifted a Rolex watch to Xi Zhongzun, the then vice premier of China. In 1980s when Tibetan fact-finding delegations from Dharamsala went to China and Tibet, Xi was the Chinese official interlocutor and was known to carry a photo of His Holiness in his pocket.

Xi was close to the 10th Panchen Lama, who submitted the historic 70,000 Character Petition to the Chinese government stating that Tibetans suffered more under Beijing's rule then they have benefited. His association with the Panchen Lama was one of the reasons why Mao purged him three times. Xi also supported Hu Yaobang’s political reform and denounced the use of military force in Tiananmen Square in 1989, after which he disappeared from public.

By all account, Xi Zhongxun, was a liberal communist, who is known for his integrity and forthrightness. Xi’s son Xi Jinping will takeover the communist throne in Zhongnanhai from the current Chinese boss, Hu Jintao, in 2012.

Unlike Hu, Xi can smile at least

Xi junior was born in 1953 and later witnessed Mao purge his father during the Cultural Revolution. His climb up the Communist ladder has been slow and un-dramatic. Xi joined the Chinese Youth League in 1971 and the Communist Party in 1974. After nearly three decades later, he took senior Party position in Zhejiang, one of the rich Chinese provinces and was made the Party chief of Shanghai in 2007. In October of the same year, Xi was inducted into the Politburo Standing Committee, a nine-member all-powerful group that decides the fate of world’s most populous nation.

My Tibet

Chinese authorities sentenced influential Tibetan writer Tashi Rabten, popularly known as Theurang,  to a 4-year jail term in Eastern Tibet.

Theurang is the author of Written in Blood and one of the editors of banned literary magazine 'Shar Dungri' (Eastern Snow Mountain).

He was arrested from the Northwest Nationalities University in Lanzhou on 6 April 2010.

Following poem (translated into English by Bhuchung D. Sonam) is from his book Written in Blood.

It’s Not Over Yet

The Second Tibetan National General Meeting concluded on 24 May amidst thunderous applause. The participants took sighs of relief, patted their friends’ backs and shook hands with others. There was a general air of satisfaction and positive energy. 

All Tibetan meetings generally end with Tsog du gyal khai ngang jug dril wa yin meaning ‘this meeting has concluded in a victorious note’. We love things to be auspicious and conduct most events in our lives with lot of symbolic gestures. As a result, the leader of the Group-10 (participants were divided into ten groups for better discussions) had his group’s summary presentation done by two people so that there were eleven presentations on the final day. Any number that ends in zero is inauspicious. This group leader had some sense of humour. Even the generally sombre Kalon Tripa chuckled.

Issues Regarding Amendments in the Charter for Tibetans-in-Exile

Since His Holiness the Dalai Lama initiated the democratization process in exile Tibet fifty years ago, our democratic institutions have achieved a high level of maturity. In a statement issued to the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile on 14 March 2011, His Holiness announced his decision to devolve all his political authority. In response, the exile parliament unanimously appealed His Holiness to reconsider his decision. However, His Holiness not only refused but also explained in detail the background of his decision to the general public during the Monlam Chenmo in Dharamsala. Judging by all these developments, it has become very clear that His Holiness is firm on his decision.

 As a result, the parliament passed a unanimous resolution to form an ad hoc committee to draft necessary amendments in the Charter. The members of the Committee included the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the parliament, Kalon Tripa, Kalon for the Department of Education and Pema Jungney, a member of parliament. This Committee has made public the proposed amendments to the Charter.