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INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET
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The Lhasa Uprising in March 1959 was sparked by the fear that the Chinese were planning to abduct the
Dalai Lama and take him away to Beijing. Fears for the safety of the Dalai Lama became acute when the Chinese
Army Command invited the Tibetan leader to a theatrical show in the military barracks on March 10.
Tibetans became even more suspicious when the Chinese instructed that the Dalai Lama be not accompanied
by bodyguards as was the tradition. On March 10, 1959, a massive demonstration was held and
thousands of people surrounded the Dalai Lama’s Summer Palace, the Norbulingkha, to prevent the Dalai
Lama from attending the Chinese show. For the next few days, Tibetans took to the streets to demand that the
Chinese forces leave Tibet and restore the country’s full independence. In the ensuing repression, thousands
of Tibetans were killed and imprisoned, while thousands of others followed the Dalai Lama into exile.
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Domestic tour groups have been allowed into Tibet since late April, followed by visitors from Hong Kong,
Macao and Taiwan in May; as of June 20, the region had received more than 160 tour groups, according to
CCTV.com, June 25, 2008. A journalist for the Far Eastern Economic Review allowed entry to Tibet reported
in an online diary on July 24 that: “Our requests to visit the Drepung monastery — once the biggest monktraining
school in Tibet — were rejected. The monastery, which critics charge has become a prison camp
for monks, remains closed to outsiders.” (www.feer.com.) Drepung monks began the current wave of
protests on March 10.
3
Ngaba prefecture People’s Government website, April 30 2008.
4
http://zw.tibet.cn/news/xz_news/ttxw/200807/t20080718_413324.htm.
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‘New measures on reincarnation reveal Party’s objectives of political control,’ ICT, April 15, 2007, www.savetibet.org.
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The new “Management measures for the reincarnation of living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism," which
are described by the official press as “an important move to institutionalize the management of reincarnation”
were passed by the State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA) for implementation from September
1, 2007. The Chinese authorities use the term ‘Living Buddhas’ to describe reincarnate lamas or
tulkus (Tibetan: sprul sku), individuals who have consciously decided to be reborn, often many times, for
the benefit of all others. (See, ‘New measures on reincarnation reveal Party’s objectives of political control,’
ICT, August 15, 2007, www.savetibet.org.)
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‘Tibetan Questions,’ Tsering Shakya, New Left Review 51, May–June 2008, www.newleftreview.org.
8
News bulletin on Xizang TV, July 22, 2008.
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