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TIBET AT A TURNING POINT: THE SPRING UPRISING AND CHINA’S NEW CRACKDOWN
Tsoe, Dzoge (Chinese: Ruangui) in Ngaba TAP in Sichuan province, Chentsa (Chinese:
Jaincha) in Malho TAP in Qinghai and Mangra (Chinese: Guinan) in Tsolho TAP in
Qinghai to the world’s attention. In addition, it was mainly people from these regions
who led simultaneous protests in the great monasteries near Lhasa and on university
campuses across mainland China.
A less obvious point is the areas of Tibet from which little or nothing was heard in this
period. The most striking of these are Nagchu (Chinese: Naqu) and Lhokha (Chinese:
Shannan) prefectures of TAR, and Yushu prefecture in southern Qinghai, where robust
nationalist sentiment is known to prevail. The scarcity of reported protests in these
areas may be attributed to pre-emptive policing (Nagchu in particular was effectively
under martial law in all but name from March 10 onwards), but at this stage it would
not be safe to assume that no such incidents took place. Similarly, there are relatively
few reports from Chamdo (Chinese: Changdu) prefecture in the TAR and the western
parts of Kardze prefecture in Sichuan, and almost none from Dechen (Chinese:
Diqing) prefecture in northern Yunnan, where armed police are also known to have
been deployed pre-emptively. The lack of reports from Shigatse (Chinese: Rikaze),
Ngari (Chinese: Ali) and Nyingtri (Chinese: Ningchi) prefectures in the TAR and
Tsonub (Chinese: Haixi) prefecture in western Qinghai are perhaps less surprising in
the sense that these regions are less politically volatile.
One of the reasons behind the geographical spread of the dissent across the plateau
since March has been the use of mobile phones — in particular, text messaging —
and the internet to spread news among Tibetans. Tibetan historian Professor Tsering
Shakya says: “It is noticeable that very few protests took place in Western Tibet, where
there is no mobile phone network in operation, whereas many took place to the East
and in regions on the borders of Sichuan and Qinghai, where the system is well developed.
These demonstrations erupted within a matter of days, after the initial March
10 monastery protests were put down by the police.” 1 Another factor is that there are
fewer people in western Tibet, and that the Tibetan area of Amdo (now incorporated
into Qinghai) has the largest, most educated and politicised population in Tibetan
areas of the PRC. In Sichuan, too, incorporating the traditional Tibetan area of Kham,
there is a strong sense of religious and cultural identity, with many important lamas
remaining in some rural areas.
In different areas of Tibet where protests have taken place, the authorities have confiscated
cell phones and computers, turned off cellular transmission facilities or cut
landlines, and interfered with internet access, according to various reports received by
ICT. 2 Reports have reached ICT of Tibetan families who have received immediate visits
from security personnel after taking phone calls from family or friends in exile.
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