There is evidence to suggest that the Chinese authorities are following a policy of systematically eradicating the Tibetan language, and this has been highlighted by a recent event. Radio Free Asia reported this month that a Tibetan language competition in Muge Norwa town in Zungchu County was cancelled by the local Chinese authorities.
The event was scheduled for February 21, observed world wide as international mother language day, and required participants to speak pure Tibetan without mixing Chinese or any other language. The organisers, Drime and Lodro Gyaltsen, were ordered to cancel the event by Chinese authorities who said it had “political implications”, and that the Tibetan language contains words that go against the interest of the Chinese authorities. They were warned that they would face serious consequences if they did not comply with the closure.
The Chinese authorities have arrested many writers and poets who write in the Tibetan language. The exile poet and activist Tenzin Tsundue says “In Tibet…people follow the writers, poets, intellectuals, stand-up comedians, bloggers and musicians. These are our celebrated heroes. That’s why China targets these public figures. Because art has a compulsive habit of policing liars. That is why Liu Xiabo is in jail in China and Chinese dictators are infuriated by the antics of artists such as Ai Wei Wei or bloggers such as Woeser.”
Writer Tsultrim Gyatso aka Shogdril was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment on 28 October, 2013.
Photo: TCHRD
In October last year, Tibetan writer Tsultrim Gyaltsen was arrested. After completing his studies he opened a guest house where he teaches Tibetan creative writing and Chinese language to local Tibetans. In October 2009 Tashi Rabten, a Tibetan writer and editor of the banned magazine Shar Dungri (Eastern snow mountain), and a university student, was arrested. In 2010 thousands of Tibetan students protested against the decision of the Chinese authorities to change the medium of instruction in schools to Chinese. The reality of life in Tibet is that good jobs are only available through the medium of Chinese, not Tibetan.
Here in exile, His Holiness the Dalai Lama encourages the younger generations to learn and study the Tibetan language as the key to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan culture and Buddhism. And in Tibet, hundreds of ordinary Tibetans – monks, teachers and university students – are taking the preservation of the Tibetan language into their own hands and setting up Tibetan language classes in their communities. In 2005 the Tibetan Reception Centre in Nepal set up a Tibetan language preservation organisation which organises events and debates to create awareness of the importance of preserving the Tibetan language.
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