The propaganda department of China’s State Council, its central government, last
week released a white paper on “Governance of Xizang in the New Era.” Though the
term “Tibetan” is used to refer to the region’s people and geographical features
like the Tibetan Plateau, Xizang is used exclusively when referring to the
southwestern region’s official name. “The Chinese government was desperate
enough to propagate Xizang to create a Tibet of Chinese characteristics which is
unknown to the world,” Tenzin Lekshay, a spokesperson for the Central Tibetan
Administration, the Tibetan government-in-exile, said of Beijing’s report.
Lekshay said the Sino-Tibet conflict was long-running and that changing the name
would complicate rather than improve the situation.
It’s remarkable that Tibetan culture has been so tenacious that there’s anything left of it today. If the government of 50 years ago had been able to exert the kind of control over its people that they do today, it’s hard to imagine that it wouldn’t have been fully eradicated by now.
It’s remarkable that Tibetan culture has been so tenacious that there’s anything left of it today. If the government of 50 years ago had been able to exert the kind of control over its people that they do today, it’s hard to imagine that it wouldn’t have been fully eradicated by now.
We’re talking about the same Tibet where, throughout history, almost every single major government position has been held by a Tibetan, right?