Tibetans "in mourning" as Chinese New Year begins

Tibetans "in mourning" as Chinese New Year beginsICT report, January 27, 2009
Tibetans in different areas of Tibet marked the beginning of theChinese New Year yesterday (January 26) by 'mourning' and in somberreflection on the crackdown following the protests that swept acrossTibet last year, according to sources in Tibet. In an unprecedented"outpouring of emotion", many Tibetans posted blogs and commentsmostly opposing any celebration of Tibetan New Year (Losar), whichbegins next month on February 25 according to the Tibetan calendar,which is different to the Chinese lunar calendar. In many areas,security was stepped up for the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival),and reports from Tibet indicated that the authorities were makinggreat efforts to persuade Tibetans to celebrate, including givingmoney to families for the purchase of firecrackers and checkingwhether they had been used or not.
Some reports stated that local authorities had ordered that TibetanNew Year celebrations should be brought forward by one month tocoincide with Chinese New Year. A blog by one Tibetan on a Tibetanwebsite reported that the county government had told Kirti monasteryin Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) in Sichuan province to change the dates of newyear and winter religious ceremonies to coincide with the Chinese NewYear. This year, the two new years are a month apart , although insome parts of the Tibetan area of Amdo, the New Year has beencelebrated according to the Chinese calendar. Security was stepped upon the streets near Kirti, where at least 10 Tibetans were shot deadduring a protest last March. One source told ICT: "Local people [inNgaba] are not celebrating [the New Year]. Tibetan women are in thestreets, with solemn faces, showing sadness rather than happiness, andto symbolize the non-celebratory mood they carry around dry bread andeat that."
An anonymous Tibetan blogger posted the following comment on aChinese-language, Tibetan-run website on January 25: "The 2009 Losarwas always going to be unusual because so many people have beenkilled. In our family, our father can never come back, our mother hasvisibly aged, uncles and brothers have been detained - some of whom westill don't whether they're dead or alive. Last night, the eldestbrother in the neighbor's family was taken away. There's a guy from avillage nearby who used to roam all over the place doing business whowas locked up for a few months and recently released. But his body isso fragile now that he has to stay in bed with his wife and childrenlooking after him. When you go out, although the police on the streetsaren't as evident as they were a few months ago, there are still alot. There are armed PAP [People's Armed Police] guys on the roofs'maintaining social stability'. Leaders on television are going roundpaying their respects and urging people to have a good year... Imyself will not be celebrating the new year because those who diedwere my compatriots, and I knew several of those who died - they wereshot dead. I haven't dared call home since March of last year becauseI don't want to cause them any trouble. And so I don't know how theyare. I've had no information on them, and just hope they're okay."
In Lhasa, many people did not let off fireworks to mark Chinese NewYear although money to buy them was supplied by the government,according to a report received by ICT. The same source said that:"Most of the Tibetans from Amdo [eastern Tibet] were in mourning forthe first day of the spring [Chinese New Year] festival".
The Tibetan source from Lhasa reported that: "Unlike previous years,the government bought red lanterns and put them almost on almost everystreet in county towns and especially in Lhasa." The same source saidthat security was being tightened not only for the Chinese New Yearbut also in advance of the month of sensitive political anniversariesin March - the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising andthe escape of the Dalai Lama from Tibet - and that restrictions onforeign tourism are likely at that time.
At Labrang (Chinese: Xiahe) in Kanlho (Chinese: Gannan TibetanAutonomous Prefecture) in Gansu province, a Tibetan source said: "Itis something new to see leaders busying themselves by pushing peopleto set off fireworks while police and security personnel are checkingwhether people are involved in other activities. Some departments evendistributed firecrackers for free to people and called on people tocelebrate Amdo New Year lavishly and prominently to show that thingsare well." In some areas of Amdo, village elders have been warned thatif any unrest occurs during the New Year period, everyone in thevillage will be fined, according to one report.
One anonymous Tibetan blogger from this area wrote: "Thanks to theParty Committee of Xiahe County for issuing us firecrackers worth 100Yuan ($14) so as to resist the public resentment of boycotting the NewYear. I accepted those firecrackers, but never let my father know it,or he would 'beat me to death', so I threw them into the toilet. Thecounty officials are busy supervising who else did not use thefire-crackers. They do have their own way of dealing with masses.Official supervision on whether or not people play the firecrackers,and the PLA [People's Liberation Army] round the clock patrolling ofthe street, is a new scene in Xiahe this year."
An official Xinhua report released yesterday sought to give theimpression of a harmonious atmosphere in Lhasa for Chinese New Year"With sutra chanting resonating over the Jokhang Temple and smell ofincense wafting in the air". (Xinhua, January 26, 2009.)

Unprecedented expression of views on Losar
Numerous Tibetan bloggers posted their thoughts and views aboutmarking Losar. A Tibetan in exile told ICT: "I have never seen thiskind of outpouring emotions in my life."
In a posting entitled "Let Us Make Lamp Offerings and Light Candles toCommemorate the Souls of the Deceased", the Tibetan writer Woeserwrote: "This year's celebration [of Losar] will be different. Thisyear's differences are due to the fact that so many people have beenplunged into the abyss of misery. In the land of Tibet, in thevillages, pastures and towns of Amdo, central Tibet and Kham, manywhite-haired grandparents and parents had to endure the suffering ofattending the funeral of young black-haired people. What is even moretragic is that some of these white-haired ones have not been able toattend the funeral services since the black-haired ones havedisappeared without their corpses being able to be found. The familymembers do not know the day they died, thus, it is not even possibleto hold the religious ceremony to release the soul of the deceasedfrom purgatory suffering. The monasteries have already been closed,and monks expelled. There are countless vultures circling around overthe desolate sky burial grounds.
"Then, let us light butter lamps to make offerings in memory of thedeceased, whose exact number we still do not know, in the cornerswhere the video surveillance can not reach. Furthermore, those of uswho live in alien lands and do not have butter lamps to offer, let uslight candles for those deceased whose exact number we still do notknow." (Article originally written for Radio Free Asia, translated byHigh Peaks Pure Earth and posted online on January 14,www.highpeakspureearth.com/2009/01/let-us-make-lamp-offerings-and-light.html).
The website High Peaks, Pure Earth, which provides translations of twoposts written entirely in verse in Tibetan about Losar, says that mostTibetan posts from inside Tibet "are opposed to the celebration ofLosar this year. There are two points about Losar, the first issue iswhether Tibetans should celebrate Chinese New Year or not and thesecond issue about whether it is appropriate or not to celebrate inlight of last year's events. Some of the posters argue thatparticularly in Amdo, that Chinese New Year has always been celebratedand this year is no exception. However, some netizens argue that allthe Tibetans should institute a common Tibetan New Year and adopt thedate celebrated in Lhasa."(www.highpeakspureearth.com/2009/01/more-from-tibetan-bloggers-about.html).
An extract from one of the poems, posted by a blogger named Cha medsha (khyams me zhags) reads:
"Last year was washed by blood,In Lhasa, countless compatriotsWere fallen under a piercing arrow,This year, no Losar for us,In Sichuan, countless peopleBuried under the earth,This year, no Losar for us,
There is only the word 'no' on your lips.We are speechless,You are filled with angerWe have no bitterness
For the sake of the deceased valiant heroesLet us offer our regrets.For the deceased people,Let us make offerings."
Another posting in verse, in Chinese language, on a Tibetan website, reads:
Don't celebrate this New Year
What kind of joys would make me forget those who were killedI thought of them again last nightMy compatriotsLying flat in the roadCovered with white sheetsA single hand suddenly fell outAnd dangled before meOh, heaven is so crowded
One blogger refers to the contrast between Tibetan despair and theChinese authorities' decision to mark March 28 as "Serf LiberationDay", saying: "The autonomous regional leaders are very busy: afterthe new year they'll be urging people to celebrate 'serf liberationday'. The old lady at work ... although a distant relative of hersdied in March last year, the Party still wants her to be happy, wantsher to laugh, wants her to sing and dance about 'Serf Liberation Day'and how the great Party that liberated old Tibet and a million serfsfrom darkness. You can't say anything contrary - nothing about thefamilies that have been shattered, the many people who were killed,who were beaten to death for the sake of upholding the unification ofthe motherland and the unity of the masses - don't mention those. As apeople with a deep religious faith, when a family member dies prayersare said for them and new year isn't celebrated - this is quitenormal. But our great Party is not happy because when it wants you tobe happy, you're not happy. And that's a problem with your thinking,and it can even be contrived into making you a member of some 'clique'or other. And so it requires you to be happy, and to happily celebratethe new year. The great Party pays close attention to happy or nothappy, and celebrating or not celebrating the new year."
Losar is a five-day festival marking the new year in the Tibetancalendar during which Tibetan families come together to reflect andcelebrate the past year as well as look forward to the coming year.The movement within Tibet to abstain from celebrating the new year asa gesture of mourning for those who lost their lives is anunprecedented and highly significant statement, akin to people in theUnited States deciding to forego Thanksgiving, or indeed, akin to thepeople of China choosing not to mark the Spring Festival. Such aprofound and concerted gesture among Tibetans within Tibet is anunmistakable indicator of the Tibetan people's dissatisfaction withthe Chinese authorities' response to the wave of protests in March,and will inevitably be noted with some concern by the authorities inLhasa and Beijing.
"Remember and memoralise louder than the gunfire"
In a posting on New Year's Day (January 1, 2009), Woeser wrote: "Onthe eve of 2009, I received many text messages wishing me a prosperousand happy New Year and good fortune for the New Year. At this moment Iknew that people from all over the world were heaping best wishes andblessings upon each other - a wonderful creation of human nature. ButI would also add: in the New Year, I hope you will be free from want.In fact, to that I would even add, I hope that everyone will be freefrom fear! At this point we say farewell and forget the year 2008, butwe should not be reconsidering the way we live our lives, instead weshould remember and memorialize louder than the gunfire!" (Translationby High Peaks, Pure Earthwww.highpeakspureearth.com/2009/01/remember-and-memorialise-louder-than.html).
Woeser is an unusually prominent and outspoken Tibetan writer and poetwho despite being based in Beijing has come to be regarded as one ofthe most authoritative and respected voices on Tibet. Her prolificonline writings and accounts of events in Tibet over the past severalyears have been instrumental in helping the international community tounderstand not only events on the ground in Tibet, but also toappreciate the broader human stories of what is happening there.
In a message to the Chinese people released on the occasion of theChinese New Year, the Dalai Lama said that Hu Jintao's concept of a"harmonious society" could only "come about through mutual trust,friendship and justice. It cannot be brought about by brute force andautocracy." (http://www.tibet.net/).
The official news agency Xinhua reported today that People's ArmedPolice Political Commissar Yu Linxiang inspected armed police units onsite in Qinghai, Sichuan and Jiangxi provinces and the TibetAutonomous Region, while People's Armed Police Commander Wu Shuangzhantalked with border police on guard "in remote Heilongjiang and Qinghaiprovinces and Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous regions."(January 26, 2009). Wu Shuangzhan is a member of the key Central TibetWork Coordination Working Group, the first time the People's ArmedPolice has been represented on the working group.