History as Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles Versus the People's Republic of China PDF
Preview History as Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles Versus the People's Republic of China
History as Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles Versus the People’s Republic of China JOHN POWERS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS History as Propaganda This page intentionally left blank History as Propaganda Tibetan Exiles versus the People’s Republic of China john powers 1 2004 1 Oxford NewYork Auckland Bangkok BuenosAires CapeTown Chennai DaresSalaam Delhi HongKong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Mumbai Nairobi Sa˜oPaulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright(cid:1)2004byOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NewYork10016 www.oup.com OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise, withoutthepriorpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Powers,John,1957– Historyaspropaganda:TibetanexilesversusthePeople’sRepublicofChina/JohnPowers. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferences. ISBN0-19-517426-7 1. Tibet(China)—Historiography. 2. Historiography—China. 3. Tibetans—Foreigncountries. I. Title:Tibetanexilesversusthe People’sRepublicofChina. II. Title. DS786.P682004 951'.5—dc22 2003028121 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica onacid-freepaper To Gavin, Kelly, Chet, and Kestrel This page intentionally left blank Preface Therearetwocountries,realandfictional,occupyingthesame space,oralmostthesamespace.Mystory,myfictionalcountryex- ist,likemyself,ataslightangletoreality.Ihavefoundthisoff- centeringtobenecessary;butitsvalueis,ofcourse,opentodebate. —SalmanRushdie,Shame,p.29 SeveralyearsagoIwasbrowsingtheshelvesinaSydneybookstore andsawasmallbookwithapictureofthePotala(formerlytheresi- denceoftheDalaiLamas)onthecoverentitled100Questionsabout Tibet.Afterperusingafewpages,itbecameclearthatthiswasa Chinesegovernmentpropagandapiece,anditseemedoutofplace withthebookstore’sverymainstreamwares.Iaskedtheownerwhy hehaddecidedtocarrysuchabiasedbookandwhetherhehadany thatpresentedothersidesoftheTibetissue.Afterlookingatthe bookherepliedthathehadnotorderedit.Hethenwenttohiscom- puterandcheckedpastbookorders,andconcludedthatneitherhe noranyofhisemployeeshadorderedit,andthatthestoredidnot evendobusinesswiththebook’sdistributor.Hethenlaughedand said,“I’vehadlotsofproblemswithpeoplestealingbooksoffmy shelves,butthisisthefirsttimeI’vehadsomeonesneakbooksonto them.”Ilaterfoundthatotherbookstoresintheareahadunordered copiesofthisandotherChinesegovernment-producedbookson theirshelves,apparentlysurreptitiouslyplacedtherebyChineseoffi- cialshopingthatthesecheaplypricedvolumeswouldbepurchased viii preface byAustralianreaders,whowouldbeconvertedtotheChinesepositionregard- ingTibet. Bycontrast,theshelvesofbookstoresinAustralia,theUnitedStates,and Europe abound with books published by mainstream presses telling the Ti- betan side of the story. In addition, numerous documentaries and magazine articles have been produced that are highly critical of the Chinese version of events and that support the Tibetan view. Big-budget Hollywood movies like Seven Years in Tibet similarly present the Chinese as the villains of the story and depict the Tibetan position. While researching this subject, I did a key wordsearchfor“Tibet”ontheInternet,andamongthefirst230URLsfound only three that supported the Chinese government position.1 All three were run by the Chinese government. The rest either explicitly supported the Ti- betanpositionorbelongedtoTibetanBuddhistorganizations,manyofwhich had messages in support of Tibetan independence. This disparity illustrates the irony of China’s complete military victory in Tibet and its poor showing intheongoingpropagandawarsrelatingtoit. ItalsoexemplifiesChina’sdifficultiesinconvincingforeignersthatithas alegitimaterighttoTibetandthatitsrulehasbeenbenevolentandbeneficial totheTibetans.Despiteitsmilitaryandeconomicmight—andinspiteofthe predictableuseofitsvetopowerasamemberoftheUnitedNations’Security Council to stifle debate on its policies in Tibet—China is regularlycastigated ininternationalforumsandthepressforbrutalityanddenialofhumanrights to Tibetans. This has become so well known in Western countries thatitwas evenpartofanepisodeofTheSimpsons.TheSimpsonfamilyvisitedthelocal Chinatownandpassedbyasectionnamed“Tibettown”thatwasclosedoffby chain-linkfencesandbarbedwire,behindwhichChinesewerebrutally—and apparently senselessly—beating helpless Tibetans. No explanation of the ref- erencewasgiven;apparently,itwasassumedthatviewerswerealreadyaware ofconditionsinTibet. China also attempts to use its economic power to stop foreign countries from granting visas to Tibet’s exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, in order to deny himaninternationalaudience.Despitesometimesstrongpressureandheated rhetoric from China, however, he is one of the most recognizable people on theplanetanddrawshugecrowdswhereverhegoes.Severalofhisbookshave become international best sellers, and Martin Scorsese directed a major Hol- lywood biography of him, entitled Kundun (The Presence). He is widely per- ceivedasacharismaticholymanofunimpeachableintegrity.Inanepisodeof Frasier, when the main character criticized his manager for unethical tactics, shesnapped,“Ifyouwantedanethicalagent,youshouldhavehiredtheDalai Lama!” Such positive images of the Tibetan leader, and testaments to his in- preface ix tegrity, abound in popular Western culture. His smiling face is instantly rec- ognizable by most people, and was even used in an advertising campaign to sellApplecomputers. By contrast, China’s charismatically challenged leaders attract crowds of protestorswhenevertheyvisitforeigncountries,manyofthemwavingTibetan flagsandshouting“FreeTibet!”Thissighthassodistressedmanyofthemthat theysometimescancelappearanceswhentheprotestorsbreakthroughsecurity and confront them directly. Before visiting a foreign country China’s leaders commonly demand that its leaders physically suppress protestors, and they dismissthenotionthatthisisnotpossibleindemocraticsocieties.Moreover, theytellanyonewhoiswillingtolistenthattheprotestsaremisguidedbecause ChineseruleinTibethasbroughtunprecedentedprosperityandhappinessto itspeopleatahugeexpensetotheChinesegovernment.WhiletheDalaiLama hasbecomeincreasinglysophisticatedinhisuseoftheinternationalmediato project his image and message, China’s leaders tend to look dour and mean- spirited when they denounce this apparently cheerfulBuddhistmonk,whose nameiswidelyviewedassynonymouswithwisdomandcompassion. In contrast to the furtive actions of Chinese officials planting their publicationsinbookstores,theTibetansideiswellrepresentedbymainstream presses. There are a number of publishers who specialize in Tibetanstudies, and they uniformly represent the perspective of the Tibetan government-in- exile headquartered in India and led by the Dalai Lama. Despite Chinese ob- jections,numerousresolutionshavebeenpassedintheUN,theU.S.Congress, and other legislative bodies condemning Chinese policies in Tibet, and most Western countries have a number of active Tibet support groups. According torecentreports,theirnumbersaregrowingsteadily.2 EvenwhentheChinesegovernmentmanagestogetpublicationspresent- ing its point of view into Western bookstores and libraries, the results often fallshortoftheirexpectations.WhenIbeganthisstudy,Iborrowedanumber of Chinese-producedbooksonTibetfrommyuniversity’slibrary,andseveral had messages written on the inside covers, apparently by students who had previously borrowed them. Some of these read: “Don’t read this book!” “It’s allliesandChinesedistortions!”Throughoutthebooksmessageswerewritten in the margins proclaiming that certain statements were “lies!” or “bullshit!” I was struck by the vehemence of these messages, and decided to compare them to publications by Tibetans or Westerners that follow the Tibetan exile viewofTibet’shistoryandcurrentstatus;thereIfoundnosuchdenunciations, eveninthoseworksthathadahighlypropagandistictone.3 As these observations indicate, the Tibet issue is highly emotionally charged, and the field of Tibetan studies has been affected by this. When I
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