Special Report: Focus on Tibet
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The unique culture
of the Tibetan people is well preserved in China and the claims that the Tibetan
culture is nearing extinction are simply not true, a living Buddha of Tibetan
Buddhism said here Tuesday.
"In old Tibet, 95 percent of Tibetans were illiterate. Now the illiteracy rate has dropped significantly, as almost all school-age children in Tibet have access to education with subsidies from the government," Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak, a living Buddha of the Kagyu sect, told a press conference.
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The Tibetan delegation of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, holds a press conference in Washington, the United States, on March 17, 2009. (Xinhua Photo)
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All schools in Tibet have bilingual education in
Tibetan and Chinese, said Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak, adding that some of the
schools also teach English.
Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak is in the United States for a
visit as the head of a five-member delegation of the Tibetan NPC deputies. Their
visit is seen by many as a positive way to help improve American people's
understanding of Tibet.
"The Tibet culture is not nearing extinction as the
Dalai Lama clique has claimed. On the contrary, it is developing," said Shingtsa
Tenzinchodrak, also a deputy of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's
parliament.
The living Buddha said it was a privilege of the nobility and the small number of monks to learn the proper Tibetan language, whereas serfs and slaves, who accounted for 95 percent of the total population at the time, had no right to education.
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The Tibetan delegation of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, holds a press conference in Washington, the United States, on March 17, 2009. (Xinhua Photo)
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"If there is indeed (cultural) extinction, it is the
extinction of the 'traditional culture' of the feudal lords represented by the
Dalai Lama," he said.
Before the theocratic feudal serfdom was abolished in
Tibet in 1959, most of Tibet's natural and social resources had been monopolized
by three of the largest feudal lords, officials of the old Tibetan government,
the nobility and the monasteries.
Asked to comment on the Dalai Lama, Shingtsa
Tenzinchodrak said the Dalai Lama should not be judged only by what he has said.
"We also need to see what he has done over the past decades," he said.
"The Dalai Lama is not a simple religious figure . He
is rather a political figure," he said.
He also said it is not proper to call the Dalai Lama
the "religious leader" of Tibet because there are many other religious sects in
Tibet in addition to the Gelug sect to which the Dalai Lama belongs.
Lanny Davis, who served as special counsel to
President Bill Clinton from 1996 to 1998, said a complete lack of information
has led the American people, including himself, to the incorrect impression
about what the facts are about Tibet.
"It's good time to bring more Tibetans over and have
fellow Americans sitting beside them to help get the facts out about Tibet," he
said.
U.S. reiterates opposition to "Tibet independence"
WASHINGTON, March 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary John Norris said here Monday that Tibet is part of China and the United States does not support "Tibet independence."
Norris, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, made the remarks when meeting with a delegation of Tibetan deputies of China's National People's Congress (NPC).
Claim of Tibetan culture "elimination," "assimilation" can not hold water
BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Compared to the dark and backward feudal serfdom age, traditional Tibetan culture has been effectively inherited in Tibet and other Tibetan-inhabited areas, and modern education has been developing fast in the past 50 years, according to Tibetologists in northwest China's Gansu Province.
Reality has shown that Tibetan culture did not extinct. Instead, it has prospered as a bright pearl in the treasure house of the Chinese and world culture. Therefore, the claim of some "Tibet Independence" cliques and anti-China forces that Tibetan culture has been "eliminated" and "assimilated" can not hold water.
China lodges solemn representation over U.S. Tibet resolution
BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday lodged a formal complaint over a U.S. Congress resolution on Tibet.
"The Chinese government and people are strongly dissatisfied with and resolutely opposed to the approval of a Tibet resolution by the U.S. Congress on Wednesday," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular press briefing.
China urges U.S. to drop Tibet resolution
BEIJING, March 10 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday called for the withdrawal of a proposed U.S. congressional resolution on Tibet.
"We request the related U.S. representatives follow the basic norms guiding international relations and stop pushing the bill on Tibet," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told the regular press briefing.
Premier: Talks may continue if Dalai Lama sincere
BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here Friday that talks between the central government and the Dalai Lama may continue if he is sincere and really gives up his separatist attempt.
"Tibet is an inalienable part of China and issues related to Tibet are China's internal affairs which should not be interfered by foreign countries," Wen told reporters at a press conference after the National People's Congress (NPC) closed its annual session.
Dalai by no means a religious figure, but a political one
BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The Dalai Lama is "by no means a religious figure, but a political figure," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said here Saturday.
The Dalai Lama and his followers insist to establish the so-called "Greater Tibet" on one quarter of the Chinese territory. They want to drive away the Chinese armed forces deployed on the latter's own territory, and all the Chinese people of other ethnic groups who have been living in Tibet for generations, Yang told a press conference on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session.
