The Weblog of Breaking Parity
A brief history of Tibet in 1950-1959
Readers of my blog should be well aware by now of the autonomous regime headed by Dalie (Dalai) was one of the most brutal regimes around the world, where the properties of the entire Tibet was in the hands of some 5% of the population, and the rest, 95% of them, were virtually slaves (serfs). Their spiritual leader was smart enough to understand that “spirit” wasn’t sufficient to maintain such an unequal system, so he ruled Tibet by keeping most Tibetans in ignorance and terror. Take the eye gouging penalty for the “freedom-loving” criminals as an example.
So, what happened really from 1950 to 1959? If you care, there are plenty of resources to dig out online. But to an average people, which by definition is lazy, I can give you a very brief account of it.
Before 1950, when the Republic of China was shaking, both Britain and Russia attempted to control Tibet. Fearing an independent Tibet can easily fall in the hand of the other, neither pushed Tibet hard toward independence, although they both tried.
Between 1946 and 1950, the Communism party astonished the west by diminishing the armies of the Republic of China at an extraordinary speed. Out of the panic, British and CIA encouraged Dalie Lame (Dalai Lama) to declare independence. Whether he officially made such a bid mattered little since the message hardly got across much further than the outskirts of his palace. When the Communists army “marched into Tibet” as many western media love to describe it, the very same way they marched into every other province of China (hey dude, keep in mind that we were in a civil war and armies of different kinds marched everywhere!), they met very little local resistance. After all, average Tibetan would be more than confused to be asked to resist, since they had also been told for centuries to worship the emperor of China as the “living buddha” of higher rank than Dalie (Dalai). Foreseeing the failure of their poorly planned independence movement, the British packed up and went home, leaving Dalie alone to cooperate with Beijing.
After 1950. Initially he was allowed to maintain his autonomous regime as was. Only this time, the central Chinese government had a very different nature. They were the damn passionate communists, who perceived landlords as devils. They found the presence of a slavery regime in a socialism republic very bizarre. All other landlords in China were wiped out, often in a brutal way. So, how could Dalie Lame, the biggest landlord in China at the time, be tolerated to continue his ruling in Tibet by brutality and terror? Some critics also say that Dalie wasn’t obedient enough in front of Mao and Mao looked down on Tibetan religious tradition.
Whatever the reason was, the Communists (Lincoln) believed that according to the Chinese (US) constitution, the central (the Federal) government was entitled and obligated to liberate the people in Tibet (the south), even at the cost of military action. Some time before 1959, they launched (very slowly though) a political reforming plan in Tibet. At this point, it should be clear to the “conscience of the world” (sorry, I can’t help quoting Nancy, she’s just lovely) who embraced such a reforming the most happily. It was the vast majority of the poor Tibetans. Why would anyone say no to be set free out of slavery? Are we not freedom-loving by nature? It must also be obvious who were most upset. And yes, Dalie and his priest class. Let us remember that Dalie(Dalai) at the time was an ambitious young man at age 24, who had been receiving tough education and training in his palace for more than 20 years preparing him to become the monarch. Now, all of sudden, he was told to step aside, continue being your spiritual leader but mind no politics. He had reasons to feel outrageous and the urge of fighting back.
Luckily, CIA found Tibet their another favorite dictatorship. With their help, he quickly mobilized the slave owners, who equally feared of losing their lands, and organized a resistance force. This resulted in the “bloody crackdown” of a violent “uprise” in Lhasa after a sequence of political conflicts in 1959.
To their great dismay though, a riot was the best they managed. Quickly they ran out of the momentum and failed to find sufficient local support for a full-scale civil war. Failing the struggle, CIA arranged for Dalie to flee to India, together with a large crowd of rich monks, slave owners and their close supporters.
From then on, they settled in India and created a “government of Tibet-in-exile”, where they educated their children, and the entire west by legend.
The legend goes like this. Before 1950, Tibet was a beautiful, peaceful and spiritual fairyland where people lived free and happily. It was “invaded” by the evil Chinese Communists in 1950 and Dalie was forced to exile because he “fought for the freedom of Tibetans“. Nothing can be more ironic then such a story. I’m sure, for quite a while, the slogan of “free Tibet” was a bit confusing and even scary to Dalie (Dalai) and his pals, because “free” is a cheap word but the real question is: to be freed from what? Most evidently, most Tibetans are much freer than they ever were. Didn’t Dalie himself want to keep their “tradition” by granting his people much less freedom? But CIA had their propaganda ready and provided him the best answer that fits right into the westerners’ mind. Surely it meant to be “free from the communism”, you moron! With this last piece of jigsaw, the legend had become the best selling fiction in the 20th century and still remains very popular.
Finally, some might ask, did Dalie (Dalai) stated that he had no intention to reinstall the feudal system and instead, he planned to establish a democratic government in Tibet? Well, surely he says so, but, who else that has a brain wouldn’t? He even claimed that he was willing to consider reforming before 1950.
What a holy ingenious young dictator, at his age of 15, had already become democracy loving, and at the very same time, he already knew to fight against communism, and, most important of all, he even knew to keep his fabulous dream of “free Tibet” in secracy so he wouldn’t have upset the rich powerful monks and turned them all against him. Only until he was in exile, when the CIA funding was cut off, and when some westerners, out of curiosities, discovered the horrible past of Dalie’s rule and started questioning him, he kindly revealed to the world his most democracy and human right respecting side. Bravo, two thumbs up to his holy liar!
Updated Remark: my later study revealed to me that CIA had never taken it seriously to start a war against China for Tibetan’s independence. Their plan was only to keep the region disturbed and so the communist China troubled, although the poor Tibetans-in-exile were long kept in a myth that USA would sincerely “do everything possible” (as they so stated in one of the telegrams to Dalai Lama) for them to achieve their goal. No wonder Dalai later stated that he felt furious and betrayed when the CIA funding was cut. He, and his followers, were indeed betrayed from the very beginning. I even sympathize him and the ignorant Tibetans-in-exile now. How sad a life would it be had he not invented later the idea of becoming a “peace symbol”!
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