After Five Decades, Tibet's Monks Still Bristle Under Chinese Rule

LHASA, Aug 18 (AFP) - Despite five decades of strict and sometimes brutal Chinese control of Tibet's Buddhist monasteries, many monks - through snatched conversations when it is safe to do so -- still make their real feelings towards their rulers plain.

Whatever Beijing's protestations of religious freedom in the Himalayan region, political pressure is rife and China remains a deeply mistrusted occupying force, they said during a rare visit by foreign media.

Even some monks from Beijing-appointed committees charged with running the monasteries in place of traditional hierarchies were at pains to point out their double life.

During the Chinese-arranged media trip they made loyal speeches saying all was well -- but later told reporters in private to disregard these completely.

The complaints are many, including large numbers of "political education" meetings at which monks are obliged to read China's official press and learn Chinese history.

The position of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest office in Tibetan Buddhism, is also an extremely sensitive point.

A monk in Lhasa described the incongruous scenes during a rare visit to the Tibetan capital by the teenager hand-picked by Beijing as the latest reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, a visit described by official Chinese media as joyful.

"When the "Panchen Lama" ... went to the Jokhang, the monastery at the centre of Lhasa in June, soldiers armed with machine guns surrounded the building," he said.

"Many monks were not even permitted to be there to receive him."

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's paramount spiritual leader who still inspires loyalty among Tibetans despite his being in exile in India since a failed uprising against Chinese forces in 1959, had previously picked his own Panchen Lama, as enjoined on him under Tibetan Buddhist orthodoxy.

However six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, picked in 1995 as the reincarnation of the last Panchen Lama, who died in 1989, was swiftly placed under Chinese custody.

He is now thought to live in Beijing, and has been dubbed "the world's youngest political prisoner" by human rights groups.

Gyaltsen Norbu, now 13, was chosen by Beijing instead, but few apart from Chinese officials seem to recognise his legitimacy.

When the Panchen Lama went to visit the Tashilhunpo monastery, his official seat in the Tibetan city of Shigatse, there was none of the happiness that might be expected for such a homecoming.

Instead, "no one came to visit at all except groups organised by Beijing," one monk said.

After decades of interference and political persecution, monks are deeply suspicious of Chinese intentions.

Beijing's top leader in Tibet, Guo Jinlong, has repeatedly insisted that religious freedom exists in the region, ruled by China since its troops undertook a so-called "peaceful liberation" in 1951.

But "what the Chinese say is one thing and what they do is another," said one monk, in Lhasa on pilgrimage from the north of China.

Many monks do not believe Beijing wants any compromise at all with the Dalai Lama, despite repeated assertions by Chinese officials that they would talk to the exiled leader if he showed "sincerity".

"It's impossible to have real autonomy in China, and that's why Beijing does not want to negotiate with the Dalai Lama," the monk on pilgrimage said.

According to some outside pressure groups, the decades of suffocation have caused desperation among many people.

A study by the Tibet Information Network concluded that "Tibetans have ceased to believe that political protests will help realise their most cherished aspirations".

"You are trapped. As soon as we move, they stop us," one young monk said, cupping his hand symbolically over a tiny wooden chopstick rest.

Economic development which has spread through Tibet rapidly in recently years, although unequally, makes things even more complicated by giving some locals more incentive to work with the Chinese.

"Chinese propaganda has become more intelligent," said one exiled Tibetan.

"Now it soaks through to the spirit."

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Last updated: 20-August-2002