The College of North Caroline Press
In March 2008, Amy Yee — then a Delhi correspondent for the Monetary Instances — attended a press convention given by the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India, the place he had established a authorities in exile practically 50 years earlier than.
Earlier that month, protests marking the forty ninth anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan rebellion in opposition to Chinese language rule had led to crackdowns, with extra 100 Tibetans killed in clashes with safety forces.
Yee was shocked when the Dalai Lama singled her out from the gang of reporters. He requested if she was Chinese language. Yee, whose mother and father are from Hong Kong, hesitated earlier than answering that she is American. After shocking her additional with a big bear hug, the Dalai Lama commanded Yee to “inform them” — which means the Chinese language — that solely talks between Tibet and China would resolve the disaster.
That first go to to Dharamsala sparked Yee’s curiosity within the lives of Tibetan refugees. Because the Chinese language invasion of Tibet within the Nineteen Fifties, greater than 100,000 Tibetans have fled the nation. A big majority dwell in Dharamsala, which has turn into house to the federal government in exile — and has additionally turn into a religious house.
Yee moved to Dharamsala in 2009 and for a yr adopted the lives of exiled Tibetans, from basketball-playing monks to former political prisoners to a middle-class couple who gave up every thing and fled there fairly than danger arrest for the unlawful act of photocopying fliers stating, “Lengthy Dwell the Dalai Lama.”
Most of Yee’s preliminary reporting targeted on the group in Dharamsala. However because the years went on, a few of Yee’s contacts moved to locations in different components of the world — Australia, Belgium, New York. She stayed related. The result’s now a e-book — Far From the Rooftop of the World: Travels Amongst Tibetan Refugees on 4 Continents — a mixture of reportage and travelogue.
In a telephone interview, Yee mentioned what she witnessed and the ensuing e-book. The interview has been edited for size and readability.
Why did you determine to write down about Tibetan exiles?
I had been in Tibet earlier than once I was simply backpacking, after educating in China for 2 years within the late Nineteen Nineties. And in Tibet itself, you can’t also have a picture of the Dalai Lama. You possibly can’t have a Tibetan flag, or perhaps a photocopy of it. You will be arrested for that. And worse. So we have been seeing protests occurring in Tibet. In the meantime, on this parallel universe [in Dharamsala], this haven of Tibet in exile, you had individuals out on the streets demonstrating, protesting. There have been hundreds of individuals marching within the streets of Dharamsala peacefully, carrying photographs of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan flag, every kind of banners and indicators. So, it actually struck me that this was what Tibetan id and tradition could possibly be like, if it may flourish freely with out repression. I imply, actually on the opposite aspect, in Tibet, we have been seeing individuals getting shot for doing one thing like that.
How was it for you as an individual of Chinese language origin connecting with exiled Tibetans? Towards the backdrop of Chinese language political repression in opposition to the Tibetan inhabitants, have been you fearful about how you’ll be obtained?
I used to be by no means greeted with any hostility. I used to be at all times obtained warmly and welcomed. Individuals would generally come as much as me, unbidden, and communicate to me in Mandarin, which I had discovered in school. That absolutely shocked me. And I believe generally they have been just a little disenchanted that I used to be an American.
Why is there such an curiosity in Chinese language-speaking guests or in connecting with the Chinese language?
You possibly can inform from the Dalai Lama’s method in direction of me, he encourages good relationships with Chinese language individuals. And he’s at all times reaching out to who he calls, “Chinese language brothers and sisters.” He offers particular teachings and audiences to ethnically Chinese language individuals, whether or not from China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and so forth. The filmmaker Tenzing Sonam adopted the Dalai Lama around the globe in 2008 for his documentary The Solar Behind the Clouds. Tenzing advised me the Dalai Lama was virtually obsessive about assembly Chinese language individuals wherever he went. That may appear counterintuitive, however that is very excessive on the agenda. And I believe it is in all probability a type of tender diplomacy.
The Dalai Lama mentioned, ‘I nonetheless think about Chinese language individuals.’ I believe that’s a unprecedented factor to say. He mentioned, ‘My religion within the Chinese language authorities is getting thinner and thinner. However I nonetheless think about Chinese language individuals.’
It is fairly extraordinary, given particularly at the moment in March 2008, the tensions have been operating so excessive. And he was nonetheless encouraging good relationships as a result of he — after which many Tibetans — can distinguish between a daily Chinese language individual and the actions of the federal government of China.
You wrote about an occasion commemorating the 1959 Tibetan Rebellion and a carnival recreation that featured a wood signboard with a caricature of the Chinese language president Hu Jintao. Attendees took turns making an attempt to throw a shoe by a gaping gap representing Hu’s mouth. You wrote that, “whereas the Dalai Lama espouses nonviolence as a religious chief, most Tibetans are common human beings and people categorical frustration, anxiousness, anger and grief in a variety of the way.” Why do you suppose that Westerners should be reminded that Tibetans or Buddhists would categorical anger?
It is fascinating that they selected to do this. There was a Western lady who walked by the occasion and he or she mentioned one thing to the Tibetans like, you should not be offended, that is dangerous karma. I assumed, is not that wealthy? The irony, proper? However Tibetans, they’re individuals. There’s a complete vary of feelings that they really feel. And, , I’ve seen the Dalai Lama be offended.
So, why do Westerners have this view of Tibetans? I believe there’s only a romanticization of Tibetan Buddhism. It is perhaps from popular culture and films. Individuals have remarked to me, once they hear in regards to the e-book, they’re going to say issues like, ‘Oh, you need to speak to those individuals who do podcasts about happiness,’ And to me, truly, that would not be what I might consider most instantly. One of many tenets of Buddhism is that life is struggling. That half does not get as a lot consideration within the West.
You described advances in ladies’s rights within the exiled Tibetan society that hadn’t occurred inside Tibet on the time. What did you see?
I occurred to maneuver right into a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in Dharamsala in 2008. I by chance lived amongst nuns who have been learning to be the primary ladies to earn geshe levels — the equal of a PhD in Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism, like many religions, is predominantly patriarchal. However the Dalai Lama was encouraging in regards to the thought of feminine geshes, though some in Tibetan society initially frowned on this huge change. That was simply one of many sea adjustments occurring amongst Tibetan ladies in exile.
The Dalai Lama additionally inspired ladies’s involvement in exile politics, activism, and society. The Tibetan exile parliament had a [minimum] quota for feminine officers: 6 out of 46 in 2009. That yr there have been 11 feminine parliamentarians.
You requested a number of of the exiled Tibetans in Dharamsala, India what actions led to them having to go away Tibet — and in the event that they regretted coming to India. What did they inform you?
Nicely, it ranged. It diversified. Similar to it could as a result of everyone seems to be totally different. However there have been three totally different responses that I am pondering of. Topden, who got here to India so he may freely research as a monk, mentioned he did not actually know the reply. A girl named Deckyi and her husband needed to go away every thing and flee within the winter of 2008 as a result of that they had photocopied flyers for a pal who participated in a protest and that pal was arrested. After that, they left every thing, though that they had labored so onerous to achieve a middle-class life in Lhasa, Tibet. I mentioned to her, “Do you remorse making the photocopies?” And he or she mentioned, “No, I do not remorse it. I did one thing good. We did one thing good for Tibet.”
After which I had requested the query of somebody I interviewed briefly, a monk who had photocopies of the Tibetan flag. He was in jail for seven months for that. He was tortured. And he mentioned he did remorse it.
For many of the e-book, you have been assembly with Tibetans in exile in India. In the direction of the top, you are in Australia, the place a few of your contacts have moved. You doc them celebrating Losar (Tibetan New Yr) with full fanfare, which could not be achieved within Tibet attributable to heightened Chinese language safety to thwart any unrest. Is there some sense that the way forward for Tibet it’s now exterior the nation?
It relies upon who you ask — however from my perspective, Tibet inside Tibet has to maintain itself nevertheless it might probably, and may maintain itself. After which exterior of Tibet, it might probably flourish freely, and generally another way. So in India, by the Tibetan training system, there is a very stable basis to retain the language. Once you go additional away, like Australia, you are not going to have a devoted Tibetan training system in Australia, however I noticed these weekend colleges the place kids are studying the language and dance and humanities and music on the weekends. They’re attempting to maintain it alive, and so they’re doing that in different places the place the diaspora has arrived. So, it form of must be each.
The yr I used to be there in Dharmsala in 2009, they cancelled Losar, or they determined to not have a good time it, due to the situations in Tibet. It’s one other type of protest, and it is a political assertion that is vital. It could be like cancelling Christmas within the West. It is actually an enormous deal. After which, the primary time I noticed a Losar celebration was all the way in which in Melbourne.
Some individuals have mentioned to me, “Oh, your e-book is about refugees. It have to be miserable,” as a result of that is what they consider once they consider refugees. And really, though there’s disappointment, for certain, it is also inspiring what Tibetans have achieved exterior of Tibet, that I’ve seen. It is in all probability inspiring within Tibet, too, however I can not see that proper now.
Danielle Preiss is a journalist who stories on international improvement, tradition and the atmosphere, with a deal with South Asia.