Cough up a Yuan for every Chinese word

Tibetans in Zachukha are taking matters into their own hands. As Chinese authorities attempt to further marginalize the Tibetan language by replacing it with Chinese as the medium of instruction in schools, Tibetans in Sershul Monastery have hit upon a brilliant idea to protect their language from Chinese invasion.

The plan works like this: everyone makes an effort to speak in pure Tibetan in the monastery. Every time someone utters a Chinese word, they get fined a yuan!

"...Chinese government officials including the County leaders and an official from the local United Work Front Department arrived at Sershul monastery and confiscated boxes containing money collected as fine for speaking “Drak kay”, a reference used to describe mix of spoken Tibetan and Chinese languages. The government officials told the monks that the system of levying fine on people over spoken language must be stopped. The monks told them that they had forced no one to comply with the fine system and that the people of the area had voluntarily agreed to be fined if they spoke “Drak kay”."

The news article in Tibet Times goes on to say that since 2008, "Tibetans in the area have been following a rule of sorts to levy penalty of one Yuan on anyone who does not speak pure Tibetan."

It appears that this new self-imposed rule is spreading through other parts of Tibet. It's hard to imagine a better way to preserve our language.

The Tongue of Our Mothers

Tibetan as a language has a great history and a rich literature. For centuries it evolved on the Tibetan plateau, its influence often flowing down into other Himalayan cultures such as those of Ladakh, Bhutan, Sikkim, Tawang and so on. Scholars and researchers maintain that Tibetan is the only language today in which one can access the full body of Buddhist literature, including all the root texts and the commentaries.

In the new millennium, when the Tibetan language is thriving in places like Bhutan, Ladakh and, curiously, on the internet, it is coming under systematic attack in Tibet.

Watch this short video from Reuters reporting on how Tibetans in Tibet fear the loss of their mother tongue because of China’s education policies as well as cultural and economic imperialism in Tibet. I hope that the strength of our language and our spirit will withstand China’s effort to forcibly assimilate us.

RENAISSANCE UNDER FIRE

It is an evil twist of fate that many Tibetan intellectuals and writers get their due recognition only after they're dead or arrested. Gedun Choephel. Dhondup Gyal. Dolma Kyab. Shokjang. Gangnyi. And now, the latest victim of China's wrath, Shogdung (real name: Tagyal) - a leading intellectual recently detained by Chinese authorities. Reading about Shogdung's numerous essays and books further confirmed my long-held opinion that what we have been witnessing is a Tibetan renaissance that is 1000 years overdue. It might take us another century to recognize this too, but future generations will look back at this decade and call it the Tibetan renaissance.

Yes, it's a thousand years overdue but it's finally here. Tibetan Renaissance has begun.

Every day a new book, a new poem, a new essay, or a new pamphlet. Every week a new music album, a new painting, a new thangka, a new exhibition. Every month a new film, a new idea, a new movement, a new school of thought. Writers, poets, musicians, artists, filmmakers are changing the landscape of Tibetan arts and literature. For a culture that has craved isolation and remained static over most of the last millennium, this is a revolution. This is the long overdue Tibetan Renaissance.

Shogdung's book, "གནམ་ས་གོ་འབྱེད་" (Distinguishing Sky from Earth), is one of the hundreds of books and essays written about the Tibetan uprising of 2008. བདེ་སྐྱིད་ནི་རང་དབང་གི་འབྲས་བུ་ཡིན་ལ། རང་དབང་ནི་དཔའ་སྤོབས་ཀྱི་འབྲས་བུ་ཡིན་ནོ།། Shogdung quotes a Greek scholar at the beginning of the book: "Happiness is the result of freedom; freedom is the result of courage." The quote sums up Shogdung's renunciation of fear, which was a step necessary to take before writing anything honest or meaningful.

In a way, the fearlessness that marked the political reawakening of the Tibetan people has contributed to the boldness and brilliance with which the new Tibetan art is bursting into the world. Young Tibetan painters like Gade, Gongkar, Rigdol, and Pekar are dancing on the canvas of modernity with brushstrokes that invoke as well as challenge tradition. Musicians like Yadong and Kunga and Sherten and JJI have electrified the Tibetan masses with lyrics that resonate in our hearts, from the Tibetan grasslands and nightclubs through the exile landscape. Writers like Shogdung, Shogjang, Gangnyi, Tsundue, Bhuchung, Tsering Wangmo, Drugmo, Mountain Phoenix, and of course Woeser, are finally putting into words the unfathomable pain, the occasional joy, and the constant yearning that mark our oppressed or exiled life.

This is the incredible power of Tibetan renaissance. We don't have the hard power of guns and tanks, but we have the soft power of culture and creativity. Chinese authorities can put on the most expensive expo ever in Shanghai, but they cannot create a cultural renaissance in China. The fact that this Tibetan renaissance is taking place at a time of extreme repression in Tibet makes it all the more significant and powerful.

Let's continue this Tibetan renaissance. Let's read more, write more, paint more, travel more, dream more, love more. Khampa youths shall get on the bus and travel to all corners of Tibet, stopping in Lhasa for breakfast, Gyangtse for dinner. Utsangwas shall go to the farthest reaches of Amdo till you hit the bumper of Mongolia - look, Tso Ngonpo is waiting for you. Let's see our beautiful country, let's start our own beat generation.