铁素体:The Pulse of Tibet

来源：百度文库编辑：九乡新闻网时间：2024/05/02 05:57:44

The Pulse of Tibet

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No one can deny that mountains of change have taken place on the “Roof of the World” over the past 60 years. Throughout Tibetan history, such change is unparalleled in the previously closed, backward society that formerly preserved feudal serfdom.

Now, the evolution of the prosperous new society continues with each passing day. What does Tibet’s dramatic social progress really mean in the era of globalization? Tanzen Lhunaup, deputy director of the Social and Economic Institute of China Tibetology Research Center, will shed light on these questions by his own experiences and feelings.

Born in 1964 in Lhasa, Tanzen is China’s first Tibetan scholar to receive a Ph.D. in sociology. In 1988 he began conducting field research in Lhasa, Shannan, and Shigatse areas, from which he gathered loads of data. As an inheritor of timeless Tibetan culture as well as a researcher bound to modern scientific approaches, Tanzen is a premier authority on the status quo of Tibet.

Tanzen Lhunaup, Deputy Director of the Social and Economic Institute of China Tibetology Research Center“Tibetan society barely developed before 1951,” began Tanzen’s speech to review the great changes in Tibet over the past six decades. After the mid-17th century, Tibet gradually established a hierarchical social system as part of its theocracy, with the Dalai Lama as its head, which remained unchanged for 300 years.

“Back then, religion overpowered politics and all government activity served the interests of religion,” he continued. “The theocratic regime supported a strict hierarchical system, a rigid social structure, and little communication between classes. Aristocrats’ descendants would remain aristocrats and children of serfs were destined to be serfs, which heavily hindered the social and economic development of Tibet. The only chance the underclass had to climb the social ladder was to work towards becoming a high-ranking monk through decades of strict religious practice, but even those opportunities were rare.”

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According to Tanzen, when all of a society’s wealth ends up concentrated on religious activities, progress cannot be supported. Previously in Tibet, not only did the economy never develop, but freedom was so restricted that the society stubbornly resisted any change. The British once failed in a plan to establish English schools in Lhasa, and an early Chinese national government attempt to found a primary school in Lhasa also ended up fruitless. “The school was established, but most of its students came from Han and Hui ethnic groups,” Tanzen illustrated. “Even from secular angels, the society was backward and Tibetan people had no guarantees for basic rights.”

In the early 20th century, the situation in Tibet was worsening to the point that the society was hardly sustainable. Articles related to democratic reform as part of the Agreement of the Central People’s Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, signed in 1951, supported the fact that Tibet’s local government also realized the importance of a democratic reform.

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Tanzen argues that changes in Tibetan society since the peaceful liberation have been remarkable. After the introduction of reform and opening policies, in particular, Tibet has progressed at a stunning speed. Responding to the question of what he sees the biggest change in Tibetan society, the professor revealed his perspective: “Tibet has now become a pluralist society, seeking coordinated development in multiple aspects.”

Tanzen noted that before peaceful liberation, Tibet was isolated from the outside world, featuring a single social structure and unitary ideology. In recent decades, however, with a more diverse social structure, Tibetan thinking and ideas, even in some of the most remote areas, have become strikingly open and vibrant. In some ways, today’s Lhasa rivals Beijing and Shanghai. The drastic changes should be attributed to Tibet’s increasingly closer relationship with the rest of the country as well as irresistible trends of globalization. When the inland provinces ousted the planned economy and established a market-based economic system, Tibet had no reason to remain unchanged.

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Old Tibet before 1951

“The development of a market economy created possibilities and a driving force behind the flow of Tibetan society,” Tanzen added. “While the market economy propelled the rise of China’s southeastern coastal areas, it exerted an equally important influence upon Tibet.” In the past, there was a gigantic gap between nobles and serfs, but after the introduction of the market economy, a great number of Tibetans have found prosperity through their own enterprises, not to mention the numerous farmers who shook off poverty by working in cities. Along with social wealth, citizens have enjoyed new mobility in social status.

Tanzen used to concentrate his studies on Tibetan migrant workers. According to him, the growth of Lhasa and other Tibetan cities attracted countless farmers and herders to seek fortunes in the cities, which promoted the local economy but created new social management issues as well. “Nevertheless, the region’s previously closed social structure eventually came to an end,” he asserted.

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From Tanzen’s perspective, social pluralism is not just reflected in social structure and social stratum, but also occurs in social ideology. “In recent years, Tibet has seen an increasing tendency towards ideological secularization, especially among large city dwellers who appear to be less devout to religion than before,” he explained. “Still, the appeal of maintaining religious purity and keeping separation between religion and the secular society has not faded. The two opposite ideological options collide with each other in the spiritual life of modern Tibetans, which mirrors the pluralism of social thought.”

It is an undeniable fact that over the past 60 years Tibet has witnessed economic development, social progress, liberation of the oppressed, and the introduction of democratic rights, Tanzen stressed.

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The course of Tibetan social advancement is still moving. With a scholar’s cultural responsibility in mind, Tanzen has dedicated himself to the inheritance and promotion of Tibetan culture, with hopes that the ancient culture can be protected and gain renewed vigor over the course of modernization. Meanwhile, social work has also attracted the sociologist, who will soon assume the post of director of the Contemporary Tibetan Social Development Research Center, newly co-founded by Tibet University and China Tibetology Research Center.

“We aim to produce a group of young Tibetan scholars, so that they will be able to better serve society and promote both intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic exchanges with an understanding of modern social sciences they acquire at the center,” Tanzen remarked. “Only with thorough understanding and communication will it be more likely for a prosperous, democratic new Tibet to lie ahead.”

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