reportage Under a Chinese cloud
1999 will mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. A year later, the new millennium will, in turn, mark the 50th anniversary of the PRC’s ‘liberation’ or ‘invasion’ of Tibet. Tibet suffered heavily during the era of the Cultural Revolution. The Chinese government labelled Tibetan Buddhism as a ‘disease’ to be eradicated through communist indoctrination. An estimated 1.2 million of the population were killed and some six thousand monasteries were destroyed. The fall of the Gang of Four in China led to a gradual liberalization in Tibet during the 1980s, and an open admission that the Communist Party had seriously misgoverned the region.
Spring 1997 | Manuel Bauer (Lookat) and related links | Archive | Back | Next | 3 of 12