Tsering Dhundup
DHARAMSHALA, Sept. 20: The President of the Central Tibetan Administration has expressed concern over two prominent Parisian museums’ decision to adopt Chinese terminology in their catalogues of Tibetan artefacts.
In a letter dated September 14, the Tibetan political leader criticized the Musée du quai Branly and the Musée Guimet for replacing the term “Tibet” with “Xizang” or “Himalayan World” in their collections.
The letter, addressed to several high-ranking French officials including the Minister of Culture and the Mayor of Paris, as well as museum directors and members of the Tibetan Support Group in the French Senate, denounced the museums’ actions as “pandering to the wishes of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government.”
He argued that this terminology shift, initiated by China’s United Front Work Department in 2023, is part of a broader strategy to erase Tibet’s identity as an independent cultural entity. He emphasized that the term “Tibet” historically encompasses three traditional provinces inhabited by Tibetans and that the use of “Xizang” distorts Tibet’s history as an independent nation.
“It is particularly disheartening that the said cultural institutions in France—a nation that cherishes liberty, equality, and fraternity—are acting in complicity with the PRC government in its design to erase the identity of Tibet,” the letter stated.
The Tibetan leader urged the museums to reconsider their position and accurately represent Tibet in accordance with historical facts, international laws, and the aspirations of the Tibetan people.
This controversy unfolds amid ongoing tensions between Tibet and China, with recent actions by the Chinese government exacerbating the situation. The letter highlighted several measures, including the forced enrollment of over a million Tibetan children in state-run boarding schools, efforts to Sinicize Tibetan Buddhism by exerting control over monasteries and religious education, and the forced relocation of Tibetan nomads, alongside land confiscation under the pretext of environmental protection.
The Tibetan President’s letter also highlighted the recent enactment of the Sino-Tibetan Dispute Act by the U.S. government on July 12, 2024. This legislation challenges China’s historical claims over Tibet and acknowledges the Chinese government’s systematic suppression of Tibetan culture and way of life.
The Tibet Museum also released a statement expressing concern over the museums’ decisions, calling it an alarming distortion of history and a denial of Tibet’s cultural identity. The museum’s director, Tenzin Topdhen, urged the Musée du quai Branly and Musée Guimet to reverse their decisions and restore accurate representation of Tibetan heritage.
Tibetans and supporters of the Tibetan cause in France have initiated various protests against the museums for adopting Chinese names for Tibetan artifacts. They are using petitions, writing to the museum directors, and actively raising awareness on social media platforms.
One Response
The Chinese are a imperialist nation! The communist regime peddled itself as anti-imperialist and anti-colonialism! However, bad habits die hard as they say, they have become the most imperialistic entity today. The Tibetans got engrossed with Buddhism and cared little about nation building and guarding its territory. The successive Manchu and Chinese regimes incrementally encroached into Tibetan territory and claimed them. Most of Kham were ruled by chieftains and the Tibetan Government in Lhasa had little sway over them. With the Tibetan Central Government weak and having neither the power nor the appetite to reclaim its peripheral territories, successive regimes in China nibbled away Tibet. The Chinese, as all imperialists do, sought to divide Tibet by creating names like Inner Tibet and Outer Tibet. The Simla Convention however cemented Tibet’s claim to whole of Tibet and recognised as such by the British Government in return for ceding ལྷོ་མོན་ the region known as Arunachal Pradesh which has become part of India ever since. When the Chinese communists came to power, they made good on their spurious claim over Tibet by asking the 13 year old Panchen Lama to ask the Tibetans to revolt against the Government of Tibet. When that failed, they invaded Amdo and Kham and threatened the Tibetan Government to send a delegation for talks. The Tibetans had no interest in talks but the Chinese communists threatened to take over violently unless, the Tibetan Government sent a delegation. It was led by Ngapo Ngawang Jigme and he was metaphorically forced to sign the infamous “17 point Treaty” at the point of a gun! The treaty was reneged by the Chinese communists even before the ink dried on the paper! This is how communist China illegally occupied Tibet since 1949/50. After six decades of military occupation, it is ERASING THE VERY NAME OF TIBET, a country that has a history more than two thousand years and was once an empire that conquered Tang capital Changan known today as Xian and imposed a puppet regime there. Today, the evil communist regime is once again imposing anther name for Tibet in order to ERASE THE VERY MEMORY OF TIBET from the conscience of the world so they can swallow it for perpetuity! Every Tibetan worth his salt must prevent this diabolical act of ethnocide perpetrated by the vile Chinese communist regime upon the people of Tibet. It is also to gobble whole of Eastern Tibet that is beyond the Drichu river and leave only central Tibet and small part of Kham as TIBET! TIBET encompasses the WHOLE OF THE TIBETAN PLATEAU AND THEREFORE, IT IS HISTORICALLY, TERRITORIAL WISE AND MORALLY UNACCEPTABLE TO THE TIBETAN PEOPLE! Such territorial grab by name calling is a trade mark of the successive Chinese regimes. There are numerous examples but to spare verbosity, let’s take the example of “Aksai Chin” the land between Purang in western Tibet and East Turkistan. This land is claimed by India. It connects Tibet to East Turkistan. But the Chinese named it “Aksai chin” which means རྒྱའི་བྱེས་ཐང་དཀར་་པོ་ and occupied In the 1962 Indo-China war! This is how the Chinese gobble up other nation’s territories, waters, and even countries. It is trying to take Taiwan even though the PRC has no jurisdiction over it. China never had jurisdiction over Tibet in its entire history but it was forcibly occupied through military might! Tibetan organisations around the world must be vigilant about how the CCP bribes and uses museums, libraries, China hired “Party scholars” who are hired to peddle the Chinese name must protest vigorously. The more sensitivity we show about the use of the Chinese nomenclature for Tibet, the more they will be under pressure not to use them expecting the ire of the Tibetans. We must be resolute to tell the organisations, individuals, academics or whoever THEY MAY BE TO STOP SUPPORTING ETHNIC CLEANSING, ETHNOCIDE, CULTURAL ERASURE, GENOCIDE, RE-WRITING OF HISTORY OR HISTORICAL REVISIONISM! Besides, Tibet is an illegally occupied country and under international law, the occupier cannot change the status quo. . IT IS ILLEGAL TO DO SO! Last but not the least of importance is: WE OURSELVES SHOULD NEVER USE SUCH DETESTABLE TERM TO DESCRIBE OUR BELOVED COUNTRY-TIBET!!!
Thank you to all the Tibetan brothers. sisters and Tibet supporters in France for protesting in front of the museums to register your protest against this despicable act of caving in to the CCP regime and doing their dirty job to white wash their crimes by drowning it with the ERASURE OF TIBET FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH! SHAME ON YOU!