China Must Stop Sinicization of Tibetan Education

Imposition of Chinese language as medium of instruction in Tibetan schools in Tibet is going to be the last straw to break the Tibetans' patience. Chinese government is going too far in their sinister design to exterminate the Tibetan language and culture. When the 50 years of their brutal and oppressive rule failed to subjugate the Tibetans, they are now up with this dreadful policy to eradicate the very nerve and fabric of Tibetan identity that keeps the Tibetan united, resilient and peaceful.

When the free world is doing its best to preserve the dying culture and languages, China is trying to kill the language, which is not only the life and soul of the Tibetan civilization but also the indispensable medium that has kept the profound teaching of Buddha alive to this day.

Tibetan language is among the richest languages in the world. Tibetan epic, King Gesar of Ling [Ling gesar gyalpoi drung] is believed to be the longest written epic poem with 120 volume in more than one million lines and more than 20 million words. Indian mythological epic, Mahabarata, and Japanese Genji Monogatari by Murasaki Shikibi comes next to this Tibetan epic in terms of volumes. Richness of the language could be understood from the fact that it has 108 connotative words for 'sun' [nyima] and 36 for 'moon' [dawa].

It is also believed that per capita book written is highest in Tibet. The country had produced large number of Buddhist, Bon and lay literatures despite its sparse population.

Communist authority must be thinking that by destroying Tibetan language and religion they can assimilate the Tibetans into the Han majority culture; this is a very shortsighted and wrong vision. The world and the history will never forgive them if they commit this sacrilegious against Tibet, one of the respected ancient civilizations in the world.

I hope and pray that Chinese leadership listen to the demonstrating students and think twice before implementing such ominous crime against civilization.