Exiles Tibet

It dusk on a fall evening in 1967, my brother and I journeyed beyond our Seattle city block to play basketball at Eckstein Junior High. Standing beside a portable blackboard, jumping up and down with a length of chalk in my fist--the odd man out of this particular game--I kept score and hoped someone would injure himself so that I might take his place.

The Dalai Lama plans to give up his largely ceremonial role as head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, an aide said Tuesday, in what appeared to be part of a long-term strategy to make the movement less vulnerable to Chinese strong-arm tactics. But the 75-year-old leader would retain his role as spiritual head of the Tibetan community and remain a focal point for efforts to achieve greater religious and cultural autonomy for the Tibetan people, said spokesman Tenzin Taklha. Beijing, which views the Dalai Lama as a pariah bent on splitting China, has adopted various tactics in its bid to weaken the leader and undercut his efforts to expand Tibetan autonomy in China.

Since emigrating to Orange County four months ago, Jampa Kahdup has been both haunted and heartened by the question most frequently asked about his homeland: "Where is Tibet?" While most seek only the general location of this little-known place, the question is a stark reminder to Kahdup of Tibet's precarious fate under 40 years of Communist Chinese domination that he fears is wiping out what little remains of the mountainous region's national identity.

A Tibetan lama's dramatic escape from China this week appeared to dash whatever hopes remained for a compromise between Beijing and Tibet's traditional Buddhist leadership. The 17th Karmapa, a 14-year-old boy who occupies one of the most exalted positions in Tibetan Buddhism, arrived in the northern Indian city of Dharamsala with blistered feet and bloodied hands from an arduous trek through the Himalayas to join thousands of fellow Tibetans in exile.

The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, announced Wednesday his intention to return for the first time to the homeland he fled as a young ruler during Tibet's abortive rebellion against Chinese rule in 1959. In a speech at Yale University, the Tibetan leader said he wants to visit Tibet as soon as possible to "communicate directly with my people."

The bloody suppression and punishment of student protesters in China in recent weeks was foreshadowed by similar events in Tibet, the Dalai Lama said Friday. "We already experienced this kind of unfortunate tragedy," the exiled Tibetan religious and political leader told a news conference in Santa Monica. An official of Tibet's government in exile charged that as many as 800 prisoners have died through torture since March, when Chinese officials imposed martial law amid protests in Tibet.

While the world watched in horror as Chinese troops crushed the fledgling student democratic movement in Tien An Men square, Tibetans could take small comfort in knowing that they were observing an all-too-familiar pattern of harsh repression. Since the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950, Tibetans have watched their protests brutally suppressed. But 12 Tibetan monks from the Dalai Lama's Namgyal Monastery won't give up.

Police detained 67 Tibetan exiles Monday after thay began an indefinite program of sit-ins outside foreign embassies demanding "immediate intervention" by the United Nations with China to "prevent further bloodshed in Tibet."

For one of the world's most tenacious fighters, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is disarmingly serene. The manner is unprepossessing, almost self-effacing, as comfortable as the maroon monk's robe and lace-up oxfords he wears. The voice, rich and resonant, is given to laughter and bursts of Tibetan when the proper word is elusive in English. The cheekbones are high and sculpted, the smile as broad as the Tsangpo River that irrigates his arid, otherworldly homeland of Tibet.

As Tibetans gather today in this remote Himalayan town to mark 40 years in exile, their quest to end the Chinese occupation of their homeland seems bleaker than at any point in recent years. The Tibetan exile community, long regarded as one of the most cohesive forces in world politics, is beginning to crack under the pressure of a growing body of mostly young Tibetans who advocate confrontation with China.

Both boys are too young to shave, and neither counts his age beyond the fingers of two hands. Both live in the Chinese capital surrounded by police who supervise their every move. But only one is His Holiness the 11th Panchen Lama, the second-most revered figure in Tibetan Buddhism, who by tradition reigns in this gritty but sacred city in the highlands of south-central Tibet.

In the world of Tibetan Buddhism, the top two spots belong to the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, both of whom are believed to be living gods worthy of worship, and who are reincarnated over and over again. The Panchen Lama's lineage dates back to the 17th century. The original Panchen Lama was tutor to the fifth Dalai Lama, who gave his teacher the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse in gratitude. Panchen Lamas have served as abbots of the monastery for centuries.

About 75 placard-waving protesters marched in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles on Wednesday as part of an international demonstration marking an uprising 40 years ago against China's takeover in Tibet. "The Chinese are trying to annihilate the Tibetan people as a race," said Kesang Dolkar, an Orange County nurse who fled Tibet at the age of 9 in 1959. "Under the Chinese, there are starvation, torture, forced labor and mass murder," Dolkar said.

As Tibetans gather today in this remote Himalayan town to mark 40 years in exile, their quest to end the Chinese occupation of their homeland seems bleaker than at any point in recent years. The Tibetan exile community, long regarded as one of the most cohesive forces in world politics, is beginning to crack under the pressure of a growing body of mostly young Tibetans who advocate confrontation with China.

It dusk on a fall evening in 1967, my brother and I journeyed beyond our Seattle city block to play basketball at Eckstein Junior High. Standing beside a portable blackboard, jumping up and down with a length of chalk in my fist--the odd man out of this particular game--I kept score and hoped someone would injure himself so that I might take his place.

Since emigrating to Orange County four months ago, Jampa Kahdup has been both haunted and heartened by the question most frequently asked about his homeland: "Where is Tibet?" While most seek only the general location of this little-known place, the question is a stark reminder to Kahdup of Tibet's precarious fate under 40 years of Communist Chinese domination that he fears is wiping out what little remains of the mountainous region's national identity.

The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Chinese-occupied Tibet, Friday received the first Raoul Wallenberg Congressional Human Rights Award and predicted that students fighting for democracy will prevail in China. The exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader received the award, named after Swedish diplomat Wallenberg, from two congressmen for his decades of efforts to end China's military occupation of Tibet.

A Tibetan lama's dramatic escape from China this week appeared to dash whatever hopes remained for a compromise between Beijing and Tibet's traditional Buddhist leadership. The 17th Karmapa, a 14-year-old boy who occupies one of the most exalted positions in Tibetan Buddhism, arrived in the northern Indian city of Dharamsala with blistered feet and bloodied hands from an arduous trek through the Himalayas to join thousands of fellow Tibetans in exile.

An unprecedented migration to the United States of Tibetan refugees, displaced by decades of Communist Chinese rule, will begin this year in an unusual resettlement that promises to reshape one of the smallest and most obscure minority groups in the nation. During the past 30 years, just 500 Tibetans have come to this country, scattered in tiny pockets from Los Angeles to Long Island.

An unprecedented migration to the United States of Tibetan refugees, displaced by decades of Communist Chinese rule, will begin this year in an unusual resettlement that promises to reshape one of the smallest and most obscure minority groups in the nation. During the last 30 years, just 500 Tibetans have come to this country, scattered in tiny pockets from Los Angeles to Long Island.