Enter the Dragon: Chinese Invasion
of Tibet continues ..

The organized Khampa resistance to the Chinese occupation only began from about 1958, mainly as a result of Chinese re-organisation and ‘re-education’ after their 1950 occupation of all of Kham. When the PLA occupied all of Kham, they were initially very polite, brought presents for the high lamas at the monasteries, paid for goods bought and labour, did not touch the women, and provided medical services.

But soon their attitude began to change. They forcibly began collecting silver coins from the Tibetans on the pretext that the money was sorely needed to pay the salaries of the troops and other military needs. Those who had no cash were forced into paying by giving livestock or foodgrains to meet this levy. From 1952, in addition to the outrageous taxation, they began their ‘reforms’ and ‘liberation’ of the countryside. In 1953, in Gompo Tashi’s words, starting in the area of Gyalthang in southern Kham:

‘The local population was divided into five strata and a terror campaign of selective arrests launched. People belonging to the first three strata were either publicly humiliated or condemned to the firing squad. Scores of Tibetans were arrested and many of them were shot mercilessly at mass gatherings. A number of wealthy farmers and businessmen who had accumulated property through many generations were branded as capitalists; their wealth was confiscated, their houses were sealed and the owners thrown out, resourceless and defenceless.

The poorer people were forced to work in vegetable gardens or on road and building construction, without wages. At the same time, the Chinese launched an intense propaganda drive, seizing hundreds of Tibetan youths and sending them for a communist education to China.

The entire wealth of the monasteries, including sacred images and scriptures, was seized and removed to China. Many lamas and monks were imprisoned without reason, others subjected to various ignominies or condemned to death after a farcical trial.’

To be continued...