Impoverishing Tibetans
Following are selected personal testimonies of Tibetan
refugees on the standard of living of their families.
Paying taxes on time is more important than ensuring our
subsistence
My name is Sonam. I am 26 year-old monk from Shershul
County, Kandze TAP, Sichuan Province (Kham). I escaped
Tibet and reached Nepal on 21 May 1999. I came from a
nomad family and attended primary school from the age
of 6 to 9. I joined the monastery at the age of 14.
There are 5 members in my family and we have 30 dri and
yaks. During the heavy snowfalls of 1995-1997 my family
lost most of their animals. My family collects "Yartsa
gunbu" and other medicinal plants during the summer which
earns us around 2500 yuan per year. This money is used
to buy cereals, clothing and other subsistence items for
my family. My family greatly depends on our animals and
usually face cereal shortages, which mean we must borrow
from local farmers. My parents sometimes work as labourers
for Chinese construction work to earn some extra money.
The local Chinese authorities levy a tax of 500 yuan for
the 30 animals and 5 family members per year. In the case
of not being able to pay the tax on time, the authorities
fine us or make us do compensatory work, or confiscate
animals. Because of this, the nomads consider paying
their taxes on time as being more important than ensuring
their own basic subsistence because of the constant fear
of penalties and threats from the authorities.
Facing crop shortages each year
My name is Tsering Yangchen and I am 18 year-old woman
from a farming family in Meldrogungkar County, Lhasa
Municipality. I came to exile on 6 June 1999. I have
never been to school. There are 8 members in my family.
From 1994 I worked as a construction worker in Gaden
Monastery and was paid 8 yuan per day. My family has 21
"mu" of land. We grow wheat and cereals and our annual
production was 168 "mu" of cereals. Of this amount my
family pays around 63 "mu" of our cereals to the local
authorities as tax. We are given 2 yuan per "mu", whereas
the actual value if we were to buy our cereal back from
the government is 40 yuan per "mu". With a big family
we usually face crop shortages each year and do not have
enough for family consumption. In our village there are
around 10 Tibetan families and a total population of 100
people. Most of the villagers are farmers who annually
pay taxes even though their crop production is low.
Occasionally the local Chinese authorities provide food
relief of 100 gyama of wheat flour to the needy and poor.
However, even at these times such people must continue to
pay their taxes and the authorities will accept material
things in place of cereals as the farmers often have not
produced enough to pay the taxes.
Standard of living of my family worsens every year
My name is Gangkyi. I arrived in Dharamsala on 12
February 2000. I am 29 year-old nomad from Tsaka County,
"TAR". After my parents died my uncle gave me to family
friends, so I became an adopted daughter to them.
This family consists of an old man and woman, with
2 children. They have animals but no one to look after
them, and I look after the family animals. In return the
family gave me food and clothing, but no wage. They also
pay my taxes.
Each person in the village must pay butter tax and animal
hide tax. My own rate is 6 gyamas of butter per year;
3 gyamas of chura (cheese); and in winter villagers have
to give animal skins. The rate is 2 animal skins per
person per year (yak or sheep). There is also a wool tax
that the family as a whole pays which is 20 gyamas of
wool per year. The village head collects these taxes,
once a year in winter. When it is impossible to afford
to pay these taxes, my family has to borrow the money from
others in the village.
My adopted family has 10 yaks and 20 sheep/goats.
They are a poor family and were given these animals by the
village head who asked some of the richer families in the
village to contribute some animals. In my village there
are no Chinese. There are Chinese settlers in the town
and elsewhere in the County, but they are not farmers.
There is no government help or aid in the case of crop
failures.
We live in a house with 2 rooms. We have no furniture,
only thin mattresses. We have no electricity. We have
no phone. For heating we have a kettle stove which burns
wood. Villagers in my area are not free to collect wood.
The village head has instituted a system whereby families
take turns to collect wood. The wood they can collect in
this way lasts for 3 months and at other times we burn
dung, or sometimes we are given wood by other families.
We have no toilet and use the outdoors.
5 people share the house, and all of us work, including the
children. My adopted family always runs short of money and
has to borrow from others for basic essentials such as
rice and clothes. I myself owe a neighbour 800 yuan.
There is one small village clinic which is Tibetan, but
the standard of health care is poor. For villagers with
a major problem, they have to go to the County hospital.
Nomads and common people simply cannot afford to do this.
The cost of an ambulance to the County hospital is 100
yuan, and patients must pay an advanced deposit of 800 yuan
to be admitted. The authorities provide no preventative
health measures in the village. And I have never been to
a big hospital, only to the village clinic. Even this is
relatively costly.
The standard of living for my family has worsened in
recent years and deteriorates every year. 10 years ago
things changed for the worse significantly. Each year
we villagers have to go for 8 days of compulsory labour
in road construction. There is a fine of 10 yuan per day
if you do not attend. We are paid 5 yuan per day for the
work, but must bring our own meals. We have to work for
4 hours each day, from 11am to 1 pm, and from 2pm to 4pm.
Some families face problems but not mine
An anonymous son of a village head from Ngaba Tibetan
Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, arrived in
Dharamsala on 10 February 2000. He came into exile for the
blessing of His Holiness the Dalai Lama; and for education.
Below is his testimony.
My family has no land, but my father is the village head
and we have a great many animals. We do make some profit
by selling butter and meat. We are free to kill animals
and do not have to pay the government for this.
Earlier the Chinese government gave 8 yaks for each person
and 2 horses. My family has 13 members and we must
keep to these levels, but obviously we have many more.
There are richer families in the village. My village
is prosperous and there are 500 families, only 8 or 9
are poor. There are only Chinese in the Township.
My family pays: land tax; people tax; animal tax. All up
we pay 30 000 yuan per year. This is a lot of money.
My father, the Township head and the County head all
come together to collect the tax in August/September.
They have to give one yak at this time, though if you have
a big family you have to give 2 yaks. Some families face
problems but not mine, taxes are always increasing.
In summer we live in tents, but have a cement house also
which is given due to my father's position. My father has
been the village head for 30 years, and has been re-elected
during that time. However, the names of the candidates for
the election are prepared by the County authorities, and
my father must go to a meeting in the County every year.
There is no salary attached to my father's position,
this is only for officials who work at the County level.
At my village level there are 7 or 8 other committee
members who all get housing but receive no wages and no
health care benefits.
We don't pay for electricity, but others do have to pay.
There is no phone, my father does not have an office as
a village head, he doesn't work every day at an office
as village head. Township officials have offices.
Whatever orders my father is given he has to announce to
the village people, he has no office or administrative
work. These orders come from both the Township and County
authorities, from both Chinese and Tibetan officials.
One member from each family has to go for one month
per year for road construction. They do not get paid.
This is for a road from the Township to the village. My
father goes to supervise this work with the other village
committee members and no other members of his family have
to go.
We do not have enough money to buy flour or rice
Dorje Tsering, an old farmer from Gonjo County,
Chamdo Prefecture, left Tibet to receive the blessing
of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and to go to Bodh Gaya
for pilgrimage. He arrived in Dharamsala on 1 February
2000.
There are 10 family members in my family and together we
have around 20 "mu" of land which was allocated after
redistribution. The crops grown by my family include
barley, wheat, turnips and beans. The Chinese told us
once to grow different kinds of barley, but the yield
was poor, and so the village people stopped planting
this variety. These seeds had been given to the farmers
by local authorities. My family have 2 dzos, 6-7 dris and
2 horses. It is very hard to calculate our yearly income.
In a sense we have no income. The family eats, pays tax,
and if we need more money then we sell our animals.
I do not know so many of the details about the taxes we
pay as I am an old man. The total yield is 1000 gyamas
per year of all the crops combined. Of this, we pay
about 60% in taxes, and we go to the County centre to
pay these taxes, once a year in winter. It is not easy
to pay these taxes and sometimes we run short. At this
time we borrow from the rich families in their village.
The tax you pay is dependent on the yield size and varies
from year to year depending on crop success.
There are no Chinese farmers nearby. When my family has
a very bad crop, we have no food and it is only at this
time that County authorities give aid to villagers, in
the form of cash, and very little at that.
My family lives in a traditional mud house with 4 rooms.
There is no electricity, the nearest phone is in the
dzong (county). We have a little furniture and use wood
for heating. When there is a good crop we always have
enough food. Otherwise my family always runs short of
food to eat. We do not eat meat or butter very often.
In our village, the people do not have enough money to
buy flour or rice. Therefore we mainly eat tsampa.
We wear "paktsa" (fur-lined chubas) and we make these
only when our clothes are torn, not every year. Each
family member has two paktsas, which they wear in turns.
Sometimes we need to buy shirts and pants, and these are
Chinese products.
The Chinese say that if Tibetans have finished their
studies they will be given good jobs, and that a Tibetan
student who goes to China for further studies will be given
an important high-level job. In fact even these Tibetans
are given jobs in small, remote places, not the important
government jobs. Only those Tibetans who are rich or big
business men are given jobs with the County government.
And this is because they are involved in selling Chinese
goods.
When they cannot find work, the young men play cards and
fight. They are desperate. This is mainly in the Barkhor
area of Lhasa. There are many bars and brothels in Lhasa
and I am worried that many Tibetans will get spoilt in
this environment.
Unemployment is a Problem
An anonymous media worker from Gansu Province, came to
Dharamsala on 23 March 2000. She comes from a nomad family
and was working as a Tibetan language radio and television
broadcaster for government owned media. She comes from a
big family and in her county there are 40 percent Chinese,
and at the Prefecture level there are 60 percent Chinese.
But in her home village there are no Chinese.
While I was working I had to broadcast Chinese ideologies
and speak against His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This was
against my wishes and my beliefs. The people in the
village areas were angry at such propaganda and due to
feeling uncomfortable in saying such things publicly I felt
that I had to leave my job. I had been very interested
in working in the media while at school but the reality
was different. I would like to learn English and then
become a broadcaster for the government in exile.
It was very difficult as a Tibetan to get such a job.
I went to school for many years, and I had to have the
right voice and look. My parents were proud that I held
such a good position, but were sad about the nature of
the broadcasts. It was my own personal decision to quit.
In the media organisation where I worked 50 percent of
the workers were Tibetan but the director was Chinese.
Whatever was broadcasted was translated from Chinese and
then back into Tibetan, so that it could be censored.
My salary was 600 yuan per month. Accommodation facilities
were also provided and I shared one house with another
woman. We did not pay any rent. Except for higher ranking
officials, all workers, Tibetan and Chinese, were given
the same kind of facilities and benefits. I worked for
2 years, during that time I didn't pay any tax, although
it may have been taken out of my salary. Sometimes my
employer collected 50 yuan per month, but this was
when there was construction, and was less a tax than a
development fund for the office.
There are rules that 50 percent of our health costs were to
be covered by my employer, but in reality some people get
this and some do not. If you are having good connections
you get these kind of benefits. We did not have health
care pass or card.
In my area, unemployment is a problem. If there are 50
Tibetan students in a class learning Tibetan, only 3 to
4 students will pass the exam to go onto higher levels of
education. There are limited numbers of seats available
for Tibetans in Prefecture level schools. Therefore many
Tibetan students are discouraged and disheartened about
learning Tibetan language. Even the good jobs for those
who can speak Chinese well are not so varied, there are
a few jobs like mine, or there are some opportunities as
teachers, but these are also scarce.
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