Racial Discrimination in Tibet (2000)
- Discrimination in Employment
Refugee testimonies also reveal a deep-set racial prejudice
among Chinese employers which automatically categorizes
Tibetans as backward and inefficient. It has become a
common pattern in the employment sector for Tibetans
to generally occupy the lower positions and Chinese the
higher posts, even where numbers of the former heavily
outweigh the latter. In one television office responsible
for broadcasting programmes across the "TAR", 80% of the
office and administrative posts were occupied by Chinese,
even though there were only 40 of these workers and 120
Tibetans working at the station. As a 26 year-old monk
from Phenpo Lhundrup County in Lhasa reported, "In Tibet,
all the high posts are given to the Chinese and the low
ones to Tibetans. They have this preconceived notion that
being a Tibetan makes you incapable of performing complex
tasks, irrespective of your qualifications. Those who do
secure a position are nearly always sent to remote areas
of the region anyway."
19 year-old Jamyang arrived in exile from Ngaba "Tibetan
Autonomous Prefecture" in January 2000. He reported that
in his village there were many young Tibetan University
graduates who were unable to get jobs. "If a Tibetan goes
to an office to ask for a job, they will treat him or
her as if they have no intelligence. The Chinese always
discourage Tibetans from even applying, telling us that
we are backward and unable to do the work. Parents pay a
lot for the education of their children, and it all comes
to nothing when we are continually refused employment."
Dhondup, a 22 year-old man from Gade County in Qinghai
Province, came to India in January 2000 and shares
similar disillusionment. "Going to school in Tibet is a
waste of both time and money, because Tibetan students
cannot get jobs when they finish their education. All the
good jobs are given to the Chinese irrespective of their
qualifications, so many Tibetans choose to drop out of
school at the earliest chance."
The combination of these discriminating factors in the
recruitment of new workers has resulted in a "vicious
circle": insufficient numbers of Tibetans in higher
education feeds the prejudice that views them as backward
and lazy, which in turn aggravates their opportunities in
both the educational and employment spheres. By depriving
them of opportunities, the Chinese are effectively turning
the Tibetan population into second-class citizens in their
own country. Furthermore, an increasing number of Tibetan
parents are now choosing to give their children a Chinese
education from primary level, representing a major threat
to the survival of the Tibetan language and culture. As
the Alliance for Research in Tibet concluded, "By the
time students are advanced in middle school, much of what
is Tibetan about them has been systematically erased or
re-written. To the extent that Tibetan identity remains
it is often, by necessity, internalised." Many refugee
testimonies confirm this.
An anonymous man of 21 from Lhasa, who fled Tibet in
September 1999, told TCHRD that he had been sent to
Chinese primary and middle schools because his parents
had thought this would make it easier for him to obtain a
job later on. "I still encountered many problems however,
and my schooling affected my Tibetan skills to the extent
that I failed Tibetan in my college entrance exam. I
felt very ashamed, but I understand why my parents did
it. There isn't much choice for us anymore if we want to
find employment."
Gonpo Sonam, a teacher from Dzoge County in Ngaba
"TAP" reiterated these concerns. "I fear that in ten
years Tibetan language and cultural identity will have
been completely wiped out. These days Tibetan children
are not showing much interest in their language. Many
parents have also started to discourage children from
studying Tibetan, as they see it as a barrier to realizing
their professional aspirations and their chance to earn a
living. Some Tibetan children who have grown up in Chinese
schools and culture actually feel superior to their own
people and even derogate their own parents. Many Tibetans
now consider it inferior to speak Tibetan, and try to use
Chinese as much as possible."
Many Tibetans also find employment only on the condition
that they restrict certain practices in their private
lives, particularly those connected with religious
observance. Workplaces often warn against visiting
monasteries or temples, observing religious festivals and
even forbid their workers from wearing any clothing that
might be deemed ‘Tibetan'. As the Alliance for Research
in Tibet found,
"Tibetans entering the streams of government, commerce
and professions are encouraged, and sometimes compelled,
to leave the outer nuances of Tibetanness behind. The
Chinese openly denounce much of what makes up Tibetan
culture, especially religion, as 'backward' and feel they
do a great service to help them be like the Chinese"
The only really effective protection from it, remoteness,
has isolation and disconnectedness as its own price."
A 17 year-old girl from Lubu in Lhasa city reported
such restrictions after escaping to India in January
2000. "My parents couldn't afford to continue my education
after primary school, so when I was 15 I went to work
as a chambermaid in The Lhasa Hotel, a government-run
service. The majority of the staff were Chinese who had
come to escape unemployment in China, and our boss was a
very strict Chinese woman. She always allocated the hard
work to Tibetans and treated us like slaves. The Chinese
staff always found excuses to avoid cleaning the toilets,
or to take breaks during working hours, and the boss
accepted it. But if a Tibetan sat down to rest, she was
scolded and punished. Even after work we were still under
Chinese authority, for the boss told us that all Tibetan
staff, including their families, were forbidden from
performing traditional rituals such as burning juniper
and going to monasteries. We were told that if we did
such things, we would be immediately dismissed. None of
us dared to try, because there were always so many spies
watching us."
It therefore becomes apparent that only by accepting
a broad package of Chinese values and ideologies can
Tibetans improve their positions of entry into the economic
mainstream. As one study concluded,
"They [Tibetans] are compelled to weigh the high cost of
maintaining their Tibetan national and cultural identity
against the privilege and security gained by joining
the Chinese system. To improve prospects for education
and future employment of their children, some of them
sublimate or even abandon their Tibetan heritage. Others
remain defiant, choosing to forsake the benefits of the
mainstream. Many try to strike a compromise, entering
the Chinese way but striving to keep what is colloquially
referred to as a "Tibetan heart."
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