Waiting for the Dalai Lama: Stories from All Sides of the Tibetan Debate

by Annelie Rozeboom

Why does the issue of Tibet rouse such passions on both sides? To find out, Annelie Rozeboom interviewed Tibetans inside and outside Tibet, as well as Chinese and Western observers and the Dalai Lama himself. As these people explain their experiences, the reader sees why they think the way they do, and why the Tibetans and Chinese have taken such opposing positions. A collection of very different viewpoints which look at Tibet from all angles.

Genres: Nonfiction, China, Travel, International, Asia, Current Affairs, History

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

After obtaining a degree in journalism, Annelie Rozeboom went to China for twelve months, and ended up staying eleven years. As the China correspondent for several national publications, she reported on the uprisings on Tiananmen Square, China's subsequent growth into an economic superpower, and the issue of Tibet.
She now lives with her husband and their three children in Antananarivo, Madagascar, where she runs the only English-language newspaper in the country and teaches journalism and English at the American School of Antananarivo.

Reviews

[Iona Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for free in return for a review.

I’ve always been interested in Tibet but knew very little about the country. I knew of course who the Dalai Lama was and that he was in exile, but that was mostly it.

I’m now much more knowledgeable about Tibet. The book is written in a fresh, journalistic style, as befitting the author’s profession. She lived in China for ten years. For the book she interviewed various Tibetans/Chinese and got their viewpoints and stories, which are written down in their own words. Thus, some of the information given is slightly conflicting, since everyone had their own angles.

Perhaps I should first make it clear, in case there’s anyone out there that doesn’t know, that Tibet is now a part of China and strictly controlled by the Chinese, while Tibetans and the Dalai Lama want independence.

The book is well-written, easy to read and extremely informative.

We learn about the poverty of the Tibetans, Tibet being described as “a country of beggars”. The children receive little or poor education, and even if there is a school in a village, “you might have to learn Chinese first” in order to understand the teaching. Many parents send their children “on a two-week walk through snow and ice” to get an education in India (as far as I understand).

We’re told about the Panchen Lama, Choekyi Gyaltsen, who apparently was the Tibetan leader after the Dalai Lama’s exit. (I’d never previously heard of him.) He is now deceased but spent his life criticizing China’s policies in Tibet and trying to modernize his country. “He asked for more environmental protection, more freedom, and more money. He denounced the harsh punishments after the revolts, and described how the communes during the Great Leap Forward led to famine”.

But the Tibetans disagree about the merits and achievements of the Panchen Lama.

Buddhism is tolerated in Tibet, and the Tibetans are allowed to worship. But in the new Tibet “there is no more deep religious study”. The Chinese effect impressive restorations of monasteries and the palace of the Dalai Lama but the monks feel oppressed since they live under strict restrictions. If a monastery or a Buddhist teacher becomes too powerful, the Chinese authorities start a campaign.

The Tibetans have a great belief in spirits and demons. Even the Dalai Lama consults the state oracle, the Nechung, before deciding any major issue.

There is a chapter about the exile government in Dharamsala in India. A large community of Tibetans lives here together with the Dalai Lama. Tibetan children are sent here to receive an education in the Tibetan schools that have been set up. Nowadays, the Dalai Lama does not insist on independence for Tibet but has put forward a peace plan called the Middle Path, whose main suggestion is that while waiting for complete independence , Tibet could be an autonomous region for a while. “China would take care of Tibet’s foreign affairs and military defence and the Dalai Lama would go back as a religious leader.” He has also several other stipulations, of course.

The book concludes with the writer’s audience with the Dalai Lama, a fitting close to her account.

It contains much more than I have indicated, also about the condition of Tibetan women and their democratic association to improve their circumstances.

If there is a negative feature of the book, it might be that with all the various persons expressing their viewpoints, one can get a bit confused about who is talking. And unless you’re extremely knowledgeable about the area, you might be unclear about where the various places are, in China, Tibet or India, for instance. Perhaps the author should have included a few maps showing the areas she’s discussing.

I absolutely recommend that you read this book if you have any interest in Tibet – it was an enjoyable read for me.

[Annelie Rozeboom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cairns Magazine at www.cairnsmedia.com
A glance at Dutch journalist Annelie Rozeboom's insightful book, Waiting For the Dalai Lama, Stories From All Sides in the Tibetan Debate (2011, Blacksmith Books, Hong Kong, 222 pages), should be enough to have many readers reaching for it.

The truth about China's occupation and human-rights violations in Tibet, obscured by propaganda thicker than billowy clouds in the Himalayas, isn't easily found. By tackling this topic with supreme professionalism, the author does almost everyone a big favor.

Mind you, China's Communist leaders fear and detest books like this because the author never bows to their commands, despite probing at issues near to their hearts.

“Redi, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, puts on his annual meet-the-press-face: small, round and annoyed. Exasperated, he stares at the rows of Western journalists in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. He looks them straight in the eyes. After the third question about human rights issues in Tibet and the Dalai Lama, he bursts out, ‘All of you think that the old Tibet was so great. But we didn't have anything to eat. My brother died of starvation. Myself, I was bitten by dogs while I begged in the streets. I still have the scars. You call that a life?’ ”

In 1950, Chinese troops invaded Tibet. Nine years later the Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to Dharamsala, India, to live in exile with thousands of followers. “The longer the situation in Tibet lasts, the fewer people try to go back. Most of the young people who live in Dharamsala have never been to Tibet. They are fighting for independence for a country that they have never seen.”

The Chinese government vilifies the Dalai Lama as “a separatist troublemaker”, but many Tibetans hope and wait for him to return soon. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama travels the world to seek support for Tibetan autonomy. “Western diplomats… would like to do something to ensure better treatment of the Tibetan people and bring about serious negotiations between China and the Dalai Lama. And it would help if the local cadres and police would treat the people as if they were human, as opposed to separatist enemies who need to be crushed.”

The author summarizes China's policy: “Tibet gets some of the profits, but freedom is out of the question.” A Chinese official in Lhasa, Tibet's capital, explains that Tibetans want riches and development. “It's like that everywhere in the world, and there is absolutely no reason why this would be different in Tibet.” Rozeboom calls him partly right. “Of course the Tibetans want to develop. But they are also deeply religious, and if they had to choose between their faith and the Chinese plans for development, the Chinese wouldn't stand a chance.”

Most statements by China's authoritarian regime prove mainly that the truth lies elsewhere. Unrestrained by an opposition or a free press, Beijing's representatives often blatantly lie or spin the truth so far out of shape that it's unrecognizable.

Facing Chinese distortions, the Tibetan exiles may veer to the opposite extreme. “…the authorities-in-exile give you all their figures. They state that since the Chinese invasion of Tibet, 1.2 million Tibetans have died. Some were executed, others starved. The Chinese media deny these claims, of course….”

By listening and reporting the words of both sides, the Chinese-speaking Rozeboom nobly tries to make sense of it all. “Both sides always declare that they are ready to hold talks without any preconditions and then immediately start making up stipulations.”

The author looks, listens and reveals with helpful clarity. “As a visitor who is not looking for spirituality, I find the temples in Tibet dirty, dark and depressing. Even the Potala, the Dalai Lama's old palace, is like a castle from the middle ages.”

The author interviews Chinese officials and ordinary citizens plus Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet, among them monks, nomads, farmers, intellectuals, refugees and even a professional imitator of Mao Zedong. Her presentation peaks when she converses with the Dalai Lama himself.

Tibetans have witnessed terrible things. Many have endured imprisonment and torture: “After my arrest the officials abused me, kicked me and beat me with rifle butts…. Blood was streaming out of my nose and mouth.”

“There are indoctrination attempts everywhere in Lhasa. Everyone seems to receive lessons in ‘patriotic behavior'. And the authorities don't seem to trust anyone. You can feel the tension, and the us-against-them thinking everywhere.”

After so many decades of trying, has China won the hearts of many Tibetans? That's another question with vastly different answers depending on who replies. In fact, demonstrations, protests and shows of defiance happen regularly. “…the more the Chinese authorities try to oppress the demonstrators, the more determined they get.”

“Even in quiet times, Tibetans get arrested for all kinds of reasons: talking to foreign reporters, singing patriotic songs, hanging posters, or even just being in possession of the autobiography of the Dalai Lama.”

As a long-time European correspondent in China, Rozeboom often reported on the country's economic rise and its dubious deeds in Tibet. Now living in Madagascar, she teaches journalism and English and runs an English newspaper.

Almost everything that's revealed in Waiting For the Dalai Lama sends extra rays of light into dark corners of the Tibet debate, taking readers closer to an objective, accurate assessment. Will anyone else in Asia publish a more forthright and revealing book this year? Unlike most questions about Tibet, this one has an obvious answer – almost certainly not.

Approval rating: 95 per cent.
For more information: www.blacksmithbooks.com

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book and gives an idea of the situation in Tibet, both now and historically. While it claims to cover all sides of the debate, it mostly focuses on Tibetans (some pro-China and some anti-China). Stories are told by people who were around when the Chinese invaded and those too young to remember a Tibet without the Chinese occupiers. Overall this book has a more pro-Tibet/anti-China perspective, but really how can one defend what the Chinese have done to these proud, deeply religious people.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

“‘It’s better if the Dalai Lama doesn’t come back. Now he is working for Tibet’s independence, and he can only do this abroad. Here he would be put away in a monastery somewhere. It could even be dangerous…. I think that the situation in Tibet won’t change until China changes. As soon as they become more liberal and democratic, maybe we can find a solution. And until that time, all those who can stand to be in India should stay there, because their work is very important.’”

The above quotation comes from Kagya, a “returned exile,” a Tibetan who escaped into India only to later return to Tibet because of illness. He is now studying at a Chinese university and keeps his studies in India a secret.

These are the kind of people you meet in Annelie Rozeboom’s book, “Waiting for the Dalai Lama: Stories From All Sides of the Tibetan Debate.” Rozeboom was a journalist in China for 11 years.

The book is a collection of interviews and impressions, without a cohesive narrative thread. This can be disorienting at first, but the characters you meet in the pages are truly remarkable: Tibetan leaders in the Chinese Communist Party, resettled nomads, scholars in exile, Chinese individuals working in Tibet to improve the environment, even a Tibetan Mao Zedong impersonator.

Despite the title, this book doesn’t quite address the Tibetan debate “from all sides”—there is clearly a pro-Tibet bent. Rozeboom doesn’t go into heavy details about the history between Tibet and China, or the reasons China claims sovereignty over Tibet. The word “invasion” is used to describe China’s involvement in Tibet in the 1950s.

What sparkles in this book are the real people Rozeboom met while traveling in China, Tibet, and India. In the West, we tend to think of the Tibet issue as being black and white, but this book colors in a bit of the gray areas, and brings forth people who lives are often forgotten.

We tend to see every Tibetan exile as someone who was either climbed across the mountains or was raised in India. We think of Tibetans inside Tibet being all monks and nuns and in constant suffering. What we don’t see are those Tibetans who have prospered in their homeland or in exile, those working for change and trying to do so within the structure that the CCP has put into place in Tibet. We don’t see those Tibetans who are leaders within the CCP, either with good or ill intentions.

Every story is important when it comes to the Tibet issue, and this book does a great job at illustrating some of the many stories that get overlooked. Rozeboom also references a lot of important books and people (from Rinchen Lhamo’s “We Tibetans” to Tuesday Lobsang Rampa, who is important for a really different and ridiculous reason) that would be a great starting point for anyone wishing to further their knowledge on Tibet and society’s view of Tibet and Tibetan culture.

Props to Rozeboom for being aware of her white privilege, as well. As she explains, while she was in Lhasa she was not purposefully trying to cause a stir, because it could very well bring those she spoke with in danger:

"An American congressman once decided to carry out his own personal fact-finding missing in Tibet. He went on a tourist visa and kept his political identity hidden. Once back in the United States, he told the media expansively about the dire situation of human rights in the region. The Chinese were furious… It was the hotel owner who had rented a room to the congressman who was sanctioned. He wasn’t allowed to receive any foreigners for six months, and that while he probably had no idea of the secret intentions of the guest.

These kind of stories make me decide that I don’t want to visit Tibet secretly and unofficially. I’d prefer to wait for a year than go as a tourist and bring anyone I talk to in danger. Once in Lhasa, I also don’t look for dissidents. I don’t have the feeling that anyone is watching me or restricting my movements, but again, why endanger people when I can find enough refugees in India, in the community of Tibetan exiles?”

The congressman’s story is a complicated one. On one hand, it’s great that he went to Tibet and saw for himself the conditions and used his privilege to help tell the world. On the other, going so secretly means that he could have endangered a lot of ordinary Tibetans. A six-month ban on foreigners at the hotel he stayed at is perhaps the lightest punishment that could have resulted from his “good intentions.”

I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in Tibet, from those who know very little to those who are more “seasoned.”

My gratitude to Peter at Blacksmith Books for sending me a copy of this book.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book that interviews as many sides as there could be, from CCP members to Tibetans in Tibet to Tibetans in India with different political beliefs. That about sums it up. The author is biased to the Tibetan side but hearing these stories it's hard not to be.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

During her 10 years in China, as a foreign correspondant for a Dutch paper, Annelie Rozeboom had a chance to meet and interview Tibetans (some living in Tibet, some living out), Chinese and Westerners about Tibet. In this book she has collected their views and experiences of the Chinese invasion of Tibet, and of the 60 or so years following. Along with the interviews that Rozeboom relates to us, she tells us a little of the history, beliefs, and traditions of the Tibetans before the invasion, and how the Tibetan way of life has changed since.

Rozeboom subtitles this book 'Stories from all sides of the Tibetan debate', as if to give all stories equal consideration, but Rozeboom shows bias for Tibetans-in-exile and an independant Tibet. Most of the interviews are with Tibetans and while some of them have prospered in Tibet since the Chinese took over, she is quick to point out that Tibetans still living in Tibet are afraid of reprisals for speaking out against China and for an independant Tibet. She warns that it is better to speak to Tibetans-in-exile who are not being censored. There are also several articles quoted in the book, but all the Chinese sources show China as Tibet's benefactress and Rozeboom seems to be countering these using articles from Tibetan sources with opposing views. And while there is mention of Chinese supporters of Tibet independance, there are no interviews with these Chinese.

Another difficulty I found was with the vague dating of various events, interviews and articles referred to. It became hard to decipher when events occurred in relation to each other, or what period of time an interviewee was referring to.

Still, the stories passed on to us are intriguing. Often, what I hear about Tibet is only about how China has oppressed the Tibetans. This is the first I've read about Tibetans prospering in Tibet, and about their successes in helping other Tibetans and in trying to keep their culture from disappearing completely. Rozeboom's book shows us how complex the problems are between China and Tibet, complicated by very different, though not necessarily opposing, world views. The interviews, and the book itself, are brief and tantalizing, and left me with a wish to find out more about Tibet and its people.

[Niranjanah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that has a simple and straightforward narration. It does get monotonous and slow, the narration even a little clumsy at places in the beginning, but when you get attuned to the author's style of writing, as with any other book, the book picks up speed. Much of the book are interviews the author had had with people who are in some way related either for or against the tibetan cause. For that very reason this becomes a comprehensive detailing of the present day scenario of Tibet, its people and politics.
This can be summed up as a great read for anyone wanting to dig deeper, to get to know more of the chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959, the cultural revolution that ensued in the 70's, the lives of an entire generation of exiles who grew up in India and elsewhere, and what it takes to persevere for an independent Tibet with China continuing to be an unyielding and suspicious colonial power. The people interviewed range from exiles in India who work for the governement in exile, Tibetans who where educated and indoctrinated by China and who work for the super power, monks who stayed back or those who took refuge in India, the Tibetan official oracler, foriegn nationals about what Tibet and Buddhism means to them, people of the youth congress who are radicalists, modern day tibetans who take up new projects in Tibet in the hope of giving progress to the region, Tibetan women associations who spread the word, and at last the Dalai Lama himself.
The book says much about the democratic government in exile headed by the dalai lama, who plays his role as both the spiritual as well as the political leader of the Tibetans. And this book revealed a fact about the Buddhist religion that I was unaware of earlier, that there are indeed two heads to the religion, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, being the leader of compassion and the leader of wisdom respectively.
Whatever arguments one might have, the humans rights, cultural and religious violations that China continues to do in Tibet over the past decades since its invasion are palpable, and the prerogative treatment it shows to the Chinese is certainly distinctive than how unfairly it treats the Tibetans in terms of education, development and progress. This aspect about China is striking and even appalling. At one point in the book there is an argument and a counter argument that just nails every perspective in place."China had an excuse that old Tibet had a medieval barbaric culture, unprogressive people, abusive landlords and a serf system all of which they helped abolish. But it must be acknowledged that, what society existed in Tibet was not an excuse for China to invade the area. No country is allowed to colonise, annex, occupy or invade another country just because its social structure does not please it."
For more on the cause I would recommend a follow up with, 'WE THE TIBETANS' by RICHEN LHAMO and the 'FREEDOM IN EXILE: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE DALAI LAMA.' And yes I would certainly love to read more of Annelie Rozebooms works.

[Amandeep Kaur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read!! good insights about tibet and its people.