Page 77 - EW April 2021

government in Beijing, on the wealth of the Pla- a globalised culture: blue tions began — mostly, but
after initially playing nice, teau as they ease popu- jeans, mobile phones, and by no means exclusively,
soon exposes its duplicity lation pressure in their (as Demick often notes the final desperate acts of
and brutality. All of the traditional heartlands. when reporting from young monks resident in
tragedies of the early Tibetans, overwhelmingly inside Tibetan homes) local monasteries. Over
decades of Communist subdued, watch all this posters of pop stars adorn- a hundred occur before
China — trigger-happy with a growing sense of ing walls. they taper off several years
Red Army revolutionaries, agitation and awareness of Besides a fair shake later.
the Great Leap Forward their own poverty. economically, the freedom Now Beijing’s sights
famine, and the Cultural Demick warns against to practice their religion are set on the peripheral
Revolution — are indulging an Orientalis- unimpeded by Chinese autonomous provinces:
experienced by Tibetans in ing fantasy. Too often, meddling is a pivotal Inner Mongolia, where
wanton suffering. Tibetans are seen by out- concern for Tibetans. the school curriculum was
The liberalisation of the siders — especially in the The Communist regime changed last year from
1980s offers some relief, West — as rosy-cheeked perennially denounces half Mongolian to fully
but, as market reforms nomads who, with their the revered Dalai Lama Chinese; Xinjiang, where
kick in and China becomes horses, yaks and tents, as a separatist criminal up to a million Turkic-
rich and assertive, Tibet- live pure lives dedicated to and is relentless in trying speaking Uighurs are
ans are at the losing end. religious enlightenment. to reshape Tibet’s ancient currently incarcerated in
They are distrusted ethnic Such a denial of modernity Buddhist traditions in its re-education camps; and
minorities, discriminated is utterly false; the truth is own new mould. Unsur- finally, Tibet, the subject
against in an overwhelm- less rosy. prisingly, this leads to of this book, and a region
ingly Han country. En- The hope for economic insurrectionist strife. where the pressure is
couraged by Beijing, Han prosperity comes with all In 2008, an uprising unceasing.
settlers move in from the the trappings and aspira- was brutally crushed. Later CAMERON SAUNDERS
East, enriching themselves tions of young people in that year, the self-immola- (The Book Review)

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