People needed religious beliefs as their spiritual sustenance in old times, but now we don’t,” said Tsering Yudron, 25, an accountant. “Time has changed, so people’s demands have changed. In the model village of Baji east of Lhasa, the capital, residents dressed in traditional garments told foreign journalists how poverty alleviation campaigns had changed their lives. Security has been tightened significantly since widespread anti-government protests in 2008, shortly before the Beijing Summer Olympics, accompanied by redoubled efforts at economic development and the declining influence of Buddhism. Beijing says Tibet has long been a part of China and that the communists liberated hundreds of thousands of illiterate serfs when they overthrew the ruling theocracy in 1951. Tibetans in exile say they were effectively independent for centuries and accuse China of trying to wipe out Tibet’s Buddhist culture and language while exploiting its natural resources and encouraging Chinese to move there from other parts of the country.
As a counterweight, Tibet rights groups continue to report frequent detentions, economic marginalization, a suffocating security presence and heavy pressure to assimilate with China’s Han majority while pledging loyalty to the Communist Party. That appears to reflect the party’s confidence that it is prevailing in the global battle of public opinion over Tibet.
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