纽约时报：面对抵制庆祝藏历新年，中国增加西藏安全部队

纽约时报这篇文章的中文译文，来自中国http://www.anti-cnn.com/forum/cn/thread-142139-1-1.html。此图为包括了安多、卫藏和康的藏地地图，红点处分别为安多的夏河（拉卜楞）和同仁（热贡）、卫藏的拉萨、康的理塘，以示敏感之地。

纽约时报：面对抵制庆祝藏历新年，中国增加西藏安全部队
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/world/asia/19tibet.html?_r=1&partner=rss
译者：seymour

北京-根据当地居民和近期访客的述说，中国官员大幅增加了西藏的安全部队，以应付民间可能抵制即将到来的藏历新年庆祝活动。抵制运动目的在于哀悼去年三月镇压镇压中丧生的藏民，并对被监禁和折磨的藏民表达关切。

据自由西藏运动和当地居民称，增加的安全部队主要在广大藏区的四个重要地域：首府拉萨；甘肃省夏河，一个难于控制的寺院所在地；青海省同仁，一个寺院镇；理塘，四川一个这周开始被封锁起来的镇。

据当地居民和在伦敦的拥护组织——自由西藏运动称，理塘祸起于星期天一个个人抗议活动。该组织声称，37岁的喇嘛罗桑伦珠，从街角走出高喊着支持达赖喇嘛的口号，并叫喊着要求进行藏历新年抵制活动。第二天，数以百计的藏民走上街头抗议要求释放他，而防暴警察驱散了抗议人群并逮捕了大约20人。

据一些当地居民在电话中说，星期二，政府下令商店和宾馆歇业三天。一个为个人安全考虑没有告诉记者名字的年轻女人说：“所有商店都关了，人们不敢出门。”

当地安全部队官员在电话中被问及事件经过时，拒绝对此作出评论。

藏历新年抵制运动的消息已经通过短信，电子邮件和传单散布了出去。节日将从下周三开始。

去年三月，由于藏民对中国在西藏政策的不满和镇压和平抗议，导致了拉萨暴动；据新华社报道，暴动造成了大范围的破坏和至少18名平民与一名警察的丧生。在其他地区也出现了抗议活动，流亡藏民团体称，数以百计的藏民在接蹱而来的镇压行动中被杀。

对抵制运动的号召在几个月前便已开始，并吸引了藏族年轻人，知识分子和不同政见者的注意。抵制受到海外藏民的认可和支持，包括在印度达兰萨拉的流亡政府。

“藏历新年与西藏文化息息相关，在度过了充满死亡的恐怖一年之后，我们怎么可能庆祝？”唯色，一个受人瞩目的藏族博客作者，在一段采访中说。“相反，我们应该哀悼。”

中国政府也在担心下个月可能爆发的骚乱，因为达赖喇嘛在一场失败政变中逃亡到印度的50周年纪念日即将来到，对许多藏民来说那是个重要日子。受许多藏民崇拜的达赖喇嘛，支持更大的西藏自治。然而中国政府咒骂他是分裂分子，并称他是农奴社会的头子。这个冬天政府做了一个在藏民中不得人心的决定：将3月28日设为农奴解放日。

西藏问题在中国政府和奥巴马政府的关系中已经成了一个微妙问题。这周将按计划访问中国的国务卿希拉里·克林顿在行前一场讲话中说，中国应该保证西藏拥有宗教自由。

外国记者除非得到中国政府邀请，现在不能进入拉萨和西藏中部地区。

一位中国外交部女发言人上周称“西藏局势稳定。”然而一位在拉萨的喇嘛在电话中称：“街上到处都是军人和武警，”武警是中国的主要准军事部队。就像许多在这片文章中采访的人一样，他害怕政府报复，只同意在匿名的情况下接受采访。

他说，数以千计的其他喇嘛和他一样，在去年三月暴动后被关押了几个月之后，被禁止回到他们的寺院。他说许多主要寺院正被腾空；拉萨的哲蚌寺现在只有400人左右，仅是暴动之前的一小部分。

从去年三月抗议以来，许多寺院里的喇嘛们一直被强迫着上“爱国主义教育”课，他补充说。结果是，许多喇嘛学习中国法律而不是佛教经文，并被要求谴责达赖喇嘛。

被赶出寺院的喇嘛们被禁止在公开场合穿僧袍，警察会到喇嘛家中检查，有时会把一些喇嘛抓去监狱。他说西藏警察一个月会造访他家三次。

“他们问，‘你都去哪了？’‘你出去了吗？’‘藏民在社会上都在说些什么？你跟你的狱友们见过面吗？’”他说。

他说许多在拉萨的藏民在谈论参加抵制运动。但他说中国官员在鼓励藏民过节举行庆祝活动，甚至发钱让他们这么做。

在很靠东的甘肃藏区，政府下令位于夏河镇的拉卜楞寺禁止外国人入内。拉卜楞寺被认为是藏区最重要的学术中心之一，也是去年发生抗议的地点之一。

当地旅游局称拉卜楞寺周边在三月下旬之前不对外国人开放。二月上旬，两个法国电视记者在镇子里偷偷呆了两个晚上，说他们不得不蒙混过两个检查站。他们还说看到到处都是军人，警察和武警部队

“那儿有个开阔广场，站满了穿黑制服、戴钢盔并持防暴盾的武警，”其中一个记者夏洛特·卡耶说。“在干道上，警车驶来驶去。”

在西面藏语为热贡的同仁镇，白天的警察和武警不多，然而道了晚上他们纷纷出现，一位当地藏民说。

在那里，有人不仅呼吁抵制藏历新年的庆祝活动，也包括最近刚过的汉历春节。许多热贡藏民以往都庆祝汉历春节。往常，在两周的春节中全镇都在载歌载舞和漫天焰火的喧闹中度过。然而今年，很少有藏民参与庆祝。

地方官员发了不少钱给人们买焰火，他说。

然而藏民对此却无动于衷。他说在主要的寺院区，教徒们点燃了酥油灯，而“气氛非常，非常安静和凝重。”


China Adds to Security Forces in Tibet Amid Calls for a Boycott

By EDWARD WONG
Published: February 18, 2009

BEIJING — Chinese officials have significantly increased security forces across Tibet in the face of a grass-roots movement to boycott festivities during the coming Tibetan New Year, according to residents of the region and recent visitors. The movement aims to use the holiday period to mourn Tibetans who were killed during the government crackdown last March and express concern for those arrested or tortured.


The increased forces have been seen in at least four crucial areas of the vast Tibetan region: Lhasa, the capital; Xiahe, a town in Gansu Province that is home to a large and restive monastery; Tongren, a monastery town in Qinghai Province; and Lithang, a town in Sichuan Province that has been locked down this week.

The problems in Lithang stemmed from a single person’s protest on Sunday, according to residents and the Free Tibet Campaign, an advocacy group in London. A monk, Lobsang Lhundup, 37, shouted slogans from a street corner supporting the Dalai Lama and calling for a New Year’s boycott, the group said. The next day, hundreds of Tibetans took to the streets to demand the monk’s release; riot police officers broke up the protest and arrested about 20 people.

On Tuesday, the government ordered shops and hotels to shut down for three days, several residents said by telephone. A young woman, who asked not to be named for her safety, said, “Shops have all closed, and people do not dare to go out.”

Local security officers declined to comment when asked about the episode over the telephone.

The campaign for the boycott of Losar, the Tibetan New Year, has spread via text and e-mail messages and fliers. The holiday begins next Wednesday.

Last March, Tibetans angry over China’s policies in Tibet and the suppression of peaceful protests rioted in Lhasa, leading to widespread damage and the deaths of at least 18 civilians and one police officer, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Protests flared up in other regions, and exile groups said hundreds of Tibetans were killed in the ensuing crackdown.

The call for a boycott began several months ago and has gained traction among younger Tibetans as well as intellectuals and dissidents. It has been endorsed by overseas Tibetans, including the government in exile in Dharamsala, India.

“It’s deeply connected with Tibetan culture, the idea that after such a horrible year filled with death, how can we celebrate?” Woeser, a popular Tibetan blogger, said in an interview. “Instead, it should be a memorial.”

The Chinese government is also fearful of unrest in the region next month, on the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s flight to exile in India after a failed rebellion against Chinese control, a date of great moment to Tibetans. The Dalai Lama, revered by many Tibetans, advocates greater autonomy for Tibet. But the Chinese government vilifies him as a “splittist,” and says he ruled over a feudal slave-holding society. In a move that antagonized many Tibetans this winter, the government declared March 28 to be Serf Emancipation Day.

The issue of Tibet is already emerging as a delicate one between the Obama administration and Beijing. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is scheduled to visit China this week, said in a speech before the trip that Beijing should ensure religious freedom for Tibetans.

Foreign reporters are not allowed to visit Lhasa and central Tibet unless invited by the Chinese government.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said last week that “the situation in Tibet is stable.” But a monk from Lhasa, reached by phone, said, “There are a lot of soldiers and People’s Armed Police in the streets,” referring to China’s main paramilitary force. Like almost all the people interviewed for this article, the monk agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals.

The monk said he, like thousands of other monks, had not been allowed to return to his monastery after being imprisoned for several months last year after the March uprising. Many of the main monasteries are being emptied out, he said. There are only about 400 monks now in the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa, he said, a small fraction of the number before the uprising.

The monks are still being forced to take “patriotic education” classes that have been going on in many monasteries since the March protests, he added. As a result, the monks study Chinese law rather than Buddhist scriptures and are told to denounce the Dalai Lama.

Monks no longer in the monasteries are barred from wearing their robes in public, the monk said, and the police check on the monks at home, at times hauling some off to prison. The monk said Tibetan policemen came to his home three times a month.

“They ask, ‘Where have you been?’ ” he said. “ ‘Have you been out? What are Tibetans talking about in the society? Have you met with friends who are in prison?’ ”

The monk said many Tibetans in Lhasa were talking of joining the boycott. But he said that Chinese officials were urging the Tibetans to carry on with festivities and were even offering them money to do so.

Farther east, in Gansu Province, the authorities have declared the town of Xiahe, the site of the Labrang Monastery, off limits to foreigners. Labrang is considered one of the greatest centers of learning in the Tibetan world, and it was a locus of protests last year.

A local tourism official said the area around Labrang was closed to foreigners until late March. Two French television journalists who secretly stayed in the town two nights in early February said they had to sneak past two checkpoints. They said they saw soldiers, police officers and paramilitary troops everywhere.

“There was an open plaza, and it was full of People’s Armed Police with black uniforms, helmets and shields,” said one, Charlotte Cailliez. “On the main street, there were police cars going back and forth.”

To the west, in the town of Tongren, known to Tibetans as Rebkong, police and paramilitary forces were scarce during the day but came out in force at night, said a local Tibetan man.

There, the call for a boycott on festivities not only pertains to Losar, but also included the recent Chinese New Year, which many Tibetans in Rebkong celebrated in past years. Normally, the town would convulse in singing, dancing and pyrotechnics during the two-week holiday. But this year, few Tibetans participated.

Local officials handed out hundreds of dollars to people to buy fireworks, the man said.

But the Tibetans practiced restraint. In the main temple compound, he said, worshipers lighted yak butter lamps, and “the mood was very, very quiet and solemn.”

以下图为2008年6月，我在理塘所拍。