Memories of life in Lhasa under Chinese rule / Tubten Khétsun ; translated and with an introduction by Matthew Akester.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Khétsun, Tubten, 1941-

Contributor:

Akester, Matthew.

Standardized Title:

Dkaʼ sdug ʼog gi byuṅ ba brjod pa. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Khétsun, Tubten, 1941-.

Khétsun, Tubten.

Political prisoners--China--Tibet Autonomous Region--Biography.

Political prisoners.

Tibet Autonomous Region (China)--Biography.

Tibet Autonomous Region (China).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (341 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Born in 1941, Tubten Khétsun is a nephew of the Gyatso Tashi Khendrung, one of the senior government officials taken prisoner after the Tibetan peoples' uprising of March 10, 1959. Khétsun himself was arrested while defending the Dalai Lama's summer palace, and after four years in prisons and labor camps, he spent close to two decades in Lhasa as a requisitioned laborer and "class enemy." In this eloquent autobiography, Khétsun describes what life was like during those troubled years. His account is one of the most dispassionate, detailed, and readable firsthand descriptions yet published of Tibet under the Communist occupation. Khétsun talks of his prison experiences as well as the state of civil society following his release, and he offers keenly observed accounts of well-known events, such as the launch of the Cultural Revolution, as well as lesser-known aspects of everyday life in occupied Lhasa. Since Communist China continues to occupy Tibet, the facts of this era remain obscure, and few of those who lived through it have recorded their experiences at length. Khétsun's story will captivate any reader seeking a refreshingly human account of what occurred during the Maoists' shockingly brutal regime.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Translator's Introduction

Preface

CHAPTER 1. The Story of My Family

CHAPTER 2. My Childhood

CHAPTER 3. The March 10th Uprising

CHAPTER 4. The Chinese Fan the Flames of War

CHAPTER 5. Imprisoned at the Tibet Military District Headquarters

CHAPTER 6. Imprisoned at the Norbu Lingka Barracks

CHAPTER 7. At the Nga-chen Power Station Construction Site

CHAPTER 8. In Téring Prison

CHAPTER 9. In Drapchi Prison

CHAPTER 10. The Trong-nying Prison Farm

CHAPTER 11. Back Home from Prison

CHAPTER 12. The Agitation by the Muslims of Woba-ling

CHAPTER 13. The Fall of the Panchen Lama

CHAPTER 14. The Misuse of Education

CHAPTER 15. The Establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region

CHAPTER 16. The Onset of the Cultural Revolution

CHAPTER 17. The June 7th Massacre

CHAPTER 18. A Disastrous New Year

CHAPTER 19. Old Tsampa in Old Méru

CHAPTER 20. The Sino-Soviet War Brings Increased Oppression

CHAPTER 21. The "One Smash and Three Antis" Campaign

CHAPTER 22. The "Great Massacre"

CHAPTER 23. PLA Soldiers Destroy the Fruits of the People's Labor in the Marshes

CHAPTER 24. The Systematic Destruction of Ganden Monastery

CHAPTER 25. Sent to Kongpo for the Second Time

CHAPTER 26. The Xichao Dachang Timber Yard

CHAPTER 27. The Tölung Power Station Construction Camp

CHAPTER 28. The Lin Biao Affair

CHAPTER 29. The Defamation Campaign

CHAPTER 30. "Socialist Transformation"

CHAPTER 31. The Banak-shöl Production Cooperative

CHAPTER 32. The Farmer's Life

CHAPTER 33. The Death of Mao Zedong and Subsequent Developments

CHAPTER 34. The Rewards of My Hard Work

CHAPTER 35. Working in the Potala Palace

Epilogue: Leaving Tibet

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781322438733

1322438730

9780231512404

0231512406

OCLC:

818855856