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A Report from U.S. Embassy Beijing January 1998 A Tibetan social scientist who spent six months of 1997 with Tibetan herders spoke with U.S. Embassy Beijing Science officer about changes in rural areas of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The researcher described the changes in the lives of Tibetan herders since they settled into winter quarters. Fixed winter quarters facilitate schooling and medical care for children yet some older Tibetans fear that increased outside influences, including Hong Kong kungfu movies on television, are taking their grandchildren away from traditional Tibetan ways. Rodent infestations damage the grasslands yet Tibetans will not kill them out because of their strong religious convictions. China's family planning regulations and the Marriage Law of the PRC are not enforced in rural Tibet. Recent oil exploration indicates that northern Tibet probably has very large oil reserves. The appendix summarizes a 1996 article by Beijing University Prof. Ma Rong on the Tibetan and ethnic Han populations of Tibet. Large central government subsidies and food shipments of 200 kg. per capita per year support Tibet. The number of ethnic Han teachers and specialists in Tibet fell during the 1980s but more recently some ethnic Han farmers have moved into the Lhasa region, subletting land from Tibetans. Unreliable population data makes it hard to determine how many ethnic Han (about 4 percent of the population in 1990) have moved to Tibet is difficult. Ma called for more research work on Han in-migration and for the establishment of in-migration controls if necessary out of religious and cultural considerations. / Religious Faith Strong in Rural Tibet A Tibetan social scientist who spend six months doing fieldwork in the Tibetan Autonomous Region during 1997 spoke with Embassy Science officer about changes in Tibetan rural life. Religion is a central part of daily life for the Tibetans, said The researcher. Many women become nuns, but unlike in earlier times, they return home during the busy season to help the family with herding. When someone dies, a relative will often give a cow to the local temple. Often an older Tibetan herders will give all his property and livestock to the temple when his wife dies, since he has lived a good life and does not need much to get along. Well-decorated altars are to be seen in most Tibetan homes. Rodent Plague on the Grasslands During the six months of 1997 that the researcher lived with Tibetan herders and farmers in eastern Tibet, he observed that rodent infestation of the grasslands have seriously damaged some of the pastureland of Eastern Tibet. Tibetan herders will not kill the rodents out of religious scruples, The researcher noticed, even if the rodent is walking next to them. They fear that the rodent's angry soul would pursue them. The Tibetans do not object to other people, such as ethnic Han residents of Tibet, killing the rodents however. Changing Diet Han cultural influence, central government subsidies and food shipments from inner China have brought changes in the Tibetan diet. The researcher observed how rice has now become a staple of the Tibetan diet. The researcher noted how even Tibetan herders in remote parts of Tibet often eat rice at their noonday meal. The herders generally buy rice twice a year from the Hui nationality herders who dominate commerce in rural Tibet. Herders Into Winter Quarters: Gains and Cultural Change In eastern Tibet, as in neighboring Qinghai Province, many ethnic Tibetan herders have settled into winter quarters where they spent three or so months every year rather than migrating continually. The researcher observed that young Tibetan adults appreciate the winter food stocks for the animals and the improved access to medical care and education their children have in the winter quarters. Older Tibetans dislike the winter settlements, seeing them as a break with Tibetan traditions. The elders are deeply disturbed to watch Tibetan children pick up bad influences from television including Hong Kong kungfu movies. The old people and the children remain in the winter quarters for schooling when the younger adults move out and travel with herds during the warmer months. The settling of herders into permanent winter quarters began in 1985 and has been done on a large scale since 1991. In some counties of eastern Tibet the researcher visited, including Andou County, all the herders have been settled into winter quarters provided at no cost by the Chinese central government. The government also pays full cost for an enclosure for the winter grazing area. The herders in Tibet, unlike the Tibetans of neighboring Qinghai and Sichuan Provinces, pay nothing for this housing. Each small settlement contains 8 - 10 families and is separated from nearby settlements by 2 - 3 kilometers. An area enclosed by a fence protects a winter food supply for livestock. Settled Herders Acquire Property, Closer Links to Commodity Economy Tibetan herders do not market their products in the city but instead sell to Hui nationality middlemen who bring their pastoral products to the city marketplace. The researcher said that the wandering merchants of Tibet are generally of the Hui nationality; Tibetans are not usually traders. Herders are generally unaware of the city market prices and so do not consider marketing their products themselves in the city, said the researcher. Tibetan lifestyles are changing as herders settle into fixed winter quarters. As they acquire more personal property (herders have few possessions) and develop closer links with the commodity economy. The researcher remarked that the values and cultures of the herders change as they acquire property such as furniture and television which they did not have as nomads. Young people sometimes move into the cities to work in restaurants or to fix shoes. When finding work becomes difficult young people return to their land or the herd of their family. Tibet, the Welfare State -- Pluses and Minuses of Government Support Ethnic Tibetans outside Tibet often say that the Tibetans in Tibet proper are lazy, says the researcher. The researcher said that decades of subsidies from the central government which provide free food, education and clothing to many Tibetans has sapped their self-reliance. Tibetans in the Tibetan Autonomous Region need not pay many taxes and fees (such as road tolls) that ethnic Tibetans in Qinghai and Sichuan Provinces must pay. Once all school supplies were free, but many students did not take care of their free school supplies. Now a small fee is charged. Although the subsidies help people, there is a down side to the reliance of many Tibetans on government largesse, said the researcher. Family Planning, Marriage Laws Not Enforced in Rural Tibet According to the researcher, family planning is not enforced in rural Tibet, although government cadres working in the city fall under the family planning rules. Han cadres can have one child and Tibetan cadres two children in the city. There is family planning propaganda work and some voluntary family planning but no enforcement of family planning regulations in the countryside. The Marriage Law of the PRC is not enforced in Tibet and the traditional Tibetan marriage custom of two brothers sharing one wife is still widespread. When two brothers have the same wife, family property need not be divided. This helps the family get richer. As a result of this prosperity, said the researcher, two brother-one wife families have higher status in Tibet than conventional monogamous marriages. Tibet with an increasing population and fixed land resources will need to face its population problem. Press Report: Oil Exploration Shows Large Reserves Likely on North Tibet High Plateau The China Geology and Mining Industry News [Zhongguo Dizhi Kuangchan Bao] on October 2, 1997 reported that an exploration team organized by Wuhan Geology University [Wuhan Dizhi Daxue] and a prospecting team from the South China Petroleum Bureau [Zhongnan Shiyouju] concluded a "successful" exploration of the Qiangtang [STC: 5018 1048] basin of northern Tibet. The Qiangtang Basin is an unihabited area situated at over 5100 meters above sea level. The team found that that the sedimentary layer is very thick and the Mesozoic Erathem, a geologic boundary favorable to the creation of petroleum, is found over an area of over 400,000 square kilometers. Moreover the 65 million to 200 million year old Cretaceous and Jurassic marine sedimentary layers likely to bear oil are nearly 10,000 meters thick. Chinese experts believe, the article said, that this area of northern Tibet, along with the Tarim Basin, will supply important strategic oil reserves to China in the Twenty-First Century. [Comment: Weak transportation links handicap oil exploration and any eventual exploitation. The Tibet highway into Tibet has been improved and a railroad is planned early in the next century. Building a railroad through the glaciers of Tibet, if it is even possible, will be a formidable engineering challenge. End comment] Appendix: From "China's Minority Populations" -- Tibet Notes on Tibet chapter from "China's Minority Populations: Surveys and Research" [Zhongguo Shaoshu Minzu Renkou Diaocha Yanjiu] Chief editors: Zhang Tianlu, Huang Rongqing No. 8 in the series China's Population in Transition and Development Published March 1996 by Gaodeng Jiaoyu Chubanshe. A longer version of these notes which includes notes on the Mongol and Uighur minorities are on the U.S. Embassy Beijing website at China's Minority Populations: Mongols, Tibetans, Uighurs <http://www.redfish.com/USEmbassy-China/sandt/chimin.htm> Tibet chapter (pp. 34 - 68) was written by Beijing University professor Ma Rong author of the book "Population and Society of Tibet", published in December 1996. Population of Tibet At the time of the 1990 census, slightly less than half of China's Tibetan population lived in the Tibetan Autonomous Region: 45.7 percent (2.1 million people) lived in Tibet while 54.3 percent lived in the ten Tibetan autonomous districts or counties of the provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan. In 1990 ethnic Tibetans comprised 95.5 percent of the population of the Tibetan autonomous region. Tibet with a surface area of over 1.2 million square kilometers is the largest region in China and occupies one-eighth of the country. The population density at 1.8 per square kilometer is the lowest in China. The 18 counties around Lhasa (of Tibet's total 72 counties) contained 34.8 percent of Tibet's population in 1990. (pp. 34 - 35). In 1990, only 11.5 percent of Tibet's population lived in cities or towns (chengzhen). Tibet's Ethnic Tibetan and Ethnic Han Populations In 1990, the population of the Tibetan autonomous region totaled 2.196 million, including 2.096 million ethnic Tibetans (95.6 percent) and 81,000 ethnic Han (3.7 percent), Menba and Geba minorities each 10,000 at 0.4 percent and 9000 people of other ethnic groups. In 1990, 50.0 percent of the ethnic Han lived in Lhasa (40,387) and 78.2 percent of the Han lived in Tibet's cities. The ethnic Han population outside Lhasa was concentrated in six counties which have an average Han population of 4.3 percent; the other 65 counties have an average ethnic Han population of 0.4 percent.(pp. 36 - 38) Of the active ethnic Tibetan population, 84.4 percent were engaged in agriculture, forestry, herding or aquaculture in 1990, down from 89.1 percent in 1982. The proportion engaged in industry rose to 3.1 percent in 1990 from 1.9 percent in 1982. (pp. 41 - 42) Tibet's Ethnic Han Population Between 1982 and 1990, the proportion of specialists in the resident Han population declined slightly from 25 percent to 18 percent while the proportion of merchants rose from 2.4 percent to 7.8 percent. Many ethnic Han are sent to Tibet by the government on three-year contracts. Between 1982 and 1990, the number of Han specialists in the fields of health and physical education fell by 660, educators fell by 1200, geological prospectors fell by 570 and science and technology workers fell by 400 people. [Note: many young Han intellectuals sent to Tibet during the Cultural Revolution were allowed to return home after Hu Yaobang's 1982 visit to Tibet. Hu called for the Tibetanization of government cadres. The exodus of thousands of Han cadres from Tibet was so sudden that many hospitals and government offices had difficulty staying open. End note] The rapid increase in industry in Tibet from a small base gave new opportunities for Tibetan and ethnic Han merchants, accounting for the increase in the number of ethnic Han merchants in Tibet. The increase in the proportion of the ethnic Han population engaged in agriculture, herding etc. rose from 2.3 percent to 3.4 percent reflects an increase of 7000 people. Since the contract system in agriculture had already begun in Tibet by the early 1980s, ethnic Han people moving into Tibet or already in Tibet switching from some other occupation could not have been assigned farmland. The increase in the Han population involved in agriculture etc. must reflect 7000 people going to work in forests, farms, or ranches newly established or expanded by the government. (p. 46). Over the last several years, some ethnic Han farmers who have made contracts with local ethnic Tibetan people to grow produce for the Lhasa market. Most of the Han farmers who have gone to the Lhasa region on their own over the last few years are temporary residents who moved to Tibet on their own -- and it is not certain whether their presence has been fully recorded in the census of the Tibetan autonomous region. More research needs to be done on this kind of migration into Tibet. (p. 47) Literacy The proportion of ethnic Tibetans over age 15 in the Tibetan Autonomous Region recorded as illiterate or semi-literate in the 1990 census was 72.8 percent compared with the all China national average of 22.8 percent. (p. 51) Statistics Unreliable Statistical information is very incomplete for Tibetan because of the difficulty of gathering information in such a thinly populated area (especially from nomadic herders), the incompleteness of the reporting system, and the reluctance of ethnic Tibetans to report deaths in the family. (pp. 54 - 59). Statistics on migrations between Tibet and other provinces and between Tibet and neighboring countries are also difficult to obtain. Tibetan Population Doubled Since 1949 So Massive Subsidies, Food Imports Required Tibet is high, mountainous and cold; relatively little land is suitable for farming. The population of the Tibetan autonomous region grew from 1.27 million in 1953 to 2.25 million in 1992. In 1992, the Tibetan autonomous region had 3.36 million mu (225,000 hectares) of arable land or about 1.5 mu per person. One-third of this land is irrigated and food production per mu is only 455 jin (230 kg). According to a Chinese Academy of Sciences study, there is little unused land suitable for agriculture in Tibet, so increases in production depend upon improved agricultural techniques, not more land inputs. This in turn will require considerable new investment in the land and in the people to train them how to use better techniques. Fifty Kilograms of Food Per Capita Sent to Tibet Each Year The Chinese central government in order to meet the needs of this larger population sends in large quantities of food each year. Between 1985 and 1992, the central government send an average of 106,000 tons per year of foodstuffs to Tibet. On a per capita basis, this comes to 50 kg. for each of the 2 million inhabitants of the Tibetan autonomous region. In 1992, about 78 percent of the population was engaged in herding or agriculture or other primary sector occupations. This means that although three-quarters of the population is engaged in agriculture and herding, they still must depend upon the central government to supply three months worth of food for them every year. If the Tibetan population continues to increase, the problem of the food supply will become even more acute. (p. 63) High Energy Costs But Rich in Hydropower Potential Tibet does not have coal or oil. Tibet is rich in hydropower potential, but this resource is very difficult to exploit. Energy costs are so high that during 1963 - 1988 income from industry was actually negative. Tibetan agriculture and herding is not self-sufficient and Tibet's industry loses money. (p. 63) Tibet exports minerals and wood to other areas of China. Tibet imports food, manufactured goods (mostly goods needed for light industry), building materials, oil or about 150 kg. of products per Tibetan each year. Transportation costs are so high for goods brought into Tibet, usually by truck, that the central government subsidizes the retail price to keep prices down to a reasonable level. The low productivity agriculture and chronic money-losing industry of Tibet depend upon central government subsidies to survive. In 1992, the central government subsidy for Tibet amounted to 644 RMB per Tibetan. Compare this with the Chinese national average per capita income of 630 RMB in that same year. (pp. 64 - 65). Since 1990, agriculture and herding in Tibet have been free of taxes. Free medical care, education, and improved living and health conditions in Tibetan cities and towns as a result of central government subsidies have made the cities and town more attractive to farmers. This has spurred urbanization. Ma Rong's Policy Recommendations: o Improve the quality of statistical work and especially statistics on birth, death and migration -- The difficult living environment of Tibet means that agriculture/herding and industry in Tibet must depend on large subsidies from the central government for a long time to come. o Family planning is therefore needed to bring the increase in the Tibetan population should be brought under control. According to actual conditions and the willingness of the Tibetan people to accept such a policy, the 'family planning policy' already implemented in the cities and towns should be extended to the farm villages and pastoral regions. Health and pharmaceutical services should be extended at the same time in order to avoid incidents and allay the concerns of the people. o Medical services should be improved to cut the death rate, improve the health of the people. Lower infant mortality will allay the concerns of the people about the health of their children. o Foster development of ethnic handicraft industry, development of small towns, and tourism o Strengthen control of statistics on and management of in-migration. o Be prepared to restrict in-migration when necessary. Owing to Tibet's small population, it has a limited capacity to absorb a large influx of people from the outside. Ethnic and religious considerations as well dictate that more research should be undertaken immediately on the floating population moving into Tibet. The question of in-migration to Tibet should be addressed with care. (p. 67) Bibliography of Recent Chinese Scholarship on Tibet on Embassy Beijing Website Many Chinese-language books on about the environment, economy and social development of Tibet based on recent survey work have been published since 1990. Some of this scholarship is not well known in the West. A much longer list of over twenty recent Chinese-language scholarly books on these subjects is maintained on the U.S. Embassy Beijing web site -- Recent Chinese Language Studies on Tibetan Society, Economy, Environment and S&T <cid:[email protected]> Most of these books are the product of social science fieldwork conducted in Tibet since 1990. "/Introduction to Environment and Development on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau/" [Qing Zang Gaoyuan Huanjing yu Fazhan Gailun] ed. by Luosan Linzhidujie. Published May 1996 by Zhongguo Zangxue Chubanshe [China Tibetan Studies Publishing House]. Chapters on geology, hydrology, climate, soils, mineral, natural regions, economic development, sustainable socio-economic development on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau, and "Plateau Modernization, Resources and Environment Policy". Published as part of the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau Environment and Development Series. "/Population and Society of Tibet/" [Xizang de Renkou yu Shehui] by Ma Rong. Published December 1996 by Tongxin Chubanshe. Ma Rong, a professor at the Social Anthropology Research Institute of Beijing University, draws on both Chinese and English-language scholarship and government statistics on Tibet. In this 450 page volume Ma examines topics such as the geographical distribution and size of the various ethnic Tibetan populations in China, the Han population residing in Tibet, Tibet's population structure, migration into and out of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, transformation of the Tibetan economy, income and consumption of urban and rural Tibetans, marriage, education, and the relationship between the ethnic Tibetan and ethnic Han residents of Tibet. Ma Rong also wrote the thirty page essay on the Tibetans in the 1996 book "Surveys and Research on China's Minority Populations" [Zhongguo Shaoshu Minzue Diaocha Yanjiu] a summary of which is found on at the U.S. Embassy Beijing web page at http://www.redfish.com/USEmbassy-China/sandt/chimin.htm Publisher's address: Tongxin Chubanshe is Xibiaobei Hutong #34, Dongdan District, Beijing 100734. "/Research on the Social Development of Tibet/" [Xizang Shehui Fazhan Yanjiu], Edited by China Tibetan Studies Institute [Zhongguo Zangxue Yanjiu Zhongxin] and the Socio-Anthropology Institute of Beijing University. Zhongguo Zangxue Chubanshe [China Tibetan Studies Publishing House] March 1997. The book is divided into Tibet's economic development and Surveys on the population and regions of Tibet. Topics examined include the development of traditional handicraft industries, the trade and market for traditional handicraft industries, education, housing, migration, the Han population of Tibet, and studies on people in various regions of Tibet. ISBN 7-80057-321-4/F 17 "/Changes in Tibetan Family Structure Over Forty Years -- A Report on a Study of One Hundred Tibetan Families/" [Xizang Jiating Sishi Nian Bianqian -- Xizang Baijia Diaochao Baogao], Ed. by Socio-Economic Studies Group at the China Tibetan Studies Institute and published by the China Tibetan Studies Publishing House, July 1996. ISBN 7-80057-282-X/Z 145. Articles by individual researchers include "From Migratory Herders to Fixed Settlement: Forty Years of Changes in the Lives of Tibetan Herders", "Forty Years of Changes in the Lives of the Anduo Family Herding Economics", "Changes in the Material Life of Herder Families", "Herder Family and Women", changes in the lives of Tibetan farmers over the past 40 years, population and marriage in Lugu district of Lhasa, changes in the material life of Lhasa Lugu district residents, religious life and education of Lhasa Lugu district residents, a study on changes in Tibetan married life, changes in structure and function of Tibetan families over the past forty years, changes in religious faith of herders, farmers and urban residents over the past 40 years, Tibetan politico-cultural concepts and participation in politics. "/Tibet Forestry and Economy/" [Xizang Linye Jingji], ed. by Bai Chou. Published March 1996 by Zhongguo Zangxue Chubanshe [China Tibetan Studies Publishing House]. Chapters include Tibetan Forestry Economy development and resources, Tibet forest creation and forestry production, protection of Tibetan forestry resources, Tibetan forest products industry, Tibetan wood distribution and the construction of the market, the Tibetan Forestry economics system and forestry policy, Tibetan forestry reform and development concepts and measures, and forestry development on the middle reaches of the Yijiang Lianghe region. Part of Tibetan Economic Research Series. "/Reform and Development in the Agricultural and Herding Regions of Tibet/" [Xizang Nongmuqu Gaige Yu Fazhan] , ed. by Xiao Huaiyuan, published May 1994 by Zhongguo Zangxue Chubanshe [China Tibetan Studies Publishing House]. Chapters include reform in the agricultural and herding regions, the dual management system in the agricultural and herding regions, construction of the combined collection and cooperative economy, construction of the socialist service system in the agricultural and herding regions, product distribution and market development, investment and construction in the agricultural and herding regions, multiple types of management and the township and village enterprises, population and social security. Part of Tibetan Economic Research Series. "/Tibetan Hydrology and Industry/" [Xizang Shuili Chanyehua], ed. by Bai Chou, published May 1996 by Zhongguo Zangxueyuan Chubanshe [China Tibetan Studies Publishing House]. Chapters include location and use of water resources, monitoring of industrial use of water resources, investment and management of water resources, water pricing system, urban and livestock water use, water laws and regulations. Part of Tibetan Economic Research Series. http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/english/sandt/tibethrd.htm © Copyright 2009 by Boxun News Top of Page |
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