CHINESE INVASION AND OCCUPATION
These interviews describe the infiltration of Tibetan villages by the Chinese army and the subsequent dissolution of traditional Tibetan social, cultural, and religious ways of life.
ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS
Select an interviewee from the list below or scroll down to browse the interview summaries and key topics. After each summary, a link is provided to the entire interview transcript.
All interviews are in PDF format. You will need Adobe Acrobat software installed on your computer in order to open these files.
1. Norbu Dhondup (#6)
2. Norbu (#10)
3. Yeshi Lhadon (#12)
4. Sonam (#76)
5. Cho Lhamo (#92)
6. Dhondup (#61)
7. Wangmo (#67)
8. Lhundup Dorjee (#73)
9. Sonam Dorjee (#86)
10. Dorji Damdul (#18)
11. Tashi Nyima (#7)
12. Tsering Kyipa (#9)
13. Wangyal (#63)
14. Dhondup (#65)
15. Tashi (#25)
16. Gangtso (#39)
17. Sonam Gogyal (#44)
© 2009 Tibet Oral History Project. These translations and transcripts are provided for individual research purposes only. For all other uses, including publication, reproduction and quotation beyond fair use, permission must be obtained in writing from: Tibet Oral History Project, P.O. Box 6464, Moraga, CA 94570-6464.
In describing his early life, Norbu Dhondup states, “I was happy when I was a nomad. The hills were full of flowers and we didn’t have to feed the animals. We milked, churned the milk and made butter.”
His life was drastically altered when his father, a land owner, was arrested by the Chinese, who confiscated all the family’s possessions and property. After being falsely accused of supporting the Tibetan resistance fighters, his father was subjected to thamzin ‘struggle sessions.’ Norbu Dhondup was told to torture his own father but he refused. After arrest his father castrated himself, but survived after receiving medical treatment while imprisoned.
Norbu Dhondup fled to India with his family. Two decades later he heard that his father at age 86 was still alive after being released from 20 years imprisonment in China. Norbu Dhondup went to find his father in Lhasa and brought him back to India carrying him on his back part of the way.
Topics Discussed:
First appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, Chinese oppression, thamzin, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.Read Full Interview (PDF)
Norbu had a very adventurous childhood in Tibet, hunting and fishing for both fun and for his livelihood, as his family was poor. At age 17, he killed a bear with his knife in self defense. A prize kill would be a musk deer, which sold for a good price. Norbu gives a fascinating and suspenseful account of the villagers’ hunting expeditions.
Norbu narrates how he and other Tibetans worked at Chinese road construction sites, how the Chinese appeared to be friendly at the beginning in order to gain their confidence, and how they gradually tightened their control. Norbu recounts the horrifying events of when Sangay Dorji, one of the richest people of the village, was subjected to thamzin ‘struggle sessions.’
Norbu describes a confrontation with a Chinese officer, who called Norbu, “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Fearing that he and his family would be subjected to thamzin, his large family embarked on a month long escape to India.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, farm life, first appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, Chushi Gangdrug guerrillas, forced labor, Chinese oppression, brutality, thamzin, escape experiences, life as refugee in IndiaRead Full Interview (PDF)
Yeshi Lhadon believes her village, Doktsa, was the happiest place—with high mountains, temples on the mountains and villages down below. There were no schools or hospitals, but the villagers were completely self-reliant. She was about 14 years old when both her parents died and she became responsible for raising her two younger sisters. She was never able to enjoy her childhood days like a normal child.
When the Chinese arrived in her village, they gave the villagers tools and told them they must work harder to cultivate the land. Yeshi Lhadon and her husband left their village to go to Lhasa because rumors were spreading that the Chinese would mistreat everyone and take away the children. They worked as laborers for the Chinese doing bridge construction near the city. Then they moved to Phari near the Indian border and stayed there for 5 years while contemplating escape to India, which they finally attempted in 1959 when Yeshi Lhadon was 37 years old.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, farm life, nomadic life, first appearance of Chinese, labor for Chinese, Chinese oppression, trade, escape experiences, His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
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Sonam describes his early life as a nomad in Jang Namchung, Namru. As a child, Sonam enjoyed spending his time grazing animals and playing games with other boys. He fondly recalls horse racing during a special month-long annual festival.
When the Chinese came to Sonam’s village in 1959, they interrogated everyone and began forcing the villagers to participate in thamzin ‘struggle sessions.’ During the Cultural Revolution beginning in 1966, the Chinese restricted the Tibetans’ freedom, including banning religious practices and imposing various taxes. Unable to tolerate this oppression, Sonam and others protested by beating up a few Chinese officers and destroying an administrative office.
Expecting to be arrested after the protests, Sonam decided to escape to India. He left his pregnant wife and one-year old daughter behind in the village and fled with several men on horseback. During a confrontation with Chinese soldiers on the way to Bhutan, one of Sonam’s companions was killed. Then after reaching Bhutan, Sonam was questioned by American officials to determine if he was a Chinese spy. Sonam visited Tibet in 1986, seeing his wife and two children for the first time since he had escaped.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, animal herding, salt gathering, festivals, first appearance of Chinese, thamzin, life under the Chinese, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.Read Full Interview (PDF)
Cho Lhamo was born in Kongpo Tham-nyen to a Khampa father and a Kongpo mother. She recalls her childhood days as being extremely happy. She played games, rode horses, danced, sang and dressed like boys to play pranks on other girls. Cho Lhamo married at the age of 21. She fondly describes her village as a very beautiful place with mountains, forests, fruit trees and big rivers.
When the Chinese came to Cho Lhamo’s village, they were initially friendly. Then, gradually, life under Chinese control became more oppressive. Cho Lhamo’s family was targeted for arrest and torture so they tried to escape. She and her mother were captured by the Chinese and her father was killed. Cho Lhamo and her mother were allowed to return home if they agreed to changer their “way of thinking.”
Their second attempt to escape was successful and Cho Lhamo and her family finally reached India. On the way the family met His Holiness the Penor Rinpoche, who was then at Pema Koe near the Indian border.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, first appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, brutality, thamzin, resistance fighters, escape experiences.
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Dhondup reminisces about his childhood days in his village of Khangmar Yulkhang when he had no responsibilities—playing games like skipping and soccer. His parents sent him to school in a nearby village to learn basic Tibetan reading and writing. This was a special privilege since there were only eight children who attended school in his entire region. As the only educated person in his village, Dhondup worked as a clerk to the regional administrator.
Though Dhondup’s family avoided being subjected to thamzin ‘struggle sessions’ following the Chinese occupation of Tibet, he witnessed people in his region being subjected to them. He describes how the Sadhak ‘wealthy landowners’ were falsely accused of mistreating the poorer villagers and were beaten by them under the influence of the Chinese. Some of the Sadhak panicked and committed suicide to escape from the thamzin and imprisonment.
At the age of 28 Dhondup escaped to India along with 80 people from his region in 1959. He was in Bomdila, India during the 1962 Indo-China war and once again had to flee with his family, leaving behind their meager belongings. They later moved to the settlement in Bylakuppe.Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, farm life, first appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, thamzin, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.
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A native of Dhingri, Wangmo’s parents died when she was a teenager and she wove carpets and blankets, until she married at age 18 or 19. She moved to her husband, Wangla’s, his village, Lhatse, where he was a lhamo ‘opera’ performer. Her husband also participates in the interview and describes lhamo and its significance as an integral part of Tibetan culture and tradition.
Wangmo recalls the misery she endured trying to care for her four children after the Chinese forcibly took her husband to Lhasa to teach them Tibetan opera. She describes thamzin ‘struggle sessions’ in her village where monks and wealthy landowners were beaten by poor villagers at the coercion of the Chinese. She recounts that some people were shot, while others became disabled due to severe beatings. Unable to endure these abuses, some people committed suicide either by jumping into rivers or by hanging themselves. Wangmo also witnessed the destruction of many monasteries in her region.
The family’s sufferings continued even after their escape from Tibet. They were put in detention and interrogated daily in Gangtok, Sikkim, and later in Kalimpong by Indian authorities, who were suspicious of the refugees and made them explain why and how they had escaped.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, life under Chinese rule, forced labor, Chinese oppression, brutality, thamzin, destruction of monasteries, escape experiences.
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Lhundup Dorjee describes how his family gave him away in marriage to a woman whose family lived as tenants of Dechen Sangakha Monastery. This family acted as the ngotsap ‘representative’ of the monastery and performed various functions for it, including collecting butter and grain taxes. Lhundup Dorjee explains the roles played by genpo ‘leaders’ and ngotsap in collecting taxes on behalf of the government and private estates, in settling disputes, and in looking after villagers’ welfare.
Lhundup Dorjee provides an account of increasing Chinese oppression after the occupation of his region, including the tactics the Chinese used to force Tibetans into conducting thamzin ‘struggle sessions.’ The person subjected to thamzin had his hands tied behind him and was ordered to kneel in front of a huge gathering of people, some who participated in the beating of the accused.
Lhundup Dorjee also describes the difficulties he and hundreds of other fleeing Tibetans faced when they reached Bhutan, including food shortages and death from heat exhaustion. Upon reaching India, he worked on road construction for eight years before moving to Bylakuppe.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, local governance in Tibet, taxes, first appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, Chinese oppression, thamzin, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.Read Full Interview (PDF)
Sonam Dorjee was born in Kham Chungpo to a family who engaged in both farming and a nomadic lifestyle. He and his family were very happy in independent Tibet; he recalls with emotion his childhood days in school and, later, as a monk in Sera Monastery in Lhasa.
Sonam Dorjee describes seeing Chinese soldiers bombard the Potala Palace and Sera Monastery. He also recalls the siege of Bakor and how the Chinese constantly announced on loud speakers that Tibet was “lagging behind” and that the Chinese had come “to help” the Tibetans.
After these events, the situation in Tibet deteriorated and Sonam Dorjee, along with a friend, fled the country. He relates in detail the hardships they suffered on their journey from Tibet. Once in India, Sonam Dorjee worked on road crews and then learned how to drive and repair cars. He saw many Tibetans die from the hot climate in India and suffer from leeches and mosquitoes.Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, monastic life, first appearance of Chinese, invasion by Chinese army, life under Chinese rule, resistance fighters, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.
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Dorji Damdul had seventeen brothers and sisters from three different mothers. His village contained the only school within five districts so Dorji Damdul had the good fortune to be sent to school. Due to poor behavior, he was removed from school and his parents sent him to join a local monastery. Dorji Damdul provides a description of monastic life and his daily routine.
The Chinese labeled Dorji Damdul as a “rebel” because of his family’s high status in the community. They restricted his movements and arrested his uncle, who served as head of the family. The Chinese arrested many monks and distributed the property of the monastery to the people of the village. Dorji Damdul was forced to return home, but his house had been emptied by the Chinese. After a year, he decided to marry, but the Chinese also imprisoned his wife, who came from a prominent family.
Fearing his own arrest, Dorji Damdul decided to flee to Bhutan with his wife, who had been released from prison because she was pregnant. During the journey, his wife gave birth to their baby, but after reaching Bhutan the baby died in 6 days. The couple traveled to Balingpur and then to Bylakuppe, India, where they resettled.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, monastic life, first appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, brutality, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.
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Tashi Nyima was born in the village of Tsakhalowa, meaning ‘village of salt.’ He gives an account of how salt was made on rooftops in his village. At around the age of 12 or 13 his father taught him to inscribe mani ‘prayers’ on stones. He did this work until he was 17 or 18 when he became a transporter/trader.
When he was 18 years old Tashi Nyima went to China to buy tea bricks, pork and other goods to sell in Lhasa. At that time he witnessed the Communist Chinese forces massacring supporters of Chang Kai Shek’s Kuomintang regime. When he returned to Tibet and the Chinese invaded his region, he saw them dividing the rich Tibetans from the poor and using the poor to humiliate the rich.
Tashi Nyima was one of the few Tibetans who visited India before 1959. As a trader, he transported goods between Phari and India. The Chinese began arresting all of the traders, but Tashi Nyima managed to escape and went to India.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, trade, Chinese oppression, brutality, life under Chinese rule, Chushi Gangdrug guerillas, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.
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When Tsering Kyipa was a child, her parents gave her to a family in a place called Sha-Sima as an adopted daughter. Her adopted parents treated her very poorly and once she was accused of stealing the cash box. Unable to bear this difficult life, she ran away to her parents, but her mother once again gave her to a new family. Later, her parents forced her to marry. Tsering Kyipa and he husband worked on a road crew for the Chinese and later became farmers.
Though Tsering Kyipa personally was not subjected to thamzin ‘struggle sessions’ because she belonged to the class the Chinese wanted to use for labor, she saw many others undergo thamzin. She fainted the first time she witnessed it and was able to warn several families to escape before they were taken for thamzin. Tsering Kyipa also witnessed the destruction of local monasteries.
Tsering Kyipa’s parents left for India after being informed they would be subjected to thamzin. She was unable to go with them because her husband was away. Later the Chinese allowed her to visit her parents in India so she is one of very few Tibetans with official travel documents. She returned to Tibet once before moving to India permanently.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, life under Chinese rule, destruction of monasteries, Chinese oppression, brutality, thamzin, forced labor.Read Full Interview (PDF)
Wangyal was born in Samada in the Gyangtse district. As a boy he operated the water mill for grinding barley grown on his grandparents’ farm. They had many laborers working on their farm, who received wages and food for their work. Wangyal says that no one in his village was in need of work; the traditional relationship between landowners and laborers was beneficial to both.
Wangyal had been taught to read and write so when the Chinese occupied his region they assigned him the duty of recordkeeping at the Farmers’ Commune Office and later appointed him Secretary of the Commune Office. Wangyal speaks of Buddhist traditions and how the Chinese destroyed Tibetan religion and culture. He explains that the Chinese deceived the Tibetan people, acting nicely towards them and paying high prices for goods between 1951 and 1959. But Wangyal heard of sufferings inflicted by the Chinese in other parts of Tibet and was worried about the future. Then in 1959 the Chinese began arresting and subjecting many influential people and lamas to thamzin ‘struggle sessions.’
His Holiness the Dalai Lama inspired Wangyal to write a book entitled Stories of Life Experiences in which he narrates the situation before and after the arrival of the Chinese in Tibet.Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, first appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, destruction of monasteries, brutality, thamzin, life as a refugee in India.
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Dhondup’s family, in addition to farming, also engaged in trading and traveled between China, Dhartsedho, Chekudho and Lhasa and later to Kalimpong in India. They traded goods such as tea, wool, pelts and musk. Dhondup recreates a beautiful picture of his region which was full of forests, fruit trees, flowers and a host of wild animals.
When the Communist Chinese arrived in his region they deceived the Tibetans by requesting their weapons and horses on the pretext of fighting the Americans, whom the Chinese considered their enemies. Later they divided the villagers into groups based on wealth and power and would not allow the poor people and wealthy people to interact with each other.
Fearing that his father was to be arrested, Dhondup accompanied his father on a very long journey to Lhasa. His father then joins the Chushi Gangdrug Resistance Force while Dhondup travels with their mules. Both later escaped to India.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, trade, farm life, wildlife, first appearance of Chinese, resistance fighters, Chushi Gangdrug guerrillas, escape experiences.
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Tashi’s family, called Woma, lived in a three-story house on a large piece of land. They owned farmland and over 100 animals. Tashi gives an account of his boyhood as a nomad living in a large tent made of animal fur, which was moved three times each summer.
Tashi left his life as a nomad at age 21 in order to care for the horses and mules belonging to his uncle, a prominent lama, in Kongpo. Tashi gives an account of the deaths of both his first and second wives and, after marrying for the third time, settles as a farmer in Digung.
In 1959 the Chinese came to Digung on three separate occasions. Tashi was told that he owned too much land and must give away one-third of his property to families without land. Soon after, fearing the return of the Chinese, about 30 families including Tashi’s fled, hoping to reach a Tibetan army camp. The Chinese captured some of the group and the rest fled, leaving behind their horses, yaks and belongings. Tashi refused to surrender and managed to retrieve 72 yaks and save a woman’s life. Tashi and his family then made a slow escape south to India, having to carefully evade the Chinese army and claim they were going to visit relatives in order disguise their true motive for travelling.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, nomadic life, religious festivals, first appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, escape experiences.
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Gangtso was born into a family of six sisters and her parents separated when she was very young. Her mother passed away when Gangtso was 8 years old and she and her younger sisters each went to live with an older, married sister. Her pleasant memories of those days are of the snow-capped mountains, the grasslands, the river and ice skating.
As a young child, Gangtso witnessed the Chinese beating Tibetans and forcing them to demolish the local monastery and burn the scriptures. Gangtso remembers, “I felt very sad when they destroyed the monastery. I had no parents and the monastery was being destroyed. I cried a lot.”
On an impulse, she and one sister, while grazing their cattle, decided to flee to India. Without informing their elder siblings, they made an all day and all night journey over the border without food or water. Gangtso was only 11 years old during the escape.
After a month in a refugee camp, Gangtso and her sister were given a room in a house and some land to farm in Mundgod, India. Later Gangtso married and took a position as matron of the Tibetan Children's Village in Bylakuppe so that her three children could receive an education.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, life under Chinese rule, destruction of monastery, escape experience, life as a refugee in India.Read Full Interview (PDF)
Sonam Gogyal was educated as a child and held the post of deputy leader of his village from age 22 to 36. He was responsible for collecting taxes from the villagers in the form of grains and animals.
Sonam Gogyal fled Tibet at the age of 36, leaving behind his wife and five children. He quickly chose to escape one night after hearing that the wealthy landowners, which included him, were to be arrested by the Chinese. In four days, he was able to reach Sikkim with a group of 12 others from his village.
Thus began the life of a refugee. Sonam Gogyal moved from Kalimpong to the Bylakkupe settlement, where he was paid to help clear the forests and build the settlement. Later he took up farming and sold sweaters in the Indian cities. Sonam re-married and built a new life with a new family, never seeing his first wife and family in Tibet again.
Topics Discussed:
First appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, brutality/torture, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India, early life in Bylakuppe.Read Full Interview (PDF)