(TibetanReview.net, Jul17’19) – Sinicization of Tibet is the watchword in all aspects of China’s policy in the restive Buddhist region. One area in which this policy is strongly emphasized on is in marriages between Tibetans and Chinese. China not only encourages such marriages but also rewards such intercommunity couples, fact in a dailypioneer.com report Jul 17.
Chinese man Long Shi Zhong and Tibetan woman Ba Sang Que Ba married in 2015. Now in their early 50s, they are treated by China as symbols of ethnic unity in Shigatse, a prefecture-level city of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) under Chinese rule, the report noted.
The report continued that their marriage had encouraged hundreds of young people to go for inter-community marriages, prompting the local government to confer the couple with the “national role model” award for ethnic unity.
A photo of Long and Ba finds place among achievers of Shigatse at a major community centre, which acts as a platform for governance at grassroots level, the report said.
And it quoted Ci Dan Yangji, a local government official, as telling a small group of Indian journalists during a rare visit to Tibet at the invitation of China, “Our central government is pursuing a conscious policy of inter-community marriages to promote unity among various ethnic groups in Tibet and elsewhere.”
The report cited another official as adding Long and Ba set an example for many people in the society.
The reported Ci Dan as saying around 500 families were registered with the community centre in Shigatse, which comprised 40 “mixed marriage” couples.
