(TibetanReview.net, Mar29’22) – China celebrated on Mar 28 its 63rd anniversary of the crushing of the Tibetan uprising against its occupation rule, a counter to the Tibetan observance of Mar 10 as their national uprising day. China began marking this day as its Serfs’ Emancipation Day in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) only in 2009 after the Tibetan Plateau was hit by a national uprising-scale protests the year before.
China’s Radio Lhasa broadcast said Oct 1, 1960 that some 87,000 Tibetans were killed in that suppression which also saw Tibet’s then temporal and spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, escaping to India, as also a large number of other Tibetans.
China then announced the start of its so-called “democratic reform” in what was later to become TAR, the western part of what Tibetans consider to be Tibet proper, marking an end to the so-called 17-Point Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet it had signed on May 23, 1951 under which Tibet was promised a sort of “one country, two systems” autonomy.
China this year marked this occasion with a flag-raising ceremony on the Potala Palace Square in Tibet’s capital Lhasa, with the participation of more than 1,000 people from all walks of life, reported China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Mar 29.
“Time is the most objective recorder, and history is the most faithful witness. Over the past 63 years we have witnessed magnificent progress in Tibet,” Yan Jinhai, chairman of the regional government, was quoted as saying in a televised speech.
A symposium was stated to have been held in the morning in Lhasa to mark the “special day”.
Also, more than 40 Chinese and foreign “experts” highlighted the achievements made by “China’s Tibet” in passing on culture, protecting human rights, and promoting social and economic development during a seminar in Beijing on Mar 28, Reported China’s official Xinhua news agency, Mar 29.
The report said the Beijing seminar was held as a side event of the 49th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva. It was stated to have been jointly organized by China Society for Human Rights Studies, the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture, and the China Tibetology Research Center.