(TibetanReview.net, Dec25’24) –Tibetans and rights groups have demanded that the British Museum stop labelling Tibetan artefacts in its Silk Roads exhibition with “Xizang”, China’s Sinicized term for “Tibet” meant to make the propaganda point that the historical Tibet as we know it no longer exists. They have also asked the museum to issue a formal apology for this uncalled-for gesture of kowtowing to China on the issue of Tibet.
China decided last year to stop using the term “Tibet” and to replace it with “Xizang” in all its official documents and reports. It has been seen to be pressuring others do the same, as seen in the case of Nepal recently, during its Prime Minister KPS Oli’s visit to the country. The protesters are asking that the Museum restore the name “Tibet” without any use of “Xizang”.
Using “Xizang” plays into Beijing’s attempts to undermine and erase Tibet’s historical and cultural identity, rfa.org Dec 24 cited advocates as saying.
The British Museum’s Silk Roads exhibition, which explores the history of the ancient trade route during the key period from 500 to 1000, features over 300 objects from the museum’s own collection and those loaned from at least 29 other institutions.
The exhibit opened in late September and runs until Feb 23, 2025.
The report cites the example of a silver vase gifted by the 7th-century Tibetan Empire ruled by King Songtsen Gampo to neighbouring Tang China which the museum has labelled with “Tibet or Xizang Autonomous Region, China.”
Tsering Passang, founder and chairman of the Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities, has said the use of “Xizang” is “not only inaccurate but deeply offensive to Tibetans.”
“It mirrors the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to erase Tibet from the global map, rewrite its history, and suppress the Tibetan people’s peaceful culture,” he has said.
Tibetan groups — led by advocacy group Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities and the Tibetan Community in Britain — wrote to the British Museum, first on Nov 25 and later on Dec 18, citing their grave concerns about use of the term.
In response to the Nov 25 letter, the museum has defended its action, saying it “reflects the contemporary region,” according to a statement by the Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities.
Tibetans have rejected this explanation, saying it ignores the political implications of promoting terminology perpetuated by the Chinese Communist Party that legitimizes the Chinese state narrative.
“This is not just about labels; it’s about the museum’s role in shaping global understanding of a culture that is actively being suppressed,” Phuntsok Norbu, chairman of the Tibetan Community in Britain, has said.
The British Museum, located in the Bloomsbury area of London, is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture. Funded by UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport, its permanent collection of eight million works is said to be the largest in the world. It documents the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present.
Earlier this year, the French museum Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac also came under fire for using China’s Sinicized term for Tibet in its exhibit. Following weeks of protests and petitions by Tibetans, the museum said in October it would undo the change in its exhibit.
However, another museum in Paris – Paris’ Musée Guimet – has refused to relent and Tibetans have vowed to continue their protest until it corrects itself and stops the political kowtowing to China on the issue of Tibet.