Chinese Labor Camps Threaten Tibet’s Culture and Identity

On Sept. 22, the Jamestown Foundation reported that the Chinese government is running large-scale “training centers” in Tibet. These camps, extremely similar to the secret camps currently used to detain China’s Uyghur population in Xinjiang province, have processed over half a million Tibetans since January. 

Tibet is an autonomous region of China with just over 3 million inhabitants who largely work in agriculture. The number of people processed in these camps is staggering, with 543,000 rural surplus laborers having completed the training program in seven months—around 18% of Tibet’s current population.

In the report, researcher Adrian Zenz details China’s efforts to systematically train Tibetan farmers and transfer them to other regions of Tibet and across China. In the government’s efforts to eradicate poverty, Tibetan farmers are offered vocational training and wage increases in exchange for handing over their land and herds.

Farmers in Tibet. Antoine Taveneaux. CC BY-SA 3.0.

With this structure, jobs are created prior to training, and laborers are conditioned to fit the country’s employment needs. Companies benefit from creating jobs for trained laborers; the largest state-owned food company in China, the COFCO Group, is a major transfer location in Tibet.

While the Chinese government maintains that participation in these labor camps is voluntary, the report details that “the systemic presence of clear indicators of coercion and indoctrination, coupled with profound and potentially permanent changes in modes of livelihood, is highly problematic.” 

The forced cultural assimilation in these camps is a severe threat to Tibetan culture and history. “In the context of Beijing’s increasingly assimilatory ethnic minority policy, it is likely that these policies will promote a long-term loss of linguistic, cultural and spiritual heritage,” Zenz writes. 

While these camps are not identical to the Uyghur detainment camps in northwest China, they bear a striking resemblance. Both programs target the same group—rural surplus laborers—and modify traditional livelihoods through the militarization of education and training. With the removal of religious influence, these camps also “emphasize the need to ‘transform’ laborers’ thinking and identity.”

Ultimately, Tibetan identity is being directly targeted by the Chinese government as it forces Tibetan farmers into the formal Chinese economy. In the effort to eradicate poverty in the region, the Chinese government also seems determined to destroy traditional Tibetan culture.

Sarah Leidich

is currently an English and Film major at Barnard College of Columbia University. Sarah is inspired by global art in every form, and hopes to explore the intersection of activism, art, and storytelling through her writing.

In China’s Anti-Poverty Fight, Minorities Worry About Ethnic Targeting

China has begun ambitious plans to end extreme poverty in the country by the end of 2020. Although well-intentioned at first glance, the campaign’s integrity has been called into question.

Southwest China. wnstnsmth. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Aiming to end extreme poverty by 2021, the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th anniversary, President Xi Jinping has launched mass relocations of entire villages in rural southwest China. Over 6,600 members of the Yi ethnic minority group have already been uprooted to custom-built towns commissioned by China’s government. 

According to Sichuan province’s party secretary Peng Qinghua, about 80 billion yuan, equivalent to $12 billion, has already been spent to relocate 1.4 million residents. The freshly built towns consist of almost 400,000 homes and approximately 70,000 miles of roads. 

These mass relocations seem to contradict Jinping’s original strategy of “Targeted Poverty Alleviation” that he announced in 2013, which in theory would focus on helping individual families through an organized registration system. Now the Communist Party has changed its plan, announcing that ending extreme poverty is  impossible without targeting entire communities. 

Since millions of rural residents have already been uprooted, many are concerned that the Chinese Communist Party may have a hidden agenda. Specifically, residents fear that mass relocations are intended to force out minority groups to consolidate power among the Han population, China’s predominant ethnic group. The move has come with lifestyle changes for residents, many of whom have received  jobs such as babysitting and plantation labor in China’s metropolitan areas. There exists a generational disagreement among residents as well. Older residents have expressed dissatisfaction with such sudden shifts in land ownership and daily routines, while the younger generation seems somewhat more open to the changes. 

Part of the government’s funding has focused on upholding the Yi language of Nuosu with support for TV shows, local newspapers and bilingual programs. 

This action by the government toward the Yi minority contradicts its previous statements made in favor of entirely erasing minority languages. For instance, the government judged that the language of the Uyghurs is “out of step” and should be replaced with Mandarin. 

The government keeps no secret that its poverty reduction initiative intends to promote fundamental social change. Lin Shucheng, party boss for the rural Liangshan prefecture, states that mass relocations are aimed at dissolving what he calls “outdated habits,” such as poor personal hygiene and immoderate dowries. 

Although the campaign has been successful at eliminating extreme poverty, the government’s authoritarian measures and contradictory mandates keep residents wary of the future. 

Ella Nguyen

is an undergraduate student at Vassar College pursuing a degree in Hispanic Studies. She wants to assist in the field of immigration law and hopes to utilize Spanish in her future projects. In her free time she enjoys cooking, writing poetry, and learning about cosmetics.