Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T05:10:09.806Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dynamics of Political Resistance in Tibet: Religious Repression and Controversies of Demographic Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2013

Enze Han  and
Christopher Paik
Enze Han
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Email: eh22@soas.ac.uk.
Christopher Paik
Affiliation:
New York University Abu Dhabi. Email: christopher.paik@nyu.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In a novel approach to studying political mobilization among ethnic Tibetans in China, this article addresses two key questions. First, considering the Chinese state's repressive policies towards Tibetan Buddhism, what role does religion play in fomenting Tibetan political resistance? Second, what implications can be drawn from the changing ethnic demography in Tibet about the conflict behaviour of Tibetans? Using various GIS-referenced data, this article specifically examines the 2008 Tibetan protest movements in China. The main results of our analysis indicate that the spread and frequency of protests in ethnic Tibetan areas are significantly associated with the number of officially registered Tibetan Buddhist sites, as well as the historical dominance of particular types of Tibetan religious sects. Furthermore, our analysis shows that the effect of Han Chinese settlement on Tibetan political activism is more controversial than previously thought.

Keywords

TibetChinaprotest movementsreligious repressiondemographic change
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 217 , March 2014 , pp. 69 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barnett, Robert. 2009. “The Tibet protests of spring 2008: conflict between the nation and the state.” China Perspectives 3, 6–23.Google Scholar
Barnett, Robert, and Spiegel, Mickey. 1996. Cutting Off the Serpent's Head: Tightening Control in Tibet, 1994–1995. New York: Human Rights Watch and Tibet Information Network.Google Scholar
Bovingdon, Gardner. 2010. The Uyghurs: Strangers in Their Own Land. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Bulag, Uradyn E. 2004. “Inner Mongolia: the dialectics of colonialization and ethnicity building.” In Rossabi, Morris (ed.), Governing China's Multiethnic Frontiers. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
China Data Center. 2007. China Province Statistical Yearbook, chinadatacenter.org. Michigan: University of Michigan.Google Scholar
China Data Center. 2011. Atlas of the Religions in China, chinadatacenter.org. Michigan: University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Department of Information and International Relations, CTA. 2008. 2008 Uprising in Tibet: Chronology and Analysis. Dharamsala, India: UN, EU & Human Rights Desk, Dept of Information and International Relations (DIIR), Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).Google Scholar
Fearon, James D. 2003. “Ethnic and cultural diversity by country.” Journal of Economic Growth 8(2), 195–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, Andrew M. 2005. “Close encounters of an inner-Asian kind: Tibetan–Muslim coexistence and conflict in Tibet, past and present.” London School of Economics Crisis States Working Paper 68.Google Scholar
Fischer, Andrew M. 2008. “‘Population invasion’ versus urban exclusion in the Tibetan areas of western China.” Population and Development Review 34(4), 631–662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, Andrew M. 2009a. “Educating for exclusion in western China: structural and institutional dimensions of conflict in the Tibetan areas of Qinghai and Tibet.” Center for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE) Working Paper 69.Google Scholar
Fischer, Andrew M. 2009b. “The political economy of boomerang aid in China's Tibet.” China Perspectives 3, 38–53.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Melvyn C. 1994. “Change, conflict and continuity among a community of nomadic pastoralists: a case study from western Tibet, 1950–1990.” In Barnett, Robert (ed.), Resistance and Reform in Tibet. London: Hurst & Co.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Melvyn C. 1997. The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstein, Melvyn C. 1998. “Introduction.” In Goldstein, Melvyn C. and Kapstein, Matthew T. (eds.), Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet: Religious Revival and Cultural Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstein, Melvyn C. 2007. A History of Modern Tibet. Volume 2. The Calm before the Storm, 1951–1955. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstein, Melvyn C., and Rimpoche, Gelek. 1989. A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstone, Jack A., and Tilly, Charles. 2001. “Threat (and opportunity): popular action and state response in the dynamics of contentious action.” In Aminzade, R., Goldstone, J., McAdam, D., Perry, E., Sewell, W., Tarrow, S. and Tilly, C. (eds.), Silence and Voice in the Study of Contentious Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goodman, David S. G. 2004. “Qinghai and the emergence of the west: nationalities, communal interaction and national integration.” The China Quarterly 178, 379–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, John S. 2001. “Chinese population transfer in Tibet.” Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law 9, 173–199.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Donald L. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
International Campaign for Tibet. 2004. When the Sky Fell to Earth: The New Crackdown on Buddhism in Tibet. Washington, DC: International Campaign for Tibet.Google Scholar
International Campaign for Tibet. 2008. Tibet at a Turning Point. Washington, DC: International Campaign for Tibet.Google Scholar
Kapstein, Matthew. 2004. “A thorn in the dragon's side: Tibetan Buddhist culture in China.” In Rossabi, Morris (ed.), Governing China's Multiethnic Frontiers. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Kolas, Ashild. 1996. “Tibetan nationalism: the politics of religion.” Journal of Peace Research 33(1), 51–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolas, Ashild, and Thowsen, Monika P.. 2005. On the Margins of Tibet: Cultural Survival on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Kvaerne, Per. 1995. The Bon Religion of Tibet: The Iconography of a Living Tradition. London: Serindia.Google Scholar
Leung, Beatrice. 2005. “China's religious freedom policy: the art of managing religious activity.” The China Quarterly 184, 894–913.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lichbach, Mark Irving. 1987. “Deterrence or escalation? The puzzle of aggregate studies of repression and dissent.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 31(2), 266–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGranahan, Carole. 2010. Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA, and Memories of a Forgotten War. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Millward, James A. 2007. Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Montalvo, Jose G., and Reynal-Querol, Marta. 2005. “Ethnic polarization, potential conflict, and civil wars.” The American Economic Review 95(3), 796–816.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pan, Yihong. 1992. “Early Chinese settlement policies towards the nomads.” Asia Major 5(2), 41–75.Google Scholar
Posen, Barry. 1993. “The security dilemma and ethnic conflict.” In Brown, Michael E. (ed.), Ethnic Conflict and International Security. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Potter, Pitman. 2003. “Belief in control: regulation of religion in China.” The China Quarterly 174, 317–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powers, John. 2004. History as Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles versus the People's Republic of China. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rasler, Karen. 1996. “Concessions, repression, and political protest in the Iranian revolution.” American Sociological Review 61(1), 132–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tibet-Institut Rikon-Zürich. 1987. Tibet, ethnisch-kulturhistorische Karte: für den Zeitraum von 1280 bis 1965, entspr. der Zeit der chinesischen Yüan-, Ming- und Ch'ing-Dynastien 1:5,000,000. Rikon, Switzerland: Tibet Institut.Google Scholar
Schwartz, Ronald D. 1995. Circle of Protest: Political Ritual in the Tibetan Uprising. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Shakya, Tsering. 1999. The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet since 1947. London: Pimlico.Google Scholar
Shakya, Tsering. 2008. “Tibetan questions: interview.” New Left Review 51(2), 5–26.Google Scholar
Sperling, Elliot. 2004. The Tibet–China Conflict: History and Polemics. Washington, DC: East-West Center.Google Scholar
Tibetan Center for Human Rights & Democracy. 2008. Uprising in Tibet 2008: Documentation of Protests in Tibet. Dharamsala, India: Tibetan Center for Human Rights & Democracy.Google Scholar
Toft, Monica D. 2002. “Indivisible territory, geographic concentration, and ethnic war.” Security Studies 12(2), 82–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toft, Monica D. 2003. The Geography of Ethnic Violence: Identity, Interests, and the Indivisibility of Territory. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Topgyal, Tsering. 2011. “Insecurity dilemma and the Tibetan uprising in 2008.” Journal of Contemporary China 20(69), 183–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weidmann, Nils B. 2009. “Geography as motivation and opportunity: group concentration and ethnic conflict.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 53(4), 526–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeh, Emily T., and Henderson, Mark. 2008. “Interpreting urbanization in Tibet: administrative scales and discourses of modernization.” Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 4, 1–44.Google Scholar