The People’s Republic of China (PRC) under the leadership of Mao ‘liberated’ Tibet in 1951attempting to bring the region under Communist rule. However, the promises made by the PRC (of respecting the religious beliefs of Tibetans) were disregarded and thus Tibet witnessed the first ‘uprising’ against Communist rule in 1959. A large number of Tibetans with the Dalai Lama fled to India in order to survive the Communist backlash. Over time Tibet has witnessed a number of such ‘uprisings’ which has disturbed the notion of control of the PRC over Tibet. The most recent one was in March 2008 before the Beijing Olympics. The Chinese Government is always looking for newer ways and means to bring Tibet in its fold and get the people of Tibet to accept its rule without defiance. However, the recent incidents of ‘self-immolations’ prove that the Tibetan people are resorting to new methods to convey their anger and discontent with respect to the Chinese government and army presence in Tibet. With this backdrop the book by Emily Yeh is rightly titled as the primary aim of the Chinese government is to ‘tame’ Tibet (both geographically and politically).
Beyond Politics: A Layered Analysis
Gunjan Singh
TAMING TIBET: LANDSCAPE TRANSFORMATION AND THE GIFT OF CHINESE DEVELOPMENT by Emily T. Yeh Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2015, 523 pp., 695
March 2015, volume 39, No 3