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Will the Chinese government ban Wednesdays? A snapshot from Lhasa

Washington Post ON FAITH
Will the Chinese government ban Wednesdays? A snapshot from Lhasa
By Matteo Pistono Wednesday, January 19, 2011

"We are in the midst of a fierce struggle involving blood and fire, a life-and-death struggle with the Dalai [Lama] clique. Leaders of the whole country must deeply understand the arduousness, complexity, and long-term nature of the struggle."
-Zhang Qingli, head of the Chinese Communist Party in Tibet, March 2008

The People’s Republic of China makes it abundantly clear to foreign governments, and Tibetans and Chinese alike, that the Dalai Lama is a problem for them. State-sponsored media and government leaders express this quite publicly. Because the PRC accuses the Dalai Lama and those who work with him (e.g. the Dalai clique) with attempting to "split the motherland," any activity whatsoever that has to do with the Dalai Lama is by extension seen as "splittist" activity.

In 1995, a renewed offensive was made on the Dalai Lama, which included banning his photographs and intensifying media attacks on the Dalai Lama as a religious fraud. This was a change from the 1980s when the Dalai Lama was attacked primarily as a political leader.

In Tibet today, religious devotion to the Dalai Lama, including acts such as listening or watching audio or video cassettes about or by the Dalai Lama or conducting any secular or religious ceremony in the Dalai Lama's name are seen as acts of political rebellion.

I have met Tibetan Buddhist teachers in Tibet who have been tortured and spent years in prison simply for encouraging the devout to pray for the Dalai Lama’s long life. Local government departments in Tibetan areas regularly issue and enforce strict regulations on dates they deem politically sensitive such as July 6th, the Dalai Lama's birthday, or December 10th, International Human Rights Day and on the anniversary of the Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize. A few years ago, I saw a Lhasa City Government citywide notice that stated, "The People's Government forbids any person, any group, or any organization, in any form or in any place to use any situation to represent celebrating the Dalai's birthday, to pray to the Dalai for blessing, to sing prohibited songs, to offer incense to the Dalai, or to carry out barely-flower-throwing illegal activities".


While authorities and security personnel in Lhasa on July 6th and other dates keep a keen eye open and the detention cells ready for use, a quite event occurs every Wednesday. On that day, Tibetans across Tibet and in particular in Lhasa carry out intensive popular religious practices, more than on any other day of the week. These include devotional practices such as circumambulating and prostrating in front of the Potala and Jokhang temples, making offerings of burning juniper incense, pouring libations in traditional vessels in front of the Tibet's protector deity, Palden Lhamo, and tossing barley flour into the air.

Why Wednesday?

According to the complex Tibetan astrological calendar, the Dalai Lama's birth sign falls on that day. As with many days in the Tibetan calendar which are deemed to be auspicious, pious and devoted behavior is believed to carry special weight on these days. 


This unorganized yet massive expression of devotion to the Dalai Lama that is evident on Wednesdays took place in a similar fashion before the Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959. But because of the political climate now and the volatility that surrounds the figure of the Dalai Lama in Tibet, according to elderly Lhasa residents, the Wednesday observances are carried out with even more vigor than before 1959. When asked about the possibility of police questioning prompted by these observances a 65-year old Tibetan man responded, "What do you think, will they ban Wednesdays?"


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