Chapter 3 Conversations with Tibetans

(February 12, 1956) The preparatory committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region is about to be established. Are you afraid? Do you agree with the land reform? A different method should be adopted for the land reform in Tibet, and the method of Yunnan should be adopted.There are chieftains in Yunnan, and they are also nobles. There, the land reform was carried out through peaceful negotiation. The people are satisfied, and the chieftains are also satisfied.In short, the life of the nobility remained the same, as before, perhaps with some improvement.Religious beliefs are all the same as before, and they still believe in what they believed in before.Freedom of religious belief can be first to believe and then not to believe, or not to believe first and then to believe.In China, there are many people who believe in religion.There are 800,000 people who believe in Jesus; 3 million people who believe in Catholicism; more than 10 million people who believe in Islam; Big, about ten million people.People's religious feelings cannot be hurt, and even a little hurt is not good.Unless he himself is not religious, it is very dangerous for others to force him to not believe in religion.This matter should not be taken lightly.Even after communism, there will still be people who believe in religion.

In Tibet, it is not a question of establishing cooperatives, but a question of carrying out democratic reforms.When to do it is up to you to decide.After the preparatory committee for the autonomous region is established, it can conduct research on this issue. It is up to the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Erdeni[1] to make up their minds, and it is up to the Tibetan monks and lay officials, as well as the lamas and khenpos in the monasteries.There must be a period of brewing, one year, two years, three years, through discussion, to get through the mind.Some people are for it, some are against it, and you can speak from both sides.It is good to have more deliberations and discussions. Everyone talks about it, and it will gradually make sense.Many nobles and lamas are afraid of reform. After you go back, you have to do more work for the nobles and lamas. No matter how you reform, you must maintain their political status and living standards.

We have cooperated very well with the capitalists and the various democratic parties. We help each other, criticize mistakes and make progress together.At the same time, the method of self-criticism is also adopted, and the democratic parties also conduct self-criticism.The ethnic minorities themselves can also use criticism and self-criticism to replace the method of "you beat me, I beat you, you poison me, I poison you".You Tibet can discuss and discuss, break the old way, adopt a new way, and use the method of mutual criticism and mutual help to deal with the relationship between people.Mutual distrust must be replaced by mutual trust.Tibetans and Han people used to distrust each other, but slowly they can trust each other.You former Tibet, Later Tibet, and Qamdo also distrusted each other in the past, but today you must trust each other instead.There is also a phenomenon of mutual distrust among the front Tibet and the back Tibet, which is the same as the mutual distrust or insufficient trust among the Han people in various places and departments in the past.In the past, the capitalists were very afraid of us, and some of the democratic parties were also afraid of us.After six years, the mutual trust between them and us is now much stronger.They didn't trust the Communist Party in the past, and the Communist Party didn't trust them that much.We work together for a long time, we often see each other, and we gradually trust each other.I suggest that you go back and study and negotiate carefully to enhance mutual trust and mutual help within you, as well as mutual trust and mutual assistance between you and us.

With regard to the democratic reform, we must make it clear here, and don't go back and talk nonsense, saying that I said that Tibet is now going to implement land reform.I want you to go back and make plans, go back and report to the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, as long as it is feasible, if you don't agree, I have nothing to do.I can't tell you what to do, I just give you suggestions, it's up to you whether to adopt or not, don't get me wrong. The visit of the tour group is very beneficial, and everyone should exchange experiences with each other.Tibet is an amazing place, accounting for one-eighth of the country's area.I told the Dalai Lama, don't think that Tibet is backward and small, but Tibet is not small.If Tibet does not join the big family of the motherland, the affairs of this family will be difficult to handle. Tibet occupies a very important position in the big family of the motherland.

Another is the problem of backwardness.In terms of economy and culture, the Tibetans are backward, as are the Han. They are behind the United States, Britain, France, the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, East Germany, and Japan. Don’t think that you are the only ones behind.Our goal is to make everyone develop. We have to go through several five-year plans to overcome this backwardness.We support you, and you have to develop yourself.You should develop your population, your economy, and your culture.If the economy does not develop, the population cannot develop either. If the culture develops, it can help the economy develop.All of you here are intellectuals and cultured.Your ordinary people are culturally backward, just like the Han peasants.In the future, farmers and everyone will have to graduate from college. Do you believe it or not? It takes seven or eight years for the whole country to graduate from elementary school; it takes thirty to forty years for the whole country to graduate from junior high school. It may be seen that some of us are gone; it will take a hundred years for the whole country to graduate from college.Are all Tibetans willing to graduate from university? This is also possible.Primary schools in Tibet are not yet able to catch up with those in the mainland, but they will catch up in the future.Tibet also wants to establish a university.As long as you work hard and make progress year after year, you can achieve your goal.

After the People's Liberation Army entered Tibet, the price of goods in Tibet rose, and the Tibetan people suffered some losses.The People's Liberation Army came to Tibet to do good things for the people, otherwise what would the People's Liberation Army do? The construction of two roads is a good thing, but this is only to prepare favorable conditions for doing good things.Good things need to be done by Tibet itself, and we can help.You can also make a set of five-year plans, and you can also make one plan a year, and the standard is to improve people's lives.If the people's living standard cannot be improved, it cannot last.

If regional ethnic autonomous areas want to carry out construction, they must have cadres and scientists of their own ethnic groups.Young people want to learn science, and there are many sciences to learn, such as electricity and machines.Tibet is a big place, and there are many good things underground.There must be talents who use machines, agricultural scientists, and geologists.The same is true for Han people.Under the rule of the reactionaries, China's science was underdeveloped, but we started it quite quickly.For example, when the whole country was liberated, our number of geologists was only more than 100, less than 200. After six years of work, the number has grown to several thousand.Oil is being extracted in the Qaidam Basin, not far from the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, you can go and see it.Training talents should be done slowly, not a matter of a few months or a few years. You must train scientific cadres in a planned way.

Tibet needs to be more united, and I am very happy to see you united.After you return to Tibet, you should meet the Dalai Lama more often, listen to his instructions, and gain more knowledge.It is not good to have two or three heads in Tibet. We respect the important position of the Panchen Lama and Qamdo. The whole of Tibet should have a chairman, and that is the Dalai Lama.Have you figured it out? Are you saying that we favor the Dalai Lama? The Lhasa side is also afraid that we favor the Panchen Lama. We don't have that.Let the Dalai Lama be the chairman. Doing it this way is good for unity.

Tibet has made great progress in recent years. If we recognize this progress and develop gradually, there is hope. Published based on the transcript of the conversation kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] The Dalai Lama, that is, the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, born in 1935, is a native of Huangzhong, Qinghai, and one of the local religious and political leaders of Tibet.At that time, he was the vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the honorary chairman of the Buddhist Association of China.In April 1956, the Tibet Autonomous Region Preparatory Committee was established and served as the chairman.Panchen Erdeni, that is, Panchen Erdeni Choji Gyaltsen (1938-1989), a native of Xunhua, Qinghai, is one of the local religious and political leaders of Tibet.He was then Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.In April 1956, he served as the first vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region Preparatory Committee.