Tibetan New Year Celebrations to be Quiet

STORY:

The celebration of the Tibetan New Year will most likely be a quiet one this year. The day has taken on a new sensitivity following the fallout of a brief but widespread uprising by Tibetans last March against Chinese communist rule.

This year's anniversary is extra sensitive as 2009 also marks the 50th anniversary that the Dalai Lama went into exile after a failed uprising against the communist regime.




Some Tibetans, including exiles and intellectuals, are refraining from celebrating the New Year as a quiet protest gesture.

[Sunom Cherong, Tibetan Monk]:
"You should understand that the atmosphere this year has been affected by the riots (last year) and other activities overseas. This would mean that there would not be much of a New Year atmosphere this year because a lot of Tibetans are in jail and also because of these incidents. So I feel people would not be so interested in celebrating (the Tibetan New Year).




As the Tibetan New Year approaches, communist authorities are also concerned about the chances of unrest recurring in the Tibetan regions across the country.

In Kangding, a town in southwestern Sichuan Province, is historically part of Tibet and heavily populated by Tibetans. Chinese communist soldiers have gathered at a base camp on the town's outskirts while police cars cruise the streets ahead of the February 25 holiday.

In Yajiang, a Tibetan town west of Kangding, police in helmets patrol the area carrying batons and manning roadblocks.

Residents say Internet services throughout the area have been cut and people are unable to send or receive mobile telephone text messages.

Category:

News & Politics

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[phayullak]

You will not seen this on CCTV, in CCTV you will see people dance and people counting money so on. haha

[abarzilai664]

You'll never see this on CCTV.

[NotJingjing]

@eastern2western You may be right but my cousin lives in Tibet and she said the celebration was almost none existant. That seems to confirm what NTDTV are saying.

[eastern2western]

@NotJingjing both are liars but cctv does a much better job

[NotJingjing]

@eastern2western: ntdtv lying? Were you in Tibet when this video was made? I doubt it.

[eastern2western]

ccp has full of propaganda, ntdtv is lying out of its ass and proud of it too

[ilroc]

新唐人是狗屎。中共10句有5句是谎言，新唐人100%的谎言，­极端片面的垃圾反华电台。法轮功永远不要回到中国，中共不喜欢你­们，大多数老百姓也反感你们。

[ChinaKillsNunsLoots]

More than 200 Tibetans died in the riots last year and many are missing.

[ChinaKillsNunsLoots]

CCTV tells many lies the chinese communist party wants to try and fool the world with.