SW CHINA: TIBETAN HIGH SCHOOLERS ARRIVE IN SICHUAN HAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000195

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/CM - MACE, DRL - O'SULLIVAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/17/2034
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI CH
SUBJECT: SW CHINA: TIBETAN HIGH SCHOOLERS ARRIVE IN SICHUAN HAN
AREAS

REF: A) CHENGDU 117 B) CHENGDU 115

CHENGDU 00000195 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: David E. Brown, Consul General, U.S. Consulate
General Chengdu.
REASON: 1.4 (d)

1. (C) Summary: An Aba Prefecture plan to send many Tibetan
middle school graduates to Sichuan high schools has been delayed
a year, an ethnic Tibetan former middle school teacher from Aba
Prefecture in western Sichuan Province said. The plan overall
has more students than originally planned, with 12,911 Tibetan
area students starting mostly three-year vocational high school
classes in Chinese-speaking parts of Sichuan Province. The
teacher also discussed his monk brother's two-month police
interrogation, reflected on his travels this summer with six
middle school teacher colleagues to Tibetan monasteries and the
Dalai Lama's birthplace, and discussed PRC restrictions barring
Tibetan monks from teaching at universities. End summary.

Some Parents Fear Students Sent to Han Areas Lose Respect for
Elders and Self-Confidence
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2. (C) An ethnic Tibetan former middle school teacher (ref A)
said in late August that the implementation of the Sichuan
provincial program to send Tibetan middle school graduates to
vocational high schools in Chinese-speaking areas of Sichuan has
been delayed for one year. The former teacher, now on leave
from a Tibetan middle school in Aba County, Aba Prefecture where
he taught for six years, says that many parents fear that
children who are sent to Chinese speaking areas return as
misbehaving youth who lack respect for their own parents. He
added that Tibetan students sent to Chinese schools often lack
confidence because language difficulties mean they generally lag
behind Han students. The teacher said that some of the schools
being rebuilt in southern Aba Prefecture, which was hit hard by
the May 12, 2008 earthquake, will serve ethnic Tibetan students
from the northern part of Aba prefecture as well as local
students.

Sichuan Party Paper: "9+3" Free Education for Tibetans in
Sichuan Han Areas Underway
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3. (SBU) According to Sichuan press and an official Sichuan
government website, the "9+3 Free Education Plan" (ref B) to
send Tibetan middle school graduates to high schools in
Chinese-speaking areas is successful. As part of the new
program, 12,911 Tibetan students have recently arrived at 80
different high schools, mostly vocational high schools. Three
thousand of these Tibetan students are going to high schools in
Chengdu or its subordinate counties. According to a September 7
report in the Sichuan Province Communist Party newspaper Sichuan
Ribao, local governments are raising money to build and improve
facilities for these new students. In order to prepare for
these new students from Tibetan areas, Dazhou City Vocational
High School decided to use 12 million RMB (USD 1.75 million) in
foreign charitable donations to buy educational equipment and to
use a Chinese central government subsidy of two million RMB (USD
290,000) for teacher training. According to the Sichuan Party
newspaper's report, many of these vocational high schools are
studying the experience of Leshan and four other key schools
that began accepting Tibetan students last March. Leshan
arranged for "Tibetan cadres with a resolute political and
ideological stance to coach the Tibetan students on their lives
outside the classroom in order to give them the feel of home and
to carry out education in civic virtues."

Monk Brother Returned to Monastery After Two Months of Police
Interrogation
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4. (C) The teacher said that his brother returned to his
monastery after two months of police interrogation. His brother
had been on the run (ref A) for a year after another Tibetan
passed via the Internet to the outside world some photographs
the monk had taken of post-March 2008 protests in Aba
Prefecture. The other Tibetan was caught and sentenced to 14
years in prison. The brother hid out for a year until his
surrender to the police was negotiated by his abbot, who got a
commitment from public security that he wouldn't be harmed or
charged but would be allowed to return to the monastery. The
teacher said his brother was held for two months and then
allowed to return to the monastery. In response to a question
as to whether he was beaten, the teacher said, "He was beaten a
little, but nothing serious."

Teachers on Kumbum's Touristy Monks, Dalai Lama's Birthplace
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5. (C) The teacher related his experiences travelling with five
other middle school teachers in Qinghai Province this summer.
Some of the Tibetan teachers were shocked when they visited
Kumbum (Ta'er) Monastery near Xining at how the monks were
preoccupied with serving tourists at the expense of their

CHENGDU 00000195 002.2 OF 002


religious duties. The teacher said he had seen other
monasteries overwhelmed with tourism and so wasn't as surprised.
In contrast, the teachers were pleased with the condition of
the Dalai Lama's birthplace, which is also near Xining. The
teachers were moved at seeing some personal items of the Dalai
Lama that are kept there and had a fine visit with the Dalai
Lama's cousin who takes care of the birthplace.

"Superstitious" Monks Not Allowed to Teach at Universities
-------------- --------------

6. (C) The teacher, who is now in the third year of leave from
his Tibetan middle school in Aba County, Aba Prefecture, is
studying for a master's degree in Tibetan Logic at the SW
Minorities University. The teacher said that during his travels
this summer he got advice on his thesis from erudite monks in
some of the monasteries he visited. Tibetan Logic is a system of
training within the Gelug School, the most academic of the
schools of Tibetan Buddhism, that emphasizes the use of
analytical reasoning combined with meditation in the pursuit of
enlightenment. The teacher said that Tibetan Logic is also
taught as a secular philosophical subject at the Southwest China
Nationalities University. The teacher said that the monks
giving him advice are much more knowledgeable than his teachers
at the SW Nationalities University. However, he added the monks
are religious and viewed as "superstitious" by PRC authorities
and therefore not allowed to teach at a PRC university. "I could
stay at a monastery and study for free with those monks, but I
need to get a degree so I can get a good job."


7. (U) This cable was coordinated with U.S. Embassy Beijing.
BROWN