HRIC: Chinese Authorities Punish Tibetan Author Over Book Favorable to the Dalai Lama

October 28, 2004

Human Rights in China has issued a press release stating that Tibetan writer, Wei Se (also known as "Oser" and "Oezer"), has lost her job, home, and freedom of movement because Chinese officials consider her writings overly favorable to the Dalai Lama. Citing unnamed sources, HRIC said that China's United Front Work Department and the General Administration for Press and Publication determined that Wei Se’s writings contained “political errors” due to their positive references to the exiled Tibetan leader. According to HRIC, as a result of this Wei Se has lost her job, and her former work unit, the Tibetan Cultural Association, has evicted her from her home and terminated her health and retirement benefits. She has also been prohibited from applying for a passport to leave the country.

Human Rights in China Press Release

October 27, 2004

Human Rights in China (HRIC) has learned that a Tibetan writer, Wei Se (also known as Oser), has lost her job, home and freedom of movement because Chinese officials consider her writings overly favorable to the Dalai Lama.

Sources in China told HRIC that China’s United Front Department and Publications Bureau have determined that Wei Se’s writings contained “political errors” due to their positive references to the exiled Tibetan leader. As a result, Wei Se has lost her job, and her former work unit, the Tibetan Cultural Association, has evicted her from her home and terminated her health and retirement benefits. She has also been prohibited her from applying for a passport to leave the country.

The main source of Wei Se’s alleged political error is her book Tibet Journal (Xizang Biji), which was published and reprinted by the Guangzhou Huacheng Publishing Company in 2003. The book is a collection of essays relating to Tibet’s history, personalities and way of life. The book has since been banned by the Guangdong Provincial Publishing Bureau, and specific official criticisms of the book are recorded in Volume 22 of the officially distributed Book Publishing Newsletter (Tushu Chuban Tongxun).

Sources told HRIC that following the book’s publication, the Huacheng Publishing Company’s director and the book’s editor were subjected to criticism and investigation. Wei Se’s work unit, the Tibetan Cultural Association, organized a special committee to carry out “thought correction” on Wei Se, and Party organs sent various officials to talk with Wei Se and her family on a daily basis. Wei Se was also assigned to write an article praising the Qingzang Railway, and was pressured to abandon her practice of Tibetan Buddhism. Feeling pressure from all sides, Wei Se has felt obliged to avoid further persecution by leaving Lhasa to stay with friends in Beijing.

Wei Se, born in 1966, is one of the few Tibetan writers publishing in Chinese. A resident of Sichuan’s Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Wei Se graduated with a degree in Chinese from the Southwestern Institute for National Minorities, and has worked as a journalist. Wei Se became editor of the journal Tibetan Literature (Xizang Wenxue) in 1990, and was subsequently sent to Beijing’s Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts as a visiting scholar. Following official criticism of Tibetan Journal, she was immediately recalled to Lhasa.

Wei Se has participated in a number of petitions calling for preservation of traditional Tibetan culture and respect for ethnic values. One of her petitions resulted in the Han swimmer Zhang Jian abandoning his plans to swim across Namucuo Lake, one of the three sacred lakes of Tibet. Another campaign resulted in the cancellation of a concert by the singer Han Hong planned at Lhasa’s Potala Palace. In a similar vein, Wei Se has consistently protested construction of the Qingzang Railway through Lhasa.

“The Chinese authorities’ persecution of Wei Se violates not only international human rights law, but even China’s own constitution, which protects freedom of expression and religion and the equal status of ethnic minorities,” said HRIC president Liu Qing. “The Chinese authorities should take advantage of the insights provided by writers such as Wei Se to gain a better understanding of Tibetan viewpoints, with the aim of ameliorating the longstanding conflict between the Han and Tibetan peoples in China.”

中国人权新闻发布

西藏女作家唯色因作品赞美达赖喇嘛而遭受严重迫害

中国人权新闻稿
2004年10月27日

西藏女作家唯色的作品赞美达赖喇嘛，导致她失业丢房不准出国流落北京。

中 国人权收到国内知情人士报告，西藏的藏族女作家唯色因宗教和思想而遭受严重迫害。由于中国统战部和中国出版总署认定，唯色的作品中有赞美达赖喇嘛 的政治错误，因而她目前丢失了工作也没有了收入。唯色所在单位西藏文联没收了她的住房，中止了她的医疗保险和养老保险等全部社会保障，并且不批准她办理出 国护照的申请。唯色为了逃避每日骚扰式的检讨“错误”、抨击十四世达赖喇嘛的政治压力，只得离开西藏拉萨而流落北京，住在友人家中生活境遇相当艰困。

唯 色被中国官方认定有“政治错误”的书，是名为《西藏笔记》的一本有关西藏历史、人物和现实生活的散文集。此书在2003年由广州花城出版社出版并 再版。但中共中央统战部却发现《西藏笔记》有“严重的政治错误”，有关部门随即对该书进行审查，同时禁止在西藏销售该书，随后通过广东省新闻出版局全面查 禁此书。

在中国官方发行的《图书出版通讯》总第22期上，刊登了由中共宣传部、中国新闻出版总署联合召开的会议内容，其中记录的中国新闻 出版总署副署长石峰 对《西藏笔记》所谓错误的指责是：“存在赞美十四世达赖喇嘛、十七世葛玛巴，崇信和宣扬宗教等严重的政治立场、观点错误。有些篇什已经在某种程度上进入某 种政治误区。例如，《尼玛次仁》《丹增和他的儿子》等篇什，前者描写著名宗教人士尼玛次仁在国际会议上与达赖喇嘛支持者相遇的那种困惑，反映作者对达赖喇 嘛分裂祖国、鼓吹西藏独立的本质认识模糊观念；后者则流露出对当年平叛斗争有某种误解。”

《西藏笔记》给出版社和作者都带来了灾难。知情 人士告诉中国人权，花城出版社的主要负责人和该书责任编辑被责令检讨，据说有关人员共交了六次书面检 讨才“过关”。唯色的主管单位西藏文联，成立了对她进行“思想教育”的专门小组，责令唯色进行检讨。中共有关当局还每天派各种角色的人，轮番找唯色和她的 家属谈话，还指派她去青藏铁路工地写歌颂文章，“立功赎罪”，逼她放弃自己的信仰和宗教。

唯色不愿作出违心检讨,也不能违背自己 的良心和宗教。她不堪每日的思想“洗脑”压力，只得选择躲到北京友人家中，行前在她写给西藏文联党组的信中 说：“对《西藏笔记》的指责，主要集中在对宗教以及对西藏现实的看法。要我‘过关’，则是要我承认信仰佛教是错误，承认我以自己眼光观察西藏现实不应该， 必须在未来的写作中放弃宗教，以及对西藏现实的描述必须遵照官方口径，等等。对此我只能表示，这个‘关’我过不了，也不愿过。而且在我看，这种‘过关’有 悖作家的天职和良心”。

唯色是中国少有的用汉语写作的藏族女作家。唯色在1966年出生，生活在在四川省的藏族居住区。唯色1988年毕 业于西南民族学院汉语系，曾经做过 《甘孜州报》的记者。从1990年开始，唯色担任《西藏文学》杂志编辑。唯色撰写的《西藏笔记》被查封前，她被领导派往北京鲁迅文学院，参加期刊主编高级 研讨班的学习，并被西藏文联确定结业后担任《西藏文学》的副主编。就在唯色北京学习之中，《西藏笔记》事件发生，唯色被立即召回西藏拉萨，西藏文联开始了 对她的批判和迫使认错等“洗脑”。唯色的已经发表的作品还有《西藏在上》、《绦红色的地图》等。

唯色是一个虔诚的藏传佛教信徒，也是一个 西藏文化的热诚保护者，她曾经发起一些签名活动，以保护西藏的文化传统和民族精神的尊严。中国汉族著名游泳 家张健，一向以征服人类未曾横渡的江河湖海而成为媒体焦点。张健曾经横渡中国青海省的青海湖，而青海湖是藏人心目中的圣湖，征服性的横渡对藏人而言是对神 山圣湖的亵渎。在张健筹备征服另一个藏人圣湖纳木措湖时，唯色起草了一封呼吁张健放弃横渡纳木措湖的签名书，藏人的汉语网站“藏人文化网”同时发表了给有 关部门的公开信，终于促使张健取消了横渡纳木措湖的计划。长期生活在汉人居住区的藏族著名歌手韩红，原来也计划了“空降布达拉宫”的演唱会，由于唯色起草 的签名信指出了同样亵渎藏人文化的问题，韩红放弃了这次已经筹办的演唱会。由于同样的文化理由，唯色一向反对修建通往拉萨的青藏铁路，坚决拒绝指派她写歌 颂青藏铁路文章的任务。