RFA: Tibetan College Graduates Protest in Qinghai, Claim Job Discrimination

January 26, 2006

About 70 Tibetans, many recent college graduates, protested in mid-July outside government offices in the Qinghai provincial capital of Xining, according to a July 14 report by Radio Free Asia (RFA). The Tibetans, who reside in Xunhua Salar Autonomous County in Haidong prefecture, claimed that local authorities discriminate against Tibetans in hiring to fill government jobs and favor ethnic Han and Salar applicants.

About 70 Tibetans, many recent college graduates, protested in mid-July outside government offices in the Qinghai provincial capital of Xining, according to a July 14 report by Radio Free Asia (RFA). The Tibetans, who reside in Xunhua Salar Autonomous County in Haidong prefecture, claimed that local authorities discriminate against Tibetans in hiring to fill government jobs and favor ethnic Han and Salar applicants. Police reportedly beat and detained eight protestors, including "ringleader" Dukar Kyab, and ordered the rest to return home on July 13. County officials contacted by telephone refused to comment to RFA about the protests or the eight "missing" Tibetans and denied that they had been arrested.

Many of the protestors were residents of Dobi (Daowei) and Bido (Wendu) Tibetan autonomous townships in Xunhua county. Officials hired only 17 Tibetans for the 100 posts available, according to RFA sources, and many of the Salar and Han who filled the remaining jobs were not college graduates. According to official Chinese census data for 2000, Salar make up 61 percent of the county's population, followed by Tibetans (25 percent), Hui (8 percent), and Han (6 percent).

The Communist Party Organization Department and the General Office of the State Council recently published circulars urging graduates from eastern China to find employment in western provinces, according to a Xinhua report on July 13. "We need a large number of trained personnel, especially graduates of schools of higher learning, to go to [grass-roots areas, especially the western region] to render meritorious service and make a distinguished career." Premier Wen Jiabao urged graduates to travel to western provinces to find jobs, according to a Xinhua report on July 18. In a letter to graduates in Wuhan, he said, "I believe the tough experiences in the west will become the greatest treasure of your whole lives."

Additional information about educational and economic issues that affect Tibetans in China is available in the CECC 2004 Annual Report.