Tibetan activists slams China’s attempt to replace ‘Tibet’ with ‘Xizang’ during mournful events

The Tibetan people in-exile feel sad as China is using the term ‘Xizang’ for Tibet to gain global recognition in the wake of the recent earthquake in the region.

Tibetans in exile believe that China and some media houses are using mournful events to downplay the name Tibet which is disheartening.

Tenzin Phakdon, an activist from Students for a Free Tibet, told ANI, “It is very sad to see not only China but then some paid Chinese media and also some of the major media in the world using Xizang instead of Tibet. We are very saddened to see the loss of over 128 lives of my brothers and sisters inside Tibet due to the recent earthquake but then China and some other media are using this mournful event to downplay the name Tibet itself as it is not only China, but some other media houses too. So we will definitely tackle all those media houses and we have also reached out to some media houses, not to use Xizang and use the word Tibet… we are very worried… in the UN they are using Xinjang instead of Uyghur and East Turkistan, so we fear that in the next 10 years or 20 years, it might happen also to Tibetans so that’s why we have been working very hard to let everybody know at the grassroot level that it is Tibet and not Xizang.”

Another Tibetan activist in Dharamshala, Tenzin Rinzin told ANI, “As Tibetans, we feel this is one of the most disgusting moves by China. It’s one of the policies actually to propagate and distort the very history of Tibet. Tibet is and was always called Tibet. There was no other name in history if you look back. This has been a Chinese manoeuvre to distort history and we have seen especially now it’s disheartening to see international media houses, saying the same tune of the CCP. They are using Xizang and some of them are even using China’s Tibet which is absurd and I think such negligence, such mistake is kowtowing to China’s propaganda. This is something that we object that we should be careful in terms of using those terms because these are propagated by China.”

The recent earthquake in Tibet has raked up the issue of China using the term ‘Xizang’ instead of Tibet.

An earthquake jolted a remote region of Tibet on January 7, killing at least 126 people and injuring over 100 others, with tremors felt in Nepal, Bhutan and parts of northern India, Al Jazeera reported. The earthquake was followed by 49 aftershocks.

The epicentre of the quake was Shigatse, one of the holiest cities of Tibet, as per Al Jazeera. The United States Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 7.1 on the Richter scale, while the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) recorded a magnitude of 6.8.

Earlier, hundreds of Tibetans in exile gathered in Dharamshala to mourn and offer special prayers for the whole night for the victims of the earthquake. Tibetan monks and nuns led the special prayers in the main Tibetan temple Tsuglagkhang, Dharamshala. The leading four Tibetan NGOs including the Tibetan Youth Congress, the Tibetan Women’s Association, the Student for Free Tibet and the National Democratic Party of Tibet, had jointly organised the special prayer service.