TROUPES of Tibetan dancers twirled long pieces of silk. Men in red-tasselled hats brandished swords. Horses in fine saddles stormed around the stadium. Last week the Gesar cultural festival opened in Yushu in the western province of Qinghai. Locals gathered for the three-day celebration of equine prowess, yak-racing and Tibetan song and dance. It is just one of many such festivals held on the Tibetan plateau in the summer months.
It would be easy to paint recent changes to such festivities as an indication of repression of Tibetan culture. The opening ceremony of the Gesar event, once free to all, is now ticketed, and many seats are reserved for government officials. Police lined the perimeter fence; during one performance 13 uniformed men in protective vests, masks and helmets walked across the field. In a rare sign of dissent, only a few of the crowd outside the officials’ section stood for the Chinese national anthem.
But the story is more subtle: on this part of the plateau, outside Tibet proper, China’s government maintains stability by an artful balance of repression and tolerance. It...Continue reading
Source: China http://ift.tt/2awe1kb
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