Escape from the Land of Snows (35 page)
Read Escape from the Land of Snows Online
Authors: Stephan Talty
Tags: #Tibet Autonomous Region (China), #Escapes, #Bstan-Dzin-Rgya-Mtsho - Childhood and Youth, #Tibetan, #Tibet, #Dalai Lamas, #Asia, #General, #Escapes - China - Tibet, #Religion, #Buddhism, #China, #Biography & Autobiography, #Religious, #History
FLIGHT
1
“My feet grew numb”: Interview with Tendzin Choegyal.
2
Later, he was ordered: Goodman, p. 308.
3
“It’s OK”: From
La Fuite du Dalaï Lama
, documentary film, France 2, 1999, directed by Marie Louville.
4
“rough and weary”: Dalai Lama,
My Land
, p. 203.
5
“His saddle was slipping”: Interview with Tendzin Choegyal.
6
“The ancient city”: Dalai Lama,
Freedom
, p. 140.
7
“I was laughing”: Interview with Tendzin Choegyal.
8
“The day after”: Dalai Lama,
Freedom
, p. 99.
9
“Tendzin,” he said: Quoted in Craig, p. 221.
10
“It was all new”: Interview with Tendzin Choegyal.
11
“They knew beforehand”: Dewatshang, p. 128.
12
“If we’re going to use that bazooka”:
La Fuite du Dalaï Lama
.
13
“I was surprised to see”: Ibid.
14
“A great feeling”: The story of Tenpa Soepa is drawn from an interview and his memoir
20 Years of My Life in China’s Death Camp
.
THE NORBULINGKA
1
“I told them”: Interview with Soepa.
2
“I felt that once”: Ibid.
3
“The situation seemed delicate”: Ibid.
4
“You don’t have to ask”: Shan Chao,
Peking Review
, vol. 18, May 5, 1959.
5
“I wasn’t afraid”: Interview with Lobsang Choenyi.
6
“A thick bunch”: interview with Lobsang Yonten.
7
“Staying inside”: Khetsun, p. 35.
8
“We lay there”: Interview with Lobsang Yonten.
9
“Unless the Tibetans surrender”: Quoted in Yonten, p. 26.
10
“I was extremely worried”: Ibid., p. 25.
11
There was one man: Soepa, p. 32.
12
“The hill was very steep”: Quoted in Strong,
When Serfs Stood Up
, p. 74.
13
“You must stay”: Narkyid’s story is drawn from an interview with the author.
14
“No account”: The statement is contained in Hutheesing, unpaginated.
15
“I really can’t begin”: Ugyen’s story is contained in Patrick French’s
Tibet, Tibet
, pp. 177–85.
OPIM
1
“He told me”: Ratuk Ngawang’s story is drawn from an interview with the author.
2
“Don’t play”: Quoted in Goodman, p. 309.
3
“like running”: John Greaney’s account is drawn from an interview with the author.
4
“He particulalry wanted to see”: French, p. 253.
5
“You could see”: Athar’s unpublished memoir, unpaginated.
“GODLESS REDS VS. A LIVING GOD”
1
As the Dalai Lama: Patterson’s account is drawn from his memoir
Patterson of Tibet
and an e-mail interview with the author.
2
“sword-swinging priests”: New York
Daily News
, March 22, 1956.
3
“According to knowledgeable Tibetan sources”:
Daily Telegraph
, April 15, 1959.
4
“I forgot my soup”: Norbu’s story is drawn from his memoir
Tibet Is My Country
, beginning on p. 259.
5
“An Inspiring Message”: New York
Herald Tribune Magazine
, Late City Edition, March 22, 1959.
6
Outside the United Nations: The account of the Kalmuks is drawn from an article in the New York
Herald Tribune
, March 28, 1959.
7
“unspeakable brutalizing”: Quoted in Hutheesing, unpaginated.
8
“These rebels”: Ibid.
9
“The spirit of these reactionaries”: Ibid.
10
“I was whisked”: Barber’s account is drawn from his two books on Tibet,
The Flight of the Dalai Lama
and
From the Land of Lost Content
.
11
“Very considerate of them”: Barber,
The Flight of
, p. 102.
12
“It was one of the most wretched journeys”: Ibid.
13
“unrest in the city”: Barber,
From the Land
, p. 151.
14
“My worst fears”: Dalai Lama,
Freedom
, p. 141.
15
“The Chinese would have considered”: Quoted in Craig, p. 219.
16
“Why did the Chinese”: Dalai Lama,
My Land
, p. 207.
THE JOKHANG
1
“The Chinese were always ready”: Narkyid’s account of his escape is drawn from an interview with the author.
2
At the summer palace: Soepa’s account of the battle for the Norbulingka is drawn from his memoir
20 Years in China’s Death Camps
and an interview with the author.
3
“When the rebel bandits”: Shan Chao,
Peking Review
, vol. 18, May 5, 1959.
4
“At dawn”: Gyatso, p. 52.
5
One group of Sera monks: This account is drawn from an interview with Lobsang Norbu.
6
“Once three or four bullets”: Interview with Narkyid.
7
Another young monk:
La Fuite du Dalaï Lama
.
8
“In order to encourage”: Interview with Lobsang Yonten.
9
“I was hit”: Interview with Pusang.
10
“I felt fulfilled”: Interview with Lobsang Norbu.
11
“We had to leave her”: Interview with Lobsang Yonten.
12
“As we passed”: Yonten, p. 29.
13
“I remember”: Quoted in Chhaya, p. 116.
14
“He performed a miracle”: Interview with Lobsang Khunchok.
15
“broken beyond repair”: Norbu,
Red Star
, p. 155.
LHUNTSE DZONG
1
“It is better to be”: Quoted in Goodman, p. 310.
2
“I began”: Dalai Lama,
Freedom
, p. 141.
3
The crimes of the upper-strata: From the compendium
Concerning the Question of Tibet
. Peking: Foreign Language Press, 1959.
4
“We have deep affection”: Quoted in Barber,
From the Land
, p. 193.
5
“Through various intercepts”: Quoted in Dunham, p. 301.
6
“It wouldn’t have taken”: Interview with John Greaney.
7
“We were told that we had to block”: Tibet Oral History Project, testimony of Tashi (alias), interview #11.
8
“Eisenhower was delighted”: Interview with Ken Knaus.
9
“So I got there”: Interview with John Greaney.
10
“We were paupers”: Interview with Tendzin Choegyal.
11
“We had difficulties”: Dalai Lama, interview, CNN, April 2, 2009.
12
“biplane, flying low”: Levenson,
Tenzin Gyatso
, p. 4.
13
“If it was Chinese”: Dalai Lama,
Freedom
, p. 142.
14
“Be quiet”:
La Fuite du Dalaï Lama
.
15
“The ancient city”: Quoted in Barber,
From the Land
, p. 213.
IN TIBETAN PRISONS
1
One pregnant Tibetan: Interview with Choekyi Namseling.
2
“We used to get so scared”: Ibid.
3
“We were kept in a small cell”: Interview with Lobsang Choenyi.
4
In one Tibetan army division: Interview with Pusang.
5
“The whole city”: Ibid.
6
“When the bullet”: Interview with Lobsang Norbu.
7
Some who lived: These accounts of the escape are taken from the interviews of the Tibet Oral History Project.
8
“There is no need”: From the account of Ani Pachen in
Women at War
, ed. Daniela Giosefi. New York: Feminist Press at CUNY, 2nd ed., 2003.
9
“The Chinese were pursuing”: Tibet Oral History Project, testimony of Thupten Chonphel, interview #26.
10
In the stony village: Tibet Oral History Project, testimony of Cho Lhamo, interview #92.
11
In southern Tibet: Tibet Oral History Project, testimony of Norbu Dhondup, interview #6.
12
As Lhasa fell: Soepa’s continuing account is taken from his memoir and an interview with the author.
THE LAST BORDER
1
“There were very few houses”: Interview with Tendzin Choegyal.
2
“in a daze of sickness”: Quoted in Craig, p. 224.
3
“That was a powerful moment”: Quoted in Strober, p. 113.
4
“We didn’t have to pull”: Interview with Tendzin Choegyal.
5
“It was a reality check”: Ibid.
6
“He got experience”: Interview with Narkyid.
7
“You discover a cynical brutality”: Dalai Lama and Carrière, p. 162.
8
“It forced me”: Interview with Tendzin Choegyal.
9
The race for the story: George Patterson’s continuing account is drawn from his memoir
Patterson of Tibet
and an e-mail interview with the author.
10
“briefly, the news capital”:
New Yorker
, December 10, 1960.
11
“Fiction is what they want”: Donald S. Connery, “Waiting for the God King,”
Atlantic
, March 1960, pp. 61–64.
12
“I don’t think he ever covered”: E-mail interview with Jeffrey Blyth.
13
“the people of India”: Quoted in Craig, p. 227.
14
“I was so worried”: Quoted in Hutheesing, unpaginated.
15
“He seemed”: Quoted in Strober, p. 132.
16
“the Tibetans, particularly the Khampas”: Quoted in Roberts, p. 61.
17
“You can’t have”: Quoted in Shakya, p. 153.
18
“even if”: Ibid., p. 155.
19
“The events in Tibet”: From “Memorandum of Conversation of N.S. Khrushchev and Mao Zedong.” The Cold War International History Project, Virtual Archive, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
MEETING A POET
1
“I have heard”: from Patterson,
Patterson of Tibet
, epigraph.
2
“they were a far worthier”: Patterson,
Requiem for Tibet
, p. 191.
3
“suicidally down”: Ibid., p. 202.
4
“We were overjoyed”: Interview with John Greaney.
5
“They were incredibly disappointed”: Interview with Ken Knaus.
6
“Peace, peace”: Quoted in French, p. 253.
7
“I have no regret”: Interview with Lobsang Norbu.
8
“I suffered”: Interview with Lobsang Yonten.
9
“On the way to the toilet”: Yonten, p. 41.
10
After his capture: Soepa’s story is drawn from his memoir and an interview with the author.
11
A military doctor: Interview with Pusang.
12
The Tibet scholar: French, p. 282.
13
“I went on”: Dalai Lama,
Freedom
, p. 147.
14
The most revealing look: Dom Moraes, “Curious Conversation with the Dalai Lama,”
Harper’s
, July 1960, pp. 65–68.
15
“Given the significance”: The Dalai Lama’s speech to the Second Gulag Conference, December 6, 2000, Dharamsala, India.
16
“Nowadays, when I”: Interview with Lobsang Norbu.
17
“He said that the Chinese”: Interview with Topgay.
18
“There is a Tibetan saying”: Q&A with Dalai Lama, Boston, May 2, 2009.
19
“A few days ago”: Interview, BBC China, February 4, 2003.
20
“The refugee status”: Q&A with Dalai Lama, Boston, May 2, 2009.
21
“Brute force”: Dalai Lama,
In My Own Words
, p. 174.
22
“His exile was huge”: Interview with Paul Hopkins.
23
“It had been”: Tibet Oral History Project, testimony of Norbu Dhondup, interview #6.
24
“When, at some point”: Dalai Lama,
Essential Writings
, p. 76.
BONFIRES
1
“Even the high-ranking”: Interview with Gray Tuttle.
2
Sharma: Author’s note: “Sharma” is a pseudonym.
3
“You have to pretend”: Interview with Robert Barnett,
Foreign Policy
, April 3, 2008.
4
“We are helping”: Quoted in Laird, p. 350.
5
Many others, perhaps hundreds: Jane Macarthey, “Tibetan Monasteries Empty as China Jails Monks to Silence Olympic Protests,”
The Times
(UK), July 7, 2008.
6
The Chinese had drained: Ibid.
For advice and access to key materials, thanks to Lisa Cathey of the “CIA in Tibet” project; Marie Louville; Marcella Adamski of the Tibet Oral History Project; the Dalai Lama’s Private Office in Dharamsala; and the staff of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. Doma Norbu kindly allowed me to quote from the unpublished memoir of her father, Athar Norbu. Rebecca and Ronny Novick of
thetibetconnection.org
were unfailingly generous and helpful in my visit to Dharamsala. My tranlators Cosme J. Navarro, Phurbu Thinley, and the invaluable Chempa helped me understand the stories of the Tibetans I interviewed. My editors at Crown, Julian Pavia and Rick Horgan, honed the manuscript to a fine edge. My agent, Scott Waxman, spotted the potential in the story at the very beginning. And Jim and Mary Beth Talty provided encouragement, laughter, and nutritious meals when sorely needed.