Global Voices » Dechen Pemba

China: Several Tibetan Language Blog Sites Shut Down

Dechen Pemba — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:56:03 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Languages and the Internet.

Against the backdrop of a stream of self-immolations in Tibet in protest against Chinese rule, unrest in eastern Tibet with protestors shot by police and a severely increased military presence, several of the most popular independently-run Tibetan language blog sites hosted in China have gone offline as of today.

The blog section of the website AmdoTibet has been closed (the rest of the site is functioning) and the following notice can be seen:

The notice in Chinese reads: “Due to some of the blog users not publishing in accordance with the goal of this site, the blog has temporarily been shut down, we hope that blog users will have understanding!”

Another very popular blog site Sangdhor.com is also offline, without any explanation. In October 2011, Sangdhor boldly published a poem titled “Mourning” that was about the self-immolations in Tibet. The poem was quickly taken offline. An English translation of the poem was published on High Peaks Pure Earth.

Below are two screenshots of Sangdhor.com, the top screenshot shows Sangdhor in its functioning state and the bottom screenshot was taken earlier today:

Finally the blog site Rangdrol.net is also offline and contains an interesting notice in Tibetan. In October 2011, Rangdrol published a poem titled “The Truth of Flames on the Thorny Path” which carried many references to fire and flames; the poem was taken offline (read the English translation on High Peaks Pure Earth).

Below is a screenshot of Rangdrol taken earlier, the English text “Site off-line” suggests that the administrators have removed the site, and the Tibetan text underneath reads: ”For the sake of life, we are mourning and crying”.

This post is part of our special coverage Languages and the Internet.

Citizen Journalism from Tibet

Dechen Pemba — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 01:20:19 +0000

“The Story Behind the Story” on Radio Free Asia looks at recent video footage that was taken by a Tibetan citizen journalist. The footage, smuggled out of Tibet, appears to have been taken using an iPhone and was received by RFA in QuickTime format. It refutes China's state media pronouncements that the situation in Ngaba, Eastern Tibet, is “normal”.

China, Tibet: The End of TibetCul.com?

Dechen Pemba — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 09:36:07 +0000

After a long period of uncertainty, it looks as though the most popular Chinese-language Tibetan website TibetCul.com [zh] has been taken offline for good. TibetCul suddenly became inaccessible on March 16, 2011 and remains inaccessible at time of writing. Founded in 2003 by two brothers from Amdo, eastern Tibet, Wangchuk Tseten and Tsewang Norbu, TibetCul quickly came to be an online success story.

Screenshot of TibetCul.Com

Primarily a news and blog-hosting site, there were many sections on the site related to Tibetan music, literature, films and travel. There was a BBS forum (bulletin board), a section dedicated to “overseas Tibetans” and the site also offered online shopping. An affiliated site MyBudala.com and its social networking arm called Love.MyBudala.com were recently closed down a few days before the “sensitive” date of March 10.

For all Tibet related news, blogs and cultural activities, TibetCul was an invaluable resource and source of information. Their database of profiles of prominent Tibetans were a thorough and well-organised “who’s who” of Tibet today and included useful information, for example when high profile Tibetan businessman Dorje Tashi was sentenced to life in prison and there was little biographical information online otherwise, the translations site High Peaks Pure Earth translated Dorje Tashi’s profile into English.

TibetCul also hosted a great number of blogs by well-known as well as unknown Tibetans, most of the users were young student types in the urban areas in Tibet and all over the PRC. Famous Tibetan personalities who kept TibetCul blogs were the girl group Ajia, film director Pema Tseden, rock band Namchag, music group from Amdo, Yudrug, poet Adong Paldothar and of course the founder Wangchuk Tseten himself, amongst numerous others.

Occupying a unique space and platform for Tibetans online in the PRC, TibetCul has always had to find a balance between encouraging Tibetan expression whilst toeing the official line. Although materials published by individuals on their TibetCul blogs could sometimes be highly political, TibetCul seldom tolerated all out political discussions and would often delete posts quickly or suspend bloggers accounts.

In 2009, when the sensitive first anniversary of March 10 2008 was approaching, TibetCul went offline on March 5 2009 with a notice on the page saying that blogs and online forums were being closed for ‘maintenance', lasting around a week:

Although it is not possible to ascertain exactly whether the “maintenance” was absolutely necessary at the time or whether the TibetCul administrators were voluntarily taking the site offline, an incident the following year shows just how acutely aware TibetCul were about controlling their content.

After the devastating earthquake that took place in Yushu, eastern Tibet, on May 14, 2010, TibetCul pleaded to Tibetan netizens to keep calm on the blog pages. Given that emotions were riding high about the severe loss of life and questionable relief efforts, it is reasonable to assume that TibetCul administrators were worried about the potentially political nature of postings. The notice started with a paragraph explaining how TibetCul was a cultural bridge:

Particularly the blog pages of TibetCul, which has been appraised as the “spiritual grassland of Tibetan culture”, has tried through the use of Chinese language to build a cultural bridge between Tibetans and Han Chinese and other ethnicities. From the perspective of the people, it has promoted cultural communication and exchange between different nationalities, giving Tibetan culture the opportunity in the new historical era to become healthy, booming and prosperous. The website tried hard to build for our friends from all nationalities a great and wide-open door to a platform on which they can communicate and become friends. I hope that through this platform, everyone has become more understanding, considerate, tolerant, harmonious, diplomatic, and peaceful.

Appearing to want to curb in-fighting and online arguments, in the notice TibetCul acknowledges blocking posts and deleting comments and messages. Additionally, 6 requests were posted by the administrators:

1. Please refrain from posting any entries, comments or messages about politics, political parties or sovereignty.

2. Please refrain from posting any entries, comments or messages that do not abide with the law of the People’s Republic of China.

3. Please refrain from posting any entries, comments or messages obstructing the country’s security, cooperation between ethnic nationalities or harmonious society.

4. Please refrain from posting any entries, comments or messages attacking outstanding traditional Tibetan culture or other ethnic taboos.

5. Please refrain from posting any entries, comments or messages spreading rumours that do not come from a reliable source or news channel.

6. Please refrain from posting any entries, comments or messages containing pornographic, obscene or violent contents or which attack or humiliate individuals and go against the moral standards of our citizens.

Their closing paragraph warns netizens:

Your statements reflect your attitude towards TibetCul. If you want our website to stir up dust, if you want it to attract the attention of the authorities and be closed down, then we shall block and close down your IP address and blog immediately.

Major events in Tibet in 2009 and 2010 go some way to provide an insight into TibetCul’s behaviour as described above. However, despite March traditionally being a sensitive time, apart from the closure of the affiliate sites, there haven’t been any big catalyst events or political online activity that would lead to TibetCul’s closure several days ago.

Unable to post on their own website, TibetCul posted the following on their Sina MicroBlog on March 16, 2011 [post removed]:

On March 16 at 6pm, it was suddenly not possible to visit TibetCul’s page, the website staff and server operators just found out that higher authorities ordered to close the site down, when asking for the specific reason to the authorities, the staff on duty said he had no idea why! Established seven years ago, TibetCul is a civic-mided website dedicated to Tibet and at the same time is actively engaged in friendly exchanges between the Tibetan and Chinese people.

Wangchuk Tseten, writing on his Sina MicroBlog on March 18, 2011 posted the following:

@TibetCul After contacting the server operators, they gave me the following replies: 1. The specific reasons for the higher authorities ordering the closure are confidential 2. After pulling the plug, the server costs will still be incurred unless we withdraw from the server; 3. The same server is also hosting www.cometibet.com (Tibet Travel site) and Tibet Encyclopedia website, to reactivate these two sites it is necessary to re-apply. Please everyone tell us whether this is a reasonable legal request?!

Although Tibetan websites that are taken offline in the month of March are known to sometimes come back to life, the prospects so far for TibetCul do not look good. If TibetCul does not return, it would be an immeasurable loss to Tibetan netizens and significantly decrease the size of the ever diminishing Tibetan cyberspace.

China: Tibetan Writer Shogdung Released on Bail

Dechen Pemba — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 15:02:46 +0000

Woeser reports on her blog that Tibetan writer Tagyal (pen name: Shogdung) has been released from detention on “bail pending trial”. The news comes from the family appointed lawyer Li Fangping. The short blogpost has been translated into English by High Peaks Pure Earth.

Update on Detained Tibetan Writer Shogdung

Dechen Pemba — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 02:41:09 +0000

Professional translator Bruce Humes gives a summary on his blog of a new article on detained Tibetan writer Tragyal (aka Shogdung) who has been held since April 2010 and yet to face trial.

Information Bridging on the Case of Tibetan Environmentalist Karma Samdrup

Dechen Pemba — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:48:47 +0000

Karma Samdrup (r) and his wife Dolkar Tso (l)

The case of well-known Tibetan environmentalist, businessman and philanthropist Karma Samdrup, sentenced to 15 years in prison on June 24, 2010, by a court in Xinjiang, has been highly unusual in that those monitoring the case were able to see events unfolding almost in real time, thanks to the blog and Twitter output of Karma Samdrup's wife, Dolkar Tso, and Karma Samdrup's lawyer, the reknowned Chinese civil rights lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang.

The trial of Karma Samdrup that started on June 22 ended with his heavy sentencing on June 24 on charges of “grave-robbing”, charges that had actually been dropped 12 years earlier by the authorities. Throughout those few days of the trial, Pu Zhiqiang was using Twitter to document the case as it unfolded. The verdict of 15 years was made known to Pu Zhiqiang's followers, over 10.000 of them, just hours after it was announced. Below is a screenshot of Pu Zhiqiang's Tweet announcing the verdict:

At the same time, Karma Samdrup's wife, Dolkar Tso, also present in the courtroom in Xinjiang for the duration of the trial, was also documenting events and writing about her thoughts and feelings on her blog, hosted on the popular Chinese blog portal Sohu.com. Below is a screenshot of one of Dolkar Tso's early blogs:

Screenshot of Dolkar Tso's blog on Sohu.com

Dolkar Tso persistently continued to use Sohu as her blog-hosting site despite her blog being closed down several times. Dolkar Tso's blogging activities were monitored and reported by Tibetan writer, poet and blogger Woeser on her blog. Woeser was often quick to re-post articles from both Dolkar Tso and Pu Zhiqiang's blogs before the posts were removed.

According to Woeser's blogposts, Dolkar Tso opened several blogs one after the other starting on June 2 with http://drolkartso.blog.sohu.com, the day when it was suddenly announced that the date of Karma Samdrup's trial was to be postponed. This blog was shut down after just one day.

The second blog, http://drolkar.blog.sohu.com/ was started on June 21 but was closed down after 5 days, shortly after Karma Samdrup's sentence was announced. The post that Dolkar Tso wrote on her second blog, expressing her worries for her husband titled “Praying” was translated into English by High Peaks Pure Earth and subsequently quoted in an article in TIME magazine:

“The account we heard … exceeded our worst imaginations,” his wife Dolkar Tso wrote in a blog post that was translated by High Peaks Pure Earth, a website that monitors Tibetan source material. “We heard about hundreds of different cruel torture methods, maltreatment around the clock, hitherto unheard of torture instruments and drugs, hard and soft tactics, and even of fellow prisoners being grouped together to extract a confession.”

The third blog http://drolkar3.blog.sohu.com/, started on June 27 was closed down after 6 days on July 3.

The fourth blog http://drolkar4.blog.sohu.com/ was started on July 3, the day that Karma Samdrup's brother, environmentalist Rinchen Samdrup, was sentenced to 5 years in prison in a separate case taking place in Chamdo, Tibet. The blog was closed down after 3 days.

The fifth blog http://drolkar5.blog.sohu.com/ was started on July 6 and appears to still be online at the time of writing, below is a screenshot of the blog:

Screenshot of Dolkar Tso's Fifth Blog

Underneath her photograph on her blog is this passage:

“Regardless of nationality, regardless of geography, seek only mercy and justice. No lies, no flattery, only perseverance and calm. What good comes of deleting this post or this blog?”

Dolkar Tso (l) and Pu Zhiqiang (centre) in Xinjiang

Lawyer Pu Zhiqiang's personal blog survived the duration of the trial and crucially he was even able to photograph and upload all 10 pages of Karma Samdrup's sentencing documents on the evening of the sentencing. The documents were re-posted almost immediately on Woeser's blog.

However, on July 15, the blog was closed down, below is the error message that appears when trying to access http://puzhiqianglawyer.blog.sohu.com/

Since then, Pu Zhiqiang has been blogging on a new blog but still hosted on Sohu: http://lawyerpuzhiqiang.blog.sohu.com/ As he notes in the top bar of the blog, it is his 13th blog. A few days ago, ChinaGeeks reported that lawyer and blogger Liu Xiaoyuan had his Sohu blog closed down on July 12, 2010.

Whilst an unprecedented amount of information was reaching the internet and the wider world throughout this case, what is also demonstrated here is the sheer persistence and determination required by civil society activists in the PRC to be heard using social media, as well as the importance of online networks of support to re-post articles and to spread the word on shuttered blogs that may have moved or reincarnated elsewhere.

Music With A Message - New Music Videos from Tibet

Dechen Pemba — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 13:46:04 +0000

The blog translation project High Peaks Pure Earth has recently focused on “music with a message” by translating the lyrics of Tibetan songs from music videos that have been uploaded onto the internet.

On March 10 this year, the blog presented a hip hop video titled “New Generation” by the popular group known as “Yudrug” in Tibetan (”Green Dragon” in English). Yudrug had first released the video on their blog the previous month. According to High Peaks Pure Earth:

This bold new style of musical expression heard in “New Generation” has been quite controversial in Tibetan cyberspace, with Tibetan bloggers praising Yudrug for their outspoken lyrics, but some also criticising Yudrug for adopting a style that is seen as “too western”. Whatever your musical taste may be, the song is undeniably powerful and energetic with a rousing chorus:

The new generation has a resource called youth
The new generation has a pride called confidence
The new generation has an appearance called playfulness
The new generation has a temptation called freedom

Indeed Yudrug's “New Generation” is a demonstration of an upsurge in online activity by and about Tibetan identity, as described by an earlier blogpost in High Peaks Pure Earth. The music is full of pride and confidence. Here is the video with English subtitles:

“New Generation” by Yudrug (Green Dragon) from HPeaks on Vimeo

Apart from Yudrug, High Peaks Pure Earth also introduced a young Tibetan singer, Tashi Dhondup, to its readers. Tashi Dhondup is from the Amdo area of Tibet and is currently serving 15 months of re-education through labour for “crimes” related to his music. His 2008 CD “Torture Without Trace” sold out in thousands in Tibet. Below are his music videos:

“1958 - 2008″ by Tashi Dhondup from HPeaks on Vimeo.

“Unable To Meet” by Tashi Dhondup from HPeaks on Vimeo.

“For That I Shed My Tears” by Tashi Dhondup from HPeaks on Vimeo.

“Torture Without Trace” by Tashi Dhondup from HPeaks on Vimeo.

“No Regrets” by Tashi Dhondup from HPeaks on Vimeo.

What the Tibetan Language Needs is Space

Dechen Pemba — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:17:39 +0000

A young Tibetan blogger based in the US, who goes by the name of “Jhutok” (one of those untranslatable Tibetan words that describes someone who is nosy and likes to interfere, gossip and busybody all in one), has written a blogpost about written Tibetan, arguing for language reform to written Tibetan to include spaces between the words. She calls it “breathing space”. (Part I, Part II and Part III)

China: Are Tibetan Bloggers Being Silenced?

Dechen Pemba — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:08:20 +0000

Quite alarming to report that all of the most popular Tibetan language blog hosting sites (except one) have been inaccessible for almost three weeks now.

Although it is fairly common practice for Tibetan language blog hosting sites to be taken down (sometimes for “maintenance”) at times deemed sensitive by the authorities (see ‘All Quiet on the Tibetan Blog Front‘), this month holds no particular political significance as far as I can see.

Error Message when trying to access TibetABC

Sites which are still inaccessible today include the most popular ones, www.tibettl.com and www.tibetabc.cn which hosts the blog of popular Tibetan-language writer and blogger, Jamyang Kyi. The last Tibetan language blog hosting site standing is, inexplicably, ChodMe (Butterlamp) http://www.cmbod.cn/index.html

Still going strong: Chodme

There is some speculation on Tibetan blog sites that these closures are related to the arrest of Tibetan writer Tashi (pen name, Therang). For more information about Tashi, see my previous post here on Global Voices.

Intriguingly, the same month that Tibetan language blogs start to close down, the People's Daily launches a Tibetan edition with a web home here: http://tibet.people.com.cn/

Tibetan Edition of People's Daily

In what was already a restrictive environment, the development that independent blog spaces are being curbed and officially controlled Tibetan language sites are springing up, is a worrying one.

Tibetan Language Bloggers Breaking New Ground

Dechen Pemba — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:25:13 +0000

Tibetan bloggers have been breaking the news about the arrest of Tibetan writer Tashi Rabten who writes under the name “Therang”. So far the only news about this arrest has come from Tibetan bloggers, for a translation of one blogpost into English, see this post on High Peaks Pure Earth with many links to Tibetan blogs.

China: Introducing Tibetan writer Jamyang Kyi

Dechen Pemba — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:10:45 +0000

Jamyang Kyi is a Tibetan broadcaster, writer and blogger based in Xining. Her blog is very popular amongst Tibetans. High Peaks Pure Earth has translated third letter to her friend Norzin Wangmo who was imprisoned in the wake of the unrest in Tibet in 2008 from Tibetan to English.