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The Struggle for Modern Tibet: The Autobiography of Tashi Tsering
This captivating autobiography by a Tibetan educator and former political prisoner is full of twists and turns. Born in 1929 in a Tibetan village, Tsering developed a strong dislike of his country's theocratic ruling elite. As a 13-year-old member of the Dalai Lama's personal dance troupe, he was frequently whipped or beaten by teachers for minor infractions. A heterosexual, he escaped by becoming a drombo, or homosexual passive partner and sex-toy, for a well-connected monk. After studying at the University of Washington, he returned to Chinese-occupied Tibet in 1964, convinced that Tibet could become a modernized society based on socialist, egalitarian principles only through cooperation with the Chinese. Denounced as a 'counterrevolutionary' during Mao's Cultural Revolution, he was arrested in 1967 and spent six years in prison or doing forced labor in China. Officially exonerated in 1978, Tsering became a professor of English at Tibet University in Lhasa. He now raises funds to build schools in Tibet's villages, emphasizing Tibetan language and culture.
230 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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About the author
Tashi Tsering
2 books1 followerBorn in 1929 in Tibet. Died December 5, 2014, aged 85.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 28, 2017
An amazing memoir and a unique, complicated document offering an alternative to the aristocratic-Government-in-Exile line of Tibetan historiography and memorialization. The authorial voice constructed by the memoirist and his editors is generous and searching. The story Tsering has to tell is genuinely inspiring and attains a universal dimension even as it is immanent to a highly specific social context. As such I can't imagine anyone to whom this book should not be recommended. Despite a misleadingly-general and academic title, this is a deeply personal confession that will stay with me and give substance and emotional charge to my study of history, which is one of the great services a memoir can perform.
April 1, 2008
tashi is an incredible man with an incredible story. it was an honor to meet him in october of 2005 during a trip to tibet.
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April 9, 2021TLDR: Although compelling, this autobiography is limited by the overly optimistic time period of its publication. Colonial subjugation cannot be overcome through improving human capital, only through gaining political power
* * *
I have a lot of respect for Tashi Tsering and what he has been through, but I found this book to be frustrating and limited severely by the time in which it was written.
The pre-colonization, exile, and Cultural Revolution portions did a very honest and interesting examination of both the author and those situations, but the Reform Era chapters suffer from both the overly optimistic environment of the 80s in the PRC and also from the global narrative framework of that era. Both are understandable but potentially dangerous if taken without understanding their historical context.
After Reform and Opening, there was a genuine hope that minority policy would shift significantly and permanently towards more meaningful autonomy, mirroring the general hopes in the PRC for positive change. These hopes were shown to have significant limitations in 1989, but were still existent in the ongoing negotiation attempts between the Exile Government and the PRC when this book was written. Almost thirty years later it is clear that the optimism of the 80s was more an anomaly than an indication of future progress, even if the current ultranationalist turn in Chinese politics does not last.
The narrative of the book will be one very familiar to US readers on common narratives of the Civil Rights Movement from the 80s onward. The excesses of the old system (Jim Crow, the Cultural Revolution) have been ended by a reformed government (post-65 US, post-79 PRC), so now the once-oppressed minorities must build their human capital through education to save themselves. This narrative is embodied in the story of an exceptional individual who went through real struggles under the old system but has now made something of themself through hard work and determination in the reform era. It says that while government policies may sometimes be misguided and need correction, they generally mean well and are only as much a barrier to minority success as the attitudes and culture of the minorities themselves. Needless to say, this puts the burden for change on the oppressed individual and hides the structures that still bind them. Tashi Tsering, always sharp and honest, does identify ongoing structural barriers to Tibetan success but he ends the book firmly repeating that these can be overcome with hard work and education. This sadly has not been the case in either the US or Tibet.
These ideas fail to understand the China-Tibet relationship as a colonial one. In a colonial relationship, the colony is only permitted the development that is of benefit to the colonizer. Benefits to the colony are dependent on the goodwill of the colonizer, because the colony does not have political power to secure those benefits. Even at its most benevolent, the colony exists to provide resources (material and ideological) to the colonizer. The development is the perpetual excuse for colonization, from the British in India to the Japanese in China, to China in Tibet. If that development actually happens, its benefits go to the colonizer and the small colonial elite. It is impossible for the colonized to 'human capital' their way to equality because the relationship is deliberately constructed to be unequal.
I respect Tashi Tsering a lot and I really enjoyed reading this book. I especially loved his statement about the internal diversity of experiences and views among Tibetans. However, I am very sad that the decades since he wrote have once again proven his optimism about China's role in Tibet to be unfounded. The only cure for political oppression is real political power, something that the PRC is further from granting Tibetans than ever.
* * *
I have a lot of respect for Tashi Tsering and what he has been through, but I found this book to be frustrating and limited severely by the time in which it was written.
The pre-colonization, exile, and Cultural Revolution portions did a very honest and interesting examination of both the author and those situations, but the Reform Era chapters suffer from both the overly optimistic environment of the 80s in the PRC and also from the global narrative framework of that era. Both are understandable but potentially dangerous if taken without understanding their historical context.
After Reform and Opening, there was a genuine hope that minority policy would shift significantly and permanently towards more meaningful autonomy, mirroring the general hopes in the PRC for positive change. These hopes were shown to have significant limitations in 1989, but were still existent in the ongoing negotiation attempts between the Exile Government and the PRC when this book was written. Almost thirty years later it is clear that the optimism of the 80s was more an anomaly than an indication of future progress, even if the current ultranationalist turn in Chinese politics does not last.
The narrative of the book will be one very familiar to US readers on common narratives of the Civil Rights Movement from the 80s onward. The excesses of the old system (Jim Crow, the Cultural Revolution) have been ended by a reformed government (post-65 US, post-79 PRC), so now the once-oppressed minorities must build their human capital through education to save themselves. This narrative is embodied in the story of an exceptional individual who went through real struggles under the old system but has now made something of themself through hard work and determination in the reform era. It says that while government policies may sometimes be misguided and need correction, they generally mean well and are only as much a barrier to minority success as the attitudes and culture of the minorities themselves. Needless to say, this puts the burden for change on the oppressed individual and hides the structures that still bind them. Tashi Tsering, always sharp and honest, does identify ongoing structural barriers to Tibetan success but he ends the book firmly repeating that these can be overcome with hard work and education. This sadly has not been the case in either the US or Tibet.
These ideas fail to understand the China-Tibet relationship as a colonial one. In a colonial relationship, the colony is only permitted the development that is of benefit to the colonizer. Benefits to the colony are dependent on the goodwill of the colonizer, because the colony does not have political power to secure those benefits. Even at its most benevolent, the colony exists to provide resources (material and ideological) to the colonizer. The development is the perpetual excuse for colonization, from the British in India to the Japanese in China, to China in Tibet. If that development actually happens, its benefits go to the colonizer and the small colonial elite. It is impossible for the colonized to 'human capital' their way to equality because the relationship is deliberately constructed to be unequal.
I respect Tashi Tsering a lot and I really enjoyed reading this book. I especially loved his statement about the internal diversity of experiences and views among Tibetans. However, I am very sad that the decades since he wrote have once again proven his optimism about China's role in Tibet to be unfounded. The only cure for political oppression is real political power, something that the PRC is further from granting Tibetans than ever.
December 12, 2019
Riveting, inspiring and informative. This was the book that made the 22-year-old me stay up all night reading, fascinated by the remote and strange culture of Tibet from half a century ago and the breathtaking events that unfolded in the life of this Tibetan man. Eight years later I am still deeply moved by his courage that had caused him to make those nearly inconceivable choices - during one of the most tumultuous era of the Chinese modern history.
November 17, 2016
Compelling and often surprising read that made me hopeful--making local progress one step at a time despite (or sometimes because of) our past pain is the way to make our marks on the world.
May 19, 2020
Tashi Tsering tells his story of a native Tibetan from the rural lands outside Lhasa and how he was chosen to represent his township as one of the Dalai Lama's ceremonial dancers in Lhasa. While he lived in Lhasa, he endured hardships with his host family as he sought an education. Finally, his wish for literacy was granted, but at a price, as he became a lay Lhasan official's lover in return for an education. The story of Tashi's life goes on to talk about his adventures in education at Williams, then UW. Tashi had a close relationship with Gyalo Thondup, the Dalai Lama's brother, helping Gyalo establish the Tibet government-in-exile, but stopping short of participating in clandestine activities. After a couple years in America, Tashi returned to Tibet with the intention of working with the PRC to help modernize Tibet and create an effective education system. However, Tashi picked a bad year to return (1965), because the Cultural Revolution had started. Tashi was labeled a rightist and a counterrevolutionary and spent 18 years in detention. When he was finally released, his passion to help his people propelled him to set up a series of schools while he taught for the state apparatus. Gives a good sense of Tibet's struggles to deal with modernization through the eyes of one man with a vision for his native country.
April 26, 2010
An incredible 1st hand account of pre-China theocratic Tibet, the invasion, Chinese occupation and the cultural revolution's toll on Tibet. Highly, highly recommended. Gives a truly different perspective than expected.
June 16, 2015
Tashi Tsering was a real Tibetan revolutionary with a story worthy of a film adaptation. Upon finishing Goldstein's "Tibetan Revolutionary: The Life and Times of Bapa Phuntsok Wangyal", I've completely hooked on his work irregardless of his obvious pro-China stance on Tibetan issues.
June 10, 2019
Impressed by Tashi's legendary life experience.
April 28, 2023
first read in 2014
October 22, 2024
A captivating and highly informative piece of literature centered on one of the most interesting human stories I have ever read.
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April 20, 2025Fascinating book, perhaps the only source on institutional pederasty from the perspective of the boy (rarely mentioned in English sources on Tibetan Buddhism).
September 10, 2025
Very informative and insightful.
November 3, 2010
This is a great book for anyone who truly wants to understand the situation in Tibet. Of course, this is only one man's perspective, but he has seen a lot of the country and met many important people. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is because the American collaborators who did the majority of the actual writing made it very boring in style.
August 1, 2015
Tashi Tsering's story is one that more people should know about. Instead of remaining a Tibetan in exile, he deliberately choose to return to China so he could help the under-privileged Tibetans living under Chinese tyranny. His survived prison and years of abuse during and after the Cultural Revolution but eventually made it to Tibet and started schools in rural villages. A great story.
September 24, 2012
For anyone interested in another view of Tibet/China relations. Not Tibet idealized, but a remarkably compassionate and realistic sensibility from Tashi Tsering, who embodies the very values of Tibetan culture the world seeks to preserve.
July 15, 2011
It really was amazing from the fist page to the last!
January 20, 2014
Need to revisit this book. Read for a class in college, but forgot nearly everything in it :(
April 6, 2014
recommended
February 9, 2016
201 pages
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews