肖杰：达赖集团“以影谋独”的新举动分析

People visit the Potala Palace square in Lhasa, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Febuary 11, 2024. /Xinhua

Editor's note: Xiao Jie, a special commentator for CGTN, is the senior fellow of China Tibetology Research Center. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

There is a long history of the Dalai group and international anti-China forces propagating"Xizang independence" narratives via cinema. Many people may still remember the impact on international public opinions made by Kundun and Seven Years in Tibet, two Hollywood movies in the 1990s, based on memoirs of the 14th Dalai Lama and his"private tutor" Heinrich Harrer, a notorious Austrian Nazi. In recent years, in a bid to restore the decreasing worldwide influence of the so-called"Xizang issue" as a result of China's continuous peaceful rise as a global power, the Dalai group once again took up the weapon of Xizang-related movies to enhance the moral image of the Dalai Lama himself and the so-called"exiled Tibetan community," while attacking the Chinese government with completely false accusations.

Two movies aiming at inciting Xizang independence sentiments are reportedly set to be screened during this year's Cannes Film Festival period, though not as part of the festival itself. One of the films is a documentary on the Dalai Lama's teachings on inner peace and inner strength. It seems quite religious and ethical at first glance, but it also includes several videos from the Dalai Lama's early life, portraying him as the ruler of a once peaceful and happy Shangri-La, which is definitely far from the truth.

The other film consists of four stories of"Tibetans in exile" in different countries, sharing different social backgrounds but facing common pains as stateless citizens. Both movies try to hide their political messaging by claiming to offer ethical solutions to complex problems or an anthropologist perspective on a supposedly suffering ethnic group of"exiled Tibetans." However, no matter how hard they try to pretend to be neutral, their political schemes are clear, especially if we look into the Dalai group's behaviors and actions in the past more closely. 

Back in 1957, with arms support from US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a rebellion group named"Four Rivers, Six Ranges" was formed in Xizang, including several high-ranking officials within the then Xizang local government. A full armed rebellion occurred in 1959, with the Dalai Lama, his ruling circle and tens of thousands of Tibetans fleeing to India afterwards. They established a"Tibet Government in Exile"(TGiE) in India in 1960, which they later renamed as"Central Tibetan Administration" (CTA), while Chinese people always referred to it as the Dalai group for short. TGiE, using money and weapons provided by the US government, led the"Four Rivers, Six Ranges" rebellion group to launch guerrilla operations and low-scale attacks towards border areas of Xizang, killing numerous innocent civilians and local officials, most of whom were Xizang's own people.

The military operation led by TGiE stopped in 1974, only due to the termination of US arms and financial support after then US President Richard Nixon visited China and started to change American foreign policy in 1972. The"Four Rivers, Six Ranges" group was eventually crushed by the Nepali army in 1974.

After that, in an effort to regain international attention and support, the Dalai group had to transform its strategy accordingly. The Dalai Lama made his first European visit in 1973 and his American visit in 1979 as a religious leader, and made public speeches at the US Congress in 1987 and the European Parliament in 1988, proposing the"Middle Way Approach" which called for"genuine autonomy" for Xizang. Looking back into history, we may easily find out that the Dalai Lama never spoke about peace and autonomy when he had a military force in hand.

Like the previous movies and documentaries on the Dalai Lama, the recent two films try to depict him as a renowned religious leader, but it's one-sided and short-sighted. Nowadays, lots of people are familiar with peaceful, ethical and holy images of the Dalai Lama, but few media cover the dark history of his"government in exile” launching rebellious activities and brutally killing civilian Xizang people. The Dalai Lama talks about inner peace and strength in public and numerous people are devoted to his teaching. Seriously speaking, this is not down to any personal virtues but is attributed to all his thirteen predecessors who formed the integrity of the title of Dalai Lama by contributing to the unification of Xizang with the rest of China and serving Chinese people of all ethnic groups.

People dance at a park to celebrate the Serfs' Emancipation Day in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, March 28, 2025. /Xinhua

The 14th Dalai Lama himself betrays this very patriotic tradition of the Dalai Lama lineage. The film focuses on the pains of"exiled Tibetans" as stateless citizens, but forgets who created this tragedy. It was the then hierarchical upper class inciting full-scale armed rebellion and led tens of thousands of feudal subjects to flee abroad after the rebellion failed. TGiE deliberately located"exiled Tibetans" in distinct countries, aiming at attracting more international attention, and lots of families were forced to separate during this process. In the 1960s, TGiE, conspiring with some Swiss businessmen, took nearly 200 Xizang children from their parents, and sent them to Switzerland for local adoption, claiming they were orphans when their parents were still alive. Without these political decisions, the pains and suffering of these"exiled Tibetans" would certainly be less.

After watching these two movies, one question emerges. Chiefly, why are there so many Western movies on the Dalai Lama and"exiled Tibetans" while there are so few on current Xizang and ordinary Xizang people? During the past 74 years since peaceful liberation, Xizang has experienced astonishing development and transformation in all its economic, political, cultural, social and ecological aspects. Nowadays, people of all ethnic groups in Xizang enjoy the benefits of Chinese modernization and comprehensive human rights. In contrast to the Hollywood image, this is the real truth. We sincerely hope people of different countries pay more attention to the real landscape of Xizang by listening to the voices of people there rather than the narratives of the Dalai group and their allies in Western media.

（来源：CGTN官方网站，原标题：Glorifying exile, ignoring truth: The Dalai group's movie tactics，作者肖杰系中国藏学研究中心科研办副主任、研究员）