Following my series of Chinese clichés (under Party-speak, art, and music, as well as this party game), the clichés surrounding “exotic, mysterious” Tibet are even more egregious.

The guilty misconceptions are methodically unpacked in

• Françoise Robin (ed.), Clichés tibetains: idées reçues sur le toit du monde (2011).

As she comments in the Introduction, few countries attract such interest while being so misunderstood. Some of the clichés the authors deflate are propounded by the Chinese state, others are Western orientalist misconceptions; neither faction will welcome such corrections.

It’s an ingenious idea, a stimulating, palatable history lesson from a team of accomplished Tibetologists: Robin herself, with Étienne Bock, Isabelle Henrion-Dourcy (whose contributions can be found here), Thomas Kerihuel, Nicolas Tournadre, and Alice Travers.

Source: Makley, The violence of liberation.

First, Robin clarifies a basic point: the very concept of “Tibet”. Apart from “central Tibet” (which became the “Tibetan Autonomous Region” [TAR] under the Chinese in the 1950s), the far more extensive area where ethnic Tibetans live (still within the PRC) also includes the regions of Amdo and Kham. Moreover, Tibetan culture is strong in countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim.

The list of clichés that the contributors refute or refine with digestible essays goes on to include

• “Tibet was isolated from the world until 1959”
• “The regime that preceded the Chinese invasion was a theocracy”
• “The traditional Tibetan regime was a system which oppressed the people and rested on their servitude”
• “Tibet has been part of China for 700 years”
• “The Chinese invasion made a million victims in Tibet”
• “A great number of Tibetans live in exile”
• “Western forces sustained the Tibetan resistance”
• “Tibet couldn’t have gained access to modernity without China”
• “China destroyed all the Tibetan monasteries during the Cultural Revolution”
• “All Tibetans are Buddhist”
• “The Tibetans are non-violent” (cf. The Lhasa ripper)
• “Authentic Tibetan culture is only preserved in exile”
• “All art and culture in Tibet is Buddhist”
• “The Tibetan language is not taught in Tibet”
• “Tibetans are nomads”
• “Tibetans don’t eat meat”

Robbie Barnett unpacks some of these clichés in Lhasa: streets with memories.