WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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[music]

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[music]

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[non-English narration]

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[music]

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[music]

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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My first trip to Tibet

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was over before it had even begun. I
landed in Hong Kong instead of in Lhasa,

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where a revolt against the Chinese
occupiers had just broken out.

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Entering Tibet by any of the
regular routes was now impossible.

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That was in 1989, shortly before
the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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I sat in my hotel room looking for news

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from the Tibetan capital.

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Images of the repressive Chinese response
which was secretly smuggled out of Tibet

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went out around the world.

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[sil.]

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Only a few TV stations

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have shown these pictures. The violent
resistance against the ranks of Chinese troops…

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at the forefront other monks.

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[sil.]

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Within days, it came down to a bitter battle
in the old town of Lhasa, between the rebels

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and the army. These images have
never loosened their grip on me.

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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Over 15 years of past suits a
revolt, many of the demonstrators

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are still in prison.

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[sil.]

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There have been no more mass demonstrations

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in the battle for independence.
In everyday life,

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the Tibetans have come to terms with the Chinese
authorities. Life goes on in its usual way.

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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[music]

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[sil.]

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The Jokhang,

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the main temple in Lhasa was long used by the
Chinese as a military barracks and slaughterhouse.

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Many of the Buddha statues
today are copies.

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The originals have been
destroyed or sold off

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on the international art market.

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[sil.]

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Over the years,

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the Tibetans have battled step by
step to take back their holy places.

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Today, the Jokhang is once again
what it had been for centuries,

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a touchstone of Tibetan identity.

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The Chinese tolerate this deep faith which the
Tibetans live out with more and more assurance,

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but they treated with great suspicion.

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[music]

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In my attempts

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to understand Tibet in all of its
contradictions, I kept coming across one name,

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Gendün Chöphe, a monk from old Tibet,

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a wanderer between worlds.

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His own society,

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mythical in the West, is something
he treated with skepticism.

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Tibet, for many, the model
of a peaceful ideal society

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full of magic and spirituality
is something he considered

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to be in drastic need of reform.

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[music]

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Very few photos of Gendün Chöphe
have remained. Here he is,

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on a research expedition in central Tibet.

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[music]

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Around 1941, traveling in colonial India,

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in Lhasa, together with a friend,

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shortly before his arrest
by the Tibetan government.

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Well, the staff he was producing
in Kalimpong was aimed against

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the Tibetan government. Subversive,
not of the British government,

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but of the Tibetan government.

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His last picture taken immediately
before his tragic death.

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The great thing about him was

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that although he was a traditional person
raised and educated in a traditional menu,

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he rose above it to see the
need for change to see,

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to realize that, but after he came out to India
to see that the world was a bigger place.

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[sil.]

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How closely the life of
this rebellious monk

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was bound to the fate of Tibet is something I discovered
only gradually as I traveled in his footsteps.

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[music]

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Particularly in recent years,

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for many Tibetans, he’s become an
important figure of identification.

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For me, he’s a kind of key to Tibet.

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Gendün Chöphe’s Tibetan texts are slowly
beginning to appear again in public,

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both in this occupied land and
in countries of Tibetan exile.

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One of his remarks about his own country
has been with me from the beginning.

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In Tibet, everything that is old is a
work of Buddha and everything that is new

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is a work of the devil. This is
the sad tradition of our country.

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[sil.]

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Our journey takes us first
to northeastern Tibet,

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to the fringes of the Tibetan
world, the place of his childhood.

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The rugged mountainous area of the Silk
Road inhabited by Muslims Tibetans

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and Chinese, has for centuries
been the site of border battles.

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Today, the region belongs to
the Chinese province, Qinghai.

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[music]

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After a long trip,

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we reach the birthplace of Gendün Chöphe.
(inaudible)

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a small Tibetan village in
the Chinese hinterland.

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Here, he was born in 1903.

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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Earlier, the people here lived as farmers

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and nomads, tending yaks and herds of
sheep and supporting their families

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through modest agriculture. Today,
it is mainly the old people

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and women from the village who take care
of the farming, while the men seek work

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in neighboring Chinese cities.

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[sil.]

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Not long ago, the only language which the schools were
allowed to teach in (inaudible) jipang was Chinese.

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The letters here, are being
written in the sand,

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but they are Tibetan.

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Even in Gendün Chöphel’s time, speaking one’s
own language in this mixed border region,

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was a statement of Tibetan
self-determination.

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Today, under the Chinese government,
it is even more the case.

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[non-English narration]

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Close by the school,

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we come across direct descendants of Gendün
Chöphel. Today, a great nephew lives

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with his family in the house
where (inaudible) was born.

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[sil.]

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At the age of four, Gendün Chöphel gained entered
the neighboring Monastery of Yama Tashi Kyil.

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At that time, it was normal for every
family to send at least one son

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to the monastery.

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Today, after a long break,

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this tradition is being revived, with or without
the approval of the Chinese authorities.

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[non-English narration]

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Even remote monasteries like, Yama Tashi Kyil, was
systematically destroyed by the Chinese occupiers.

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In the eastern border regions, the
devastation began as early as the 1950s,

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shortly after the People’s
Liberation Army marched in.

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The Cultural Revolution
brought all-out catastrophe.

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[non-English narration]

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(inaudible) demanded
that the new be created

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from the rubble of the old.
In the coming years,

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the fanatical Red Guard left no stone
unturned in China and in Tibet,

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even in the most remote mountain valleys.

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[sil.]

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[non-English narration]

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The small monastery Yama Tashi Kyil

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has only recently been
rebuilt by the villagers.

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As in other monasteries in Tibet,

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life has returned to normal.

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[non-English narration]

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[music]

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The growing legend of Gendün Chöphel

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began here, in Yama Tashi Kyil, where stories
about the clever five-year-old novice

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were told and retold with pride.

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[non-English narration]

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[sil.]

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For the boy, the years of
security in Yama Tashi Kyil

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are soon over. In 1920, to
complete his monastic education,

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the young student moves to the big
university at Labrang Monastery.

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Our journey takes us further east,

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through a high line nomadic region.

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[music]

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We repeatedly see little
camps of roadwork brigades,

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migrant laborers from the
poor Chinese provinces.

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[music]

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Gendün Chöphel

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arrives in the monastery city as a 17-year-old. For
him, it is the beginning of a promising career.

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[sil.]

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With over four thousand monks, Labrang was at
that time, the monastery of Eastern Tibet.

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Its reputation attracted monks far
and wide throughout Central Asia.

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[sil.]

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After the long break,

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there are now just under 500 monks here.
Many of the older monks

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have steadfastly held to Buddhism
even in the worst times.

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And for that, they have endured difficult
years, sometimes decades in prison,

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in the re-education camps
of the Chinese gulag.

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[sil.]

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The rebuilding in Labrang
started in the 1980s

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and will continue for some time yet.
The pilgrims have returned.

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[sil.]

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The Chinese government has
made a long-term commitment

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to the quickly growing market in domestic tourism.
They are planning a kind of Buddhist Theme Park

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for city dwellers from the
industrial coastal regions.

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[sil.]

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[non-English narration]

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An important part of Gendün Chöphel’s Buddhist
education in Labrang, his philosophical debate.

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[non-English narration]

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With his provocative style, he quickly makes
a name for himself in this discipline.

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[non-English narration]

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[sil.]

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In the 1920s,

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Labrang was not just a significant
monastery, but also a bustling border town.

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It was a meeting point for traders and
nomads from all points of the compass.

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But this prosperous market town on the Silk Road
in the middle of the Tibetan Chinese borderland

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harbored an explosive mix of peoples.

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Again and again armed conflict
broke out between Muslim warlords,

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Tibetan militia, and
Chinese government troops.

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Gendün Chöphel was a witness to the bloody
struggles for control of the region.

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[music]

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Under Chinese control,
Labrang lost its importance

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as a market in border town. It became a
provincial outpost like many others.

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[sil.]

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What has remained are the
different groups of people.

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For the locals, it is a precarious balance
fueled by suspicion as true now as then.

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When it comes to food, however,
people gather in the Muslim quarters

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where the meat is the
best and the cheapest.

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[sil.]

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On the wall of the kitchen,

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the holy trinity of the Communist Party.

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For many Tibetans, the image of the hated
(inaudible) also has a useful side

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as an effective defense
against dangerous demons.

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[sil.]

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For Gendün Chöphel, barely 20
years old, this is a discovery

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with wide reaching consequences.
His first sight

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of an unknown fascinating world and the
beginning of his curiosity about the other,

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about all things foreign.

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[music]

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In the winter of 1927, Gendün
Chöphel leaves his homeland

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in eastern Tibet. After seven
years, Labrang has become

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too small for him. His new destination is the
famed monastic University of (inaudible)

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in Lhasa.

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[sil.]

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At dawn on the sixth day in the
year of the Dragon in 1927,

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our caravan left Kumbum in a cheerful mood.
There were 200 of us,

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all well-prepared for
the audience before us.

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Soon we entered upon open space,
a mighty stretch of land,

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silent, farce, and expanding.

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Four more days and we
reached the (inaudible)

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salt Lake of Tucker.

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This lake contains such quantities of salt

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that it remains in a crystalline condition
being only lightly covered with the water.

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The salt is carried

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on camels and yaks on to markets in Tibet and China,
and to judge by the number of packed animals employed,

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the salt industry of this place
must be a lucrative one.

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[sil.]

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The huge factory

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on the Tibetan high plateau is no
longer profitable. It’s too far

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from the markets in the big Chinese cities. The
day will soon come when the conveyor belts

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on that (inaudible) soccers
Salt Lake come to a standstill.

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Not far from here are the Chinese Laogai,

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the notorious labor camps where for decades
Tibetan monks too were imprisoned.

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[sil.]

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
Back then,

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Gendün Chöphel’s journey to Lhasa
took several months. Today,

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
if everything goes well,
it’s a matter of two days.

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[music]

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The rest of the journey
went on uneventfully.

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
However, we were glad to reach Lhasa,

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
our destination. And in the month

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of the monkey in 1927, we
entered this far famed city.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:03.000
[sil.]

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On Gendün Chöphel’s arrival in
Lhasa change was in the air.

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In the 1920s, the
forward-thinking 13th Dalai Lama,

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
introduced reforms to the political system and the
army. He wanted to lead the antiquated country

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
out of its closed mindset, smooth the way
into modernity, and secure its independence.

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[music]

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As planned, Gendün Chöphel shows
up in the monastery in Drepung,

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
just a few kilometers
outside of the capital.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:48.000
[sil.]

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Here, the ambitious young
monk from the provinces

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
hopes to pursue his studies
in Buddhist philosophy.

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His expectations are high. Since Drepung

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is known throughout Tibet as
an intellectual stronghold.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
[music]

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
With a community of over 7,000 monks, the monastery
was also a gigantic economic enterprise.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
It owned huge tracts of
land and trading houses

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
and its influence stretched
as far as China and India.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
[music]

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
Drepung was a center of spiritual,
but also of worldly power.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:48.000
[sil.]

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In the monastery kitchen in Drepung
today, only the size of the cooking pots

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
recalls the golden era. But now as
then, the majority of the monks

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are not highly learned scholars or venerable
reincarnation. They are simple laborers and artisans,

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
responsible for the smooth running
of the monasteries operations.

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:23.000
[sil.]

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
Daily life in Drepung

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
is carefully watched by the authorities,

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
that there are informants for the secret
police amongst the monks is an open secret.

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In fact, many of the monks have repeatedly
taken part in the demonstrations

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
against the Chinese occupation.

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[non-English narration]

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
After being banned

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
for decades, Tibet can
once again we practice

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
with the required approval.

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
The students test and
deepen their knowledge

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
of Buddhist philosophy.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
[non-English narration]

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
The initiator who stands poses a tricky
question which the defendant must answer

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
with as much width as possible. The goal is to
corner one’s opponent with such tight arguments

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
that he can no longer find an answer.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:13.000
[non-English narration]

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:53.000
[non-English narration]

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
[music]

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
Buddhists debate

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
which in Tibet is an 800-year-old
tradition was originally an instrument

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
for sharpening the critical understanding,

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
but as the monasteries became more
and more political institutions,

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:28.000
Tibet became an empty ritual.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
[sil.]

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
With increasing further,
Gendün Chöphel protested

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
the dogmatic functioning of the monastery,
inciting the displeasure of his fellow monks.

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
In 1934,

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
after having spent nearly his entire life as a monk,
he turns away from the monastery disappointed.

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
He moves down into Lhasa.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:18.000
[sil.]

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
In the course of the morning, the
Barkhor, old market and pilgrim road

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
begins to fill with people.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:53.000
[music]

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
Here in the heart of Tibetan, Lhasa, few
traces of the original old town remain.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
[sil.]

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
Next to the Tibetan merchants are more and more
Chinese immigrants offering their goods for sale.

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:18.000
[sil.]

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:28.000
[non-English narration]

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
On the Barkhor, which forms a
ring around the Jokhang temple,

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
the pilgrims circle their holy place.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
On special days, like the birthday
of the Dalai Lama or the anniversary

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
of the Tibetan people’s revolt, even
more people than usual walk the circuit.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
[sil.]

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
In the middle of the old town,

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
we find one of the back courtyards on which the
last hundred years seem to have left no trace.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
This is where Gendün Chöphel found his
first lodging outside of a monastery.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
[sil.]

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
At the beginning,

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
he supported himself by painting, a
talent he developed in the monastery.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
The majority of his
pictures did not survive

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
the Chinese occupation and
the Cultural Revolution.

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
[sil.]

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
While today, the traditional themes
are experiencing a renaissance.

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
Seventy years ago, Gendün
Chöphel made a name for himself

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:55.000
as a painter of realistic portraits.

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
One of his few works remaining
from the early period.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
[sil.]

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
Not just in the monastery,

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
but also down in Lhasa, Gendün Chöphel experienced
the world that had come to a standstill.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
After the death of the 13th Dalai
Lama, Lhasa underwent a sea change

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
at the beginning of the 1930s. The reform
and opening-up of the political system,

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
the modernization of the army,
all this remained incomplete.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
After much intrigue, an
internal power struggle,

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
the conservative forces won the day.
Closing to bed off

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
from the outside world brought
stagnation and internal paralysis.

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
Instead of finding its own
way into the 20th century,

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
the country retreated into
time-honored Buddhist rituals.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
It was a victory for the fundamentalists

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:10.000
with disastrous consequences
for the future.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
And therefore, the Tibetans
at that time were in Tibet,

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
the conservatives. For me, you know, a part
of something that was dying of all stagnancy,

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
you know. What people in the
west now find. You know,

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
fascinating and mysterious Tibet, this
and that. For me, it’s stagnant Tibet.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
While the old society is
becoming ever more rigid,

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
the young intellectual makes an important
discovery. In ancient writings

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
and on historical wall murals, he
finds portrayals of the warring past

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
and what had once been the extent of Tibet.

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
Suddenly, he sees the factual and also
the violent history of his country

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
which up until now he had known only
in the form of Buddhist legends.

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
[music]

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
In ancient times, if a certain that
Tibet had a long and detailed history,

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
but later, we neglected the written
facts and we were carried away

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
by fascinating stories such as, million
temples were built in one day.

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
Due to this, our true history was transformed
in the race of light and became a myth.

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:28.000
[sil.]

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
In the same period, he becomes acquainted with
the Indian historian, Rahul Sankrityayan,

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
who immediately fascinates him.

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
In his home country, the Indian is a well-known activist
in the struggle against British colonial power.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
Here in Tibet,

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
he is on a research expedition, seeking Tibetan
copies of original Buddhist manuscripts

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
which no longer existed in India. In
the inaccessible monasteries in Tibet,

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
many of these old copies have survived.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
As a Marxist,

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
Rahul understands his historical research
to be part of his political battle.

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
The study of history as
a key to the present.

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
Her point which Gendün Chöphel himself
is only beginning to discover.

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:38.000
[sil.]

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
For months,

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
the two of them travel through the country. They searched
through monasteries and dark cellars looking for the old texts

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
which Rahul photographs to
take back to his homeland.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
[music]

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
Today, now that it is again
possible to travel freely in Tibet,

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
one meets many pilgrims using the traditional
routes from monastery to monastery.

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:18.000
[music]

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
Gendün Chöphel and Rahul traveled the
same routes almost 70 years earlier.

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
After visiting numerous monasteries,

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
they found themselves on
the road to Sakya in 1938.

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
The famed monastic institution

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
lies on a high plateau 4,500
meters above sea level.

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:53.000
[sil.]

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
Only the monastery’s fortress

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
indicates that centuries ago
Tibet was ruled from Sakya,

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
and that the rulers at the time at the beginning
of Tibetan Buddhism knew how to use military means

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
to establish and defend their new religion.

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:23.000
[non-English narration]

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
In the monastery of Sakya, the two
researchers found a great fund of old texts.

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
Many of the valuable manuscripts

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:50.000
were already then in poor condition.

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
Some of the old texts have been completely
neglected. Once during a dusting session,

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
the monks mixed the pages and
threw them among the trash.

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
Some pilgrims told single pages and
put them in their charm boxes,

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
others even solid them taking it as a source
of blessing. Such deeds are of tremendous harm

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
to our culture.

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
Gendün Chöphel could not know that
the actual destruction of the texts

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
was yet to come. Just 30 years
after his stay in Sakya,

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
the Cultural Revolution spread
like a storm over Tibet.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
[music]

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:38.000
[non-English narration]

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
In only a few places

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
where the Tibetans able to move
the text to safety in time.

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
The correct order of the engravings is still
today being painstakingly reconstructed.

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:08.000
[non-English narration]

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
In Sakya, the research expedition for Rahul

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
comes to an end. He has found
the text which he had soared.

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
Now he wants to return to India once
again to take up his political work.

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
Gendün Chöphel too

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
has had enough of old Tibet. After
the long travels with Rahul,

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
after all the stories about the unknown
land of India, the Tibetans become curious

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
about the world that lies on the
other side of the mountains.

00:48:55.000 --> 00:49:00.000
[music]

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
On our way to India, a
deep sense of sadness

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
often rose in me, although
there was no reason for it.

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
[music]

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
Rahul took great care of me

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
and soon we came across
the Indian Railways.

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
[sil.]

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
It was in the good dog year at age of
32 that I drained water of river Ganges

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
for the first time.

00:49:55.000 --> 00:50:03.000
[music]

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
The first stop in India is Varanasi,

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
the Holy City on the Ganges.
India is the land of extremes.

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
Uninterrupted poetry springs from within

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
as one is fed with a melody
of a hundred sensations.

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
[non-English narration]

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:48.000
[music]

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:58.000
[sil.]

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
A little has changed
here since his arrival.

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
It is as though time has stood still.

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
Now as then, millions of
Hindus come here each year

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
to cleanse themselves in the water.

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:28.000
[music]

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:38.000
[sil.]

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:58.000
The colonial India

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
that Gendün Chöphel encounters in the
late 1930s, is a modern civil society

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
built on the western model. The
big cities have electricity,

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
capitalism has taken root, and the
battle against British colonialism

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
is in full swing. Rahul Sankrityayan,

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
having returned to political life is soon arrested
as an activist in the independence movement

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
and thrown into the notorious
prison in Hazaribagh.

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
[sil.]

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
[music]

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
Gendün Chöphel is not to see his friend
again. From now on, he is on his own.

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:18.000
[sil.]

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
At the start he visits mainly the
ancient Buddhist pilgrimage sites,

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
seeking the comfort of the familiar.

00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
[sil.]

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
It was here under the Bodhi
tree, 2,500 years ago

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
that Buddha achieved enlightening.

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
Today Bodh Gaya attracts Buddhists
from all over the world.

00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:58.000
[sil.]

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
It’s from Bodh Gaya that Gendün Chöphel begins
his travels throughout this foreign land.

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
Just travelling throughout India
in the train and then the noise

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
and the chaos and the confusion and just
seeing the size of the country of India

00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
and the magnitude of its population,
I think this would have really,

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
really impressed him. And especially for
Gendün Chöphel, who was rather frail person.

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:50.000
It took a lot of courage that in him.

00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.999
For a long time, the two Tibetans
traveled together through India.

00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.999
From the Himalayas to the tropical coasts of
Silon from the Muslim Rawalpindi to Calcutta,

00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.999
city of millions. It is an
odyssey lasting for years

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.999
that crisscrosses their huge subcontinent.

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:13.000
[music]

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
There are many different
types of fruit in India,

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
but mangoes are the most delicious. The
tastes like our curd mixed with honey.

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.999
I think that the absence of mango in Tibet

00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.999
is surely a great misfortune for us all.
Huge nuts

00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:39.999
are also growing on trees. One night, I
was nearly killed when a coconut fell

00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:44.999
through the roof of our house.

00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:53.000
[sil.]

00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:38.000
[sil.]

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:44.999
The Indian men wear a four meter long cotton cloth
wrapped around their waist, like our monks at home,

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:49.999
but the two ends are passed below the
legs making it look like a trouser.

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:54.999
This way the legs can
be seen from the back.

00:57:55.000 --> 00:57:59.999
For us, Tibetans, this
looks most unattractive.

00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:04.999
His writings are still personal notes,
but he is also turning to an audience.

00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:09.999
As if he wanted to tell his countrymen in
Tibet, everything that had happened to him.

00:58:10.000 --> 00:58:18.000
[sil.]

00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:38.000
[music]

00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:49.999
Nowhere are the dresses of woman
more beautiful than here in India.

00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:54.999
And the woman with dark eyes, like
the eyes of a holy cow is considered

00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:59.999
the most beautiful of them all.

00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:04.999
Along with the travel notes,

00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:09.999
he also drew sketches and watercolors.
Many of the pictures

00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:14.999
he sent back home, where they
have remained lost for decades.

00:59:15.000 --> 00:59:20.000
A few have recently
reappeared in eastern Tibet.

00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:29.999
Due to my strong curiosity,

00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:34.999
I sometimes painted my forehead with
color, making me look like a Hindu.

00:59:35.000 --> 00:59:39.999
Disguised as a Brahmin,

00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:44.999
I could even enter the forbidden temples.
Over the time

00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:49.999
I became growingly confident and I claimed
to be holy man from the Himalayas,

00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:54.999
gaining ever more respect.

00:59:55.000 --> 00:59:59.999
While in India, Gendün Chöphel
gathers his sketches together

01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:05.000
into a handbook for pilgrims, a travel
guide that is still read today.

01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:54.999
In India, he begins to publish
his first newspaper articles,

01:00:55.000 --> 01:00:59.999
like a travel writer from the west, he now
conveys his impressions of the modern world.

01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:04.999
In olden days, even in Europe,

01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:09.999
the world was thought to be flat,
and when some intelligent people

01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:14.999
claimed the opposite, they were exposed to
various difficulties such as, being burnt alive.

01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:19.999
Today, even in Buddhist countries
everybody knows that the world is round.

01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:24.999
However, in Tibet, is
still stubbornly state

01:01:25.000 --> 01:01:29.999
that the world is flat.
Gendün Chöphel’s lifeline

01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:34.999
to his homeland is the Tibet mirror. A
small newspaper published in India,

01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:39.999
but also read in Lhasa by
open-minded nobility in monks.

01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:44.999
Tibet at this time

01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:49.999
still has no newspaper.

01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:54.999
In the Tibetan mirror, he reads about the
rediscovery of the little 14th Dalai Lama

01:01:55.000 --> 01:01:59.999
in eastern Tibet.

01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:08.000
[music]

01:02:15.000 --> 01:02:19.999
Gendün Chöphel

01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:24.999
has now been traveling in India for a
number of years. He has begun to work

01:02:25.000 --> 01:02:29.999
as a translator, written
articles about Tibetan history,

01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:34.999
and finds himself turning to
more and more political themes.

01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:39.999
His next stop is Calcutta,
populated by millions

01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:44.999
and home to colonial
archives and libraries.

01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:49.999
[sil.]

01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:54.999
Gendün Chöphel spends much of his time in
the national library, reading everything

01:02:55.000 --> 01:02:59.999
that comes before him. About
new technological discoveries,

01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:04.999
industrialization, slavery.

01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:09.999
His curiosity centers, however, on
modern history and increasingly

01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:14.999
that of his own country. For
him, history wasn’t just umm…

01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:19.999
something an academic discipline.
It was a kind of exploration

01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:24.999
through anecdotes and
stories into the past.

01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:29.999
In India, he witnesses the growing
rebellion in the country.

01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:34.999
For Gendün Chöphel, this is an experience
that makes a deep impression on him.

01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:39.999
[non-English narration]

01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:44.999
In contrast to Tibet, the Indians have
taken their fate into their own hands.

01:03:45.000 --> 01:03:49.999
The independence movement
can no longer be stopped.

01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:54.999
For I can see that in the midst of death,
life persists. His view of the world

01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:59.999
is becoming more clear headed, the tone of his
writings more impatient, and more radical.

01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:04.999
He criticizes the Indian caste system

01:04:05.000 --> 01:04:09.999
just as sharply as British colonialism.

01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:14.999
Sponsored by kings and ministers, the
colonialists sent out a great army of bandits,

01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:19.999
calling them traders. They
introduced new forms of living,

01:04:20.000 --> 01:04:24.999
but their laws are only good
for the educated and wealthy.

01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:29.999
As for the poor, their small livelihoods

01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:34.999
are sucked like blood from all
their offices. It is in this way

01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:39.999
that the so-called wonders of the world were
built, such as railroads and high buildings.

01:04:40.000 --> 01:04:44.999
I am an astute beggar, who
spent his life listening.

01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:49.999
I know what I’m talking about.

01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:54.999
Along with his historical
work in the libraries,

01:04:55.000 --> 01:04:59.999
the erstwhile monk dives into
the urban jungle of the city.

01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:04.999
In the 1940s, Calcutta is a major
loading point for tea and opium.

01:05:05.000 --> 01:05:09.999
It is the most important
port city in British India.

01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:15.000
[sil.]

01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:28.000
[sil.]

01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:39.999
Today,

01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:44.999
few traces are left of the old Chinatown
where Gendün Chöphel found lodging.

01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:49.999
The once grand Nanking Hotel,

01:05:50.000 --> 01:05:54.999
now stands in a slum in
the middle of Calcutta.

01:05:55.000 --> 01:05:59.999
The bar is still open.

01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:05.000
Yeah. They born there and
(inaudible) lot of money…

01:06:30.000 --> 01:06:38.000
[sil.]

01:07:30.000 --> 01:07:34.999
Toward the end of his time in India
Gendün Chöphel discovers the Kamasutra,

01:07:35.000 --> 01:07:39.999
the Indian book of love, which
he translates into Tibetan.

01:07:40.000 --> 01:07:44.999
In his homeland, this causes a scandal.

01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:49.999
As for me,

01:07:50.000 --> 01:07:54.999
I have little shame. I love women.
Every man has a woman,

01:07:55.000 --> 01:07:59.999
every woman has a man, both in
their mind, desire sexual union.

01:08:00.000 --> 01:08:04.999
What chance is there for clean behavior?
If natural passions are openly banned,

01:08:05.000 --> 01:08:09.999
unnatural passions will grow in secrecy.

01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:14.999
No law of religion, no law of morality

01:08:15.000 --> 01:08:20.000
can suppress the natural
passion of mankind.

01:09:00.000 --> 01:09:04.999
After living for over 10
years in a foreign land,

01:09:05.000 --> 01:09:09.999
always curious apparently without fear.
Gendün Chöphel

01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:14.999
now comes to a turning point.
Having wandered like a beast

01:09:15.000 --> 01:09:19.999
from the land of six mountains, I arrived
in the distant and unknown world of men.

01:09:20.000 --> 01:09:24.999
Even if I have enough
agreeable things such as,

01:09:25.000 --> 01:09:29.999
food, drinks, and possessions,
inside myself I’m not serene.

01:09:30.000 --> 01:09:34.999
Giving it to the fire, I have burned
the root of the hope for greatness.

01:09:35.000 --> 01:09:39.999
I’ve thrown into the ditch of ashes, the
false duty of monastic obligations.

01:09:40.000 --> 01:09:44.999
Behaving like a madman who follows
whatever comes to mind have traveled

01:09:45.000 --> 01:09:49.999
from land to land in complete freedom.

01:09:50.000 --> 01:09:54.999
[sil.]

01:09:55.000 --> 01:09:59.999
Everything that he has seen and
experience in this foreign place,

01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:04.999
his work in the libraries, his publications

01:10:05.000 --> 01:10:09.999
it all comes to nothing in India.
For what matters is Tibet.

01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:14.999
[sil.]

01:10:15.000 --> 01:10:19.999
In the autumn of 1945,

01:10:20.000 --> 01:10:24.999
he sets off north in the direction
of the border with Tibet.

01:10:25.000 --> 01:10:29.999
In his luggage, he carries
great quantities of notes,

01:10:30.000 --> 01:10:34.999
the initial ideas and sketches for
a political history of Tibet.

01:10:35.000 --> 01:10:39.999
[music]

01:10:40.000 --> 01:10:44.999
It is after the Second World War,

01:10:45.000 --> 01:10:49.999
India is on the verge of independence.
The Chinese Civil War

01:10:50.000 --> 01:10:54.999
is edging toward victory for the Communists.
And with the defeat of the British Empire,

01:10:55.000 --> 01:10:59.999
the once isolated Tibet is sliding ever closer
to the turmoil of post-colonial conflict.

01:11:00.000 --> 01:11:04.999
In the middle of all this, is the
Indian border town of Kalimpong.

01:11:05.000 --> 01:11:09.999
[sil.]

01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:14.999
At the time of Gendün Chöphel’s
arrival, this gateway to Tibet

01:11:15.000 --> 01:11:19.999
is a political hotspot. It
is an asylum for refugees,

01:11:20.000 --> 01:11:25.000
political adventurers, and intellectuals.

01:11:30.000 --> 01:11:34.999
[sil.]

01:11:35.000 --> 01:11:39.999
The once vibrant market town today lies
in a dead corner of world history.

01:11:40.000 --> 01:11:44.999
Since the arrival of the Chinese
in Tibet, the border crossing

01:11:45.000 --> 01:11:49.999
has been closed. The trade that
once flourished here has shut down.

01:11:50.000 --> 01:11:54.999
What has remained is a small
Tibetan exile community

01:11:55.000 --> 01:11:59.999
as in so many other parts of the world.

01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:04.999
They fled in 1959 with
the Dalai Lama to India.

01:12:05.000 --> 01:12:09.999
Some have settled here in Kalimpong,
living in the hope that one day

01:12:10.000 --> 01:12:14.999
they will be able to return.

01:12:15.000 --> 01:12:23.000
[sil.]

01:12:30.000 --> 01:12:34.999
Like the letters written in the sand

01:12:35.000 --> 01:12:39.999
at the village school of Gendün Chöphel’s
birthplace, the Tibetan language in exile too

01:12:40.000 --> 01:12:44.999
is a bond to one’s own culture.

01:12:45.000 --> 01:12:49.999
[sil.]

01:12:50.000 --> 01:12:54.999
From the schoolhouse to the Tibetan
border, it’s only a few kilometers,

01:12:55.000 --> 01:12:59.999
and yet, these pupils have never
seen their occupied homeland.

01:13:00.000 --> 01:13:05.000
[sil.]

01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:14.999
[sil.]

01:13:15.000 --> 01:13:19.999
In the streets of Kalimpong, the old
Tibetans play the traditional game of dice.

01:13:20.000 --> 01:13:24.999
Amongst them are also ex-partisans
who fought until the 1970s

01:13:25.000 --> 01:13:29.999
against the Chinese
People’s Liberation Army.

01:13:30.000 --> 01:13:38.000
[sil.]

01:13:40.000 --> 01:13:44.999
On his arrival in Kalimpong,

01:13:45.000 --> 01:13:49.999
Gendün Chöphel heads to the Tibet mirror for which
he has been writing during all those years in India.

01:13:50.000 --> 01:13:54.999
In what was once the printing
house, Gendün Chöphel

01:13:55.000 --> 01:13:59.999
meets the founder and
publisher, Babu Tharchin.

01:14:00.000 --> 01:14:04.999
Led by this committed
missionary, the mirror

01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:09.999
in the 1930s has developed into a forum
for a critical Tibet and intellectuals

01:14:10.000 --> 01:14:14.999
and into a display site for
various visions of a Tibet

01:14:15.000 --> 01:14:19.999
that would be open to the world.

01:14:20.000 --> 01:14:24.999
What you see in that newspaper is touching,

01:14:25.000 --> 01:14:29.999
trying to place all the
Tibetan speaking population,

01:14:30.000 --> 01:14:34.999
the Tibetan world in one place through the newspaper.
So you have any newspaper, news from Kham,

01:14:35.000 --> 01:14:39.999
news from Sikkim, news from, Bhutan,
news from Ladakh, news from Amdo,

01:14:40.000 --> 01:14:44.999
and news from Ü-Tsang. So you have these all
the Tibetans people be presented as one

01:14:45.000 --> 01:14:49.999
in that newspaper. So that is
a very significant in Tibetan

01:14:50.000 --> 01:14:54.999
sort of formation or identities
later that this whole territory

01:14:55.000 --> 01:14:59.999
is one people through this newspaper.
In the mirror circles,

01:15:00.000 --> 01:15:04.999
Gendün Chöphel comes across a group of young
Tibetan rebels and nationalists in 1945.

01:15:05.000 --> 01:15:09.999
[music]

01:15:10.000 --> 01:15:14.999
They too have turned their backs on old Tibet in
disappointment or have been chased out of the country

01:15:15.000 --> 01:15:19.999
when their battle against
the government ran aground.

01:15:20.000 --> 01:15:24.999
In Kalimpong, they established the Tibetan
Revolutionary Party, which aims for nothing less

01:15:25.000 --> 01:15:29.999
than the overthrow of the
antiquated regime in Lhasa.

01:15:30.000 --> 01:15:34.999
The task of designing the party’s
emblem falls to Gendün Chöphel.

01:15:35.000 --> 01:15:39.999
Gendün Chöphel was an ordinary monk

01:15:40.000 --> 01:15:44.999
who came to… to India

01:15:45.000 --> 01:15:49.999
and so that changes that taking
place in the outside world,

01:15:50.000 --> 01:15:54.999
and he reflects on the stagnation of Tibet.
And this is you can see in his writings,

01:15:55.000 --> 01:15:59.999
in his poems that he reflects
on this change and he,

01:16:00.000 --> 01:16:04.999
Tibetan the needs were changed in Tibet. His
motivation for involvement in this political party

01:16:05.000 --> 01:16:09.999
would have been purely sort of intellectual

01:16:10.000 --> 01:16:14.999
and as a social reformer rather than based on a
political quest for power or personal grievances

01:16:15.000 --> 01:16:19.999
against the hostile government.

01:16:20.000 --> 01:16:24.999
The activists of the Tibetan Revolutionary Party
have never really had any political influence,

01:16:25.000 --> 01:16:29.999
in spite of that the group soon came to
the notice of the British secret police.

01:16:30.000 --> 01:16:34.999
A sword and sickle emblem being reason
enough at the beginning of the Cold War

01:16:35.000 --> 01:16:39.999
for sounding a red alert.

01:16:40.000 --> 01:16:44.999
The agents pass their detailed reports
on to the British envoy in Lhasa.

01:16:45.000 --> 01:16:53.000
[music]

01:16:55.000 --> 01:16:59.999
Because they were producing these curious

01:17:00.000 --> 01:17:04.999
broad sheets of, with Haman sickles

01:17:05.000 --> 01:17:09.999
on them and that kind of thing
with childish (inaudible)

01:17:10.000 --> 01:17:14.999
I can’t think why he’s intelligent man,

01:17:15.000 --> 01:17:19.999
why he got drawn into that kind

01:17:20.000 --> 01:17:24.999
of rather pointless propaganda.

01:17:25.000 --> 01:17:29.999
And consequently,

01:17:30.000 --> 01:17:34.999
my duty is representing the
Indian government in Tibet

01:17:35.000 --> 01:17:39.999
to tell them what was going on.

01:17:40.000 --> 01:17:44.999
In the meantime,

01:17:45.000 --> 01:17:49.999
Gendün Chöphel has left Kalimpong.
He is on his way back to Lhasa.

01:17:50.000 --> 01:17:54.999
He knows nothing of the secret British reports
which have led the Tibetan government

01:17:55.000 --> 01:17:59.999
to denounce him as a spy.

01:18:00.000 --> 01:18:04.999
[music]

01:18:05.000 --> 01:18:09.999
In the summer of 1946,

01:18:10.000 --> 01:18:14.999
the prodigal traveler
arrives in the capital.

01:18:15.000 --> 01:18:19.999
[sil.]

01:18:20.000 --> 01:18:24.999
While the past 12 years of left Gendün
Chöphel a changed man in old Lhasa,

01:18:25.000 --> 01:18:29.999
nothing has changed.

01:18:30.000 --> 01:18:34.999
The old governing cleek concerned
above all with tending its own needs

01:18:35.000 --> 01:18:39.999
and privileges is incapable of
reacting either to the changing world

01:18:40.000 --> 01:18:44.999
or to the growing threat from China.

01:18:45.000 --> 01:18:49.999
[sil.]

01:18:50.000 --> 01:18:54.999
In Tibet, religion and politics
are completely mixed up,

01:18:55.000 --> 01:18:59.999
that is the problem. If
you mix sugar and salt,

01:19:00.000 --> 01:19:04.999
can you really eat that?

01:19:05.000 --> 01:19:09.999
In Lhasa, Gendün Chöphel immediately begins
work on drafting history Tibetan history.

01:19:10.000 --> 01:19:14.999
With a nearly prophetic will he
summons up what had once been

01:19:15.000 --> 01:19:19.999
the breadth of influence and cultural
independence of his country?

01:19:20.000 --> 01:19:24.999
One thousand years ago it was believed that no kingdom
in Central Asia was more powerful than Tibet,

01:19:25.000 --> 01:19:29.999
even the great emperor of
China failed to withstand

01:19:30.000 --> 01:19:34.999
the might and the power of the Tibetan
forces. In those days, we reached

01:19:35.000 --> 01:19:40.000
unknown boundaries.

01:20:30.000 --> 01:20:34.999
He is supported in his historical
research by a young scholar,

01:20:35.000 --> 01:20:39.999
but hardly have the two begun their work together before
Gendün Chöphel is arrested by the Tibetan police.

01:20:40.000 --> 01:20:44.999
Well, because he’d been plotting
against his government,

01:20:45.000 --> 01:20:49.999
had been working

01:20:50.000 --> 01:20:54.999
been writing a subversive material and he
must have known that it was being passed

01:20:55.000 --> 01:20:59.999
on to the government. And they
did beat him when he came back.

01:21:00.000 --> 01:21:08.000
They arrested him, they put him in
prison and beat him, didn’t they?

01:21:25.000 --> 01:21:29.999
Directly underneath the Potala,
Gendün Chöphel is thrown into prison.

01:21:30.000 --> 01:21:34.999
His entire collection of textual material

01:21:35.000 --> 01:21:40.000
is confiscated including
his historical writings.

01:22:00.000 --> 01:22:08.000
[music]

01:22:10.000 --> 01:22:14.999
Firedog year,

01:22:15.000 --> 01:22:19.999
30th day of the 11th month. Here in prison,

01:22:20.000 --> 01:22:24.999
I do not have anyone to save me.

01:22:25.000 --> 01:22:29.999
During the interrogations, I told
the ministers that my history book

01:22:30.000 --> 01:22:34.999
is enough evidence that I
hold no malice against Tibet.

01:22:35.000 --> 01:22:39.999
How grave my crime is it will
be decided in the future

01:22:40.000 --> 01:22:48.000
by wiser people.

01:23:05.000 --> 01:23:09.999
While Gendün Chöphel sits in prison

01:23:10.000 --> 01:23:14.999
below the governmental palace, the
political situation for Tibet

01:23:15.000 --> 01:23:19.999
is becoming more pressing.

01:23:20.000 --> 01:23:24.999
In China, the communist troops
have won the Civil War.

01:23:25.000 --> 01:23:29.999
And in 1949, the revolutionary forces

01:23:30.000 --> 01:23:34.999
marched triumphantly into Beijing. Mao proclaims
the liberation of the border regions.

01:23:35.000 --> 01:23:39.999
Tibet still independent at this
time is also to be incorporated

01:23:40.000 --> 01:23:44.999
into the Chinese motherland.

01:23:45.000 --> 01:23:49.999
The 14th Dalai Lama is just 15 years old.

01:23:50.000 --> 01:23:55.000
He has not yet been inducted into office
as the head of the Tibetan State.

01:24:00.000 --> 01:24:04.999
After three years of detention,
Gendün Chöphel is suddenly freed.

01:24:05.000 --> 01:24:10.000
He is now 46 years old.

01:24:30.000 --> 01:24:34.999
A portion of his written materials

01:24:35.000 --> 01:24:39.999
is returned to the prisoner on his release.
Only now is the Tibetan government

01:24:40.000 --> 01:24:44.999
beginning to recognize the significance
of his historical work. It even demands

01:24:45.000 --> 01:24:50.000
that he continued, but
Gendün Chöphel refuses.

01:25:15.000 --> 01:25:20.000
[non-English narration]

01:25:45.000 --> 01:25:53.000
[music]

01:26:00.000 --> 01:26:08.000
[non-English narration]

01:26:15.000 --> 01:26:23.000
In Lhasa,

01:26:50.000 --> 01:26:54.999
the rumors soon begin to make the rounds that while
in India gained, Gendün Chöphel had lost his faith.

01:26:55.000 --> 01:26:59.999
One day a delegation of
high-ranking monks from Drepung

01:27:00.000 --> 01:27:04.999
appear at his lodgings and
engage him in conversation.

01:27:05.000 --> 01:27:10.000
Amongst them is a scholar whom he had years
before easily defeated in debate and humiliated.

01:28:15.000 --> 01:28:23.000
[sil.]

01:28:25.000 --> 01:28:29.999
Then in October 1950,

01:28:30.000 --> 01:28:34.999
comes a long feared invasion by the
People’s Liberation Army. From the east,

01:28:35.000 --> 01:28:39.999
thousands of Mao soldiers pushing to Tibet
to begin their long march to Lhasa.

01:28:40.000 --> 01:28:44.999
For the first time in
Tibetan Chinese history,

01:28:45.000 --> 01:28:49.999
it is not just a matter
of territorial disputes.

01:28:50.000 --> 01:28:54.999
This time, it is an attack on their
culture, their religion, their economy.

01:28:55.000 --> 01:28:59.999
On Tibetan society as a whole,

01:29:00.000 --> 01:29:04.999
in the capital, little can yet be felt
of the terrible events at the border.

01:29:05.000 --> 01:29:09.999
Life goes on in its usual way.

01:29:10.000 --> 01:29:14.999
In the meantime, Gendün Chöphel’s health
has taken a drastic turn for the worse.

01:29:15.000 --> 01:29:20.000
He is now restricted to his room.

01:29:35.000 --> 01:29:39.999
The unstoppable Chinese troops
are advancing on the capital.

01:29:40.000 --> 01:29:44.999
After a few more months, the last
Tibetan garrison east of Lhasa falls.

01:29:45.000 --> 01:29:49.999
[sil.]

01:29:50.000 --> 01:29:54.999
Only in the border regions are
rebels still making a stand.

01:29:55.000 --> 01:29:59.999
Out of these groups arrives at Tibetan guerillas
who will continue to fight the Chinese occupiers

01:30:00.000 --> 01:30:04.999
for years to come,

01:30:05.000 --> 01:30:10.000
but they cannot stop the Chinese troops
from marching into the capital in 1951.

01:30:40.000 --> 01:30:44.999
[music]

01:30:45.000 --> 01:30:49.999
Since the troops arrival 50 years ago,

01:30:50.000 --> 01:30:54.999
more and more Chinese
have settled in Tibet.

01:30:55.000 --> 01:30:59.999
Alongside the soldiers and police, it is mostly
migrants from the poorer provinces who have come.

01:31:00.000 --> 01:31:04.999
Beijing forbids them from moving
to the big Chinese cities

01:31:05.000 --> 01:31:09.999
so they try their luck in Tibet.

01:31:10.000 --> 01:31:14.999
Many have been here now for two generations

01:31:15.000 --> 01:31:19.999
and they consider this occupied
country to be their natural homeland.

01:31:20.000 --> 01:31:28.000
[sil.]

01:32:05.000 --> 01:32:09.999
At time of youth, I have
not taken a beloved bride.

01:32:10.000 --> 01:32:14.999
At old age, I have not
accumulated needed wealth.

01:32:15.000 --> 01:32:19.999
A beggar’s life lived with
just a pen, nearing the end

01:32:20.000 --> 01:32:24.999
sadness fills my mind.

01:32:25.000 --> 01:32:29.999
In 1951,

01:32:30.000 --> 01:32:34.999
shortly after the arrival of the
Chinese troops, Gendün Chöphel died.

01:32:35.000 --> 01:32:39.999
He was 49 years old. He did not
live to see the publication

01:32:40.000 --> 01:32:44.999
of his historical opus.

01:32:45.000 --> 01:32:53.000
[sil.]

01:32:55.000 --> 01:32:59.999
After Gendün Chöphel’s death, his
young collaborator succeeded

01:33:00.000 --> 01:33:04.999
in getting the first edition of
his political history published.

01:33:05.000 --> 01:33:09.999
It was the last of his writings to appear.

01:33:10.000 --> 01:33:14.999
After that, all was quiet for decades.

01:33:15.000 --> 01:33:19.999
[sil.]

01:33:20.000 --> 01:33:24.999
In Tibet, modernity has finally taken root

01:33:25.000 --> 01:33:29.999
under foreign control.

01:33:30.000 --> 01:33:34.999
The Tibetans have not given up

01:33:35.000 --> 01:33:39.999
after all these decades, while in the
west, we will not be swayed from

01:33:40.000 --> 01:33:44.999
our romantic image of Tibet,
a myth which is as far away

01:33:45.000 --> 01:33:49.999
from the reality of Tibet as China’s
visions of political domination.

01:33:50.000 --> 01:33:58.000
[music]

01:34:10.000 --> 01:34:18.000
[sil.]

01:34:20.000 --> 01:34:24.999
More has been destroyed in Tibet
than one can possibly imagine.

01:34:25.000 --> 01:34:29.999
At the same time, much more has survived.

01:34:30.000 --> 01:34:34.999
With the cautious reawakening
of Tibetan culture,

01:34:35.000 --> 01:34:39.999
Gendün Chöphel’s texts are once
again appearing in public.

01:34:40.000 --> 01:34:45.000
Slowly, the rebellious monk is finding the
readers he did not have while he was alive.

01:37:00.000 --> 01:37:05.000
[sil.]