Tsering Woeser: A Voice From Inside Tibet

Photo Courtesy of Tsering Woeser

Tsering Woeser, the main subject of Sampsonia Way’s new issue, regularly challenges the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in her writing. She has also sued the Chinese government.

Woeser, a half-Chinese / half-Tibetan blogger and poet, reports from inside Tibet. Among other topics, she has written about the arrests and disappearances of monks from the Kirti Monastery in Ngaba, Buddhist holidays that the CCP considers illegal, and the increasing Han-Chinese population in Tibet.

Because the CCP does not allow foreign reporters inside Tibet and distributes press releases containing only the government’s side of the story, Woeser helps to clarify misinformation regarding Tibet and illuminate issues that the government knowingly obfuscates.

In a recent article, for example, Woeser exposed contradictions surrounding the case of a Tibetan monk who set himself on fire in protest during a prayer festival.

Woeser wrote: “Phuntsog’s tragic death was reported by various foreign media … But initial reports referred to the victim as 24-year-old Phuntsog; later on, it was said that he was a 16-year-old teenager suffering from epilepsy. According to Xinhua (China state’s news), the police patrolling in the area promptly extinguished the fire and quickly took Phuntsog to the hospital for immediate medical treatment, yet [also according to Xinhua] ‘despite his heavy wounds, a gang of monks from Kirti Monastery who entertained ulterior motives, forcibly took Phuntsog out of hospital and hid him inside the monastery.’”

Contrary to the CCP’s wishes, Woeser writes to tell the world about the truth of today’s Tibet. Both polemical and informative, she is a dedicated source of material and has dealt with cyber-attacks since launching her blog in 2005. Her work is translated into English on High Peaks Pure Earth.

Read Sampsonia Way‘s profile of Woeser.