Section: INTERNATIONAL


   Beijing promised Tibet autonomy when it took control in 1950. But its
  actions since then suggest it's trying to 'civilize' this very different
                                  culture

Dateline: BEIJING

The world seems to be watching every step taken by China's new, hand-picked
rulers in Hong Kong to gauge whether Beijing plans to live up to its
guarantees of freedom and autonomy for the enclave.

But an earlier generation of Chinese communist rulers made eerily similar
promises when Tibet was "peacefully liberated" nearly 50 years ago.

Beijing pledged during its takeover of Tibet in 1950, and again in Hong
Kong earlier this month, that both regions would be largely self-ruled by
local elites, with entrenched customs, social systems, and religious rights
preserved.

The "Tibet Autonomous Region" of China, created after Chinese troops
crossed into the remote Himalayan region in 1950, was initially ruled by a
curious coalition of Communist Party, Army, and Tibetan Buddhist officials.

Mao Zedong and other Chinese leaders said they were committed to protecting
Tibet's unique Buddhist culture while reforming its feudal, serf-based
economy. To back that policy, they chose the teenaged Dalai Lama, the head
of Tibet's Buddhist theocracy, to lead the experiment in joint rule.

Tibet's religious foundations have since been subject to constant attack,
first by Communist troops and now by party controls on monasteries. The
Dalai Lama, who was forced to flee into exile during a 1959 uprising
against Chinese rule, has been branded a secessionist and the Communist
Party is trying to wipe out his influence in Tibet.

Yet few expect Hong Kong to follow in the steps of Tibet's decline. The
meshing of a common Confucian culture, language, and ethnicity is likely to
help smooth Hong Kong's integration with China, say Chinese and American
scholars.

Chinese nationalism is propelling Beijing's peaceful annexation of Hong
Kong. But the same trend is sharpening the cultural fault lines that divide
ethnic Chinese and Tibetans, says Dru Gladney, a China scholar at the
East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Chinese Communist rule in Buddhist Tibet has been marked by an unending
clash of civilizations, says Bhuchang Tsering, a spokesman for the
Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet.

Tibet's religion, language, and traditions were isolated from Chinese
influence for centuries by the world's highest mountains, and Indian
Buddhism rather than Chinese Confucianism helped build the foundations of
Tibetan society.

In the decades following its armed conquest of the region, China tried to
impose Chinese culture in the vast Tibetan plateau "through military
occupation and the destruction of monasteries and monks," Mr. Tsering says.

Yet religion still pervades nearly every aspect of daily life in Tibet.
Every Tibetan makes a pilgrimage, sometimes on hands and knees, to Lhasa,
which means "the place of the gods." The Dalai Lama is considered the
center of Tibet's spiritual universe and decades after his departure is
still fervently revered.

Armed attacks on Tibet have in the last decade been replaced by a much less
visible invasion of Tibet's remaining temples: the silent replacement of
leading monks loyal to the Dalai Lama with pro-Beijing figures, Tsering
adds.

The Chinese leadership is attempting to strengthen its political control by
"destroying Tibet's religion and civilization from within," Tsering says.

He and other Tibetan exiles say that a "peaceful war" over Tibet's cultural
identity and future has replaced the armed conflicts of the past. But the
clash continues to claim casualties.

They cite as an example the recent struggle over the search for the
reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibet's second highest religious leader.
Tibetans believe that high lamas, or monks, like the Dalai and Panchen are
able to choose the timing and place of their rebirth.

Days after the 10th Panchen died in 1989, China's State Council, or
cabinet, said that it would fund a golden shrine to him and helped organize
a search party to track down his new incarnation.

But Chadrel Rinpoche, abbot of the Panchen Lama's Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in
eastern Tibet, faced an impossible dilemma when Communist Party officials
named him to head the search committee.

Centuries-old Tibetan custom dictates that senior monks consult countless
mystical markers on the rebirth, which should then be interpreted by the
Dalai Lama.

But the Dalai Lama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for
publicizing the plight of Tibet's people and culture, has been branded a
traitor and "national splittist" by Beijing for the same actions.

When Mr. Chadrel decided to follow the dictates of his conscience rather
than those of the party, he was tried and sentenced to six years
imprisonment for treason and espionage some months ago.

During the search for the Panchen Lama, "Chadrel secretly communicated with
the Dalai Lama, who has long staged activities abroad aimed at splitting
the country," says Li Guoqing, a senior Beijing-based official on Tibet.
"In plotting to secretly find the Panchen Lama, Chadrel and the Dalai Lama
aimed to usurp the authority of the central committee," he adds.

Eight-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Dalai Lama's choice for the No. 2
spot in Tibetan Buddhism, has been dethroned by China's leaders and
replaced with their own candidate. Instead, Beijing selected Gyaltsen Norbu
as the "chosen" one.

Mr. Li says the dethroned boy, who is being held incommunicado, "has been
placed under government protection to guard against the Dalai Lama sending
teams into China to seek him out."

"Dozens of monks at Tashi Lhunpo who protested the arrest of Chadrel
Rinpoche or the replacement of the Panchen Lama have been detained," says a
Chinese intellectual with high-level government contacts.

"The attacks on Tibet's religion are considered a worse crime than the
military occupation of the region," Tsering says. "Religion is at the heart
of Tibetan culture, and this act is part of China's plan to destroy Tibet's
collective soul."

The Dalai Lama, who says Chinese rule in Tibet is aimed at "cultural
genocide," recently asked that the high degree of autonomy promised to Hong
Kong be implemented in Tibet.

But a Beijing official scoffed at the notion that the same standards be
applied in Hong Kong, a rich economy dominated by ethnic Chinese, and
Tibet, one of the poorest regions in Asia. "The Tibetans' poverty has been
caused by their superstitious religion and primitive culture," he says.
"China wants to help civilize Tibet, and that is its top political goal in
the region."

MAP: CHINA and surrounding area

PHOTO (COLOR): ON OFFICIAL DUTY: Gyaltsen Norbu (in 1996 photo) was chosen
by the Chinese government to be Tibetan Bhuddism's second-highest spiritual
leader, the Panchen Lama. Tibet's Dalai Lama chose another young boy.

PHOTO (COLOR): DALAI LAMA'S CHOICE: Tibetan children in New Delhi hold a
picture of now eight-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima in this 1995 photo. He
is being held against his will in Beijing.

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By Kevin Platt, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
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