Dharamsala, Feb 18: Tibetans living near the birthplace of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in the Amdo Province of Tibet welcomed Thursday's scheduled meeting between their exiled leader and Barack Obama with a defiant show of fireworks, according to a media report.
The midnight display of fireworks along a valley dotted with Tibetan Buddhist monasteries was a bold and noisy reminder that, in spite of Chinese condemnation of the Dalai Lama, he remains a potent figure in his homeland, Reuters reported Wednesday.
"My heart is filled with joy," said Johkang, showing off an enormous smile, standing at his monastery in Amdo, renamed Qinghai by China after taking control of Tibet.
"It is so important for us that this is happening, that the U.S. has not given in to threats and will meet our leader," added the monk.
Amdo is where the Dalai Lama was born in 1935. He fled into exile from Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, and since then has campaigned for self-rule for Tibetans.
"We do this whenever something big, and good happens," said another monk Losan, standing on a hillside above a monastery where monks were lighting fireworks in the early hours of Thursday.
"He's really going to meet Obama?" interrupted a monk standing next to him, sounding somewhat incredulous.
"I heard it on Voice Of America," Losan told him confidently.
The sound of conch shells being blown echoed around the valley as a group of monks burned an offering of flour and a ceremonial Tibetan scarf on a fire.
Veneration for the Dalai Lama transcends the Buddhist clergy and extends into broader Tibetan society where many resent Chinese rule and the relative wealth of Han Chinese, Reuters reported.
"I'm very excited about who the Dalai Lama is going to meet," said one Tibetan woman, who declined to be identified citing the sensitive nature of the topic. "But I worry about what measures the government could take against us in retaliation."
Word of the Dalai Lama's meeting with Obama has filtered through to Qinghai through Tibetan-language foreign radio broadcasts, monks told Reuters.
Some spoke proudly of the Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize, awarded in 1989.
"That the 1.3 billion Han Chinese have never had one of their number win a Nobel prize and that we have, with just 6 million people, says something powerful," said a monk, Tedan. "Now you understand why we love him so much."
Chinese Communist government forbid pictures of Dalai Lama being displayed in monasteries and homes, but many in Amdo do.
China urged the United States to scrap plans for President Barack Obama to meet the Dalai Lama on Thursday. The White House said that Obama would meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader on February 18, despite China's repeated warnings that such talks would hurt ties.
A large new paramilitary police headquarters is being built outside the county seat, and monks mutter about occasional fines if their public devotion to the Dalai Lama becomes too much, the report said.
The Chinese government accuses the "Dalai clique" of separatism and of stirring up 2008's anti-China unrest that spread across Tibet. Dalai Lama has denied those accusations, saying he seeks meaningful autonomy through peaceful means.
"CCTV is always saying this and that about him and about us Tibetans," said monk Tarkey, referring to China's main state-run television network. "The world will get a better idea about who he is once he meets Obama."
The Tibet Express (Bod-Kyi-Bang-Chen) is legally registered under the Information department and Press of Indian government. It is the first ever independent Tibetan weekly newsletter in our Tibetan society and till date, it is being widely distributed in around twenty different countries.
