A Poisoned Arrow: The Secret Report of the 10th Panchen Lama [Paperback]

Synopsis

The report, known as the 70,000 Character Petition is probably the most

important text in modern Tibetan history.

A confidential report produced by the 10th Panchen Lama offering an extensive internal criticism of Chinese Communist policies and detailing the persecution of Tibetans that followed the 1959 Uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule, and the starvation in Eastern Tibet that resulted from policies implemented as part of Mao's Great Leap Forward at the end of the 1950s.

Review

"The late Panchen Lama's Petition is as relevant today as ever," says TIN's current director, Richard Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer is absolutely correct in his insight into the continuing relevance of this previously suppressed book which is as fasinating politically as it is culturally, historically and spiritually.

Description

In May 1962, the Panchen Lama presented his 70,000 Character Petition to the Chinese government in which he presented compelling reasons for a change in the Tibetan policy of Chairman Mao. Mao is said to have called the Petition "a poisoned arrow shot at the party" and its author a "reactionary feudal overlord." Believed to be the most extensive internal criticism of Chinese Communist policies ever submitted to the leadership, it documents the mass arrests, excessive punishment and executions of Tibetans that followed the 1959 Uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule, and the starvation in Eastern Tibet that resulted from policies implemented as part of Mao's Great Leap Forward at the end of the 1950s. The 70,000 Character Petition remained secret for 34 years, seen only by those in inner Party circles in China.

Two years later The Panchen Lama was arrested after a 1964 speech supporting the exiled Dalai Lama and subjected to a 7-week-long struggle session in Lhasa. Condemned without trial as an enemy of the people, he spent most of the next 14 years in prison or under house arrest in Beijing. He was released in 1978, two years after the death of Mao. In the years that following, he was an outspoken advocate of liberalization laws and policies to ensure the survival of Tibetan culture and religion.

In 1996 a copy of the Petition reached the Tibet Information Network and

TIN's founder-director Robbie Barnett had it translated into English. TIN

published the text in both English and Chinese as "A Poisoned Arrow" in

January 1998.

Prior to the publication of his Petition the 10th Panchen Lama had often

been portrayed as a Chinese puppet, co-operating with the Chinese

authorities rather than going into exile. This "patriotic" image was

encouraged by both Beijing and the government in Lhasa. Less than a year

ago he was described in a speech by a top Tibetan official as "a

long-tested friend" who was "in support of the CCP leadership at every

historical stage from Tibet's revolution, building, to reform and opening

up". His 1962 Petition, together with speeches he made in 1987 and 1989,

give the lie to these claims. He is now seen as having done the best he

could, under very difficult circumstances, to safeguard the interests of

Tibetans.