[Igor Antunov]

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49581000/jpg/_49581477_studentsdemonstratingonthedolmasquareinfrontofrongwomonastery.jpg

At least 1,000 ethnic Tibetan students in China have protested against what they call the erosion of their culture and language, a rights group says.

It follows unconfirmed reports of plans to curb the use of the Tibetan language in classrooms.

The London-based Free Tibet campaign group said the peaceful march took place in Tongren, Qinghai province.

The area is home to many ethnic Tibetans and was the scene of anti-Chinese riots in 2008.

Residents contacted by phone by Reuters said the march through Tongren, also known as Rebkong, was allowed to pass without police interference.

They said the protests took place on Tuesday.
Language erosion

"They (the protesters) went home in the early afternoon after government officials came out and talked with them," one of the residents told Reuters.

Estimates of the total number of participants ranged from 1,000 to 7,000.

The Free Tibet group said there were between 5,000 and 9,000 demonstrators from six schools.

It said they were angered by changes to education policy which would limit the use of Tibetan language in schools.

All textbooks and subjects will be in Mandarin Chinese, except for Tibetan and English language classes.

"The Chinese are enforcing reforms which remind me of the Cultural Revolution," the group quoted one unnamed former Tongren teacher as saying.

"This reform is not only a threat to our mother tongue, but is in direct violation of the Chinese constitution, which is meant to protect our rights.

"The use of Tibetan is being systematically wiped out as part of China's strategy to cement its occupation of Tibet," Free Tibet said.

However local teachers contacted by Reuters news agency said they had not been ordered to do this.

China rules the Tibet Autonomous Region strictly but usually allows more freedom to Tibetan populations elsewhere in China; Tibetan is an official language in Tibet and parts of China such as Qinghai.

The Chinese government says it is bringing development and economic opportunities to areas long subject to official neglect.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11581189

Peaceful protests, just like in the west, allowed and just as futile.

[HoniSoit]

All textbooks and subjects will be in Mandarin Chinese, except for Tibetan and English language classes.

The strategy of wiping out a distinct Tibetan identity through inserting Mandarin Chinese as the dominant language is probably going to work for the Chinese government. Since Tibetans who speak Mandarin Chinese naturally have an advantage in Tibet and elsewhere over those who don't in terms of unemployment opportunities, more Tibetans will probably be attracted by the opening of such opportunities. It is of course legitimate to question whether economic development and opportunity could be effective in buying off Tibetans, as it seems to have been proved wrong by protests in recent years; though it is more likely that it is the insufficient economic benefit brought to Tibetans (as opposed to Han Chinese and other ethnic groups in Tibet) that caused much discontent in Tibet. Furthermore, unlike say in Turkey where the Kurdish language is overtly suppressed I doubt replacing the language of teaching is sufficient to arouse a great deal of antagonism despite this protest.

[Teen Politican]

Politics means buying off. Even in democratic countries politicans will do that.

[voyager01]

@HoniSoit

This is in Qinghai Province where the Tibetans account for only 21% of the population, while Han and Hui(they speak Chinese) account for about 70%. Only two southern prefectures are Tibetan, everything else is mixed(Tibetans, Mongols, Hui, Han, Tu...) and with urbanization Tibetans will definitely lose their unique culture.

If they don't want to speak Chinese they should not complain that they can not find jobs in most urbanized parts of Qinghai or they should move to Tibet.

And China should get rid of Tibet because the territory is completely useless, there is 3 million people on welfare and tens of thousands of useless monks. Beijing is trowing money to develop Tibet while they should use that money to develop poor provinces such as Guizhou where people don't make any problems and are not annoying like Tibetans. The only problem would be that there would be still 2,5 million Tibetans in China, but they could then move to Tibet and worship Dali Lama.

I don't understand why countries want so desperately to keep useless teriotories such as Northern Ireland, Checnya, Dagestan, Tibet, Kashmir or Kosovo.

What does Serbia gain with Kosovo? 2 million more poor Muslims, yet they don't want to let it go.

Of course, territories with productive people or rich in natural resources such as Alaska, Siberia, Catalonia, Taiwan, Northern Italy, Quebec are important for countries and it is perfectly normal that they don't want to let them go.

[Igor Antunov]

Tibet is a huge strategic prize because of it's height. It effectively secures Chinas south western border, and allows china to gaze down on the indian sub-continent. It's a massive military advantage defensively speaking.