Women on the Plateau 
cctv.com 08-30-2005 13:49
Tibet was under feudal serfdom before the liberation in the 1950s. It was Tibetan women who shouldered the heaviest labor burdens, but were relegated to the lowest social status. Local government codes of old Tibet stated: "Women have no right to discuss state affairs," and "neither slaves nor women are permitted to involve themselves in military and political matters." They wove brightly colored clothing, but were forced to wear rags. They gave birth to and raised their children, but enjoyed no right to learn, read or write.
Many changes have taken place since 1959. Since then Tibetan women have say over their own futures. Tibetan women have truly exhibited their brilliance in the new era, assuming new professions as teachers, writers, judges, lawyers, tourist guides, officials, singers, dancers, economists and engineers.
Cedain Zhoima is among those who underwent such a dramatic change. She was previously born in a slave family but was later freed and became a famous Tibetan singer.
You know here women form the backbone of the Tibetan nationality. They are the mother, the herdswomen. They work in the arts, then those who look into the future to create new places in this old society.
This is the home of Baigyi. She was once a famous Tibetan dancer. Although she no longer performs, she still misses her glorious past.
Baigyi was born into a family with a long tradition in the dance world, and understandably became fascinated with it as a child. In 1977, she was offered a place to study in the Beijing Dancing Institute. She received rigorous training in Beijing, and graduated with excellent grades.
On graduation, she had the opportunity to work for the China Nationality Song and Dance Group in Beijing, but she insisted on going back to her hometown in Tibet. Since then she has been performing for the Singing and Dancing Group of Tibet. There, she fully showcased her talents in dancing, and won many trophies in many nationwide and local dancing competitions.
Baigyi is showing me the basic steps in Tibet folk dance. This particular dance is actually for the common people. It looks really easy, but actually the steps are so controlled. I am a little out of breath, especially at this altitude. My excuse. It鈥檚 a really beautiful dance, very feminine, very subtle, very much like the women here.
Though no longer performing in front of audiences, Baigyi stayed close to her beloved stage, and has now become a choreographer of the Singing and Dancing Group of Tibet. She is now composing a new set of dance movements in her home.
Recently, Baigyi was appointed as the chief choreographer for the upcoming dance show to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Tibet Autonomous Region. She is now discussing the dancing music with the DJ in the studio.
To help train young Tibetan dancers perform as well as she did, she has now added teacher to her repertoire, to pass on to students all that she has learnt and invented in her 30 year dance career. She sincerely wants to help Tibetan dance flourish further into the future.
Tibet really changes a lot, especially in regards to women and jobs. Women are taking jobs that were previously predominately for men.
Qiumei is the first woman in Tibet to get a doctoral degree in agricultural science. She is an expert in livestock research and raising. Yak, of course, is her specialty. Many of her research papers have received awards from different academic bodies. She has applied those advanced theories and methodologies that she picked up from the outside to aid in the raising of Yak here in Tibet.
During her doctoral studies at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, Qiumei got the opportunity to travel to the International Potato Center in Peru to prepare for her dissertation. She stayed there for two years, overcame many difficulties, and finally got her doctoral degree in 2002.
Her work is not merely limited to the laboratory. It involves a lot of hard field work.
The forefathers of the Tibetan plateau domesticated the yaks, and in return the yaks have become their only major livestock. The close relationship of yaks to the life of the Tibetan people has raised the importance of Qiumei鈥檚 work.
She even has to measure the yak on her own.
Zholgar is a beneficiary of the reform and opening-up policies. She has become the richest lady in her village as she makes around 60,000 to 70,000 yuan annually out of yak raising and rice planting.
With the money she has earned, she no longer lives in poverty, even building this large and bright home. As a Buddhist, she never forgets her fellow villagers in poverty. using her extra money to help them. She even paid the medical bills of one old man in her village.
The old man is not the only one in her village to receive help from Zholgar. She also once helped a widow here build houses.
Zholgar also pays the living expenses for two of her children who go to high school.
Dezhen is an artist as well as a teacher in a local Tibetan blind school. She teaches her students to appreciate different colors by touching and feeling them. In 1997, Dezhen graduated from the department of fine arts at Tibet University. Since then, she began her creative career, becoming a successful Tibetan artist. Undoubtedly, her success in painting is partly attributed to her works in the blind school.
Dezhen鈥檚 paintings reflect a mixture of the traditional and modern. Because she has integrated them both with such style, she has received many awards in many competitions. Her work is mainly focused on Tibetan women. Recently she has painted many of the local Tibetan women and children in the rural areas.
No matter how impossible I think it is, it is so easy for those children. I am sitting here in a classroom in a courtyard home on a tiny street next to Lhasa鈥檚 biggest avenue. It鈥檚 the home of Tibet鈥檚 Braille without Borders training center for the blind. It was founded 8 years ago by Sabriye Tenberken, a Germen woman who came here with one dream to create a place to train Tibetan blind children some skills necessary for them to become valuable and confident members of the society.
Sabriye was raised in Bonn. When she was only 2, her parents learned that she would lose her sight by age 13. In anticipation of this loss, they took her to museums, traveled extensively and filled her eyes with colors.Her interest in Tibet took hold at Bonn University, where she decided to major in Tibetology. In May 1998, together with her partner, Paul Kronenberg, she started a school in Lhasa with one teacher and six students. The program emphasizes living skills like cooking, hygiene, yet also teaches workplace skills like the use of computers and language, specifically Tibetan, Chinese and English. Training is also offered in careers like massage therapy and music. Most importantly, they give their charges dignity.
Sabriye herself is an incredibly inventive woman having developed the first Tibetan script for the blind. When she studied in Germany, she found Tibetan had not been translated into Braille. She decided to combine the principles of the Braille system with the special features of the Tibetan syllable-based script to develop a Tibetan Braille script.
Her contribution and commitment to the local blind people has paid off, attracting donations from all over the world. This was an occasion where a company donated to Braille without Borders. They were very happy about the donation as this would help in their goal to spread their programs and more importantly their message of self worth, to more places in Tibet.
With Sabriye鈥檚 encouragements, her students are becoming more confident than ever. They are no longer despised but embraced by society. They dare to go out of the school鈥檚 small courtyard to stroll in the zigzagging and crowded Barkhor street and to worship in their holy Jokhang Temple. Their futures are now filled with excitement and promise.
Women in Tibet were not just the caretakers of the past and the tradition. They are more than that. They are the scientists, the artists and teachers. They are the collage of new Tibet.
Editor:Hu Source:CCTV.com
