From Straits Times (AFP)
TOKYO – JAPAN-BASED supporters of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Monday protested against an exhibition in Tokyo on their Himalayan homeland, in which they say China misrepresents their history.
Dear IAATE members:
I just came back from Japan and I wanted to let you know that the Tibet Exhibit in Tokyo has finally opened at the Ueno Royal Museum.
Continue reading 'A Tibet Exhibit Committee member said “There are no Tibetans exist.”'»
At the private opening today at the Ueno Royal Museum our member and a Tibetan woman interviewed Mr. Tsurumaki who is the rep. of the exhibition committee.
“There is no such a thing as ‘Tibetan person.’ There is a Tibetan tribe (in China,)” he said.
He said it to the Tibetan person who was standing in front of him.
We wonder- when one receives so much money does it make him so vulgar?
Here is the footage of Mr. Tsurumaki that is spreading out so quickly throughout the world:
“Himalayan Controversy”
Newsweek International
March 14 2005 issue By Vibhuti Patel
The New York opening of the Rubin Museum of Art’s new exhibit, “Tibet: Treasures From the Roof of the World,” has ignited a hot political controversy. Tibetan refugees picketed what they claimed was a display of the “stolen heritage of Tibetan people,” while Tibetan organizations set up a Website [http://rubinmuseum.org] denouncing the RMA’s decision to “help” the Chinese in their “cultural offensive” to promote China’s image and tourism to Tibet.
At issue: more than 100 treasures drawn from Tibet’s premier art museums – the Potala Palace, the Norbulingka Summer Palace and the Tibet Museum – all removed and shipped abroad by Chinese authorities, who rule Tibet with an iron hand. “The RMA stepped into the middle of our battle for survival,” says Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet.
Curator Caron Smith insists that “these works are not ’stolen’ in a legal sense- our government recognizes Tibet as part of China.” Still, she adds, “the RMA is not against China but, as a museum for Himalayan art, we clearly support Tibet.” The never-before-exhibited objects -paintings, sculptures, seals – are exquisitely worked.
Most are priceless, stunning antiques from the ninth to early 20th centuries; some are crafted in rare media – ivory, conch, turquoise and coral; others (like textiles woven from “split silk” in which strands are separated to create detailed pictorials) use bygone techniques. But activists insist the pleasure of viewing is tainted by the items’ provenance. “It’s valuable for people to see these works,” says Tibetan scholar Robert Thurman, “but it’s too soon to be working with people who are colonizing Tibet, crushing Tibetans. [RMA founder] Don Rubin liked the beauty of the objects, but it’s like having Hitler send you beautiful objects from a shtetl in Treblinka.”
Panorama theme by Themocracy
