Xizang: After Paris, British Museum kowtows to China
By Tenzin Chokyi
DHARAMSHALA, 24 Dec: The British museum in London has been subject to growing criticism from Tibetan activists and rights groups after their repeated appeals to the museum to reinstate the name Tibet instead of the term “Xizang ” in its ‘Silk Route’ exhibition fell on deaf ears.
The British Museum became the second Western museum to employ the term “Xizang Autonomous Region” in labels and catalogue materials describing Tibetan artefacts after Quai Branly Museum which had to reinstate the name Tibet, following protests from Tibetan rights groups and activists in France in September.
Tibetan community leaders and human rights advocates who have been demanding the removal of the term from all exhibition materials since September 2024 assert that it undermines Tibet’s historical and cultural identity.
In the first collective Appeal sent to the museum’s Director, Dr Nicholas Culliam OBE, by the Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities(GATPM) and the Tibetan community in Britain, the group stated “this terminology legitimises the Chinese government’s claim over Tibet and diminish its historical sovereignty and cultural distinctiveness”.
The museum in its response has defended its usage of the term, claiming “ it reflects the contemporary region”. Tibetan advocates likewise have rejected the explanation, arguing the museum’s pernicious “ignorance of the political implication of adopting terminology aligned with the Chinese Communist party”.
Tsering Passang, founder and chairman of the GATPM said “The British Museum’s adoption of ‘Xizang Autonomous Region’ is not only inaccurate but deeply offensive to Tibetans. It mirrors the Chinese communist party’s effort to erase Tibet from the Global map, rewrite its history, and suppress the Tibetan people’s peaceful culture”.
The Tibetan groups after the inadequate response from the British Museum, wrote a second appeal letter on 18th November calling for “immediate action to eliminate all references to “Xizang Autonomous Region” and use Tibet exclusively in exhibition. The group also demanded a formal apology from the museum to the Tibetan community. It further demanded “consultation with Tibetan scholars and community representatives to ensure the accurate and respectful representation of Tibetan culture and history in future exhibitions”.
In another letter sent to the Museum on 25th November 2024, the group argued that “Tibet’s distinctiveness is not merely a relic of the past but an enduring identity under severe threat of systemic erasure of their culture and autonomy”. It has called on the museums to take ethical leadership in presenting history and heritage with honesty and respect.
There are no reports of responses from the British museums while Mrs Yannick Lintz, the president of the Guimet Museum in France has shown reluctance in advancing the situation and “remains firmly entrenched in her position, stating she is not acting under any pressure from a foreign country” stated in the press release by SFT France after its 13th protest against the museum.”
Tibetans in Tibet and Tibetan communities in exile as a mass of refugees and marginalised entities are facing the wrath of colonialism at its peak. China’s emergence as a major power in global politics in the last few decades has meant greater assertiveness in its colonial rule over Tibet.
The growing complicity to Xi’s autocratic regime amongst the Western institutions is a clear indication of the said development. The museums in question are said to have major cultural and economic ties with China.
The British Museum, according to a report by Tibet Policy Institute (published succinctly after the “name change” in the two French museums) granted ALfilo Brands (an online licensing platform owned by Alibaba) exclusive rights to sell their licensed products in China, generating nearly $30 million. The report argued that these ties are “particularly serious as most Chinese corporations and cultural organisations have ties to the CCP”.
Alibaba for instance is partnering with the Ningsuan Technology Group to build the largest cloud data centre in Tibet as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. This, the report states, will facilitate the mass surveillance of Tibetans as well as Chinese citizens. It has also designed face detection technology to recognise Uyghurs for the Chinese state.
The report further stated that the developments of “name change” in Western institutions are not to be taken as isolated events but intrinsically linked to their growing dependence on China.
