New York City – Tibetans and rights groups warn that objects soon to be displayed at the newly opened Rubin Museum of Art are stolen. The exhibit, “Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World,” is on loan to the museum from the Chinese government, which acquired the pieces after illegally occupying Tibet in 1949-50. The groups claim that the exhibit is part of a Chinese government strategy to improve the image of its rule in Tibet.
“The artifacts at the Rubin Museum are the stolen cultural heritage of the Tibetan people,” said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “The minute it agreed to host the exhibit, the Rubin Museum became a partner in the Chinese government’s propaganda campaign on Tibet.” The exhibit includes priceless artifacts, many of them from the Potala Palace, the seat of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government, now in exile in India.
“While the Chinese government is displaying these precious treasures at the Rubin Museum, in Tibet the same government is systematically destroying the very culture that created them,” said Tethong. “China’s policies are reducing Tibetan Buddhist culture to nothing more than a collection of museum pieces.” The Dalai Lama, based in exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, often refers to what is taking place in Tibet as a “cultural genocide.”
According to Kunga Thinley, President of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, “This exhibit is part of a larger Chinese government strategy to make its rule of Tibet appear legitimate in the West.” He points to an internal Chinese government document leaked in April 2001 that sets out this policy, describing the need for greater “external propaganda on Tibet” in order to build “favorable international public opinion” of Chinese rule in Tibet.
“In Tibet, photos of the Dalai Lama are banned and showing any loyalty to him can result in imprisonment and torture,” said Thinley. “This is how China treats Tibetans and our culture when it’s not trying to impress the rest of the world.”
The art exhibition, which opens at the Rubin Museum in New York City Saturday, February 19, will feature such 17th century artifacts as the seal of the Fifth Dalai Lama and a statue of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion, as well as beautiful hand made ‘thankas,’ intricate paintings of various Buddhist deities. Tibetans and their supporters are planning a variety of protest activities throughout the course of the show.
