THE MONK doused himself in kerosene, then set himself on fire, running 200m down the street outside the Kirti monastery in Aba, in China’s Sichuan province. As he ran he shouted words in Tibetan, phrases the eyewitness, an ethnic Han Chinese, did not understand.
“Many police and armed police ran to him, some soldiers, but they didn’t extinguish the flames. A stallholder brought a bucket of water to put out the fire,” the witness says. “Then he was taken away by police and two days later he was dead.”
These days, riot police patrol the streets near Kirti monastery in Aba town. The incident was part of a wave of self-immolations by Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns protesting against Chinese rule and calling for their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to be allowed to return home. Since March this year, 11 Tibetans have tried to kill themselves by setting themselves on fire, and six have died.
Some riot police carry fire extinguishers in case a monk or nun chooses to make the ultimate sacrifice by burning himself or herself to death.
After the monk’s death, the witness said, Tibetan shops closed in mourning, and the monks in the monastery prayed for him.
The monks who self-immolate are highly respected by Tibetans.
Overlooked by snowcapped peaks, Aba town is 3,200m (10,500ft) above sea level, and Kirti monastery has become the focal point of Tibetan anger at what they see as efforts by China’s ethnic Han majority to swamp Tibetan culture.
Although Sichuan is not part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, it has a sizeable Tibetan population, focused on two prefectures: Aba, which the Tibetans call Ngawa; and Ganzi, or Kardze in Tibetan. Altogether about one million Tibetans live in these areas.
Sichuan province covers 485,000sq km (187,000sq miles) and has a population of 84 million, making it bigger and more populous than Germany. Aba County, which is about the same size as Ireland, is a 9½-hour bus journey from the Sichuan capital, Chengdu.
Outside Kirti monastery itself a large bus for riot police is parked, and there are lots of police in evidence. The main police station is near the monastery. In Aba most people have had no internet access for more than a year, and mobile-phone contact has been mostly cut off, though text messages work. Anyone using a phone to make calls about anything to do with immolations is visited soon afterwards by the police.
Inside the monastery, monks walk around and mingle with pilgrims and those who come to pray, but they are careful about talking to visitors and say the atmosphere is difficult.
“We have a lot to say,” says one monk. “We have had no freedom for eight months, since nine monks burned themselves. Why did they do this? We want freedom. We are forced to say the Communist Party is great, we are not allowed to gather together to pray, and they have eyes and ears everywhere.”
Another Tibetan, not a monk, says: “Why do the monks burn themselves? We want to see the Dalai Lama. We need to meet him. We are old, we don’t have much time left.”
Many others are afraid to answer questions.
The county is home to some of China’s most beautiful places, with alpine scenery, spectacular azure lakes, rolling tablelands and fabulous nature parks such as Jiuzhaigou.
Beijing blames the Dalai Lama for encouraging the monks and nuns in their actions, and it has responded by punishing people who assist those involved in the immolations. A court sentenced Tsering Tenzin to 13 years and Tenchum, who uses only one name, to 10 years for assisting in the death of a colleague, Rigzin Phuntsog (16), who set himself on fire in March.
They were convicted of hiding Phuntsog after he set himself on fire and depriving him of medical attention for 11 hours.
Altogether six monks have been convicted of involvement in the immolations.
Demonstrations calling for greater independence, including an outbreak of rioting in March 2008 which focused on the Tibetan city of Lhasa but spread to many areas where Tibetans live in China, have been brutally suppressed.
Outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Aba was one of the flashpoints in 2008, and overseas Tibetan groups say up to 30 people were shot dead in Aba at the time.
A witness confirmed seeing “several people” shot during a violent demonstration, describing the event as “extremely horrible”.
For Han Chinese the demonstrations were a time of fear, as much of the rioting focused on Han Chinese-owned businesses. Similar demonstrations in Urumqi in Xinjiang province in 2009 led to the deaths of Han Chinese settlers.
Among ethnic Han Chinese, there is incomprehension at how the Tibetans are not grateful for all that Beijing has done to help improve their lot, by bringing progress and development to regions that were feudal and backward for many years.
Tibet’s relationship with Beijing is complex. The Chinese government says Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and accuses the Dalai Lama of being a dangerous separatist who is using immolations for political ends.
For China, Tibet is, was and always will be Chinese, but the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala in northern India claims to represent the Tibetan people and wants more autonomy.
The destiny of the Han Chinese and Tibetans is closely linked. Tibet, strictly speaking, has not been an independent state in a modern sense, and Chinese emperors have been involved in Tibetan affairs for hundreds of years.
It is also difficult to conceive of an independent Tibet as a political entity. The Tibetan area stretches far beyond the area known as the Tibetan Autonomous Region to include chunks of provinces such as Sichuan and Gansu, as well as many other areas across the vast highlands of west China.
These areas have large populations of Han Chinese, the dominant ethnic group in China, as well as people from other ethnic groups, such as Hui Muslims. There is absolutely no way that China would tolerate giving up such a vast swathe of land.
Tibet has been firmly under Beijing’s command since the People’s Liberation Army marched into the region in 1950, and Beijing claims it freed the Tibetan serfs from what was effectively a theocracy until the god-king Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959.
The Dalai Lama says he does not want independence, but more autonomy for Tibetans within China.
While the Chinese government does not believe him when he says this, much of the focus of the Chinese government has been on improving the living standards of Tibetans in the belief that many of the political issues will fall by the wayside if people have enough food in their bellies and money in their pockets.
In a time when China is wrestling with its conscience over the spiritual gap in the country’s ethical code left by years of rampant materialism, there is admiration among the Han Chinese at the Tibetans’ religious beliefs.
“Many Chinese have lost their religion and traditional values. But the Tibetans believe in the next life, so they are not afraid to die. The monks pray for those who burn themselves,” says one local in Aba.
“But the government view is different. The government wants stability. They don’t want trouble. They need to keep the society stable for economic development.”
Locals say the tensions have eased slightly in Aba as there have not been any immolations for several months. The last immolation, and the sixth Tibetan Buddhist to die, was a 35-year-old nun called Palden Choetso, from the Ganden Jangchub Choeling nunnery in Dawu County, which is part of the Ganzi prefecture.
“As her body was burning, Palden Choetso called for the long life of the Dalai Lama, freedom, and for the Dalai Lama to return home,” says Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet, in London.
Another immolation took place in Kathmandu in Nepal, which borders Tibet, where a man wrapped in a Tibetan flag set himself on fire as he shouted “Long live Tibet”.
Self-immolation has been a high-profile act of defiance in many countries – the images of a Buddhist monk setting himself on fire to protest against the Vietnam war in the 1960s remain in the memory – but it is not really a course of action advocated by Tibetan Buddhism, as life is revered.
However, it has had a powerful impact on supporters of the Tibetan independence movement in the area.
One of most senior Tibetan Buddhist leaders, the Karmapa Lama, has called on nuns and monks not to set themselves on fire, praising their bravery but hoping they adopt more constructive ways to further their cause.
The Karmapa Lama fled Tibet in 2000 and lives in exile along with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, and the 25-year-old is often mentioned as a possible successor to the Dalai Lama as religious leader.
“In Buddhist teaching, life is precious. To achieve anything worthwhile we need to preserve our lives,” he said.
“We Tibetans are few in number, so every Tibetan life is of value to the cause of Tibet.”