Chinese state-run media has drastically increased the use of the term “Xizang” to substitute “Tibet” in their English articles while referring to the autonomous region in western China. The development comes after Beijing’s cabinet, the State Council released a white paper on Tibet earlier in November, this year.
According to a report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the white paper was titled “CPC Policies on the Governance of Xizang in the New Era: Approach and Achievements.”
In the past, Beijing had released a series of white papers on Tibet to describe developments in the region since Chinese President Xi Jinping assumed power in 2012. However, this was the first time that Beijing’s white paper used “Xizang” as the English translation for the region. Previous white papers on Tibet used the term “Tibet autonomous region.”
Notably, “Xizang” is the pinyin term, or Chinese romanisation, of the Mandarin script for “Tibet”, as reported by SCMP. Pinyin is said to be the official system used in China, Singapore, and several other places.
As per a report in the SCMP, Chinese media is using “Tibet” only in a few scenarios. These include translations of already established geographical terms and names of institutions.
Since the release of the White Paper, Chinese Media has started to ‘drop’ the use of the term ‘Tibet’
The white paper was released on 10th November, and from then onwards till Friday (8th December), Chinese state news agency Xinhua’s English-language website has used “Xizang” in 128 articles. It used “Tibet” only five times, all of which were in reference to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the geographic term covering most of the Tibet autonomous region, the SCMP report added.
In contrast to this pattern, throughout 2023 up till 10th November, search results on Xinhua’s English website yielded more than 700 results with the word “Tibet”. The recurrent use of ‘Tibet’ in earlier reports suggests that the term was used in a variety of scenarios. Those earlier references included political and economic coverage, while “Xizang” appeared only around 30 times.
Similarly, the English website of People’s Daily – CCP’s mouthpiece – used both “Xizang” and “Tibet” before 10th November. Conspicuously, the former term featured only one-fifth time as compared to ‘Tibet’. From November 10th, when Beijing released its White Paper on Tibet, until December 8th, ‘Tibet’ appeared only in one reposted article from another media outlet and in scenarios where English translations were already established, such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Tibet University. Meanwhile, ‘Xizang’ was used more than four times as often as ‘Tibet.
The SCMP report noted that similar was the case with the English-language newspaper of China Daily, another CCP mouthpiece.
As per reports, the linguistic change aligns with Beijing’s broader efforts to reinforce national identity in ethnic minority regions by promoting “standard spoken and written Chinese,” or Mandarin. Additionally, it is in line with Beijing’s plan to foster what Xi has called a “sense of community for the Chinese nation”.
According to experts, the change reflects Beijing’s attempt to emphasise sovereignty over Tibet, however, they believe that its impact on the international community would be limited. Additionally, it is being considered part of Beijing’s efforts to exercise “discourse power”.
Earlier in August, a group of Chinese scholars called for the official use of “Xizang” as the English name for Tibet. They claimed that it would help “reshape” the region’s image.
Furthermore, China’s United Front Work Department deals with non-party individuals and groups inside and outside China. In August, on its WeChat account, the group said
that the term “Tibet” was misleading to the international community because it could be confused with the Dalai Lama’s term “Greater Tibet”, which encompasses areas in provinces neighbouring Tibet, including Sichuan, Yunnan, Qinghai and Gansu.
Subsequently, in October, China’s foreign ministry used “Xizang” as the English translation for Tibet. It made this substitution while publishing a speech by Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a regional forum in Tibet whereas it had previously used “Tibet” in most English readouts.
Notably, in English, many locations in China are denoted by the pinyin of Chinese characters. However, in certain ethnic minority regions, the pronunciation in the minority language or internationally recognized names may also be employed. For example, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region is used instead of the pinyin “Nei Menggu,” and the cities in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Urumqi and Kashgar, are referred to instead of “Wulumuqi” and “Kashi” in pinyin.
The Tibetan government accuses China of exterminating Tibetan identity
On Sunday (10th December), the president of the Tibetan government-in-exile Penpa Tsering accused China of denying the most fundamental human rights to people in Tibet and vigorously carrying out the “extermination of the Tibetan identity”.
He took a strong exception to China’s white paper that refered to Tibet as ‘Xizang’. Marking Human Rights Day, Penpa Tsering, in a statement, said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was “forging a strong sense of the Chinese national as one single community, promoting the Chinese language, the Sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism and developing socialist values”.
He said, “Such infliction of suffering and oppression on the Tibetan people by the CCP authorities is unparalleled and unprecedented.”
Tsering added that there has been a sharp increase in the appointment of Chinese officials in the Tibetan areas.
Tibet has been under the illegal occupation of China for over 60 years and it has refused to negotiate with Tibetan leaders since 2010. They describe Dalai Lamai as a “separatist” seeking independence for Tibet, a claim denied by the Dalai Lama.
