Hostage of Beijing: The Abduction of the Panchen Lama

Hostage of Beijing by Giles Van Grasdorff, is the account of the abduction by the Chinese Communist ocupiers of Tibet, in 1995, of the six year old Gendung Chokyi Nyima, 'the 11th incarnation of the Panchen Lama', along with his family, and his missing whereabouts to this day. Shamelessly the Communists have kept the child a prisoner, as part of their decades long destruction of the Tibetan nation, culture and religion. The book traces the narrative of Tibetan history through the 20th century. The British invasion of Tibet, by Colonel Younghusband in 1904. After the Tibetans drove the Chinese forces out of their country, relations the Kumonintang Nationalist government, to Tibet is analysed. Kuomintang China meddled in the sovereign Tibet's affairs, but refrained from using millitary force to bring Tibet under their control. In 1949 the communist seized power in China in 1950, Red China brutally invaded tibet Tibet, killing thousands of Tibetans, raping, looting, and destroying vilages and monasteries. Mao aimed to completely force Tibet under the sway of Chinese Communism, and bluntly told the Dalai Lama : "Religion is poison". In 1956 the Chinese authorities provoked uprisings in the province of Kham, and then set ablaze the whole of Tibet. After the carnage, the genocide, which reduced the Tibetan population, the Chinese settled thousands of ethnic Han Chinese in Tibet, and began a practise of apartheid, in which the ethnic Chinese were given prefferable treatment. " Not content with 'democratic reforms', the Chinese imposed strict rationing on the peasants, about 30 lb...of food per person per month, though this did not include elderly people, or those unable to work. Before 1959, whether rich or poor, farmers always had enough oil, butter or meat to provide for the needs of all members of the family, both young or old. With the social policies and rationing introduced by China, Tibetans had to be content with tsampa and black tea, all year round, whereas Chinese employees recieved 30 to 35 lb of rice, flour, and 31 to 32 lb of oil per month. Rationing and the need to work longer hours eventually exhausted the population." The Communists decided that 'monks and monasteries' must be totally eliminated, and set about to dimantle thousands of monasteries and murder thousands of monks and nuns. The Tibetans were forced to destroy plants and animals, which they revered. Youth and children were forced into a Communist run campaign to kill thousands of birds, and their families would be severely punished if the quotas were not filled. The population of Tibet was in fact reduced over the decades. forced abortions and the mass infanticide by the Communist authorities of babies, who were exceeded the quota of births allowed, was practised over decades. The standard of living is far lower and infant mortality rate is far higher, among Tibetans than among ethnic Chinese. Finally the author illustrates the cruel abduction of the little Panchen Lama,