Tsering Woeser

Tsering Woeser (Tibetan: ཚེ་རིང་འོད་ཟེར་, Wylie: tshe-ring 'od-zer, Lhasa dialect: [t͡sʰérìŋ wǿsèː]; Chinese: 唯色; pinyin: Wéisè, Han name Chéng Wénsà 程文萨;[1] born July 21, 1966) is a Tibetan writer, activist, blogger, poet and essayist.[2]

Tsering Woeser
Tsering Woeser on Voice of America's Chinese service
Tsering Woeser on Voice of America's Chinese service
Born(1966-07-21)July 21, 1966
Lhasa
OccupationWriter
LanguageChinese, Tibetan
NationalityChinese
Ethnicity
Tibetan
Alma materSouthwest University for Nationalities
GenreShort story, poetry, essays
Notable worksNotes on Tibet (西藏笔记)
Notable awardsPrince Claus Awards;
International Women of Courage Award
SpouseWang Lixiong

Biography

Woeser, a quarter Han Chinese and three quarters Tibetan, was born in Lhasa. Her grandfather, Chinese, was an officer in the Nationalist Army of the Kuomintang and her father was a high rank Army officer in the People's Liberation Army.[3] When she was very young, her family relocated to the Kham area of western Sichuan province. In 1988, she graduated from Southwest University for Nationalities in Chengdu with a degree in Chinese literature. She worked as a reporter in Garzê and later in Lhasa and has lived in Beijing since 2003 as a result of political problems. Woeser is married to Wang Lixiong, a renowned author who frequently writes about Tibet. According to Reporters Without Borders, "Woeser is one of the few Tibetan authors and poets to write in Chinese."[4] When the government refused to give her a passport, she sued the authorities.[5]

Career

Woeser is the author of the book, Notes on Tibet (西藏笔记; Xīzàng Bǐjì). The Tibet Information Network quotes unnamed sources that the book was banned by the government around September 2003.[6]

According to UNPO, shortly after the alleged ban, Woeser was also fired from her job and lost her status with her work unit.[7] Radio Free Asia reported that she continued to post a variety of poems and articles to her two blogs: Maroon Map (绛红色的地图, oser.tibetcul.net), which, according to the author, was visited primarily by Tibetans and the Woeser blog (blog.daqi.com/weise), which was visited primarily by those of Han ethnicity. According to RFA, on July 28, 2006, both blogs were closed by order of the government, apparently in response to postings in which she expressed birthday greetings to the Dalai Lama and touched on other sensitive topics. Woeser stated that she would continue writing and speaking.[8]

Woeser in her Beijing apartment in 2009 in front of her Tibetan Buddhist altar

During the Tibetan unrest of 2008, Woeser and her husband were put under house arrest after speaking to reporters.[9] In December 2008, Woeser and her husband were among the first of the original 303 signatories to Charter 08,[10][11] now joined by thousands more.[12] Liu Xiaobo, the author of Charter 08, was sentenced for eleven years of prison and awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.[13] In July 2009, Woeser and her husband were one of more than 100 signatories to a petition asking Chinese authorities to release detained ethnic-Uyghur professor of economics Ilham Tohti.[14] When she was awarded the Prince Claus Award in 2011, she was forbidden to receive the prize in the Dutch embassy.[15]

Tsering Woeser defended Tibetan actions in the 1905 Tibetan Rebellion, saying that Zhao Erfeng invaded the region to "brutally stop Tibetan protests", listing atrocities committed by Zhao.[16]

Woeser's writings are regularly translated into English on the website High Peaks Pure Earth. Her "Garpon La's Offerings," translated by Dechen Pemba and Fiona Sze-Lorrain, appeared in The Penguin Book of Modern Tibetan Essays.[17]

Awards

Works
  • 《西藏在上》 [Live Tibet]. Xining: Qinghai People's Press. 1999.; Woeser's First poetry Edition
  • 《西藏笔记》 [Notes on Tibet]. Guangzhou: Huacheng Publishing Press. 2003. ISBN 7-5360-3831-3.. Also published in Taiwan as 《名為西藏的詩》. Taiwan: 大块文化. 2006. ISBN 986-7291-90-5..
  • Ma, Mingbo (马明博); Xiao, Yao (肖瑶), eds. (2004). 绛红色的尼玛次仁. Beijing: China Documents Press. ISBN 7-80166-415-9.
  • 《絳紅色的地圖》. Taiwan: Shiying Publishing Press (時英出版社). 2003. ISBN 986-7762-04-5.; also published by China Tourism Press in 2004, ISBN 7-5032-2247-6.
  • Jin, Zhiguo (金志国), ed. (2004). 八廓街的沧桑. Lhasa: Tibet People's Publishing House. ISBN 7-223-01587-X.
  • 《杀劫》 [Forbidden memory. Tibet during the Cultural Revolution]. Taiwan: 大块文化. 2006. ISBN 986-7291-84-0.
  • Tibet's True Heart. Selected Poems. Dobbs Ferry, NY, 2008 (Ragged Banner Press Excerpts), ISBN 978-0-9816989-0-8. Poems by Woeser (Weise), translated by A. E. Clark, Review 10−10−2008 (highpeakspureearth.com) Review 10−10−2008 Archived 2013-01-10 at the Wayback Machine (savetibet.org)
  • Tibet on Fire: Self-Immolations Against Chinese Rule Verso, London (2016) ISBN 978-1784781538[23]
  • Forbidden Memory Tibet during the Cultural Revolution English edition, published 2020 by University of Nebraska Press, By Tsering Woeser, Photographs by Tsering Dorje, Edited by Robert Barnett, Translated by Susan T. Chen, Foreword by Wang Lixiong.

References
  1. Mai, Yanting 麦燕庭 (March 2, 2012). 藏族女作家唯色领荷兰亲王奖被禁 - 中国. Radio France Internationale.
  2. "Tsering Woeser". PEN America. March 8, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  3. "Tsering Woeser". PEN America. March 8, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  4. "Reporters sans frontières - China". En.rsf.org. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  5. Tibetan writer, a rare outspoken voice against Beijing's policies, sues Chinese government Herald Tribune July 23, 2008 p. 1 (iht.com)
  6. "TAR Authorities Ban Book by Tibetan Author (TIN)". Tibet.ca. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  7. "Tibet: China persecuting Tibetan Writer for Pro-Dalai Lama Opinion". Unpo.org. October 28, 2004. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  8. "Banned, Blocked Tibetan Writer Vows to Speak Out in China". RFA.
  9. "Tibetan revolt has China's empire fraying at the edge". Times Online. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  10. Macartney, Jane (December 10, 2008). "Leading Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo, arrested over freedom charter". Times Online.
  11. "Charter 08". High Peaks Pure Earth. December 12, 2008.
  12. "Charter 08 Signers urged to join Liu Xiaobo's Trial". phayul.com. December 19, 2009.
  13. "'Liu Xiaobo must be freed' - Nobel prize committee". BBC. October 10, 2010. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  14. "Chinese intellectuals call for release of Uighur". Associated Press. July 14, 2009.
  15. Tsering Woeser - Writer/Blogger - Lhasa, China Archived 2012-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Prince Claus Awards 2011 (princeclausfund.org) Retrieved January 3, 2013
  16. Woeser (September 15, 2011). "The Hero Propagated by Nationalists". High Peaks Pure Earth. High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser written in July 2011 for the Tibetan service of Radio Free Asia and posted on her blog on August 4, 2011. Radio Free Asia. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  17. "New Tibetan writing confronts the hard truths of exile". Himal Southasian. August 18, 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  18. "Norwegian Authors Union awards Freedom of Expression Prize 2007 to Tsering Woeser". www.phayul.com. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  19. Tibetan journalists’ body honours Woeser on its 10th Anniversary Archived 2017-02-26 at the Wayback Machine.
  20. "Tibetan writer Woeser wins 'Courage in Journalism award'". Phayul.com. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  21. "Press release". Archived from the original on May 27, 2010. Retrieved May 14, 2010.
  22. "International Women of Courage Award". Voatibetanenglish.com. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  23. Woeser, Tsering (January 12, 2016). Tibet on Fire. ISBN 978-1784781538. Retrieved July 25, 2017. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
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