By Phuntsok Yangchen
DHARAMSHALA, December 9: Tashi Tsering, author of ‘The Struggle for Modern Tibet’ had passed away on Friday in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. He was 85.
Tashi Tsering’s autobiography, The Struggle for Modern Tibet, tells about his desire to reform and modernize the old society. It also covers his search for education in Tibet and his life in China, especially during the Cultural Revolution.
At age of 10, Tibetan government selected Tsering to join the Dalai Lama’s ceremonial dance troupe (Gadrugba) in Lhasa against the will of his family. Despite being born to a peasant family, an illiterate Tsering was very keen to study and in 1954, he visited India and then to United States of America to study.
When he returned back from US in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution, he was charged as an American spy and put into prison till 1973.
In 1981, he returned to Lhasa and built around 65 elementary schools and vocational training schools for poor in Lhasa and villages in the city’s vicinity.
He had also compiled a Tibetan-Chinese-English language dictionary.
