Life of Lobsang Qoizin: Bitter Vs Sweet

NYIMA CERXI

When I met Lobsang Qoizin in her courtyard in Chengguan Town, Qamdo Prefecture, the spry, 66-year-old lady was enjoying the blooming flowers all around her. "I have no idea when I came to Tibet," she said. "What I remember is the wolf constantly being at my door." Her grandparents worked for Xiwala, the third largest Living Buddha of the Xangbaling Monastery, eking out a living by growing vegetables for him. "We ate zanba (roasted highland barley) once a day, and had never had any chance to taste rice and wheat. My parents cooked vegetable broth for us," she recalled. "There were seven in my family, but we didnt have Tibetan quilts to keep off cold at night. Our robes were tattered enough to be used by the government as an exhibit after the Democratic Reform in 1959.

"When winter came, we had almost nothing to eat, as vegetables refused to grow then. Uncle was the only able-bodied laborer for the family, but he was crippled by the Tibetan government. Mother had to toil to support us all. My second brother was bit by a dog and died. My third brother was sent to serve as a monk with a nearby monastery. "When the PLA came in 1950, two of my brothers were able to study in school, and we were given land to grow vegetables for ourselves. I worked in the field and this lasted until in 1957, when I became a member of the Qamdo Young Womens Association. In July that same year, I attended the Lhasa conference of youths, and in October I joined the conferees to visit Beijing and some other parts of China. Chairman Mao Zedong received us and I had a chance to mount the Tiananmen Rostrum. When we went to visit northeast China, Chairman Mao had animal hide-lined long coats sent to us. Experiencing these things, I had hot tears in my eyes."

According to Lobsang Qoizin, she was chief of the Jushengjie Street Neighborhood Committee in 1959, working for other units later on. Talking about her brothers and her children, the old lady smiled broadly. "My first brother, Lobsum Renqen, refused to be a monk when young," she said. "He borrowed hada scarves and pleaded with the president of the school to allow him to study. Moved by his sincerity, the school president agreed. Later he was sent to study in the Garze Middle School for Ethnic Minority Peoples. He is now vice-chairman of the CPPCC Qamdo Committee. "My youngest brother studied in the Central Institute for Political and Legal Cadres and later served as the Party Secretary of Lhasa. He is now a vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Peoples Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region. "My daughter is a chief procurator of the Qamdo Prefectural Procuratorate. "I have full confidence in the future."