REASONS, COURSES AND TRENDS: OVERSEAS TIBETANS’ EMIGRATIONS AND REMIGRATIONS

Peng Zhu¹, Xinya Tang², Changyou Deng³ and Quanzhi Wang⁴*
¹ Associate Prof. Dr., Jinan University, PR China, szkzp@126.com
² Graduate student, Jinan University, PR China, jndxzp@126.com
³ Associate Prof. Dr., South China Normal University, PR China, 123355307@qq.com
⁴ Associate Prof. Dr., Jinan University, PR China, tzhup@jnu.edu.cn
*Corresponding author

Abstract
Since the Tibetan rebellion, overseas Tibetans have always been a special group that attracts great attention from the Chinese government. Over the past nearly 60 years, after three stages of emigration from China’s Tibetan area, the total number of overseas Tibetans has increased from less than 80,000 in the early years to more than 200,000 today. Meanwhile, with overseas Tibetans’ continuous relocation, their range of distribution has also expanded from India, Nepal, Bhutan and other South Asian countries in early years to more than 40 countries and regions in the world. Since 1978 after the beginning of China’s reform and opening up, it has gradually become a trend for overseas Tibetans to return to China to visit their relatives, to go sightseeing, or even to settle down back home. Today, because the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of exiled Tibetans, is already very advanced in age, overseas Tibetan groups are facing many uncertainties, large-scale cross-border migrations may appear again at any time. Setting the Tibetan rebellion in 1959 as the starting point of the research, this thesis focuses on study of the reasons why Tibetans have emigrated in large scales, why there are wide disparities among statistics about the total amount of overseas Tibetans, why some overseas Tibetans relocated continuously, and why some exiled Tibetans returned to return to China. Once the 14th Dalai Lama dies, what course will overseas Tibetans choose to follow, and what will they choose among three options – to be assimilated by the local culture, to follow extremism, or to return to the original native culture.

Keywords: Tibetans in exile; migration; causes; courses; trends