A: No. Firstly, the Chinese government has never devised any kind of emigration
plan for Tibet; and second, census statistics reveal that Tibetans have always
been the majority within Tibet's population. During the first national census
of 1953 the local government of Tibet, headed by the Dalai Lama, reported a figure
of 1 million as that of the local population to the census agent. During the second
national census in 1964, the whole population of Tibet was 1.25 million, of which
1.209 million were Tibetan, a lion's share 96.63 percent. During the third national
census in 1982 the whole population of Tibet was 1.892 million, of which 1.786
million were Tibetan, accounting for 94.4 percent. The fourth national census
in 1990 indicated that the whole population of Tibet has reached the level of
2.196 million, of which 2,096 million were Tibetan, accounting for 94.46 percent.
The fifth national census in 2000 indicated that the total population of Tibet
was 2.6163 million, of which 2.4111 were Tibetan, accounting for 92.2 percent.
The Tibetan population in Tibet therefore increased from 1 million to over 2 million
over a period of 50 years. such a high natural increase rate of population is
unprecedented in Tibet's history. According to the fifth national census I n2000
the number of Han people in Tibet was 155,300-5.9 percent of the total population.
Most of the Han people and other ethnic group residents in Tibet are professionals
and technicians with a higher than average education and specialized skills. They
mostly return to their hometowns once they have completed their service terms.
Since opening up and reform, traders from neighboring provinces have gone to Tibet
to do business, but they are largely itinerant and of a small number, rarely settling
down in Tibet. Therefore, the allegation that the Chinese government is using
mass emigration to turn Tibetan people into a minority in Tibet is groundless. |
