“Population Invasion” versus Urban Exclusion in the Tibetan Areas of Western China

AS ELSEWHERE IN the world, demographic changes have been fundamental to the emergence of modernity in the Tibetan areas of western China. These areas hereafter are referred to as Tibet, which includes the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and the Tibetan autonomous areas absorbed into Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan Provinces (see Figure 1). 1 The demographic changes include the onset of the demographic transition, urbanization, and increased in-migration of non-Tibetans from other parts of China (largely Han Chinese and, to a lesser extent, Chinese Muslims). 2 However, the fact that these changes started around the same time as Communist rule in 1950 has led to their conflation with the related but distinct issue of the subjugation of Tibet into the modern Chinese nation state. As a result, some of the most vigorous condemnations as well as defenses of rule by the People's Republic of China in Tibet have been framed in terms of population. The reigning view in the Tibetan exile community—as well as among most Western observers and " Tibet Support Groups, " and most Tibetans and even some Chinese whom I interviewed in Tibet—alleges that Han Chinese and Chinese Muslim migrants are quite simply overrunning the existing Tibetan population in Tibet. This phenomenon is typically referred to as " population invasion, " " population swamping, " " population transfer, " " demographic invasion, " or " demographic aggression. " 3 Indeed, in 2007 for the first time tourists (mostly domestic Han Chinese) outnumbered the local population in the Tibet Autonomous Region. This is indicative of the sheer volume of Han Chinese movement in and out of this region, including Han migrants to service the tourist traffic and the more general government subsidized economic boom. Parallel to this, many Tibetans fear that Beijing has been attempting to limit the growth of the Tibetan population through stringent family planning measures, including forced abortions and