Phuntsog Wangyal: The Living Flame of Tibet

When I was in a Chinese school in Lhasa in the 1950s, we were all required to sing the song Dōngfāng hóng, tàiyáng shēng. At the time, we did not fully understand what the song meant. Later, I learned that it meant, “The East is red, the sun is rising.”

The song expressed the idea that the Communist Party was like the sun: wherever the Party was present, it would bring light, liberation, and a better future. But during the 1960s, through the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese people experienced enormous suffering and devastation. For many, the promise of light and liberation became associated instead with tragedy and repression.

Mao Zedong, once celebrated as the great saviour of China, remains one of the most consequential and controversial figures of the twentieth century. His portrait still hangs above the great gate of the Forbidden City, facing Tiananmen Square. Yet the enormous human suffering associated with his rule has profoundly changed how his legacy is viewed, both within China and around the world.

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China Sinicizing Tibetan Education