Broadcast: Monday 31 March 2008 08:00 PM
As Tibetan protesters take to the streets in the biggest and most bloody challenge to Chinese rule in nearly 20 years, Dispatches reports on the hidden reality of life under Chinese occupation.
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Dispatches video clips
As
Tibetan protesters take to the streets in the biggest and most bloody
challenge to Chinese rule in nearly 20 years, Dispatches reports on the
hidden reality of life under Chinese occupation after spending three
months undercover, deep inside the region. Dozens are feared dead after
the recent clashes and crackdown by Chinese troops, but with reporting
so rigidly controlled from the region little is known of living
conditions inside Tibet.
To make this film, Tibetan exile Tash
Despa returns to the homeland he risked his life to escape 11 years
ago, to carry out secret filming with award-winning, Bafta-nominated
director Jezza Neumann (Dispatches Special: China's Stolen Children).
Risking imprisonment and deportation, he uncovers evidence of the
"cultural genocide" described by the Dalai Lama.
He finds the
nomadic way of life being forcefully wiped out as native Tibetans are
stripped of their land and livestock and are being resettled in
concrete camps. Tibet reveals the regime of terror which dominates
daily life and makes freedom of expression impossible. Tash meets
victims of arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and "disappearances"
and uncovers evidence of enforced sterilisations on ethnic Tibetan
women.
He sees for himself the impact of the enormous military
and police presence in the region, and the hunger and hardship being
endured by many Tibetans, and hears warnings of the uprising taking
place across the provinces now.
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