Driru Country Became an Island of Protests in TAR Part 2

Driru, a county that is made of Nagshod and half of Gyeshod (two of historical 18-Shods of Kham region), has been known for being giving birth to China’s communist party leaders like Ragdi and Tenzin. However, since 2006, this semi-nomadic county of Tibet has reminded people that it is also a home of brave Tibetan freedom fighters. After 1959 battle of Chagra Palbar led by the head lama of Driru Monastery, people from this county attacked a Chinese garrison in 1969 and fought until almost all men from Gyalsod area died. “Almost all men were killed in this area,” says a Tibetan man in exile who doesn’t want to be identified. “Following many years, women had to do the man’s jobs and plough their barley-fields.” Today this county became an island of protest in the tightly controlled Tibetan Autonomous Region.