50 Years ago this month, China embarked on its ‘Cultural Revolution,’ and while Mao’s turbulent political campaign brought tragic results in China, the campaign’s impact was even more catastrophic in Tibet. All 6000 Tibetan monasteries, the western equivalent of every high school, university, library, and centers for the arts and publishing, were destroyed and looted, and Tibetan society and polity was plunged into even a darker and more destructive period than the years between 1951 and 1966 when the PLA exerted control over Tibet and retaliated against Tibetans who resisted with sweeping terror and violence. This six part radio series was produced by Voice of America in 1996 on the 30th anniversary of the ‘Cultural Revolution’, when memories of the suffering and destruction were fresher and more visceral than today for all the people interviewed.
