Reported By Kelsang Jinpa
Translated By TenGyal
The Chinese authorities have removed the Tibetan signboard from Charingma Interior Design Company in Chengdu, permitting only Chinese characters to be displayed.
As the Chinese government continue to intensify restrictions on activities related to Tibetan language, culture, and religion through the implementation of the so-called “Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress” in Tibet, authorities yesterday, on October 5, removed the Tibetan signboard of Charingma Interior Design Co. Ltd., an enterprise with distinctly Tibetan characteristics in Chengdu—the capital of Sichuan Province—mandating that only Chinese-language signage be displayed in its place.
Regarding the incident, Tenzin, the general manager of the Charingma Interior Design Co. Ltd. stated, “These past few days have been quite troublesome. During the holiday, we had to put a halt to all our construction activities. Although we couldn’t move ahead with a lot of our work, that is not the main issue. Later on, I can take you to look at our signboard so you can see for yourself if there are any errors on it. In reality, our signboard had Tibetan written on it, and there were no flaws whatsoever in either the content or the translation. However, the relevant authorities took it down because writing Tibetan on our signboards is not permitted. A little later, we might go over and try to find a way to put the Tibetan back up, but looking at the overall situation, it seems nearly impossible.”
As for the signboards being written in Tibetan, he went on to state, “The reason we put Tibetan on our signage is that all the customers of the Charingma Interior Design Company are Tibetan. Aside from that, I have no other motive. If there were only Chinese characters and no Tibetan on the signage, the younger generation would understand it just fine. However, many of our older customers cannot read Chinese. If it is written in Tibetan, they can recognise the Charingma Company from afar and easily find it in the future. At first, I saw no reason or justification for why it had to be removed. Initially, I questioned why we aren’t permitted to display signs in our own mother tongue when foreign-language signboards are allowed. Yet, when thinking about it more calmly later on, I realised there was no point in that either, because those who removed the Tibetan signage were simply following orders from their superiors. As such, we will try to find a way to put the Tibetan sign back up later.”
Recently, over the course of a week in late September, the Chinese government publicly promoted the so-called “Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress” across Tibet. Holding various meetings concerning culture, arts, politics, and the economy throughout Tibetan regions, authorities conducted all activities exclusively in Chinese. Similarly, on July 25, when the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Nangchen County inaugurated the 44th Yushu Horse Racing Festival, not a single Tibetan character could be seen anywhere, as all festival signboards were written entirely in Chinese. As a result, this incident drew fierce criticism online from Tibetans inside Tibet.
The Charingma Interior Design Co. Ltd. is a company specialising in distinctly traditional Tibetan interior decoration and architecture. It is well-known across central regions of Tibet such as Lhasa, Shigatse, and Nyingchi. Recently, the company has established a branch and has just begun its specialised operations in Tibetan architectural decoration in the Amdo region.
