Bhusang: Surviving War and Prison

In wake of the recent release of several Chinese dissidents from prison – artist Ai Weiwei, three of his associates, journalist Wen Tao, and activist Hu Jia – I thought I’d share a related story from one of the Tibetan veterans I interviewed, Bhusang. Imprisoned in Tibet from April 1961 to October 1978, Bhusang was a resistance fighter trained by the CIA at Camp Hale, Colorado and the only survivor of his team soon after they were dropped back into Tibet. For more background on him, see “Democracy for Breakfast: Ode to Bhusang” and "Battle for Lhasa".

The interview took place on the 8^th and 9^th of November, 2009, in his small room just below the Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India. Bhusang passed away only four months later, so we were lucky and privileged to be able to record some of his stories while we could. I’m not yet able to subtitle this interview on video as I’ve had limited funds to get exact translations for most of Bhusang, as well as other Tibetan-language interviews that count more than 40 hours at this point. I’m planning on getting on that this summer, and will soon be starting a kickstarter.com campaign to raise funds to go towards finishing translations, a little more production, and post-production. As I have more translations done, I can start working with them in the feature editing, as well as share more bits on this blog. Look for an updated fundraising video and trailer coming up soon.

The transcription below consists of the questions I asked the interview’s interpreter, Tenzin Norkyi, and her translation at the time – a rough summary of Bhusang’s replies.

Bhusang after the interview, Nov 9, 2009

HOW DID THE CHINESE CAPTURE HIM?

He was part of seven Tibetans trained in the US [Camp Hale, Colorado] that fought and were killed in Markham [Eastern Tibet]. The only thing the Chinese feared is the Americans, and because they had trained with the Americans, they are their double enemy. After fighting a long time in Markham, they were outnumbered and surrounded by around noon on April 15th, 1961.

They had parachuted close to Markham on March 15^th, 1961. First of all, they were dropped in the wrong place. From there, the problems started. One good thing is the team leader, Yeshi, was from the area. But the first people they met thought Yeshi was in India, and had no idea he was trained by the US so they didn’t believe him. The locals didn't trust that they weren't Chinese spies and wouldn't give them any food or sell anything to them. Soon, the Chinese heard about them.

Once the secret was out that they were there, after a few days they met the people they were looking for. They told them about how the Americans would supply weapons, money, and help them fight. They discussed plans for what to do.

Soon after, the Americans dropped weapons and supplies, so four of Bhusang’s team, plus six other teams, went to get them. By then the Chinese had already pressured the family they first met to give them all their details; that they trained with the US, and were there to fight. So the Chinese started coming to Markham.

When Bhusang and his team reached Markham, there were a lot of other groups there to fight the Chinese. They started fighting at 6am on April 15th and by the time they realized they needed to retreat, the Chinese had surrounded them; thousands and thousands, too many to count, herds like cattle. After most others were killed, he and three others were the only ones left of his team. They decided to each face north, south, east, west and keep shooting until they had no more bullets left, then take their suicide pills the Americans gave them in case of capture.

Two of the others took the cyanide pills. Bhusang put his in his mouth while the Chinese were shouting, “Surrender”. At the same time there were two girls crying a lot. They came to fight because their families had been killed and they had no one left. As the girls surrendered, Bhusang was knocked unconscious, hit on the head by a PLA soldier before he could bite down on the pill. Of his seven-man team, Bhusang was the only survivor.

He was kept in a Markham prison for a week after that. There was a big hall and you could see thousands and thousands other prisoners, many of which had been fighting that day. He was put into a black dark cell. He got better food than the rest; three times a day. The rest would get only a small amount of tsampa [Tibetan staple of roasted barley flour] in the morning and a little thukpa [noodle dish] in the evening. Other than that they had nothing else to eat and everyday were made to do hard labor building roads. After that he was transported to a prison in Chamdo. There was always a Chinese guard by his cell throughout the day and night. They beat him until he crumbled. Because of the medicine they gave him, he couldn't talk, and he was tortured often.  On May 18th, he was taken from Chamdo to Lhasa. When he was transported from one prison to another, there was one Chinese jeep ahead of them, one behind and four policemen with him. They were very suspicious; thinking the Americans would do something, try to rescue him, since he was trained in America. He was stripped of all American clothes he had. All the time his arms and legs were bounded together.

When they got to the army camp prison in Lhasa, the police took off his shackles and the new prison guards put their own chains on him, and took him inside. There he saw that all the prisoners were abbots and lamas, no lay people. Since he had previously been a doctor in Lhasa's Tibetan Army, he knew some people there – one was an uncle.

Most of the time he was kept in a small room where he was with another inmate, a Chinese Kuomintang [Nationalist Party] who was captured trying to escape to India. In every cell there were eight rules. (1) Whatever work you do, you have to get permission from the officials. (2) You cannot move, you have to stay sitting down, you cannot get up and look around. (3) You can never talk to anyone, except when a Chinese officer talks to you.  (4) You cannot give anything to others, and you cannot take anything from others. (5) You cannot draw or write anything on the wall, or even touch or make a scratch on the wall. (6) You cannot listen to anything happening around you. (7) You cannot look around when you are going out to work or whatever situation. (8) He can't remember.

There were 2 high lamas and a General, they were the only ones not made to work. All the other lamas had to work. Cleaning, or any sort of work. Guards would always be around watching them.

WHEN DID HE FIND OUT HE WOULD BE RELEASED, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

He was working with other prisoners on the morning of October 5, 1978, when the police came and asked all of them to back up. Nobody knew what to expect, to be released or hanged, they didn't know. They were made to go down to the tailor, which was surrounded by barbed wire, and they had to give up their clothing.

He says, “We had no idea we would be released. After so many years of being isolated, not being able to talk to the person next to you, and not being able to see your own friends – this makes you a strong person. All these years I've been treated like an animal, I realized human beings can take whatever kind of torture, this is the ability of being a human. I've been tortured on and on and still I've been able to survive. Whenever the Chinese were brutal and tortured me, I wondered how such people could exist in the world, when we have done nothing to them. I pray to the Dalai Lama and am proud of it. Proud I was able to survive the whole thing and did my bit when I was in my own country. It's like, when human beings are given all the luxuries in life, they want more. It's never enough for them. Likewise, when they are tortured, bullied, kicked, and beaten up each and every day and put in a black dark cell and not given enough to eat, still one can survive, because one has the faith and the willpower to survive. After a while you become numb, you don't feel anything. You don't feel attachment or any sort of thing because this is what has happened to you. You take life as it comes, that's how I've lived. I had no hope or aspirations that I would be released some day. I thought this is the life I'm going to live until I die."

After being released from the prison, the Chinese officials asked him what kind of work he had skills in, so he said stitching, since some old friends he had just met had advised him to say that since it was easy work. Even though he didn't know how, they said he'd learn as he went. Then life became good again. He could talk to people, he didn't make enough money to live well, but he was happy, he had a life now.

While he was working at stitching, he asked the leader to give him permission to meet his mother and aunt. They said no, because he's still kind of a prisoner because of the American connection and they feared something might happen. They said you can invite them to visit you here, but when he asked his family, they said they might not be able to. So after a lot of pleading and saying he had to go to them because his mother wasn't feeling well, they let him go. When he went there, he saw they had nothing to eat and no animals. From dawn to dusk they and the whole community had to work, and everything was taken from them. When he entered the home, there was nothing in the home. The Chinese would give them tea and milk and a little tsampa. When he was there, some uncles and friends came to visit and the only gift they had was one egg and a piece of bread – that was the most precious thing they could gather and give to him. Then he realized he couldn't stay there, because if he did, he'd be eating their ration. He didn't want to be a burden to them. They were trying to be nice to him because he'd been to prison and had been tortured, but he realized that they were the ones who were really suffering. In prison he had food to eat. At his stitching job he had food to eat. When he went back, he realized he couldn't live like this. He started writing books [presumably protests of Chinese rule] and one was found by the Chinese. So in 1980 he escaped in a jeep [to India].

WHAT DID THE DALAI LAMA SAY TO HIM WHEN HE FIRST CAME TO INDIA?

The first time he met the Dalai Lama, of course he prostrated three times, and offered khata [a ceremonial scarf], and the Dalai Lama asked him, “Did the Chinese torture you for keeping my photograph?” What happened was, he was being questioned by the Chinese and all of a sudden, when he looked away he saw the Dalai Lama’s picture lying at the side, so he said, “Please, I have to go to the bathroom”. As he got up, he acted as if he was dizzy and fell down and stayed there until he could put the photo inside his pocket. After that nobody knew he had his picture. Then one day when the police came to check around the cell, they went through his books. They found the picture in a book, then took him and tortured him and asked, “What do you mean by keeping his photo? What are you up to? Who's behind this? What are your plans?”, and all these things. They tortured him a lot but he said little – that he just had it and kept it. Then they said, “If you tell the truth, we will not torture you again. If you don't, we will continue”. He said, “If you'll believe the truth, then I'll tell it. In this life he's my leader, in the next he's my savior, and that's why I kept it."

ANY REGRETS THAT HE JOINED THE CIA, ESPECIALLY AFTER GOING TO PRISON?

He feels proud of everything he's done. He killed many people, but because they were doing the wrong thing. It was for the Dalai Lama. It was for his love of the country where Buddhism survives. He says he couldn't allow it to be destroyed, couldn’t let something like that happen. So he feels proud of whatever he's done. No regrets.

WHAT ARE HIS THOUGHTS ON THE FUTURE OF TIBET?

He has a lot of faith in the younger generation now, be it fighting for independence or middle way, as long as they are fighting for their country. Back then when the Chinese came [in 1950], and in '59, the older generation were very patriotic and nationalistic, but that was their only strength. They were not educated, they were illiterate and they couldn't speak other languages. They were unfamiliar with the outside world. Right now the younger generation are multilingual; they can and are fighting. It will not happen quickly, look at America, look at Russia, look at India with their whole history. But it's developing, it's coming up. So he thinks Tibet has a bright future because the younger generation are educated and doing their best.