Image: researched/acquired by @tibettruth

What do you notice about the scene pictured above? Perhaps you’ve wondered if the Chinese slogans in the background identify this as being an event in China? It took place in Southern Tibet, part of a recent propaganda drive imposed by the occupying Chinese regime exhorting, the same Tibetans who they’re oppressing and terrorizing, to take more exercise!

But there’s something else, hidden in plain sight, which reveals another strand in the calculated policy to eradicate Tibetan cultural identity. See it?

Not one of these Tibetans wearing any item of traditional clothing, and that’s not accidental, or simply a reflection of ‘modernity’ (although the Chinese authorities would be happy if you reached such a conclusion). Increasingly occupied Tibet’s been flooded with Chinese made clothing, it’s a profitable business; but it also conveniently serves a purpose of diluting and replacing Tibetan traditions and culture.

While it’s still possible to see Tibetans in traditional garb, the beautifully tailored jackets, dresses and finery, so uniquely identifying that cultural aspect, are being swamped by mass-produced items. At the same time the costumes of Tibet have been re-imagined, misappropriated; again for propaganda and political purposes, and increasingly appear as performance outfits.

A gaudy, ersatz version of Tibet’s dress-sense has been imposed for such public events, often featuring the colors of the Chinese flag. It’s not fashion, but politics and deception!

This post was originally published on Digital Activism In Support Of Tibetan Independence.