Growing up as a child, Rigzin Wangchuk vividly remembers the days when the Chinese Military would come to her village in Tibet.
"I have seen my people, my Tibetan brothers and sisters put in a truck, a Chinese military truck, and their hands cuffed with chains," she recalls.
"They were taken like a parrot in the main street, showing if you do wrong things, we'll do this to you."
Their only crime was to speak for their rights.
Source: The Feed
Nicknamed "the Roof of the World", the mountainous region of Tibet has been under Chinese control for 60 years.
When she was just nine years old, Rigzin made a dangerous journey across the Himalayas to escape Chinese Rule.
Her father wanted to send her to India where she could grow up enjoying freedom of speech and religion.
He knows that if I stayed back in Tibet, I would have to follow their path, to be a farmer and I have basically no life.
That freedom came at a cost and the family could only afford to send Rigzin away on her own.
Nine-year-old Rizgin knew she wouldn't be able to see them again.
"When I departed from my dear Grandma and my family members, it was the saddest moment," she said.
"Because I was nine [years old] but I had the emotions, like the sadness, every emotion come to me."
It took Rigzin a month-and-a-half to traverse the Himalayas travelling with a group of around 30 other Tibetan refugees.
Source: The Feed
They hid from Chinese patrols during the day and walked during the night, using makeshift equipment to navigate the mountainous terrain.
Rigzin recounts how many of her group fell sick and how food was in short supply, forcing the refugees to barter away items of clothing just to keep themselves fed.
Her group made it to a refugee centre in Nepal, before travelling onwards to a Tibetan school in India where she was educated and cared for.
A Nation in Exile
Tibet was one of the first territories annexed by China's Communist Government who took control of the region in 1950 with the promise of liberating the Tibetan people from 'imperialist aggressive forces'.
The Current Dalai Lama meeting with Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong in 1954 (AAP). Source: The Feed
The Chinese Government promised to preserve the country's existing political system and protect the role of the Dalai Lama.
The 14th reincarnation had just been appointed political leader of the Tibetan people as a teenager.
But it soon became clear that China was not planning to honour its side of the agreement and in 1959, as fears grew for the Dalai Lama's safety, thousands of Tibetans rose up against the occupying Chinese Forces.
Thousands of Tibetans took to the streets in front of the Dalai Lama’s Palace to protect him from Chinese military forces (Getty) Source: AFP, Getty
The Lhasa Uprising was brutally crushed by the Chinese military which massacred thousands of Tibetans and the imprisoned thousands more.
Fearing for his safety, the Dalai Lama fled to Northern India and he was soon followed by an estimated 80,000 Tibetan refugees.
Now in his eighties, the Dalai Lama continues to serve as the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and has strongly endorsed the principles of democracy, transferring his political power to a democratically elected parliament-in-exile.
Today, Tibet is one of the most tightly controlled areas of China and Human Rights Watch states Chinese authorities "continue to severely restrict religious freedom, speech, movement and assembly."
Source: The Feed
Rigzin's family members still live in Tibet and she is able to communicate with them via WeChat.
But she says they are afraid to talk about sensitive issues.
I believe if they talk about what happened to our family, they might get tortured, imprisoned and detained.
While Tibet remains under China's tight control, Rigzin is unable to visit her family in person.
She hasn't seen her parents and siblings for over 20 years. Her mother died in 2017.
"That was the saddest thing; because we were born as the same family but under such circumstances, we can't be together."
Standing in Solidarity
Many Tibetans in Australia have been inspired by democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
Tenzin Khangsar is the president of the Tibet Community in Victoria and helped organise supporting rallies in Melbourne.
He says the people of Hong Kong know that their future is at stake.
Source: The Feed
