# Chinese settlements in Tibet

Tibetan independence groups have alleged that the influx of Han Chinese people to Tibet, sometimes sponsored by the Chinese government, is an attempt to sinicize the region. Some academics have described it as a form of Han settler colonialism. Many Chinese migrants are not permanent residents in Tibet. The intent and impact of these policies and migrations are disputed.

## Context

Tibet came under the control of the Qing dynasty in the 18th century. It gained de facto independence after China's 1911 Revolution. The People's Republic of China (PRC) annexed Tibet between 1950 and 1951. After the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959, the PRC established the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965.
The influx of Chinese migrants goes back centuries, as the neighboring regions have had conflicts even before the current tensions. In the 1980s the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Chinese Communist Party initiated the Cadre Transfer Policy that sent party personnel into Tibet.

## Motives

In 1991 the Dalai Lama declared:
   The new Chinese settlers have created an alternate society: a Chinese apartheid which, denying Tibetans equal social and economic status in our own land, threatens to finally overwhelm and absorb us.
Another potential motive of Chinese settlements is to gain access to the once-protected Indian-Chinese border.
Chinese migrants are incentivized with major personal economic benefits. Publications report salary increases averaging at 71.8% of the migrant's previous salary. Monthly allowances are also provided, the amount fluctuating according to the migrant's residence "hardship level". Children of the Cadre Transfer Policy migrants are given priority job assignments. This policy itself created an influx of Han Chinese migrants as well, but this more focused approach was described as an attempt to promote economic development.
After China enacted policies to develop Tibet economically in the 1980s, the majority of migrants entering Tibet came from the neighboring Sichuan province, dwarfing the number of Chinese Communist Party cadres. This new wave consists mostly of men who had left Sichuan due to overpopulation and poverty. Because of the Hukou residency system in China, they do not automatically obtain new legal residency where they live and work. Due to the perceived lower quality of education in Tibet, many of them intend to return to Sichuan to marry and have children after saving enough money.

### Alternative interpretations

Some publications claim that every Chinese immigration influx is not with mal intent. According to Yasheng Huang, the Cadre Transfer Policy was not an assimilation attempt because the number of Chinese immigrants was minimal compared to other periods; instead it was an attempt to promote economic development of the newly annexed region. Professionals were sent to the area in "low quantity but high quality".

## Migration statistics

In 1999 Lobsang Sangay, a leader of the Tibetan Youth Congress, alleged in the Harvard Asia Quarterly that 60-70% of the population in Lhasa now is Chinese and, outside of the traditional Tibetan "Barkhor" market, Tibetans own only 400-450 of the 3,500 to 4,000 shops. Han Chinese also occupy most government-related employment with 95 percent of official Chinese immigrants employed in state owned enterprises.
The Office of Tibet claims that the data is distorted by a lack of residence permits held by the migrant population. It also claims that militant occupation consists of "at least a quarter million", focused in the city of Lhasa, and that Tibetans in urban eastern areas are outnumbered at least 2 to 1, although there are very few Chinese in rural areas.
The 2020 census of China showed that the Han population increased to 12 percent in the Tibet Autonomous Region, concentrated around Lhasa and the border with India, but fell in neighboring regions such as Gansu and Qinghai which also have a high proportion of Tibetans. Reporting of Han population in Tibet usually occurs in the summer months when the region experiences a swell of Han tourists.
Some migrants are more accurately described as drifters because they feel alienated in their home provinces but are not attached enough to stay in Tibet permanently. They are attracted to a less modern, slower-paced lifestyle but still need to work for a living, setting them apart from more affluent lifestyle migrants.

### Impact on local communities

The influx of migrant workers have caused resentment among Tibetans and longtime Han residents. Almost all small businesses, such as shops and restaurants, were opened and run by Sichuanese. They also tend to have a larger guanxi network to government and business resources outside Tibet.