纪念才旺罗布逝世三周年 / Commemorating the 3rd Anniversary of Tsewang Norbu's Passing

2022.2.25，歌手才旺罗布来到拉萨布达拉宫广场马路中间的白塔处，高喊口号后自焚而亡。On Feb 25, 2022, Tsewang Norbu, at the Potala Palace Square in Lhasa, where he shouted slogans and then self-immolated, leading to his death.

ཚེ་དབང་ནོར་བུ།

才旺罗布

Tsewang Norbu

(1996.09.09 - 2022.02.25)

2022年2月25日，藏人青年歌手才旺罗布来到拉萨布达拉宫广场马路中间的白塔处，高喊口号后自焚而亡。事件发生后，一切关于才旺罗布的信息在中国互联网上被全面封锁。事件发生后，一切关于才旺罗布的信息在中国互联网上被全面封锁。事到如今，才旺罗布的微博还能访问，在百度百科上也没有任何他逝世的消息，在中国的互联网上他好像还在这世上。

On February 25, 2022, Tsewang Norbu, a young Tibetan singer, arrived at the Potala Palace Square in Lhasa, where he shouted slogans and then self-immolated, leading to his death. Following the incident, all information about Tsewang Norbu was completely censored on the Chinese internet. As of now, Tsawon Lobsang's Weibo is still accessible, and there is no news of his passing on Baidu Baike. On the Chinese internet, it seems as if he is still in this world.

才旺罗布的歌手之路 / Rising to stardom

才旺罗布生于1996年9月9日，来自图博的那曲地区。于拉萨的西藏大学毕业的他，获得了一份体制内音乐教师的工作。后来他辞职参加了中国的才艺歌舞节目，如《明日之子》、《中国好声音》、《中国藏歌会》和《藏风美少年》。他在节目里自弹钢琴、自唱藏歌，吸引了大量粉丝。仅在新浪微博上，@才旺罗布Norbu 就拥有58.3万的粉丝。

Tsewang Norbu was born on October 9th, 1996 in Nagqu, Tibet. He graduated from Tibet University in Lhasa and obtained a job as a government music teacher. Later, he resigned to participate in Chinese talent and music dance shows such as "Stars of Tomorrow", "Sing! China," "China Tibetan Song Contest," and "Tibetan Youth with Style". Playing the piano and singing Tibetan songs on these shows, he attracted a large number of fans. On Sina Weibo alone, he had 583K followers.

体制内的家庭 / Family links with the government

ཚེ་དབང་ནོར་བུ། ༼བྱང་ཐང་ལ་བལྟ་བའི་མིག།༽ / 才旺罗布《羌塘眼》/ Tsewang Norbu, Eyes of Changtang 那曲2018网络藏历新年春晚 Nagqu 2018 Online Tibetan New Year Gala

他的父母都从事中国体制内的演艺工作：他的父亲曾是一家国有表演艺术部门的负责人，而他的母亲是著名的藏族歌手索朗旺姆，经常唱汉语红歌。在历来的自焚抗议者中，才旺罗布是不同寻常的。

Both of his parents worked in Chinese government-related entertainment industry: his father was once the head of a state-owned performing arts department, and his mother is the famous Tibetan singer Sonam Wangmo, who often sings propaganda songs in Mandarin. Among the history of self-immolation protesters, Tsewang Norbu was unusual.

不同寻常的自焚抗议者 / An unusual self-immolation protestor

他不是一个寻求宗教自由的僧人，他正走在成为明星的道路上，并且他的父母均在政府体制内工作。才旺罗布甚至是一个中共当局眼里理想中的“少数民族”青年：城市化、受过教育且能流利使用普通话。然而，25岁的他选择用自焚这样的方式去表达对中共压迫的不满，让他年轻的生命戛然而止。

He was not a lama seeking religious freedom; he was on the path to becoming a star, and both of his parents worked within the government system. Tsewang Norbu was even an ideal “minority” youth in the eyes of CCP: urbanized, educated, and fluent in Mandarin. However, at the age of 25, he chose to express his dissatisfaction with CCP's oppression through self-immolation, abruptly ending his young life.

社会运动家的舅舅 / His uncle as a Tibetan activist

人们猜测，也许他对于中共当局的不满是受到他的舅舅的影响。他的舅舅，洛迪嘉措，是著名的藏人社会运动家，因抗议中共统治，被监禁了二十余年。2018年1月28日，洛迪嘉措因在布达拉宫前和平抗议中共的统治，被再次监禁，判了长达18年的刑罚。他是已知服刑时间最长的藏人政治犯之一。

Perhaps his dissatisfaction with CCP was influenced by his uncle. His uncle, Lodoe Gyatso, was a well-known Tibetan activist who had been imprisoned for over twenty years for protesting CCP rule. On January 28, 2018, Lodoe Gyatso, was once again imprisoned for peacefully protesting CPP rule in front of the Potala Palace, receiving a lengthy sentence of another 18 years. He is one of the longest-serving Tibetan political prisoners as we know.

音乐表达中的藏文化自豪 / Tibetan pride through music expression

mbnmbjnkcfvMV：ཚེ་དབང་ནོར་བུ། ༼རྩམ་པ།༽ / 才旺罗布《糌粑》/ Tsewang Norbu, Tsampa

又或许，他一直在用自己的音乐作品去微妙地表达藏人的诉求。相比于其他充满地下元素的藏族音乐，才旺罗布的作品并不具有明显的政治色彩，而是选择使用大量的传统藏族乐器来展现对藏族文化的骄傲。但是在如今的图博，只有中共当局才能决定什么是政治性的。

Or perhaps, he had always been subtly expressing the aspirations of the Tibetan people through his music. Unlike other Tibetan music filled with underground elements, Tsewang Norbu's works did not have an overt political color. Instead, he chose to heavily use traditional Tibetan instruments to showcase his pride in Tibetan culture. However, in Tibet, only CCP can decide what is political.

亲爱的故乡 图博 / My beloved Home, Tibet

ངའི་རྨི་ལམ་ནང་གི་ཞིང་ཁམས།

你是我梦中的净土

You are the realm of my dream

ངའི་མངོན་སུམ་ནང་གི་ཕ་ཡུལ།

也是我此生的故乡

You are my true homeland

ངའི་གཅེས་པའི་ཕ་ཡུལ་ནག་ཆུ། (བོད་ལྗོངས།)

亲爱的故乡 那曲 (藏域/图博)

You are my beloved Nagchu (Tibet)

དུས་གསུམ་དུ་བརྗེད་ཐབས་མི་གདའ།

永远无法忘记

There is no way that I will forget you

ཚེ་དབང་ནོར་བུ། / 才旺罗布 / Tsewang Norbu

ཡུལ་ལ་ལོག། / 回家 / Returning Home (2021)

English translation by Bhuchung D. Sonam

在《中国好声音》的舞台上，身穿藏装、演唱自己原创藏语歌曲的罗布，对歌词进行了改动。他将最后的藏语歌词“亲爱的故乡 那曲”改为“亲爱的故乡 藏域/图博”，并调整了部分汉语歌词，“穿过云雾，身在何处；才知道我为什么哭；踏破尘土，弹起扎念” （原歌词：穿过林雾，羊儿为伍；我身穿母亲织的布；洗净尘土，打起手鼓”），以这样的方式表达自己的情感和对故乡的思念。

On the stage of Sing! China, Norbu, dressed in traditional Tibetan chupa and performing his original Tibetan song, made changes to the lyrics. He altered the final Tibetan lyrics from "Dear homeland, Nagqu" to "Dear homeland, Tibet" and modified parts of the Chinese lyrics: "Through the clouds, where am I; only then do I know why I cry; stepping through the dust, plucking the dranyen" (original lyrics: "Through the forest mist, with the sheep; wearing the cloth woven by my mother; washing away the dust, beating the hand drum"). Through these changes, he expressed his emotions and deep longing for his homeland.

如果有遗憾，也别偷偷放不下 / If you have regrets, don’t hold on to them

在他的个人微博，他自焚当天的微博动态为“一直在看大家的留言，谢谢。遗憾过后，就是释然。希望大家如果有遗憾，也别偷偷放不下。”《如果有遗憾，也别偷偷放不下》也是他最新发布的歌曲名称，也是他留给我们的最后一首歌。

On his Weibo account, his last post on the day of his self-immolation reads, "I have been reading everyone's comments, thank you. After regret comes relief. I hope if anyone has regrets, they also don't secretly hold onto them." "If You Have Regrets, Don't Secretly Hold Onto Them" is also the title of his most recently released song, as well as his last song for us.

MV: 如果有遗憾，也别偷偷放不下 If You Have Regrets, Don't Secretly Hold Onto Them

藏人自焚抗议者们 / Tibetan self-immolation protestors

2009年2月27日，来自格尔登寺的年轻僧人扎白，在四川阿坝的集市上自焚，以示抗议纪念2008年阿坝事件遇难者的法会的取消。他也成为了西藏自焚运动的第一人。

On February 27, 2009, Tapey, a young monk affiliated with the Kirti Monastery, engaged in an act of self-immolation within the marketplace of Ngawa, Sichuan, as a form of protest against the suppression of a puja intended to commemorate the victims of the 2008 Ngawa unrest. This event marked the inception of self-immolation protests in Tibet.

此后，许多藏人采用自焚的方式，表达对中共当局压迫的不满。自焚，作为一种极端的抗议形式，除了抗议者本人外，不会伤害到任何其他人，被视为非暴力的实践。

Subsequently, numerous Tibetans have adopted self-immolation as a method of protest to articulate their grievances concerning the oppressive measures enforced by the CCP. Self-immolation, characterized by its extreme nature and the fact that it inflicts harm solely upon the individual protester, has been perceived as a manifestation of non-violent resistance.

截至2022年5月，自2009年以来，已有160名僧侣、尼姑和普通民众在西藏自焚。

As of May 2022, a total of 160 monks, nuns, and laypersons have resorted to self-immolation in Tibet since the year 2009.

文编：Dechen 校对：GD

信息来源/Sources:

• Vice: This Young Pop Star Set Himself on Fire in Public. Then His Body Disappeared

• The Economist: Deciphering a Tibetan pop star’s self-immolation