Miss Tibet 2008

So the Miss Tibet 2008 competition has been and gone. After ten days of learning yoga, taking dance lessons and visiting local organisations, the woman to represent the country that doesn't technically exist, has been chosen.

This is the seventh year of the competition which was initially designed by the coordinator, Lobsang Wangyal, to “empower Tibetan women, giving them a platform to be themselves as well as express their aspirations and talents.” Not only does the event aim to achieve this by providing a thorough orientation to the contestants, developing their knowledge in Buddhism, the environment and various issues facing Tibetan youth and women in exile, but it offers the winner a substantial prize of 100,000 rupees ($US 2500).

It may therefore seem surprising that this years competition had only two contestants – which is actually twice as many as it had in 2003 and 2005. Indeed I was confused as when I shared the knowledge that I was teaching the two women yoga, as there were certainly many Tibetan men suddenly interested in learning yoga. So why the lack of interest from Tibetan women? The answer was not easy to find, partly because the two contestants spoke very little English (it was hard enough trying to teach them how to do a headstand through demonstrations only, let only begin a social, cultural or political discussion). However, my questions were answered by a French film crew.

The French film crew appeared at yoga one day with a stack of camera equipment following the already bewildered ladies through the practice and zooming in on the still to be mastered skill of standing upside down, on ones head, while trying to keep all neck's intact. This of course was not only vital to their continued participant in the competition, but as they were the only participations, vital to the continuation of the competition itself.

The French film crew confided that there was much local opposition to the competition, especially from the older generations, whose conservative stance on the role of a Tibetan woman dissuaded many of the potential candidates from entering. Personally, I think the competition gives the woman a great opportunity to become more involved in the community as well as to gain the much media attention after the Olympic lights on Tibet have faded. However, I would change two things:

Firstly I would omit the swimsuit round (definitely not appropriate for either the culture or for 'empowering' women). And Secondly, I would create a parallel competition of Mr Tibet 2008. In fact the winner was a recent arrival from Tibet. She is only 18 years old, and joined the competition because she needs money to fulfill her dreams to study. Indeed, now with 100,000 rupees she can not only fulfill her wishes but also lift some of the financial burden of starting her new life in Exile. As a young Buddhist Tibetan woman refugee I am not sure how much she has learned from her week of intensive NGO visits, but for sure she spent ten days twisting herself into positions which I know she had never done before (and unfortunately, I am not sure if she will do again!)


Yet in contrast to most other national beauty pageants, once in the international arena Miss Tibet is most definitely political.


Miss Tibet 2006 withdrew from the Miss Tourism Pageant in Malaysia after China put pressure on the organisers to bar Tibet from the event. As a result Miss Tibet was given an ultimatum to either wear a slash labelled 'Miss Tibet-China' or to pull out. Thankfully, just like the thousands of exiled Tibetans stranded in India because they refuse to take a Chinese passport, Miss Tibet 2006 did not give into pressure. Instead Miss Tibet 2006 stood firmly for the real principles behind her 'label'; which is that of a young exiled woman standing for a Free Tibet precisely because she has the Freedom to.