Published by: World Tibet Network News, Thursdsay, August 8, 1996

BEIJING (Aug. 8) XINHUA - Before he died in 1989, the 10th Panchen Lama, a former religious leader in China, told a friend that supporting the Communist Party of China for 40 years had proved to be a wise choice.

That friend, Li Zuomin, has spoken out in response to recent Western media reports that portray the late Panchen as a man deeply prejudiced against the Chinese Communist Party (CPC), and who claimed that the Party also was on its guard against him.

Li recently disclosed stories about the late Panchen Lama for the first time to Xinhua.

The 69-year-old Li, who speaks Tibetan, Chinese and English, was the Panchen's translator and long-time close friend.

"Those reports are not true," Li said, "and as an old friend of the Great Master Panchen, I should clarify the rumors."

Panchen Erdini Qoigyi Gyaincian was vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Li met the 12-year-old Panchen in 1950. "Intelligent and steady, this is my first impression of the Living Buddha," Li recalled. Li gradually became an important figure in the Panchen's entourage. Li said that the Panchen often called him "my old pal."

Li frequently traveled to Tibet with the Panchen. Li remembered a trip they took through 33 counties of the Autonomous Region on horseback. Because they were the only good riders in the group, the rest usually lagged far behind, Li said.

Once, during an inspection tour, the Panchen asked Li to "work as my personal secretary when I wrote my memoirs."

Li's last tour with the Panchen to Tibet was in 1989, when the Panchen came to Zhaxi Lhunbo Monastery, residence of all Panchen Lamas in Xigaze,to preside over the inauguration ceremony for a new tower under which 5th through 9th Panchen Lamas are buried.

"He was excited, and somewhat nervous at the same time. He attended to every detail himself and slept for no more than two hours everyday," Li recalled.

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After the successful ceremony, the Panchen was too excited to sleep andinvited Li to his living room to talk. They chatted till 2 o'clock the next morning.

The Panchen told Li of his worries about the separatists, and said he would continue to fight against them.

He also said that the joint burial of the previous five Panchen Lamas had been his wish for a long time, and he thanked the central government and the Tibet Autonomous Region for helping him fulfill it.

He said that he faced a huge choice at the age of 11: the KuomintangNationalists had arranged a flight to take him to Taiwan, and at the same time the Tibet local government wanted him to return to Tibet from Qinghai Province where he was enthroned.

He sent a representative to the People's Liberation Army and the CentralPeople's Government, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party,to learn the details of the situation. He later declared his support for the central government and expressed his hope for the early liberation of Tibet.

"This is the first major political decision I made," the Panchen told Li.

The Panchen told Li that he felt uneasy about the flattery of some scholars, but that he believed Li was unlike his colleagues. "You are honest and I trust you," the Panchen told Li.

This was to be their last talk. The Panchen died of a heart attack five days later, at the age of 51.

"Even now, I feel very sad about him," Li said, adding that with the Panchen's death, he lost a true friend, and the state and religious circles lost an outstanding leader.

There have been frequent reports in the Western media that the Panchen once said before his death that Tibet lost more than it gained under Communist rule.

Li refuted this in his recollection of the Panchen.

The Panchen was imprisoned for eight years during the Cultural Revolution (1968-1978). Li said he regrets this, but explained that the Cultural Revolution was a nationwide calamity, certainly not intended particularly against Tibet, nor the Panchen alone. Even the then Chinese president Liu Shaoqi died in prison, where he was kept as a political prisoner during this period, Li said.

When the Cultural Revolution ended, the central authorities immediatelyannounced the Panchen's reinstatement.

According to Li, the Panchen said on the day he was returned to his former post, that "should there not be the Chinese Communist Party, I would not have been what I am today."

Li also told a story about the Panchen's last haircut. The day before the ceremony for the joint burial of the five Panchen Lamas, the 10th Panchen wanted his hair trimmed.

Local officials in Xigaze found a female hairdresser, whom they considered to be the best in town. However, according to religious traditions, women are not permitted to serve living buddhas.

Li said to the Panchen, "I'm a barber in my spare time, can I help you?"He used the Panchen's homemade barber tools and gave the leader a haircut for the ceremony.

Half a year after the Panchen's death, Li paid respects to his friend'sremains. "His muscles were still flexible, and his skin looked as if he were still alive," Li recalled.

The Panchen's remains are in a gold tower in the Zhaxi Lhunbo Monastery, which was built by the central government at a cost of 70 million yuan (10.29 million US dollars).