Not long before, the U.S. President Barack Obama met with the exiled monk the 14th Dalai Lama in the Map Room of the White House despite strong objection of the Chinese government.

Jamyang Puntsok, an ordinary college student of Tibetan ethnic background wrote a letter to Obama, questioning over the U.S. president's inconvincible respect towards historical truth about Tibet and China's sovereignty. Here follows the translation:

July 19, 2011 

Dear Mr.Obama,

First of all, I'd like to introduce myself to you. I'm a Tibetan college student majoring in Tibetan language, literature and history. As many young people in your country, I love my motherland and cherish the plain yet happy life I enjoy today.

Here, I'd like to tell you, Mr. President, about the history of Tibet on behalf of all Chinese people including the new generation of Tibetans.

Above all, I'd like to review and show you some historical facts.

In the 1950s, when exploring the Karuo Ruins in east Tibet's Chamdo area, archaeologists found that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Yellow River Valley were culturally interdependent with paralleled level of development, indicating that Tibet has been inextricably tied up with the rest of China before Chirist.

Early at the beginning of 7th century, after the Tang Dynasty coming into power, the Tibetan king Songtsan Gambo, who united Tibetan tribes and established the Tubo Kingdom, sent envoys twice to make marriage proposals to the Tang Dynasty. At last, Princess Wencheng went a long way to Tibet and married the Songtsan Gambo, bringing a large quantity of gold and advanced techniques, such as wine making, paper making, milling and so on. Songtsan Gambo was later appointed as "West Prince" by Tang's ruling emperor.

During the Yuan Dynasty, under the direct administration of the Chinese central government, the local regime in Tibet officially came to an end.

In 1247, the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty conferred the title "Imperial Tutor" to Pagpa (or Pags-pa), a predominant figure of Sagya Sect, a branch of Tibetan Buddhism, giving him a free hand to the Buddhism affairs across the country. At the same time, a special organization was also set up to exert China's absolute sovereignty over Tibet through the appointment of officials, establishment of military organizations, tax levy policy and so on.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese central government centralized its administration of different Buddhism sects in Tibet. In 1587, the central government of the Ming Dynasty showed special favor to the 3rd Dalai Lama, an abbot of the Gelug Sect, by allowing him to pay tributes and granting him the title of Dorjichang. 

The emperors Shunzhi and Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty also conferred titles to the 5th Dalai Lama and the 5th Panchen Lama. Also it was in the Qing Dynasty that the ritual of "drawing lot from the golden urn" to determine the reincarnated soul boy of the Living Buddha came into being. 

In 1940, Wu Zhongxin, chief of the Commission for Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs of National Government, arrived in Lhasa to preside over the enthronement ceremony of the 14th Dalai Lama. In early 1949, the Chinese central government also dispatched special envoys to attend the reincarnation celebration of the 9th Panchen Lama.

Then came to the historical moment in 1951 when the Agreement of the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, also known as the "17-Article Agreement", was signed in Beijing. Both the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama expressed their supports to the agreement. By then, Tibet was peacefully liberated.

All above are irrefutable historical facts, indicating that Tibet has been an inseparable part of China since ancient time.

During the past 23 year in my life, I've never experienced miseries and bitterness as my parents had. Both of them are reluctant to look back.

My parent said their life consisted of two utterly different parts: the miserable life in old Tibet and the new life today. Obviously, the former refers to the hard days under the feudal serfdom system before 1959 when Tibet was tyrannously ruled by upper-class aristocrats and monks.

I was told that serfs and slaves deprived of freedom and dignity took up more than 95 percent of the total population in Tibet during those times. The feudal lords and the aristocrats could trade and transfer the serfs, present them as gifts, or mortgage them for debts. Due to the acute shortage of food, the serfs were reduced to skin and bones. What was worse, they had to suffer from leather scourge frequently.

Once, my mom was almost killed by her owner because of losing a lamb. At last, she escaped and survived after spending one month running to the south of Tibet.

Such stories often came to my ears.

In 1959, some reactionaries of the upper class in Tibet led by the Dalai Lama launched a rebellion and the Dalai Lama fled to India after its failure.

Thanks to the following Democratic Reform, my parents not only had their own land, houses and herds, but also set themselves free from beating and lashing forever. The former serfs and slaves celebrated their new life by making a bonfire of the land indentures, usury bills and serf ownership documents--a scene which never fades away from mom's memory.

Mr. President, I see many Americans are interested in Tibet, and some of them have offered technical and financial supports to help improve the educational conditions and living standards in Tibet through some foundations. If you, Mr. President, are also one of those well-doers, I would like, on behalf of all Tibetan people, express my sincere gratitude to you.

By the way, Mr. President, do you have any idea what kind of help Tibetan people really want？

Now, let's see what kind of person the Dalai Lama first.

The Dalai Lama has been vigorously agitating for "Tibetan independence" and sabotaging the social stability in Tibet since his escape 50 years ago. We will never agree to his claim as "spokesman for the Tibetan people" because he contributed nothing to our happy life in the last half a century apart from turning a blind eye to it.

The news of your meeting with the Dalai Lama really upset me. If I got it right, it was the second meeting of the kind between you two at the White House. Purely on a state level, the meeting has not only grossly interfered with China's internal affairs, but harmed the China-US relations and further cooperation. Meanwhile, your act has hurt the feeling of all Chinese people including Tibetans. Aren't you aware of the overwhelming indignation from netizens following your reception of the Dalai Lama?

After your meeting, the topic "WHAT ON EARTH DOES THE U.S. WANT? TO THROW WE TIBETANS BACK TO THE BRUTAL OLD SOCIETY?" became ever hotter on our campus.

Boasting abundant tourism resources and unique culture, Tibet has always been a dream for tourists at home and abroad. For sure, people in the highland region have been receiving their guest from every corner of the world with an open mind.

However, this doesn't mean that "Tibet is a card that could be bandied about anytime by some western politicians". Neither our country nor our Chinese people will ignore this!

As you frequently talk of "respecting the human's dignity" in your speeches, you should know clearly that the dignity of the Tibetan people should not be violated either. Tibetans will never tolerate any manner going too far away against our bottom line. 

In the old society, children from serfs' families suffered from hunger and cold, and were deprived of receiving basic education, not to mention the access to higher education. There were only a few private schools for aristocrats's children. Nowadays, with a well-structured educational system, Tibet has not only kindergartens, primary schools, junior and senior high schools and universities, but also special colleges of Tibetan medicine. Besides, the preferential "Three Guarantees" policy was also carried out to cover costs on food, accommodation and tuition fees for Tibetans students during the compulsory education period.

As a native Tibetan, I feel lucky to enjoy the fruits of the new society. With better education and living conditions, I am not only fluent in Tibetan, Chinese and English, but also proficient in using computer to chat with my foreign friends on MSN. Of course, I am only one of the tens of thousands of Tibetan students.

Mr. President, I have to knit up this letter today although I still have a lot of things to tell you.

I hope that you could visit Tibet one day to experience in person all what I have said here. By then, I would be willing to be your guide to show you around. I believe you will have a better understanding of the Tibetan people who will invite you to dance on the prairie and have a cup of highland barley wine at their homes. You will see that Tibetan people are as humorous as the people in your country. And I'm sure you will find that Tibet is a place where you will be reluctant to leave.

Please remember me to all American people and to your wife: Tashi Delek!

                                                                                                                                                                                    Yours truly,
                                                                                                                                                                            Jamyang Puntsok