Festival of Tibet: Official Biographer of the Dalai Lama is Guest of Honor

On Tuesday, May 1, California State University, Dominguez Hills, in association with the Tibetan Association of Southern California, will present the Festival of Tibet on its campus. The event will take place in the ballroom and courtyard of the Loker Student Union from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The festival will include film screenings, performances, food and information about the central Asian country that has been under Chinese occupation for nearly 50 years. Ngawangthondup Narkyid, (also known as Kuno) Consultant for Tibetan Language and Literature in the Office of His Holiness (H.H.) the 14th Dalai Lama, will be the guest of honor.

Ngawangthondup Narkyid was born in Tzethang, Tibet, in 1931. In 1948, after graduating from the Academic Institute at the Potala Palace, he became a staff member of the Secretary Council of the Tibetan Government. In 1959, he joined the Tibetan Government-in-Exile and was then appointed as a staff member of the Foreign Affairs Department. He worked on Chinese documents and translating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into Tibetan. Beginning in 1960, he served as the general secretary of the first Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile for two years and as the general secretary of foreign affairs for eight years. He served as the official biographer of the Dalai Lama from 1984 to 2004.

The Festival of Tibet will begin at 10 a.m. with a screening of a documentary on Tibet in the Loker ballroom. Concurrently, the “Taste of Tibet,” featuring traditional Tibetan food, and local Tibetan vendors selling Tibetan arts and crafts in the courtyard. At noon, Narkyid will speak on “Living Harmoniously in a Chaotic World.” He will be joined by Tenzing Chonden, elected North American representative to the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, who will speak about “Tibet and the Tibetan People.” Traditional Tibetan Cultural performances will take place during the program in the ballroom and in the courtyard at 1:15 p.m. This will be followed by a Q&A session with Narkyid, Pema Chhinjor, former cabinet minister of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, Chonden and Gilah Yelin Hirsch, CSUDH professor of art. The festival also will include a screening of the feature film, “Kundun,” based on the true story of H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama at 2:30 p.m. in the ballroom.

The festival is co-sponsored by CSUDH Academic Affairs; Student Affairs; the Multicultural Center; the Institute for the Study of Cultural Diversity and Internationalization; Toro Productions; the Loker Student Union; Associated Students Inc.; the Office of Student Life; University Advancement; the Tibetan Association of Southern California; and the Los Angeles Friends of Tibet.

Parking permits are $3 and are available from the yellow dispensing machines at the perimeters of the parking lots. CSU Dominguez Hills is located at 1000 East Victoria St. in the city of Carson, off Avalon Boulevard between the 91 and 405 freeways, east of the 110 Freeway from 190th Street, which becomes East Victoria Street.

For more information on the Festival of Tibet, contact Patricia Hamilton at (310) 243-2589; phamilton@csudh.edu; or Gilah Yelin Hirsch at gilah@linkline.com.