Controversial Tibet exhibit closes at Elmhurst library

An exhibit about Tibet in the Elmhurst Library faced criticism from the local Tibetan community who said it obscured Chinese oppression in the region. Photo via NYC.gov.

By David Brand

An Elmhurst library exhibit about Tibet sponsored by an affiliate of the Chinese Consulate has closed after facing criticism from the local Tibetan community, the Queens Public Library said Friday.

The exhibit inside the Queens Public Library’s Elmhurst branch featured photos of Tibet and Tibetans as part of a series called “China Today,” that was funded in part by the Chinese consultant. Residents of Tibet and members of the Tibetan diaspora have long advocated for self-determination from China, an independence movement that the Chinese government has suppressed, sometimes with violence.

The group Students for a Free Tibet said the exhibit distorted reality by obscuring Chinese oppression in the territory. More than 10,000 Tibetans live in Queens, according to the Tibet House.

“Even for many local Tibetan-American and refugee members of our own community here in Queens, this exhibition is a brutal reminder of the suffering they and their families have directly faced for generations, and the ongoing human rights atrocities and environmental crises in Tibet,” Students for a Free Tibet wrote in an online petition addressed to QPL President Dennis Walcott.

Ngawang Tharchin, the president of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, told Gothamist that the exhibit is “not the real story of Tibet.”

QPL spokesperson Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska said Friday that the Chinese Consulate and its affiliate decided to “discontinue the exhibit.” 

“We thank the Tibetan community for their ongoing conversations with us, and we look forward to future collaboration with them,” Kern-Jedrychowska said.