If you have watched Game of Thorns, hope you can read Game of One Year Gap. I am trying to find an answer to this hypothetical question, who will live longer, (Chinese Communist Party) CPC’s PRC centenary (in 2049) or H.H. the Dalai Lama’s long living of 113 year-old? In the midst of LS-PT tug-of-war and personality clashes which dragged Tibetan exile community into war of words, I pondered over things that confused me this month due to my either thought-provoking mind-set or scheming.

China’s 19^th CPC National Congress that began on 18 October and concluded on 24 October promised two centenary goals of CPC’s and PRC’s centenary foundation. Though CPC’s centenary is found to be more realistic and materializing given only 4 years remained to achieve the goal, the PRC’s centenary seems little harder to achieve as CPC has to go 32 years more (the age of the author) to achieve the goal.

China always has restive regions to handle in all its years since foundation of PRC. The Xinjiang and Tibetan region, apart from specially administered Hong Kong, has been boiling with distaste against China’s party dictatorship. Even the Chinese Han majority are not so satisfied with the way politics is being handled; this was evident from China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing, the dissents many of whom are in west who continued to struggle against one-party rule in their country.

Over the decades, the CPC ran country has produced large number of refugees due to political reasons. One of the most famous and global icon has been none other than the Tibetan (spiritual) leader, His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama, the longest living Dalai Lama, who had 6 years ago renounced political leadership by passing his political mantle to democratically elected Sikyong. However, the noble laureate Tibetan leader sounds more hectic than ever before when he quit political leadership. Even at the age of 83, he continued to globe-trot, preaching world leaders and people on peace, love and compassion.

More importantly he has been saying that Tibetans will one day see him returning to his homeland and both Tibetans inside and outside Tibet can unite. To this he prophesized that he pray and hope to live till 113 time and again, sending hopes around world for Tibet’s future. However, recently concluded 19^th CPC National Congress has Xi Jinping hoping for two centenary goals; CPC Centenary and CPC establishment of PRC Centenary. His Holiness Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet and unification of Tibetans around the world in their former country would suggest an era of post-CPC reign in China. Dalai Lama can’t return anytime under current CPC regime, where freedom as designed by him is unacceptable to China. The only time HHDL returns to Tibet and Tibetans unite in their country would be post-CPC China.

I calculated both their dreams and found that HHDL’s dream of living till 113 is achieved around 2048 which is just one year away from CPC’s dream of achieving PRC centenary in 2049. Dalai Lama’s return to homeland means PRC centenary is far from success, but if CPC succeeds in PRC centenary than Dalai Lama’s dream of returning to Tibet is far from goal. Will Dalai Lama’s record breaking long live would overtake China’s PRC centenary dream, or will CPC succeed in achieving this goal remains question. Which year will reign our history 2048 or 2049, the gap of one year known as ‘The Game of One Year Gap’.

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