Chinese scholars stay away from research into the Cultural Revolution, a period of political chaos whipped up by late leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) which led to widespread prosecution and violence.
Overseas Chinese historians, however, have written about the campaign against the Mongolians.
Some said 16,222 people were killed and 87,180 people crippled by beatings or torture during the 1967 campaign, with estimates of up to 346,000 Mongolians persecuted.
In his book on Tibetans, Golden Holy Mountain, Yuan depicts how the government forced lamas and nuns to have sex and Tibetans to abandon their ancient tradition of sky burial, insisting on ground burial which is tantamount to sending the dead to hell.
Yuan said he based the book on internal government documents he obtained and confirmed through interviews with lamas, students, herders as well as government officials.
"I want to tell everybody they need to protect Tibetan Buddhism's spirituality," Yuan said. "This type of lifestyle is under threat right now."
He is now anxiously awaiting the Australian government's decision on his asylum plea after Zhao's case was recently rejected. She is appealing.
China has said Yuan's asylum claims were "completely unreasonable" and demanded Australia treat him as an illegal immigrant.
Australian officials in Beijing did not respond to requests for comment.
In recent years, many scholars have fled overseas, frustrated by strict controls on their research and writings.
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