Uttarakhand Information Centre

During Tibet’s history, it has been an independent country, divided into different countries, and a part of China each for a certain amount of time. Tibet was first unified under King Songtsän Gampo in the seventh century. A Government nominally headed by the Dalai Lamas, a line of spiritual leaders, ruled a large portion of the Tibetan region at various times from the 1640s until 1950s. During most of this period, the Tibetan administration was subordinate to the Chinese empire of the Qing Dynasty. The 13th Dalai Lama proclaimed Tibet independent in 1913, but this declaration was not accepted by China, nor recognized by any country as a de jure independent nation. As a
measure of the power that regents must have wielded, it is important to note that only three of the fourteen Dalai Lamas have actually ruled Tibet; regents ruled during 77 percent of the period from 1751 until 1960.The Communist Party of China gained control of central and western Tibet (Tibet area controlled by the Dalai Lama) after a decisive military victory at Chamdo in 1950. The 14th Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959.

Today, Tibet is administered by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) (Mainland China) and still claimed by the Republic of China (ROC) (Taiwan) in its constitution while a small part, according to the PRC and the ROC, is controlled by India. Both sides of Chinese government regard Tibet as part of China. Currently, Beijing and the Government of Tibet in Exile disagree over when Tibet became a part of China, and whether the incorporation into China of Tibet is legitimate according to international law. Since what constitutes Tibet is a matter of much debate neither its size nor population are simple matters of fact, due to various entities claiming differing parts of the area as a Tibetan region.

Contents 1 Names 2 Language 3 History 3.1 13th, 14th and 15th centuries 3.2 16th and 17th centuries 3.3 18th century 3.4 19th century 3.5 20th century 3.5.1 Independence proclaimed 3.5.2 Tibet under the People’s Republic of China 4 Geography 4.1 Cities, towns and villages 5 Economy 6 Demographics 6.1 View of the Tibetan exile community 6.2 View of the People’s Republic of China 7 Human rights 8 Culture 8.1 Religion 8.1.1 Tibetan Buddhism 8.1.2 Islam 8.1.3 Christianity 8.1.4 Buddhist monasteries in Tibet 8.2 Tibetan art 8.3 Architecture 8.4 Music 8.5 Festivals 8.6 Other 9 Cuisine 10 Tibet in popular culture 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External links

Names

“Tibet” names and definitions are linguistically and politically loaded language.

The modern Standard Tibetan endonym (or autonym) Bod བོད་ means “Tibet” or “Tibetan Plateau“, although it originally meant the central region “Ü-Tsang“. The standard pronunciation of Bod, [pʰø̀ʔ], is transcribed Bhö or Phö. Some scholars believe the first written reference to Bod “Tibet” was the ancient “Bautai” people recorded in the (ca. 1st century) Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and (ca. 2nd century) Geographia.

The two Standard Mandarin exonyms for “Tibet” are classical Tǔbō or Tǔfān 吐蕃 and modern Xīzàng 西藏 (which now specifies the “Tibet Autonomous egion“). Tubo or Tufan “ancient name for Tibet” was first transliterated into Chinese characters as 土番 in the 7th-century (Li Tai) and as 吐蕃 in the 10th-century (Book of Tang describing 608-609 emissaries from Tibetan King Namri Songtsen to Emperor Yang of Sui). In the Middle Chinese spoken during that period, Tǔbō or Tǔfān are reconstructed (by Bernhard Karlgren) as T’uopuâ and T’uop’i̭wɐn. Xizang 西藏 was coined during the Qing Dynasty period of the Jiaqing Emperor (r. 1796-1820). The People’s Republic of China government equates Xīzàng with the Xīzàng Zìzhìqū 西藏自治区 “Tibet Autonomous Region”.

The English word Tibet or Thibet dates back to 1827. While historical linguists generally agree that “Tibet” names in European languages are loanwords from Arabic Tibat or Tobatt, they disagree over the original etymology. Many sources propose Tibetan Stod-bod (pronounced tö-bhöt) “Upper Tibet”,some suggest Turkic Töbäd “The Heights” (plural of töbän),and a few favor Chinese Tǔbō or Tǔfān.

Language

The Tibetan language is generally classified as a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan language family although the boundaries between ‘Tibetan’ and certain other Himalayan languages can be
unclear. According to Matthew Kapstein:

From the perspective of historical linguistics, Tibetan most closely resembles Burmese among the major languages of Asia. Grouping these two together with other apparently related languages spoken in the Himalayan lands, as well as in the highlands of Southeast Asia and the Sino-Tibetan frontier regions, linguists have generally concluded that there exists a Tibeto-Burman family of languages. More controversial is the theory that the Tibeto-Burman family is itself part of a larger language family, called Sino-Tibetan, and that through it Tibetan and Burmese are distant cousins of Chinese.

The language is spoken in numerous regional dialects which, although sometimes mutually intelligible, generally cannot be understood by the speakers of the different oral forms of Tibetan. It is employed throughout the Tibetan plateau and Bhutan and is also spoken in parts of Nepal and northern India, such as Sikkim. In general, the dialects of central Tibet (including Lhasa), Kham, Amdo and some smaller nearby areas are considered Tibetan dialects. Other forms, particularly Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Sherpa, and Ladakhi, are considered by their speakers, largely for political reasons, to be separate languages. However, if the latter group of Tibetan-type languages are included in the calculation then ‘greater Tibetan’ is spoken by approximately 6 million people across the Tibetan Plateau. Tibetan is also spoken by approximately 150,000 exile speakers who have fled from modern-day Tibet to India and other countries.

Although spoken Tibetan varies according to the region, the written language, based on Classical Tibetan, is consistent throughout. This is probably due to the long-standing influence of the Tibetan empire, whose rule embraced (and extended at times far beyond) the present Tibetan linguistic area, which runs from northern Pakistan in the west to Yunnan and Sichuan in the east, and from north of the Kokonor lake (Qinghai) south as far as Bhutan. The Tibetan language has its own script that it shares with Ladakhi and Dzongkha, which is derived from the ancient Indian Brahmi script.

History

Under the next few kings who followed Songsten Gampo, Buddhism became established as the state religion and Tibetan power increased even further over large areas of Central Asia while major inroads were made into Chinese territory, even reaching the Tang’s capital Chang’an (modern Xi’an) in late 763. However, Tibetan troops’ occupation of Chang’an only lasted for fifteen days after they were defeated by Tang and its ally, the Turkic empire Uyghur Khaganate.

Nanzhao (in Yunnan and neighbouring regions) remained under Tibetan control from 750 to 794, when they turned on their Tibetan overlords and helped the Chinese inflict a serious defeat on the
Tibetans.

In 747, the hold of Tibet was loosened by the campaign of general Gao Xianzhi, who tried to re-open the direct communications between Central Asia and Kashmir. By 750 the Tibetans had lost almost all of their central Asian possessions to the Chinese. However, after Gao Xianzhi’s defeat by the Arabs and Qarluqs at the Battle of Talas river (751), Chinese influence decreased rapidly and Tibetan influence resumed. In 821/822 CE Tibet and China signed a remarkable peace treaty. A bilingual account of this treaty including details of the borders between the two countries are inscribed on a stone pillar which stands outside the Jokhang temple in Lhasa.Tibet continued as a Central Asian empire until the mid-9th century.

13th, 14th and 15th centuries

At the end of the 1230s, the Mongols turned their attention to Tibet. At that time, Mongol armies had already conquered Northern China, much of Central Asia, and as far as Russia and modern Ukraine. The Tibetan nobility, however, was fragmented and mainly occupied with internal strife. Göden, a brother of Güyük, entered the country in 1240. A second invasion led to the submission of almost all Tibetan states. In 1244, Göden summoned the Sakya Pandita to his court, and in 1247 appointed Sakya the Mongolian viceroy for Central Tibet, though the eastern provinces of Kham and Amdo remained “under direct Mongol rule”.When Kublai Khan founded the Yuan Dynasty in 1271, Tibet became a part of it.

Between 1346 and 1354, towards the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Pagmodru myriarch, Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen (1302–1364) toppled the Sakya. The following 80 years were a period of relative stability. They also saw the birth of the Gelugpa school (also known as Yellow Hats) by the disciples of Tsongkhapa Lobsang Dragpa, and the founding of the important Ganden, Drepung, and Sera monasteries near Lhasa. After the 1430s, the country entered another period of internal power struggles.

16th and 17th centuries

In 1578, Altan Khan of the Tümed Mongols invited Sonam Gyatso, a high lama of the Gelugpa school. They met near Khökh Nuur, where Altan Khan first referred to Sönam Gyatso as the Dalai Lama; Dalai being the Mongolian translation of the Tibetan name Gyatso, or “Ocean”.

The first Europeans to arrive in Tibet were Portuguese missionaries in 1624 and were welcomed by the King and Queen of Guge and some Tibetan people in western Tibet. They were allowed to build a church and to introduce Christian belief. The king of Guge eagerly accepted Christianity as an offsetting religious influence to dilute the thriving Gelugpa and to counterbalance his potential rivals and consolidate his position. All missionaries were expelled at lama’s insistence in 1745.

In the 1630s, Tibet became entangled in the power struggles between the
rising Manchu and
various Mongol and Oirad factions. Ligden Khan of the MongolianChakhar tribe, retreating from
the Manchu forces, set out to destroy the Yellow Hat Gelug school in Tibet but died on
the way near Kokonor, in 1634.His vassal Tsogt Taij continued the
fight but was defeated and killed by Güshi Khan of the Khoshud in 1637, who, in turn,
became the overlord over Tibet, and acted as a “Protector of the Yellow
Church” Güshi helped the Fifth Dalai
Lama to establish himself as the highest spiritual and political authority
in Tibet and destroyed any potential rivals.

18th century

In 1705, Lobzang Khan of the
Khoshud used the 6th Dalai Lama’s refusal
of the role of a monk (although the incumbent did not reject his political role
as Dalai Lama) as an excuse to take control of Tibet. The regent was murdered,
and the Dalai Lama sent to Beijing. He died on the way, also near Kokonor,
ostensibly from illness. Lobzang Khan appointed a new Dalai Lama, who, however,
was not accepted by the Gelugpa school.

A rival
reincarnation was found in the region of Kokonor. The Dzungars (one of
the Mongol tribes) invaded Tibet in 1717, deposed and killed a pretender to the
position of Dalai Lama (who had been promoted by Lhabzang), which met with
widespread approval. However, the Dzungars soon began to loot the holy places of
Lhasa which brought a swift response from Emperor Kangxi in 1718, but
his military expedition was annihilated by the Dzungars not far from Lhasa.

Emperor Kangxi finally expelled the Dzungars from Tibet in 1720 and
the troops were hailed as liberators. They brought Kelzang Gyatso with them from
Kumbum to Lhasa and he was installed as the Seventh Dalai Lama in
1721, though they did not make Tibet a province, allowed it to maintain its own
officials and legal and administrative systems, and levied no taxes.However, the Manchu Qing put Amdo under their control in 1724,
and incorporated eastern Kham into neighbouring Chinese
provinces in 1728. The Qing government sent a resident commissioner, namely Amban, to Lhasa. In 1751, Emperor Qianlong installed the
Dalai Lama as both the spiritual leader and political leader of Tibet leading
the government, namely Kashag.

While the ancient relations between Tibet and China are more complex, there
is generally little doubt regarding the subordination of Tibet to Qing China
following first decades of the 18th century. In 1788, Gurkha
forces sent by Bahadur Shah, the Regent of
Nepal, invaded
Tibet, occupying a number of frontier districts. The young Panchen Lama fled to
Lhasa and Qing Emperor Qianlong sent
troops to Lhasa, upon which the Nepalese withdrew agreeing to pay a large annual
sum. In 1791 the Nepalese Gurkhas invaded Tibet a second time, seizing Shigatse and
destroyed, plundered, and desecrated the great Tashilhunpo Monastery. The
Panchen Lama was forced to flee to Lhasa once again. Emperor Qianlong then sent
an army of 17,000 men to Tibet. In 1793, with the assistance of Tibetan troops,
they managed to drive the Nepalese troops to within about 30 km of Kathmandu.

The 18th century brought Jesuits and Capuchins
from Europe who gradually met opposition from Tibetan lamas who finally expelled them
from Tibet in 1745. However, at the time not all Europeans were banned from the
country — in 1774 a Scottish nobleman, George Bogle,
came to Shigatse to investigate trade for the British East
India Company, introducing the first potatoes into Tibet.

19th century

However, by the 19th century the situation of foreigners in Tibet grew more
tenuous. The British Empire was
encroaching from northern India into the Himalayas and Afghanistan and the Russian Empire of the tsars was expanding
south into Central Asia and each power
became suspicious of intent in Tibet. Sándor
Kőrösi Csoma, the Hungarian scientist spent 20 years in British India (4
years in Ladakh)
trying to visit Tibet. He created the first Tibetan-English dictionary.

By the 1850s Tibet had banned all foreigners from Tibet and shut its borders
to all outsiders.

In 1865 Great Britain began
secretly mapping Tibet. Trained Indian surveyor-spies disguised as pilgrims or
traders counted their strides on their travels across Tibet and took readings at
night.

20th century

In 1904, a British
expedition to Tibet under the command of Colonel Francis
Younghusband, accompanied by a large military escort, invaded Tibet and
reached Lhasa. The British were spurred in part by a fear that Russia was
extending its power into Tibet, and partly by hope that negotiations with the
Dalai Lama would be more effective than with Chinese representatives. But on his way to Lhasa, Younghusband slaughtered many Tibetan troops in Gyangzê who tried to stop
the British advance.

When the mission reached Lhasa, the Dalai Lama had already fled to Urga in Mongolia, but
Younghusband found the option of returning to India empty-handed untenable. He
proceeded to draft a treaty unilaterally, and have it signed in the Potala by
the regent, Ganden Tri Rinpoche, and any other local officials he could gather
together as an ad hoc government. The treaty made provisions for the
frontier between Sikkim and Tibet to be respected,
for free trade between British and Tibetan subjects, and for an indemnity to be
paid from the Qing court to the British Government for its expenses in
dispatching armed troops to Lhasa. The provisions of this 1904 treaty were
confirmed in a 1906 treaty Anglo-Chinese Convention signed between Britain
and China. The British, for a fee from the Qing court, also agreed “not to annex
Tibetan territory or to interfere in the administration of Tibet”, while China
engaged “not to permit any other foreign state to interfere with the
territory or internal administration of Tibet”.

The position of British Trade Agent at Gyangzê was occupied from 1904 until
1944. It was not until 1937, with the creation of the position of “Head of
British Mission Lhasa”, that a British officer had a permanent posting in Lhasa
itself.

André Migot, a French
doctor who travelled for many months in Tibet in 1947 described the complex
border arrangements between Tibet and China, and how they had developed:

“In order to offset the damage done to their interests by the [1906]
treaty between England and Tibet, the Chinese set about extending westwards
the sphere of their direct control and began to colonize the country round Batang. The
Tibetans reacted vigorously. The Chinese governor was killed on his way to Chamdo and his
army put to flight after an action near Batang; several missionaries were also
murdered, and Chinese fortunes were at a low ebb when a special commissioner
called Chao Yu-fong appeared on the scene.

Acting with a savagery which earned him the sobriquet of “The Butcher of
Monks,” he swept down on Batang, sacked the lamasery, pushed on to Chamdo, and
in a series of victorious campaigns which brought his army to the gates of
Lhasa, re-established order and reasserted Chinese domination over Tibet. In
1909 he recommended that Sikang should be constituted a
separate province comprising thirty-six subprefectures with Batang as the
capital. This project was not carried out until later, and then in modified
form, for the Chinese Revolution of 1911 brought Chao’s career to an end and
he was shortly afterwards assassinated by his compatriots.

The troubled early years of the Chinese Republic saw the rebellion of most
of the tributary chieftains, a number of pitched battles between Chinese and
Tibetans, and many strange happenings in which tragedy, comedy, and (of
course) religion all had a part to play. In 1914 Great Britain, China, and
Tibet met at the conference table to try to restore peace, but this conclave
broke up after failing to reach agreement on the fundamental question of the
Sino-Tibetan frontier. This, since about 1918, has been recognized for
practical purposes as following the course of the Upper Yangtze. In these
years the Chinese had too many other preoccupations to bother about
reconquering Tibet. However, things gradually quieted down, and in 1927 the
province of Sikang was brought into being, but it consisted of only
twenty-seven subprefectures instead of the thirty-six visualized by the man
who conceived the idea. China had lost, in the course of a decade, all the
territory which the Butcher had overrun.

Since then Sikang has been relatively peaceful, but this short synopsis of
the province’s history makes it easy to understand how precarious this state
of affairs is bound to be. Chinese control was little more than nominal; I was
often to have first-hand experience of its ineffectiveness. In order to govern
a territory of this kind it is not enough to station, in isolated villages
separated from each other by many days’ journey, a few unimpressive officials
and a handful of ragged soldiers. The Tibetans completely disregarded the
Chinese administration and obeyed only their own chiefs. One very simple fact
illustrates the true status of Sikang’s Chinese rulers: nobody in the province
would accept Chinese currency, and the officials, unable to buy anything with
their money, were forced to subsist by a process of barter.”

In 1910, the Qing government sent a military expedition of its own to
establish direct Chinese rule and deposed the Dalai Lama in an imperial edict.
The Dalai Lama once again fled, this time to British India, in February
1910.

Independence proclaimed

The Dalai Lama returned to Tibet from India in July 1912 (after the fall of
the Qing dynasty), and expelled the Amban and all Chinese troops. In 1913, the Dalai Lama issued a proclamation that stated that the relationship
between the Chinese emperor and Tibet “had been that of patron and priest and
had not been based on the subordination of one to the other.” “We are a small, religious, and independent nation,” the proclamation
continued. For the next thirty-six years, Tibet enjoyed de facto independence while
China endured its Warlord era, civil war, and World War
II. Some Chinese sources argue that Tibet was still part of China throughout
this period.

Tibet under the People’s Republic of
China

With the invasion of Tibet in 1950 and the subsequent Seventeen
Point Agreement, the PRC asserted control over Tibet.

A rebellion against the Chinese occupation was led by noblemen and
monasteries and broke out in Amdo and eastern Kham in June 1956. The
insurrection, supported by the American CIA, eventually spread to Lhasa. It was crushed by 1959. During this campaign, tens
of thousands of Tibetans were killed and the 14th Dalai Lama and other
government principals fled to exile in India.

Chinese sources generally claim progress towards a prosperous and free
society in Tibet, with its pillars being economic development, legal
advancement, and peasant emancipation. These claims, however, have been refuted
by the Tibet Government-in-Exile and some indigenous Tibetans, who claim of
genocide in Tibet from the Chinese government, comparing it to Nazi
Germany. The official doctrine of the PRC classifies Tibetans as one of its 56 recognized
ethnic groups and part of the greater Zhonghua Minzu or
multi-ethnic Chinese nation. Warren Smith, an independent scholar and a
broadcaster with the Tibetan Service of Radio Free Asia,
whose work became focused on Tibetan history and politics after spending five
months in Tibet in 1982, portrays the Chinese as chauvinists who believe they
are superior to the Tibetans, and claims that the Chinese use torture, coercion
and starvation to control the Tibetans.

Mao’s Great Leap Forward
(1959-62) led to famine in Tibet. “In some places, whole families have perished
and the death rate is very high,” according to a confidential report by the
Panchen Lama sent to Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1962.”In the past Tibet lived in a dark barbaric feudalism but there was never such a
shortage of food, especially after Buddhism had spread….In Tibet from
1959-1961, for two years almost all animal husbandry and farming stopped. The
nomads have no grain to eat and the farmers have no meat, butter or salt,” the
report said.

The Central Tibetan Administration states that the number that have died of starvation,
violence, or other indirect causes since 1950 is approximately 1.2 million, which the Chinese Communist Party denies. The Chinese Communist Party(CCP)’s
official toll of deaths recorded for the whole of China for the years of the
Great Leap Forward is 14 million, but scholars have estimated the number of the
famine victims to be between 20 and 43 million.
According to Patrick French, former
director of the Free Tibet Campaign,
the estimate of 1.2 million in Tibet is not reliable because Tibetans were not
able to process the data well enough to produce a credible total. There were,
however, many casualties, with a figure of 400,000 extrapolated from a
calculation Warren W. Smith, a broadcaster of Radio Free Asia, made from census
reports of Tibet which show 200,000 “missing” from Tibet.^[51][52]

The subsequent Cultural Revolution was a catastrophe for Tibet and for the rest of the PRC. Large numbers of
Tibetans died violent deaths due to the Cultural Revolution, and the number of
intact monasteries in Tibet was reduced from thousands, to less than ten.
Tibetan resentment towards the Chinese deepened. Tibetans participated in the destruction, but it is not clear how many of them
actually embraced the Communist ideology, and how many participated out of fear
of becoming targets themselves. Resistors against the Cultural Revolution included Thrinley Chodron, a nun from
Nyemo, who led an armed rebellion that spread through eighteen xians (counties)
of the TAR, targeting Chinese Party officials and Tibetan collaborators, that
was ultimately suppressed by the PLA. Citing Tibetan Buddhist symbols which the
rebels invoked, Shakya calls this 1969 revolt “a millenarian uprising, an
insurgency characterized by a passionate desire to be rid of the oppressor.”

Projects that the PRC government claims to have benefited Tibet as part of
the China Western Development economic plan, such as the Qinghai-Tibet
Railway, have roused fears of facilitating military mobilisation and Han
migration. There is still ethnic imbalance in appointments and promotions to the civil and
judicial services in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, with disproportionately few
ethnic Tibetans appointed to these posts.

The PRC government claims that its rule over Tibet is an unalloyed
improvement, and that the China Western
Development plan is a massive, benevolent, and patriotic undertaking by the
wealthier eastern coast to help the western parts of China, including Tibet,
catch up in prosperity and living standards. But foreign organizations continue
to make occasional protests about aspects of CCP rule in Tibet because of
frequent reports of human rights violation in Tibet by groups such as Human Rights Watch.
The government of the PRC maintains that the Tibetan Government did almost
nothing to improve the Tibetans’ material and political standard of life during
its rule from 1913–59, and that they opposed any reforms proposed by the Chinese
government. According to the Chinese government, this is the reason for the
tension that grew between some central government officials and the local
Tibetan government in 1959.

The government of the PRC also rejects claims that the lives of Tibetans have
deteriorated, and states that the lives of Tibetans have been improved immensely
compared to self rule before 1950. Despite these claims, some 3,000 Tibetans brave hardship and danger to flee into
exile every year.(See also Nangpa La shootings.)

These claims are, however, disputed by many Tibetans. In 1989, the Panchen
Lama, finally allowed to return to Shigatse, addressed a crowd of 30,000 and
described what he saw as the suffering of Tibet and the harm being done to his
country in the name of socialist reform under the rule of the PRC in terms
reminiscent of the petition he had presented to Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in
1962.

In 1995, the Dalai Lama named 6 year old Gedhun Choekyi
Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama without the approval of the government of
China, while the PRC named another child, Gyancain Norbu in
conflict. Gyancain Norbu was raised in Beijing and has appeared occasionally on
state media. The PRC-selected Panchen Lama is rejected by exiled Tibetans and
anti-China groups who commonly refer to him as the “Panchen Zuma” (literally
“fake Panchen Lama”). Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family have gone missing —
believed by some to be imprisoned by China — and under a hidden identity for
protection and privacy according to the PRC.

The Dalai Lama has stated his willingness to negotiate with the PRC
government for genuine autonomy, but some groups, such as the Tibetan Youth
Congress, still call for full Tibetan independence. The Tibetan government in exile sees the millions of government-imported Han
immigrants and preferential socioeconomic policies, as presenting an urgent
threat to the Tibetan nation and culture. Tibetan exile groups say that despite recent attempts to restore the appearance
of original Tibetan culture to attract tourism, the traditional Tibetan way of
life is now irrevocably changed. Tashi Wangdi, the
Representative of the Dalai Lama, stated in an
interview that China’s Western China
Development program “is providing facilities for the resettlement of Han
Chinese in Tibet.”

In 2001 representatives of Tibet succeeded in gaining accreditation at a
United Nations-sponsored meeting of non-governmental
organizations. On 29 August Jampal Chosang, the head of the Tibetan
coalition, stated that China had introduced “a new form of apartheid” in Tibet
because “Tibetan culture, religion, and national identity are considered a
threat” to China.

In 2005, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered to hold talks with the 14th Dalai
Lama on the Tibet issue, provided he dropped the demand for independence. The
Dalai Lama said in an interview with the South China Morning
Post “We are willing to be part of the People’s Republic of China, to have
it govern and guarantee to preserve our Tibetan culture, spirituality and our
environment.” This statement was seen as a renewed diplomatic initiative by the
Tibetan government-in-exile. He had already said he would accept Chinese
sovereignty over Tibet but insisted on real autonomy over its religious and
cultural life. The Tibetan government-in-exile called on the Chinese government
to respond.Beijing has repeatedly rebuffed this offer, insisting that the Dalai Lama is
intent on complete independence, or the splitting apart of China iteself.

In January 2007 the Dalai Lama, in an interview on a private television
channel, said, “what we demand from the Chinese authority is more autonomy for
Tibetans to protect their culture”. He added that he had told the Tibetan people
not to think in terms of history and to accept Tibet as a part of China.

Talks between representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government
began again in May 2008 and again in July, but with little results. The two
sides agreed to meet again in October

Geography

Most modern geographical sources consider Tibet to be located in East
Asia,
while some (mostly European and American sources) have regarded Tibet as part ofCentral
Asia;
today’s maps of the West show a trend toward considering all of modern China,
including Tibet, to be part of East Asia.Some academic
institutions also include Tibet in their South Asia studies
programs. Tibet is west of China proper, and within China,
Tibet is regarded as part of 西部 (Xībù), a term usually translated by Chinese
media as “the Western section”, meaning “Western China”.

Tibet has some of the world’s tallest mountains, with several of them making
the top ten list. Mount Everest, at
8,848 metres (29,029 ft), is the highest
mountain on Earth, located on the border with
Nepal. Several
major rivers have their source in the Tibetan Plateau (mostly in present-day
Qinghai Province). These include Yangtze, Yellow
River, Indus River, Mekong, Ganges, Salween and the Yarlung Zangbo
River (Brahmaputra River) .
The Yarlung Zangbo
Grand Canyon, along the Yarlung Zangbo
River, is regarded by some as the deepest canyon in the world, and is even
slightly longer than Grand Canyon, hence it is regarded by many as the world’s
largest canyon. The Indus, Brahmaputra rivers originate from a lake (Tib: Tso
Mapham) in Western Tibet, near Mount Kailash. The
mountain is a holy pilgrimage for both Hindus and Tibetans. The Hindus
consider the mountain to be the abode of Lord Shiva. The Tibetan name for Mt.
Kailash is Khang Rinpoche. Tibet has numerous high-altitude lakes referred to in
Tibetan as tso or co. These include Qinghai Lake, Lake Manasarovar, Namtso, Pangong
Tso, Yamdrok Lake, Siling Co, Lhamo
La-tso, Lumajangdong Co, Lake
Puma Yumco, Lake Paiku, Lake
Rakshastal, Dagze Co and Dong Co. The Qinghai Lake (Koko
Nor) is the largest lake in the People’s Republic of China.

The atmosphere is severely dry nine months of the year, and average annual
snowfall is only 18 inches, due to the rain shadow effect whereby
mountain ranges prevent moisture from the ocean from reaching the plateaus.
Western passes receive small amounts of fresh snow each year but remain
traversable all year round. Low temperatures are prevalent throughout these
western regions, where bleak desolation is unrelieved by any vegetation beyond
the size of low bushes, and where wind sweeps unchecked across vast expanses of
arid plain. The Indian monsoon exerts some influence on
eastern Tibet. Northern Tibet is subject to high temperatures in the summer and
intense cold in the winter.

Cultural Tibet consists of several regions. These include Amdo (A mdo) in the
northeast, which is under the administration as part of the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan. Kham (Khams) in
the southeast, is divided among western Sichuan, northern Yunnan, southern Qinghai and the
eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Ü-Tsang (dBus
gTsang) (Ü in the center, Tsang in the center-west, and Ngari (mNga’
ris) in the far west) covered the central and western portion of Tibet
Autonomous Region. The distribution of Amdo and eastern Kham into surrounding
provinces was initiated by the Yongzheng Emperor
during the 18th century and has been continuously maintained by successive
Chinese governments.

The current effective eastern part of the boundary between China and India is
the McMahon Line. South of the
McMahon Line between China and India, the region popularly known in China as South
Tibet, is claimed by People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China as
part of the Tibet Autonomous
Region. It is currently administered by India as the majority part of the
state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Tibet Government in Lhasa altered its position on the McMahon Line in late 1947
when the local Tibetan government wrote a note presented to the newly
independent Indian Ministry of External Affairs laying claims to the Tawang
(inhabited by mostly ethnic Tibetans) south of the McMahon Line.However, the current Tibet government in exile which was founded in 1959, does
not include any area south of the McMahon line in their official claim of the
territory of Tibet. It also accepts the McMahon Line as the official border between southeastern
Tibet and India.

Tibetan cultural influences extend to the neighboring states of Bhutan, Nepal, regions of
India such as Sikkim, Ladakh, Lahaul, and Spiti, and adjacent
provinces of China where Tibetan Buddhism is the
predominant religion.

Cities, towns and villages

There are over 800 settlements in Tibet, Lhasa is Tibet’s traditional
capital and the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region. Lhasa contains the world
heritage site the Potala Palace and Norbulingka, the residences
of the Dalai Lama. Lhasa contains a
number of significant temples and monasteries which are deeply engrained in its
history including Jokhang and Ramoche Temple.

Shigatse is the second largest city in Tibet Autonomous Region, west of Lhasa. Gyantse, Chamdo are also
amongst the largest.

Other cities in cultural Tibet include, Nagchu, Nyingchi, Nedong, Barkam, Sakya,Gartse,Pelbar,Lhatse, and Tingri; in Sichuan, Kangding
(Dartsedo); in Qinghai, Jyekundo or
Yushu, Machen,
and Golmud. There
is also a large Tibetan settlement in South India near Kushalanagara. India
created this settlement for Tibetan refugees which had fled to India.

Economy

According to Chinese sources, Tibet Autonomous Region’s GDP in 2001 was 13.9
billion yuan (USD1.8billion)^[92]
The Central government exempts Tibet from all taxation and provides 90% of
Tibet’s government expenditures..
The Tibetan economy is dominated by subsistence
agriculture. Due to limited arable land, the primary occupation of the
Tibetan Plateau is raising livestock, such as sheep, cattle, goats, camels, yaks, dzo, and horses. The main
crops grown are barley, wheat, buckwheat, rye, potatoes, and
assorted fruits and vegetables. As a result of being a subsistence agricultural
society Tibet is ranked the lowest among China’s 31 provinces, on the Human Development Index according to UN Development Programme data.

In recent years, due to the increased interest in Tibetan Buddhism, tourism has become
an increasingly important sector, and is actively promoted by the
authorities. Tourism brings in the most income from the sale of handicrafts. These include
Tibetan hats, jewelry (silver and gold), wooden items, clothing, quilts,
fabrics, Tibetan rugs and carpets.
The Tibetan economy is heavily subsidized by the Central government and
government cadres receive the second-highest salaries in China.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway linking the region to Qinghai in China
proper was opened in 2006. The Chinese government claims that the line will promote the development of
impoverished Tibet. Opponents argue the railway will harm Tibet. For instance, Tibetan opponents
contend that it would only draw more Han Chinese residents, the country’s
dominant ethnic group, who have been migrating steadily to Tibet over the last
decade, bringing with them their popular culture. Opponents believe that the
large influx of Han Chinese will ultimately extinguish the local culture.

Other opponents argue that the railway will damage Tibet’s fragile ecology
and that most of its economic benefits will go to migrant Han Chinese. As activists call for a boycott of the railway, the Dalai Lama has urged
Tibetans to “wait and see” what benefits the new line might bring to them.
According to the Government-in-exile’s spokesmen, the Dalai Lama welcomes the
building of the railway, “conditioned on the fact that the railroad will bring
benefit to the majority of Tibetans.”

In January 2007, the Chinese government issued a report outlining the
discovery of a large mineral deposit under the Tibetan Plateau. The deposit has an estimated value of $128 billion and may double Chinese
reserves of zinc, copper, and lead. The Chinese government sees this as a way to
alleviate the nation’s dependence on foreign mineral imports for its growing
economy. However, critics worry that mining these vast resources will harm
Tibet’s fragile ecosystem and undermine Tibetan culture.

On January 15, 2009, China announced the construction of Tibet’s first expressway,
a 37.9-kilometre stretch of road in southwestern Lhasa. The project will cost
1.55 billion yuan ($227 million).

Demographics

Historically, the population of Tibet consisted of primarily ethnic Tibetans and some other
ethnic groups. According to tradition the original ancestors of the Tibetan
people, as represented by the six red bands in the Tibetan flag, are: the Se,
Mu, Dong, Tong, Dru and Ra. Other traditional ethnic groups with significant
population or with the majority of the ethnic group reside in Tibet (excluding
disputed area with India) include Bai people, Blang, Bonan, Dongxiang, Han, Hui Chinese, Lhoba, Lisu people, Miao, Mongols, Monguor (Tu
people), Menba
(Monpa), Mosuo, Nakhi, Qiang, Nu
people, Pumi, Salar, and Yi
people.

The issue of the proportion of the Han Chinese population in
Tibet is a politically sensitive one and is disputed. The Central Tibetan
Administration, an exile group, says that the PRC has actively swamped Tibet
with Han Chinese migrants in order to alter Tibet’s demographic makeup.

View of the Tibetan exile community

Between the 1960s and 1980s, many political prisoners from other parts of
China (over 1 million, according to Harry Wu) were sent to laogai (or “reform
through labor”) camps in Qinghai, where
they were then employed locally after release.

“The most important evidence comes from an official report written to
Premier Zhou Enlai in 1962 by the
late Panchen Lama, then head of the Tibetan government. The report noted that
“there has been an evident and severe reduction in the present-day Tibetan
population” due to the fact that “many people have been lost in battle,” “many
people were arrested and imprisoned [which] caused large numbers of people to
die abnormal deaths,” and “many people died of starvation or because they were
so physically weak that they could not resist minor illnesses”. . . . In a
speech delivered in 1987, the Panchen Lama estimated the number of prison
deaths in Qinghai at around 5 percent of the total population in the
area.”

Since the 1980s, increasing economic liberalization and internal mobility has
also resulted in the influx of many Han Chinese into Tibet for
work or settlement, though the actual number of this floating population
remains disputed.

The Government of
Tibet in Exile claims that, despite official statistics to the contrary, in
reality non-ethnic Tibetans (including Han Chinese and Hui
Muslims) outnumber ethnic Tibetans. It claims that this is as a result of an
active policy of demographically swamping the Tibetan people and further
diminishing any chances of Tibetan political independence
The Dalai
Lama has recently been reported as saying that the Tibetans had been reduced
to a minority “in his homeland”, by reference to population figures of Lhasa, and accusing
China of “demographic aggression”.

The Government of Tibet in Exile questions all statistics given by the PRC
government, since they do not include members of the People’s
Liberation Army garrisoned in Tibet, or the large floating population of
unregistered migrants.
The Qinghai-Tibet
Railway (Xining to Lhasa) completed in July 2006 is
also a major concern, exiled Tibetan Lhadon Tethong said the railway is to
further facilitate the influx of migrants.

The Government of Tibet in Exile quotes an issue of People’s Daily
published in 1959 to claim that the Tibetan population has dropped significantly
since 1959. According to the article, figures from the National Bureau of
Statistics of the PRC show that the autonomous region of Tibet was populated by
1,273,969 persons. In the Tibetan sectors of Kham, 3,381,064 Tibetans were
counted. In Qinghai and other Tibetan sectors that are incorporated in Gansu, 1,675,534
Tibetans were counted. According to the total of these three numbers, the
Tibetan population attained 6,330,567 in 1959.

In 2000, the number of Tibetans as a whole of these regions was about
5,400,000 according to National Bureau of Statistics.

The Government of Tibet in Exile claims that a comparison of these statistics
originating from National Bureau of Statistics shows that between 1959 and 000,
the Tibetan population decreased by about one million, a 15% decline. During the
same period, the Chinese population doubled, and the world-wide population
increased by 3-fold. This analysis gives an additional argument concerning the estimation of the
number of Tibetan deaths during the period between 1959 and 1979.It also
suggests the existence of a demographic deficit of the Tibetan population and
the precise time course and causes must be specified.

The accuracy of this 1959 Tibetan population estimate quoted by the
Government of Tibet in Exile is in conflict with the findings of the 1954
Chinese census report. The census states that the total population of the
autonomous region of Tibet was 1,273,969; the total population of Kham was
3,381,064; and the total population of Qinghai was 1,675,534. These numbers were taken by the Government of Tibet in Exile as the population
of Tibetans in each province. However, in all of these provinces, Tibetans were
not the only traditional ethnic group. Especially in Qinghai, which has a
historical mixture of different groups of ethnics. In 1949, Han Chinese made up
48.3% of the population, the rest of the ethnic groups make up 51.7% of the 1.5
million total population.As of today, Han Chinese account for 54% of the total population of Qinghai,
which is slightly higher than in 1949. Tibetans make up around 20% of the
population of Qinghai.

View of the People’s Republic of China

The PRC also does not recognize Greater Tibet as claimed
by the government of Tibet in Exile. The PRC government claims that the
ethnically Tibetan areas outside the TAR were not controlled by the Tibetan
government before 1959 in the first place, having been administered instead by
other surrounding provinces for centuries. It further alleges that the idea of
“Greater Tibet” was originally engineered by foreign imperialists in order to
divide China amongst themselves (Mongolia being a striking
precedent, gaining independence with Soviet backing and
subsequently aligning itself with the Soviet Union)

The PRC gives the number of Tibetans in Tibet Autonomous
Region as 2.4 million, as opposed to 190,000 non-Tibetans, and the number of
Tibetans in all Tibetan autonomous entities combined (slightly smaller than the
Greater Tibet claimed by exiled Tibetans) as 5.0 million, as opposed to 2.3
million non-Tibetans. In the TAR itself, much of the Han population is to be
found in Lhasa.
Population control policies like the one-child policy only
apply to Han Chinese, not to
minorities such as Tibetans..

Jampa Phuntsok, chairman
of the TAR, has also said that the central government has no policy of migration
into Tibet due to its harsh high-altitude conditions, that the 6% Han in the TAR
is a very fluid group mainly doing business or working, and that there is no
immigration problem. (This report includes both permanent and temperature
residences in Tibet, but excludes Tibetans studying or working outside of TAR)
By 2006, 3% of the permanent residences in Tibet are of Han ethnic, according to
National Bureau of Statistics of China.

With regards to the historical population of ethnic Tibetans, the Chinese
government claims that according to the First National Census conducted in 1954,
there were 2,770,000 ethnic Tibetans in China, including 1,270,000 in the TAR;
whereas in the Fourth National Census conducted in 1990, there were 4,590,000
ethnic Tibetans in China, including 2,090,000 in the TAR. These figures are used
to advance the claim that the Tibetan population has doubled since 1951.

This table includes all Tibetan autonomous
entities in the PRC, plus Xining PLC and Haidong P. The latter two are
included to complete the figures for Qinghai province, and also because they are
claimed as parts of Greater Tibet by the Government of Tibet in exile.

P = Prefecture; AP = Autonomous prefecture; PLC = Prefecture-level city; AC =
Autonomous county.

Excludes members of the People’s
Liberation Army in active service.

Major ethnic groups in Greater Tibet by region, 2000 census.
	Total	Tibetans		Han Chinese		others
Tibet Autonomous Region:	2,616,329	2,427,168	92.8%	158,570	6.1%	30,591	1.2%
- Lhasa PLC	474,499	387,124	81.6%	80,584	17.0%	6,791	1.4%
- Qamdo Prefecture	586,152	563,831	96.2%	19,673	3.4%	2,648	0.5%
- Shannan Prefecture	318,106	305,709	96.1%	10,968	3.4%	1,429	0.4%
- Xigazê Prefecture	634,962	618,270	97.4%	12,500	2.0%	4,192	0.7%
- Nagqu Prefecture	366,710	357,673	97.5%	7,510	2.0%	1,527	0.4%
- Ngari Prefecture	77,253	73,111	94.6%	3,543	4.6%	599	0.8%
- Nyingchi Prefecture	158,647	121,450	76.6%	23,792	15.0%	13,405	8.4%
Qinghai Province:	4,822,963	1,086,592	22.5%	2,606,050	54.0%	1,130,321	23.4%
- Xining PLC	1,849,713	96,091	5.2%	1,375,013	74.3%	378,609	20.5%
- Haidong Prefecture	1,391,565	128,025	9.2%	783,893	56.3%	479,647	34.5%
- Haibei AP	258,922	62,520	24.1%	94,841	36.6%	101,561	39.2%
- Huangnan AP	214,642	142,360	66.3%	16,194	7.5%	56,088	26.1%
- Hainan AP	375,426	235,663	62.8%	105,337	28.1%	34,426	9.2%
- Golog AP	137,940	126,395	91.6%	9,096	6.6%	2,449	1.8%
- Gyêgu AP	262,661	255,167	97.1%	5,970	2.3%	1,524	0.6%
- Haixi AP	332,094	40,371	12.2%	215,706	65.0%	76,017	22.9%
Tibetan areas in Sichuan province
- Ngawa AP	847,468	455,238	53.7%	209,270	24.7%	182,960	21.6%
- Garzê AP	897,239	703,168	78.4%	163,648	18.2%	30,423	3.4%
- Muli AC	124,462	60,679	48.8%	27,199	21.9%	36,584	29.4%
Tibetan areas in Yunnan province
- Dêqên AP	353,518	117,099	33.1%	57,928	16.4%	178,491	50.5%
Tibetan areas in Gansu province
- Gannan AP	640,106	329,278	51.4%	267,260	41.8%	43,568	6.8%
- Tianzhu AC	221,347	66,125	29.9%	139,190	62.9%	16,032	7.2%
Total for Greater Tibet:
With Xining and Haidong	10,523,432	5,245,347	49.8%	3,629,115	34.5%	1,648,970	15.7%
Without Xining and Haidong	7,282,154	5,021,231	69.0%	1,470,209	20.2%	790,714	10.9%

Human rights

According to the non-governmental organization Save
Tibet website, the Tibetan people are denied most rights guaranteed in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, including the rights to self-determination,
freedom of speech, assembly, movement, expression, and travel. Elliot Sperling, an Associate Professor of Tibetan Studies
at Indiana University, in a statement to the Human Rights Watch, introduced his
new book that graphically detailing the exile of Tibet today and the role human
rights violations played in forcing many Tibetans to leave their homeland.

According to the Chinese government, the human rights situation in Tibet has
been greatly improved, especially emphasized is the emancipation of millions ofserfs and slaves in Tibet in
late 1950s.

Amnesty International has stated that political prisoners are often tortured,
sometimes fatally. Unofficial sources report that since 1987, at least 41
Tibetans throughout Tibet are recorded as having died as a result of torture in
prisons or shortly after release. Human rights groups have confirmed by name
over 700 Tibetan political prisoners in Tibet, many of them detained without
charge or trial.

Journalist Thomas Laird claims that there is no evidence to support China’s
claim that Tibet is autonomous, as all local legislation is subject to approval of the central government in
Beijing.

The Tibetan exile government claims that China does not allow independent
human rights organisations into Tibet, and foreign delegations invited to Tibet
are denied independent access to meet with Tibetans.The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy claims that more than 11,000
monks and nuns have been expelled from Tibet since 1996 for opposing “patriotic
re-education” sessions conducted at monasteries and nunneries under the “Strike
Hard” campaign.

Thomas Laird also claims that China continues to encourage the transfer of
Chinese settlers into Tibet. Transnational
Radical Party claims this threatens the survival of the Tibetan racial,
cultural and national identity. The Free Tibet website claims that unemployment in schools, discussion of
Tibetan cultural, religious and social issues is discouraged, and Chinese
culture is promoted.

The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy claims that unemployment
among Tibetans is high. It also considers the taxation system to be arbitrary,
which further exacerbates the conditions of poverty for Tibetans in rural
areas. Many basic rights, such as the right to housing, education and health, remain
unfulfilled.

The Tibet Intergroup of the European Parliament
has around 100 MEPs as members.

Culture

Religion

Tibetan Buddhism

Religion
and spirituality is extremely important to the Tibetans and has a strong
influence over all aspects of lives; ingrained deeply into their cultural
heritage. Bön is the ancient traditional religion of Tibet, but following the
introduction of Tantric Buddhism into
Tibet by Padmasambhava this became
eclipsed by Tibetan Buddhism, a
distinctive form of Vajrayana. Tibetan Buddhism is
practiced not only in Tibet but also in Mongolia, parts of northern
India, the Buryat Republic, the Tuva Republic, and in theRepublic of
Kalmykia and some other areas in China besides the Tibet region. As every
where in China was undergoing Cultural Revolution,
there were over 6,000 monasteries
and convents in Tibet, and nearly all but a handful were ransacked and destroyed
by the Red
Guards, including Tibetan Red Guards.A few monasteries have begun to rebuild since the 1980s (with limited support
from the Chinese government) and greater religious freedom has been granted -
although it is still limited. Monks returned to monasteries cross Tibet and
monastic education resumed even though the number of monks imposed is strictly
limited.

Tibetan Buddhism has four main traditions (the suffix pa is comparable
to “er” in English):

• Gelug(pa), Way of
  Virtue, also known casually as Yellow Hat, whose spiritual head is
  the Ganden Tripa and whose
  temporal, the Dalai Lama. Successive
  Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet from the mid-17th to mid-20th centuries. This order
  was founded in the 14th to 15th century by Je Tsongkhapa, based on
  the foundations of the Kadampa tradition. Tsongkhapa
  was renowned for both his scholasticism and his virtue. The Dalai Lama belongs
  to the Gelugpa school, and is regarded as the embodiment of the Bodhisattva of
  Compassion.

• Kagyu(pa), Oral
  Lineage. This contains one major subsect and one minor subsect. The first,
  the Dagpo Kagyu, encompasses those Kagyu schools that trace back to Gampopa. In
  turn, the Dagpo Kagyu consists of four major sub-sects: the Karma
  Kagyu, headed by a Karmapa, the Tsalpa Kagyu, the
  Barom Kagyu, and Pagtru Kagyu. There are further eight minor sub-sects, all of
  which trace their root to Pagtru Kagyu. Among the eight sub-sects the most
  notable of are the Drikung Kagyu and the Drukpa Kagyu. The
  once-obscure Shangpa Kagyu, which was
  famously represented by the 20th century teacher Kalu Rinpoche, traces
  its history back to the Indian master Niguma, sister of Kagyu lineage holder Naropa. This is
  an oral tradition which is very much concerned with the experiential dimension
  of meditation. Its most famous exponent was Milarepa, an eleventh century
  mystic.

• Nyingma(pa), The
  Ancient Ones. This is the oldest, the original order founded by Padmasambhava.

• Sakya(pa), Grey
  Earth, headed by the Sakya Trizin, founded by
  Khon Konchog Gyalpo, a disciple of the great translator Drokmi Lotsawa. Sakya
  Pandita 1182–1251CE was the great grandson of Khon Konchog Gyalpo. This
  school very much represents the scholarly tradition.

Islam

Muslims have been living in Tibet since as early as the eighth or ninth
century. In Tibetan cities, there are small communities of Muslims, known as Kachee
(Kache), who trace their origin to immigrants from three main regions: Kashmir
(Kachee Yul in ancient Tibetan), Ladakh and the Central Asian Turkic countries.
Islamic influence in Tibet also came from Persia. After 1959 a group of Tibetan
Muslims made a case for Indian nationality based on their historic roots to
Kashmir and the Indian government declared all Tibetan Muslims Indian citizens
later on that year.Other Muslim ethnic groups who have long inhabited Tibet include Hui, Salar, Dongxiang and Bonan. There is also a
well established Chinese Muslim community (gya kachee), which traces its
ancestry back to the Hui ethnic group of
China.

Christianity

The first Christians to reach Tibet were undoubtedly Nestorians
of whom various remains and inscriptions have been found in Tibet and they were
also present at the imperial camp of Möngke Khan at Shira
Ordo where they debated in 1256 with Karma Pakshi (1204/6-83),
head of the Karma Kagyu order.

Roman Catholic Jesuits and Capuchins
arrived from Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Some scholars believe
Portuguese missionaries Jesuit Father Antonio de Andrade
and Fratello Manuel Marques first reached the kingdom of Gelu in western Tibet in 1624 and
was welcomed by the royal family who allowed them to build a church later on. By 1627, there were about a hundred local converts in the Guge kingdom.Later on, Christianity was introduced to Rudok, Ladakh and Tsang and was welcomed
by the ruler of the Tsang kingdom, where Andrade and
his fellows established a Jesuit outpost at Shigatse in 1626.Some sources suggest the First Jesuit missionary is Johann Grueber who, circa
1656, crossed Tibet from Sining to Lhasa (where he spent a
month), before heading on to Nepal. He was followed by others who actually built a church in Lhasa. These included
the Jesuit Ippolito Desideri,
1716-1721, and various Capuchins in 1707-1711, 1716-1733 and 1741-1745, Christianity was used by some Tibetan monarchs and their courts and the Karmapa sect lamas
to counterbalance the influence of the Gelugpa sect in the seventeenth
century until in 1745 when all the missionaries were expelled at lama’s
insistence.

In 1877, the Protestant James Cameron from
the China Inland
Mission walked from Chongqing to Batang in Garzê
Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Provnice, and “brought the Gospel to
the Tibetan people.”Beginning in the 20th century, in Diqing
Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan, a large number of Lisu people and
some Yi and Nu people converted to Christianity. Famous
earlier missionaries include James O. Fraser, Alfred James
Broomhall and Isobel Kuhn of the China
Inland Mission, among others who were active in this area.

“Though seventeenth and eighteenth-century Catholic missionary efforts in
western and central Tibet had no appreciable legacy, during the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries Christianity made some inroads among Tibetans in the
peripheral regions of Kham, Amdo, and Ladakh.”

Buddhist monasteries in Tibet

Tibetan art

Tibetan representations of art are intrinsically bound with Tibetan Buddhism and
commonly depict deities or variations of Buddha in various forms
from bronze Buddhist statues and shrines, to highly colorful thangka paintings and mandalas.

Architecture

Tibetan architecture contains Oriental and Indian influences, and reflects a
deeply Buddhist approach. The Buddhist wheel, along
with two dragons, can be seen on nearly every Gompa in Tibet. The design of the
Tibetan Chörtens can vary, from
roundish walls in Kham to squarish, four-sided walls
in Ladakh.

The most distinctive feature of Tibetan architecture is that many of the
houses and monasteries are built on elevated, sunny sites facing the south, and
are often made out of a mixture of rocks, wood, cement and earth. Little fuel is
available for heat or lighting, so flat roofs are built to conserve heat, and
multiple windows are constructed to let in sunlight. Walls are usually sloped
inwards at 10 degrees as a precaution against frequent earthquakes in the
mountainous area.

Standing at 117 meters in height and 360 meters in width, the Potala
Palace is considered as the most important example of Tibetan architecture.
Formerly the residence of the Dalai Lama, it contains over
one thousand rooms within thirteen stories, and houses portraits of the past
Dalai Lamas and statues of the Buddha. It is divided between the outer White
Palace, which serves as the administrative quarters, and the inner Red Quarters,
which houses the assembly hall of the Lamas, chapels, 10,000 shrines, and a vast
library of Buddhist scriptures.

Music

The music of Tibet reflects the cultural heritage of the trans-Himalayan
region, centered in Tibet but also known wherever ethnic Tibetan groups are found
in India, Bhutan, Nepal and further
abroad. First and foremost Tibetan music is religious music,
reflecting the profound influence of Tibetan Buddhism on the
culture.

Tibetan music
often involves chanting in Tibetan or Sanskrit, as an
integral part of the religion. These chants are complex, often recitations of sacred texts or in
celebration of various festivals. Yang chanting, performed without
metrical timing, is accompanied by resonant drums and low, sustained syllables.
Other styles include those unique to the various schools of Tibetan Buddhism,
such as the classical music of the popular Gelugpa school, and the romantic
music of the Nyingmapa, Sakyapa and Kagyupa
schools.

Nangma dance
music is especially popular in the karaoke bars of the urban center
of Tibet, Lhasa.
Another form of popular music is the classical gar style, which is
performed at rituals and ceremonies. Lu are a type of songs that
feature glottal vibrations and high pitches. There are also epic bards who sing
of Tibet’s national hero Gesar.

Festivals

Tibet has various festivals which commonly are performed to worship the
Buddha throughout the year. Losar is the Tibetan New Year
Festival. Preparations for the festive event are manifested by special offerings
to family shrine deities, painted doors with religious symbols, and other
painstaking jobs done to prepare for the event. Tibetans eat Guthuk (barley
crumb food with filling) on New Year’s Eve with their families. The Monlam Prayer
Festival follows it in the first month of the Tibetan calendar,
falling on the fourth up to the eleventh day of the first Tibetan month. which
involves many Tibetans dancing and participating in sports events and sharing
picnics. The event was established in 1049 by Tsong Khapa, the founder of the
Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama’s order.

Other

The Potala Palace, former
residence of the Dalai Lamas, is a World Heritage Site,
as is Norbulingka, former summer
residence of the Dalai Lama.

Since 2002, Tibetans in exile have allowed a Miss Tibet beauty
contest in spite of concerns that this event is considered a Western
influence. The beauty contest is condemned by the Tibetan government in
exile.

Cuisine

The most important crop in Tibet is barley, and dough made from
barley flour called tsampa, is the staple
food of Tibet. This is either rolled into noodles or made into steamed
dumplings called momos. Meat dishes are likely to be yak, goat, or mutton,
often dried, or cooked into a spicy stew with potatoes. Mustard seed is cultivated
in Tibet, and therefore features heavily in its cuisine. Yak yoghurt, butter and cheese are frequently eaten, and
well-prepared yoghurt is considered something of a prestige item. Butter tea
is very popular to drink.

Tibet in popular culture

In recent years there have been a number of films produced about Tibet, most
notably Hollywood films such as Seven Years
in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt, and Kundun, a
biography of the 14th Dalai Lama,
directed by Martin Scorsese. Other
films include Samsara, The Cup and
the 1999 Himalaya, a French-American
produced film with a Tibetan cast set in Nepal and Tibet. In 2005, exile
Tibetan filmmaker Tenzing Sonam and his partner Ritu Sarin made Dreaming Lhasa, the
first internationally recognized feature film to come out of the diaspora to
explore the contemporary reality of Tibet. Kekexili: Mountain
Patrol, is a film about Tibetans protecting the Tibetan antelope from
poachers. It won numerous awards at home and abroad.

See also

• Outline of Tibet
• Tibetan
  sovereignty debate
• Amdo
• Kham
• History of Tibet
• Human
  rights in the People’s Republic of China
• Central
  Tibetan Administration aka Tibetan Government in Exile
• International
  Tibet Independence Movement aka Free Tibet Movement
• List
  of active autonomist and secessionist movements
• Last Train to
  Lhasa
• Tibetan Buddhism
• South Tibet

External links

Apolitical

• Tibet
  at the Open Directory
  Project
• Tibetan Resources on the Web from Columbia University
  Libraries
• Haiwei
  Trails – Timeline of Tibet
• The Language
  of Tibet

2009 happenings

• 50 years from 1959

2008 Documentary

• Tibetan patriots protest Chinese occupation of their homeland
• Tibetan lights, Photo report from ReMedAct on tibetan
  refugees (2008)

Against PRC rule and policies in Tibet

• Website of the Office of
  Tibet, London
• Tibetan Government in Exile’s
  government site
• Students for a Free
  Tibet’s website
• Students for a Free Tibet UK
• People’s Movement For An
  Independent Tibet
• Tibetan Review
• The International Campaign for
  Tibet
• Tibet News Site
• Tibet Online
• The Tibet Society and Tibet
  Relief Fund
• Canada Tibet Committee
• Australia Tibet Council
• Save Tibet-Austria
• Team for Tibet (Belgium)
• Etudiants pour un Tibet
  Libre (Students for a Free Tibet – France)
• de l’association France Tibet
• Tibet Info
  (France)
• Tibet Initiative Munich
• Friends of Tibet
  (Greece)
• Tibetan
  Community in Ireland
• Amici del Tibet – Friends of
  Tibet-Italy
• Tibet Vigil London
• Israeli
  Friends of the Tibetan People
• Article on Tibet and
  Campaign

PRC sites on PRC rule and policies in Tibet

• Tibetan History on
  the China Tibet Information Center of the PRC
• White Paper on Tibetan Culture and Homa