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Tibet (see Name section below for other spellings) is a Plateau region in Central Asia and the indigenous home to the Tibetan people. With an average elevation of 4,900 metres (16,000 ft), it is the highest region on Earth and is commonly referred to as the "Roof of the World."
Tibet is today part of the People's Republic of China (PRC) (with a small part, depending on definitions, controlled by India). As an exclusive mandate, Tibet is also officially claimed by the Republic of China (Taiwan). In the Tibetan sovereignty debate, the government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Tibet in Exile disagree over when Tibet became a part of China, and whether this incorporation into China is legitimate according to international law. UNESCO and Encyclopædia Britannica consider Tibet to be part of Central Asia, while several academic organizations controversially consider it part of South Asia.
King Songtsän Gampo united many parts of the region in the seventh century. From the early 1600s the Dalai Lamas, commonly known as spiritual leaders of the region, have been heads of a centralised Tibetan administration (at least nominally), and are believed to be the emanations of Avalokiteśvara ("Chenrezig" in Tibetan), the bodhisattva of compassion.
Tibet is today part of the People's Republic of China (PRC) (with a small part, depending on definitions, controlled by India). As an exclusive mandate, Tibet is also officially claimed by the Republic of China (Taiwan). In the Tibetan sovereignty debate, the government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Tibet in Exile disagree over when Tibet became a part of China, and whether this incorporation into China is legitimate according to international law. UNESCO and Encyclopædia Britannica consider Tibet to be part of Central Asia, while several academic organizations controversially consider it part of South Asia.
King Songtsän Gampo united many parts of the region in the seventh century. From the early 1600s the Dalai Lamas, commonly known as spiritual leaders of the region, have been heads of a centralised Tibetan administration (at least nominally), and are believed to be the emanations of Avalokiteśvara ("Chenrezig" in Tibetan), the bodhisattva of compassion.
Between the 17th century and 1959, the Dalai Lama and his regents were the predominant political power administering religious and administrative authority over large parts of Tibet from the traditional capital Lhasa.
Definitions of TibetWhen the People's Republic of China (PRC) refers to Tibet, it means the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR): a province-level entity which, according to the territorial claims of the PRC, includes Arunachal Pradesh (which is an Indian state but disputed by China). The TAR covers the Dalai Lama's former domain, consisting of Ü-Tsang and western Kham, while Amdo and eastern Kham are part of Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan, and Sichuan.
When the Government of Tibet in Exile and the Tibetan refugee community abroad refer to Tibet, they mean the areas consisting of the traditional provinces of Amdo, Kham, and Ü-Tsang, but excluding Sikkim, Bhutan, and Ladakh that have also formed part of the Tibetan cultural sphere.
The difference in definition is a major source of dispute. 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. Tibetan exiles, in turn, consider the maintenance of this arrangement from the 18th century as part of a divide-and-rule policy.
NameTibetans call their homeland Bod (བོད་), pronounced [] in Lhasa dialect. It is first attested in the geography of Ptolemy as βαται (batai) (Beckwith, C. U. of Indiana Diss. 1977). Tibetans refer to Tibet as a "fatherland" , whereas "motherland" is a neologism introduced after the communist take over to refer to China. In Nepal, Tibet is known as "Bhot".
In Chinese The PRC's Chinese name for Tibet, 西藏 (Xīzàng), is a phonetic transliteration derived from the region called Tsang (western Ü-Tsang). The Chinese name originated during the Qing Dynasty of China, ca. 1700. It can be broken down into “xī” 西 (literally “west”), and “zàng” 藏 (from Ü-Tsang, but also literally “Buddhist scripture,” or “storage” or possibly "treasure"). The pre-1700s historic Chinese term for Tibet was . In modern Standard Mandarin, the first character is pronounced "tǔ". The second character is normally pronounced "fān"; in the context of references to Tibet, most authorities say that it should be pronounced "bō", while some authorities state that it should be pronounced as "fān". Its reconstructed Medieval Chinese pronunciation is /t'obwn/, which comes from the Turkic word for “heights” which is also the origin of the English term “Tibet”. When expressing themselves in Chinese, many exiled Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama's government in Daramsala, now use the term 吐博 Tǔbó. Although the second character is not historically accurate, it has the correct pronunciation (whereas ambiguity attends the pronunciation of 蕃), and thus 吐博 is deemed a more appropriate way to write "Tibet" in Chinese.
The government of the People's Republic of China equates Tibet with the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). As such, the name “Xīzàng” is equated with the TAR. In order to refer to non-TAR Tibetan areas, or to all of cultural Tibet, the term 藏区 Zàngqū (literally, "ethnic Tibetan areas") is used. However, Chinese-language versions of pro-Tibetan independence websites, such as the Free Tibet Campaign, the Voice of Tibet, and Tibet Net use 西藏 (“Xīzàng”), not 藏区 ("Zàngqū"), to mean historic Tibet.
Some English-speakers reserve “Xīzàng”, the Chinese word transliterated into English, for the TAR, to keep the concept distinct from that of historic Tibet. Some pro-independence advocates duplicate the situation into the Chinese language, and use 土番 (Tǔbō) or 图伯特 (Túbótè), which are both phonetic transcriptions of the word "Tibet", to refer to historic Tibet.
The character 藏 (zàng) has been used in transcriptions referring to Tsang as early as the Yuan Dynasty, if not earlier, though the modern term "Xizang" (western Tsang) was devised in the 18th century. The Chinese character 藏 (Zàng) has also been generalized to refer to all of Tibet, including other concepts related to Tibet such as the Tibetan language (藏文, Zàngwén) and the Tibetan people (藏族, Zàngzú).
In EnglishThe English word Tibet, like the word for Tibet in most European languages, is derived from the Arabic word Tubbat. This word is derived via Persian from the Turkic word Töbäd (plural of Töbän), meaning "the heights". In Medieval Chinese, 吐蕃 (pronounced tǔbō), is derived from the same Turkic word. 吐蕃 was pronounced /t'o-bwn/ in Medieval times.
The exact derivation of the name is, however, unclear. Some scholars believe that the named derived from that of a people who lived in the region of northeastern Tibet and were referred to as 'Tübüt'. This was the form adapted by the Muslim writers who rendered it Tübbett, Tibbat, etc., from as early as the 9th century, and it then entered European languages from the reports of the medieval European accounts of Piano-Carpini, Rubruck, Marco Polo and the Capuchin monk Francesco della Penna.
PRC scholars favor the theory that "Tibet" is derived from tǔbō.
LanguageThe Tibetan language is spoken throughout the Tibetan plateau, and also Bhutan, and in parts of Nepal and northern India such as Sikkim. It is generally classified as a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Spoken Tibetan includes numerous regional dialects which, in many cases, are not mutually intelligible. Moreover, the boundaries between Tibetan and certain other Himalayan languages are sometimes unclear. In general, the dialects of central Tibet (including Lhasa), Kham, Amdo, and some smaller nearby areas are considered Tibetan dialects, while other forms, particularly Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Sherpa, and Ladakhi, are considered for political reasons by their speakers to be separate languages. Ultimately, taking into consideration this wider understanding of Tibetan dialects and forms, "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.
The Tibetan language has its own script, which is derived from Sanskrit Devanagari script.
HistoryPre-historyChinese and the "proto-Tibeto-Burman" language may have split sometime before 4000 BC, when the Chinese began growing millet in the Yellow River valley while the Tibeto-Burmans remained nomads. Tibetan split from Burman around 500 AD.
Prehistoric Iron Age hill forts and burial complexes have recently been found on the Chang Tang plateau but the remoteness of the location is hampering archaeological research. The initial identification of this culture is as the Zhang Zhung culture which is described in ancient Tibetan texts and is known as the original culture of the Bön religion.
Tibetan EmpireA series of kings ruled Tibet from the 7th to the 11th century. At times, Tibetan rule may have extended as far south as Bengal and as far north as Mongolia.
Tibet appeared in an ancient Chinese historical text where it is referred to as fa. The first incident from recorded Tibetan history which is confirmed externally occurred when King Namri Lontsen sent an ambassador to the Chinese court in the early 7th century.
However general, the history of Tibet begins with the rule of Songtsän Gampo (604–50 CE) who united parts of the Yarlung River Valley and ruled Tibet as a kingdom. In 640 he married Princess Wencheng, the niece of the powerful Chinese emperor Emperor Taizong of Tang China.
Tibetan forces conquered the Tuyuhun Kingdom of modern Qinghai and Gansu to the northeast between 663 and 672 AD. Tibet also dominated the Tarim Basin and adjoining regions (now called Xinjiang), including the city of Kashgar, from 670 to 692 AD, when they were defeated by Chinese forces, and then again from 766 to the 800s.
The Tibetans were allied with the Arabs and eastern Turks. In 747, Tibet's hold over Central Asia was weakened by the campaign of general Gao Xianzhi, who re-opened 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. Tibet conquered large sections of northern India and even briefly took control of the Chinese capital Chang'an in 763 during the chaos of the An Shi Rebellion.
There was a stone pillar, the Lhasa Shöl rdo-rings, in the ancient village of Shöl in front of the Potala in Lhasa, dating to c. 764 CE during the reign of Trisong Detsen. It also contains an account of the brief capture of Chang'an, the Chinese capital, in 763 CE, during the reign of Emperor Daizong.
In 821/822 CE Tibet and China signed a 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.
The Mongols and Yuan dynastyAt 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 were operating in Russia and what is now Ukraine. The Tibetan nobility, however, was fragmented and mainly occupied with internal strife. Göden, a brother of Güyük, entered the country with military force in 1240. A second invasion led to the submission of almost all Tibetan states. In 1244, Göden ordered the Sakya Pandita to meet him in Liangzhou, and in 1247 Sakya became the Mongolian representative in Tibet. Sakya was accompagnied by two of his nephews: Chana Dorje (Phyag-na Rdo-rje) would later marry a daughter of Kublai Khan, and Phagpa would become Kublai's spiritual teacher. Although there was another Mongol expedition into Tibet in 1251/52, generally spoken the Tibetan experience with the Mongols was much less traumatic than that of other peoples.
On the other hand, Tibetan lamas would gain considerable influence in different Mongol clans, not only with Kublai, but for example also with the Il-Khanids. Kublai's success in succeeding Möngke as Great Khan meant that after 1260, Phagpa and the House of Sakya would only wield greater influence. Phagpa became head of all buddhists monks in the Yuan empire, and Sakya would become the administrative center of Tibet. The lamaist clergy would receive considerable financial support, at the cost of mainly the Chinese areas ruled by the Yuan Dynasty. Tibet would also enjoy a rather high degree of autonomy compared to other parts of the Yuan empire, though further expeditions took place in 1267, 1277, 1281 and 1290/91.
Late 14th - 16th centuryBetween 1346 and 1354, already towards the end of the Yuan dynasty, the House of Pagmodru would topple 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 Ganden, Drepung, and Sera monasteries near Lhasa. After the 1430s, the country entered another period of internal power struggles.
The Dalai Lama LineageIn 1578, Altan Khan of the Tümed Mongols decided to invite Sönam Gyatso, a high lama of the Gelugpa school. They met in Khökh Nuur, and Altan Khan bestowed the title Dalai Lama on Sönam Gyatso, and placed him in a reincarnation line with Gendun Drup and Gendun Gyatso. While this did not really mark the beginning of a massive conversion of Mongols to Buddhism (this would only happen in the 1630s), it did lead to the widespread use of Buddhist ideology for the legitimation of power among the Mongol nobility. Last not least, the fourth Dalai Lama was a grandson of Altan Khan.
Khoshud, Dzungars, and the Qing dynastyIn the 1630s, Tibet would become entangled in the power struggles between the rising Manchu and various Mongol and Oirad factions. Ligden Khan of the Chakhar, on the retreat from the Manchu, set out to Tibet to destroy the Yellow Hat school. He died on the way in Koko Nur in 1634, but his vassal Tsogt Taij would continue the fight, even having his own son Arslan killed after he (the son) changed sides. Tsogt Taij was defeated and killed by Güshi Khan of the Khoshud in 1637, who would in turn become the overlord over Tibet, and act 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, like the prince of Tsang. The time of the fifth Dalai Lama was, however, also a period of rich cultural development.
His death was kept secret for 15 years by the regent , Sanggye Gyatso. His reasons for doing so are not really clear, but the Sixth Dalai Lama was only enthroned in 1697. The new Dalai Lama did not really live up to expectations: he would blackmail the Panchen Lama to let him return to the lay class, and afterwards grow long hair and spend the nights outside the palace, with women of his choice. He gained fame for writing love poetry.
In 1705, Lobzang Khan of the Khoshud used the 6th Dalai Lama's escapades as excuse to take control of Tibet. The regent was murdered, and the Dalai Lama sent to Beijing. He died on the way, in Koko Nur, 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 Koko Nur.
The Dzungars invaded Tibet in 1717, deposed and killed a pretender to the position of Dalai Lama (who had been promoted by Lhabzang, the titular King of Tibet), which met with widespread approval. However, they 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.
Many Nyingmapa and Bonpos were executed and Tibetans visiting Dzungar officials were forced to stick their tongues out so the Dzungars could tell if the person recited constant mantras (which was said to make the tongue black or brown). This allowed them to pick the Nyingmapa and Bonpos, who recited many magic-mantras. This habit of sticking one's tongue out as a mark of respect on greeting someone has remained a Tibetan custom until recent times.
A second, larger, expedition sent by Emperor Kangxi 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.
The Qing put Amdo under their rule in 1724, and incorporated eastern Kham into neighbouring Chinese provinces in 1728. The Qing government sent a resident commissioner (amban) to Lhasa. Tibetan factions rebelled in 1750 and killed the ambans. Then, a Qing army entered and defeated the rebels and installed an administration headed by the Dalai Lama. The number of soldiers in Tibet was kept at about 2,000. The defensive duties were partly helped out by a local force which was reorganized by the resident commissioner, and the Tibetan government continued to manage day-to-day affairs as before.
While the ancient Sino-Tibetan relationships are complex, there can be no question regarding the subordination of Tibet to Manchu-ruled China following the chaotic era of the 6th and 7th Dalai Lamas in the first decades of the 18th century. In 1751, the Manchu (Qing) Emperor Qianlong established the Dalai Lama as both the spiritual leader and political leader of Tibet who lead a government (Kashag) with four Kalöns in it.
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 the Manchu Qianlong Emperor 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. The Qianlong Emperor 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 before the Gurkhas conceded defeat and returned all the treasure they had plundered. Soon the Chinese emperor decreed that the selection of the Dalai Lama and other high lamas such as the Panchen Lama was under the supervision of Qing government's Amban Commissioners in Lhasa.
British invasions and the Sino-Tibetan conflictsThe first Europeans to arrive in Tibet were Portuguese missionaries in 1624 and were welcomed by the Tibetans who allowed them to build a church. The 18th century brought more 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 county — 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.Teltscher, Kate. (2006). The High Road to China: George Bogle, the Panchen Lama and the First British Expedition to Tibet, p. 57. Bloomsbury, London, 2006. ISBN 0374217009; ISBN 978-0-7475-8484-1;
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. ISBN 978-0-374-21700-6
However by the 19th century the situation of foreigners in Tibet grew more ominous. 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. 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. Nain Singh, the most famous, measured the longitude and latitude and altitude of Lhasa and traced the Yarlung Tsangpo River.
British invasionThen in 1904 a British advance mission, accompanied by a large military escort, invaded Lhasa. The head of the mission was Colonel Francis Younghusband, who in his earlier days was noted for wanting to "make a name for himself". The principal pretext for the British invasion was a fear, which proved to be unfounded, that Russia was extending its footprint into Tibet and possibly even giving military aid to the local Tibetan government. But on his way to Lhasa, Younghusband slaughtered 1,300 Tibetans in Gyangzê, because the locals feared that the British would force an unequal treaty on the Tibetans. Younghusband first tricked them into extinguishing the burning ropes of their basic rifles before opening fire with the Maxim machine guns. Some documents claim that 5,000 Tibetans were killed by the British army.
When the mission reached Lhasa, the Dalai Lama had already fled to Urga in Mongolia, 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 Tibetan ministers whom Younghusband dealt with had apparently, unknown to him, just been appointed to their posts. The regular ministers had been imprisoned for suspected pro-British leanings and it was feared they would be too accommodating to Younghusband. A treaty was signed by lay and ecclesiastical officials of the said Tibetan government, and by representatives of the three monasteries of Sera, Drepung, and Ganden and the British force left the city of Lhasa on 23 September, 1904.
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. It also made provision for a British trade agent to reside at the trade mart at Gyangzê. The provisions of this 1904 treaty were confirmed in a 1906 treaty signed between Britain and China, in which the British, for a fee from the Qing court, also agreed "not to annex Tibetan territory or to interfere in the 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.
A Nepalese agency had also been established in Lhasa after the invasion of Tibet by the Gurkha government of Nepal in 1855.
In the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1906 which confirmed the Anglo-Tibetan Treaty of 1904, Britain 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". In the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, drafted by the British, Britain also recognized the "suzerainty of China over Thibet" and, in conformity with such admitted principle, engaged "not to enter into negotiations with Tibet except through the intermediary of the Chinese Government."
Qing control reassertedTibetan control of the Batang region of Kham in eastern Tibet appears to have continued uncontested from the time of an agreement made in 1726 until soon after the invasion of Tibet under Francis Younghusband in 1904, which alarmed the Qing rulers in China. They sent an imperial official to the region to begin reasserting Qing control, but the locals revolted and killed him. The Qing government in Beijing then appointed Zhao Erfang, the Governor of Xining, "Army Commander of Tibet" to reintegrate Tibet into China. He was sent in 1905 (though other sources say this occurred in 1908) on a punitive expedition and, according to some pro-Dharamsala sources, began destroying many monasteries in Kham and Amdo and implementing a process of sinification of the region:
- "He abolished the powers of the Tibetan local leaders and appointed Chinese magistrates in their places. He introduced new laws that limited the number of lamas and deprived monasteries of their temporal power and inaugurated schemes for having the land cultivated by Chinese immigrants.
- Zhao's methods in eastern Tibet uncannily prefigured the Communist policies nearly half a century later. They were aimed at the extermination of the Tibetan clergy, the assimilation of territory and repopulation of the Tibetan plateaus with poor peasants from Sichuan. Like the later Chinese conquerors, Zhao's men looted and destroyed Tibetan monasteries, melted down religious images and tore up sacred texts to use to line the soles of their boots and, as the Communists were also to do later, Zhao Erfang worked out a comprehensive scheme for the redevelopment of Tibet that covered military training reclamation work, secular education, trade and administration."
At the same time many other historians/Tibetologists provided, even disputedly, different accounts:
- "Zhang (initiated) a series of developmental project, and (forced) the official to a higher level of productivity by having them work harder. Specifically, Zhang and the amban...attacked corruption and "monastic idleness" founded a four thousand-man Tibetan army, secularized the government in Lhasa, opened schools, improved agriculture, and founded a military academy. While none of these reforms lasted very long, they did go some way toward winning the allegiance of the people and the enmity of the ruling elite... created a well-trained army of six thousand; and during the following two years pacified most of eastern Tibet, introducing extensive administrative, economic, land, and tax reforms. He abolished corvee labor, threatening offenders with decapitation. He established inns for travelers; appointed school officials; introduced compulsory education; established mining, tanning and agricultural enterprises, and even built a steel bridge across the Ya-lung River."
Charles Alfred Bell, British Political Officer in Sikkim notes that:
- "the Chinese officials of the modern school, who came in now, lessened the bribes taken by the Tibetan officials from the poorer classes, and...gave straighter justice than that dealt out by the Tibetan magistry. There is no doubt some foundation for the Amban's claim that the poorer classes in Tibet were in favor of China"
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 India. "By going in and then coming out again, we knocked the Tibetans down and left them for the first comer to kick," wrote Charles Alfred Bell, also a critic of the Liberal government's policy. The situation was soon to change, however, as, after the fall of the Qing dynasty in October 1911, Zhao's soldiers mutinied and beheaded him.
The 13th Dalai Lama fled to British India in February 1910. The same month, the Chinese Qing government issued a proclamation deposing the Dalai Lama and instigating the search for a new incarnation. While in India, the Dalai Lama became a close friend of the British Political Officer Charles Alfred Bell.
The official position of the British Government was it would not intervene between China and Tibet and would only recognize the de facto government of China within Tibet at this time. Bell, in his history of Tibet, wrote of this time that "the Tibetans were abandoned to Chinese aggression, an aggression for which the British Military Expedition to Lhasa and subsequent retreat 371 1609 7144: Sir George Buchanan to Sir Edward Grey, St. Petersburg, dated 11 February 1913.
The 13th Dalai Lama himself denied he authorized Agvan Dorzhiev to conclude any treaties on behalf of Tibet. The Tibetan government never ratified this treaty and no Tibetan version of this treaty was published by Tibetan government. A Russian diplomat pointed out to the British ambassador that since Agvan Dorzhiev himself is a Russian subject, his legal ability to sign such a treaty is in question.
Some British authors have, based on remarks of a Tibetan diplomat some years later, even disputed the mere existence of the treaty, but scholars of Mongolia generally are positive it exists, as were contemporary authors . The Mongolian text of the treaty has, for example, been published by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in 1982.
The Simla Convention of 1914In 1914, representatives of China, Tibet and Britain negotiated a treaty in India: the Simla Convention. During the convention, the British tried to divide Tibet into Inner and Outer Tibet. When negotiations broke down over the specific boundary between Inner and Outer, the British demanded instead to advance their line of control, enabling them to annex 9,000 square kilometers of traditional Tibetan territory in southern Tibet i.e Tawang region, which corresponds to the north-west parts of modern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, while recognizing Chinese suzerainty over Tibet and affirming the latter's status as part of Chinese territory, with a promise from the Government of China that Tibet will not be converted into a Chinese province. Tibetan representatives signed without Chinese approval, more so as an act of defiance now that the Chinese army had left; after the collapse of Chinese authority in Tibet in 1912. China maintains that it was signed under British pressure; however, the representative of China's central government declared that the secretive annexation of territory was not acceptable. The boundary established in the convention, the McMahon Line, was considered by the British and later the independent Indian government to be the boundary; however, the Chinese view since then has been that since China, which had suzerainty over Tibet, did not sign the treaty, the treaty was meaningless, and the annexation and control of parts of Arunachal Pradesh by India is illegal. This paved the way to the Sino-Indian War of 1962 and the boundary dispute between China and India today.
World War I and the Decentralisation of ChinaThe subsequent outbreak of World War I and the division of China into military cliques ruled by warlords caused the Western powers and the infighting factions within China to lose interest in Tibet, and the 13th Dalai Lama ruled undisturbed until his death in 1933. At that time, the government of Tibet controlled all of Ü-Tsang (Dbus-gtsang) and western Kham (Khams), roughly coincident with the borders of Tibet Autonomous Region today. Eastern Kham, separated by the Yangtze River was under the control of Chinese warlord Liu Wenhui. The situation in Amdo (Qinghai) was more complicated, with the Xining area controlled after 1928 by the Hui warlord Ma Bufang, who constantly strove to exert control over the rest of Amdo (Qinghai).
Writing in 1940, after his visit to Tibet in 1936–7, British Army officer Freddie Spencer Chapman said:
In 1935 the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso was born in Amdo in eastern Tibet and was recognized as the latest reincarnation. He was taken to Lhasa in 1937 where he was later given an official ceremony in 1939. In 1944, during World War II, two Austrian mountaineers, Heinrich Harrer and Peter Aufschnaiter came to Lhasa, where Harrer became a tutor and friend to the young Dalai Lama giving him a sound knowledge of western culture and modern society, until he was forced to leave in 1959.
Rule of the People's Republic of ChinaNeither the Republic of China nor the People's Republic of China have ever renounced China's claim to sovereignty over Tibet.
Since 1951, Tibet has been under China's control. According to a 1951 agreement between the Tibetan and Chinese central governments, the Dalai Lama-ruled Tibetan area was supposed to be a highly autonomous area of China. Though some of the population of Tibet at that time were serfs ("mi ser"), often bound to land owned by monasteries and aristocrats, Tibetans in exile have claimed that the serfs and their masters formed only a small part of Tibetan society, and argued that Tibet would have modernized itself without China's intervention. However, the Chinese government claims that most Tibetans were still serfs in 1951,, and have proclaimed that the Tibetan government inhibited the development of Tibet during its self-rule from 1913 to 1959, and opposed any modernization efforts proposed by the Chinese government.
This 1951 agreement was initially put into effect in Central Tibet
(Ch: Xizang). However, Eastern Kham and Amdo were considered by the Chinese to be outside the administration of the government of Tibet in Lahsa, and were thus treated like any other Chinese province with land redistribution implemented in full. Most lands were taken away from noblemen and monasteries and re-distributed to serfs. As a result, a rebellion led by noblemen and monasteries 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. The 14th Dalai Lama and other government principals fled to exile in India, but isolated resistance continued in Tibet until 1969 when the CIA abruptly withdrew its support. After the Lhasa rebellion in 1959, the Chinese government lowered the level of autonomy of Central Tibet, and implemented full-scale land redistribution in all areas of Tibet.
On 5 June 1959 Shri Purshottam Trikamdas, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, presented a report on Tibet to the International Commission of Jurists (an NGO). The press conference address on the report states in paragraph 26 that
In 1991 the Dalai Lama alleged that Chinese settlers in Tibet were creating "Chinese Apartheid":
A report by the Heritage Foundation discussed some of the reasons for the use of this term:
In 2001 representatives of Tibet succeeded in gaining accreditation at a United Nations-sponsored meeting of non-governmental organizations. On August 29 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. The Tibet Society of the UK has called on the British government to "condemn the apartheid regime in Tibet that treats Tibetans as a minority in their own land and which discriminates against them in the use of their language, in education, in the practice of their religion, and in employment opportunities."
These tensions have spilled over into the tourist industry. According to Peter Neville-Hadley:
In 1965, the area that had been under the control of the Dalai Lama's government from the 1910s to 1959 (U-Tsang and western Kham) was set up as an Autonomous Region. The monastic estates were broken up and secular education introduced. During the Cultural Revolution, fanatical youths, called "Red Guards", inflicted a campaign of organised vandalism against religious and cultural sites across the PRC, including Tibet's Buddhist heritage. In Tibet, as was the case elsewhere in mainland China, local (Tibetan) youths were often incited towards violence by youths from other parts of the country, keen to spread their ideological fervour. and involuntarily due to the fear of being denounced as enemies of the people. Of the several thousand monasteries in Tibet, over 6,500 were destroyed, only a handful of the most important, religiously or culturally, monasteries remained without major damage. Hundreds of thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns were forced to return to secular life. Some were even imprisoned or killed.
In 1989, the Panchen Lama was finally allowed to return to Shigatse, where he 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. Five days later, he mysteriously died of a massive heart attack at the age of 50.
In 1995 the Dalai Lama named 6 year old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama without Chinese approval, 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 PRC continues to portray its rule over Tibet as an unalloyed improvement, but foreign governments continue to make occasional protests about aspects of PRC rule in Tibet because of frequent reports of human rights violation in Tibet by groups such as Human Rights Watch. All governments, however, recognize the PRC's sovereignty over Tibet today, and none have recognized the Government of Tibet in Exile in India.
In 2005, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's 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." A statement that was seen as a renewed diplomatic offensive 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. Tibetan government-in-exile, called on the Chinese government to respond. The move was seen to be unpopular with many Tibetans in exile.
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.
Evaluation by the Tibetan exile communityThe Central Tibetan Administration states that the number that have died in the Great Leap Forward, of violence, or other indirect causes since 1950 is approximately 1.2 million, which the Chinese Communist Party denies. The Chinese Communist Party'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, 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 made from census reports of Tibet which show 200,000 "missing" from Tibet. Even The Black Book of Communism expresses doubt at the 1.2 million figure, but does note that according to the Chinese census the total population of ethnic Tibetans in the PRC was 2.8 million in 1953, but only 2.5 million in 1964. It puts forward a figure of 800,000 deaths and alleges that as many as 10% of Tibetans were interned, with few survivors. Chinese demographers have estimated that 90,000 of the 300,000 "missing" Tibetans fled the region.
The government of Tibet in Exile also says that, fundamentally, the issue is that of the right to self-determination of the Tibetan people. The Dalai Lama has stated his willingness to negotiate with China for genuine autonomy. According to the government in exile and Tibetan independence groups, most Tibetans still call for full Tibetan independence. The Dalai Lama sees the millions of government-imported Han immigrants and preferential socioeconomic policies, as presenting an urgent threat to the Tibetan nation by stealing economic resources and smothering Tibetan 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. At every point of development, and any casual visitor such as a tourist can see it, all the development is in Chinese towns and cities. The local people have become more and more marginalized."
The Chinese government says that when Hu Yaobang, the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, visited Lhasa in 1980 he was unhappy when he found out the region was lagging behind neighbouring provinces. Policies were changed, and since then the central government's policy in Tibet has claimed to have granted most religious freedoms, despite the observation of the more stringent government control implemented over Tibetan monasteries. However, in 1998 three monks and five nuns died while in custody, after suffering beatings and torture for having shouted slogans supporting the Dalai Lama and Tibetan independence. Many Tibetans continue to attempt to flee Tibet. Projects that the PRC 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. The money funneled into cultural restoration projects is being primarily aimed at purely attracting tourists, and Tibet is still lagging behind the rest of the PRC. The first large hospital in Tibet was not built until 1985. Several of Lhasa's main roads were not paved until 1987 and the first students at Tibet University did not graduate until 1988. 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.
Evaluation by the People's Republic of ChinaThe 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. From 1951 to 2007, the Tibetan population in Lhasa administered Tibet has increased from 1.2 million to almost 3 million. Benefits that are commonly quoted include — the GDP of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) today is thirty times that of before 1950, workers in Tibet have the second highest wages in China, the TAR has 22,500 km of highways, as opposed to none in 1950, all secular education in the TAR was created after the revolution, the TAR now has 25 scientific research institutes as opposed to none in 1950, infant mortality has dropped from 43% in 1950 to 0.661% in 2000, life expectancy has risen from 35.5 years in 1950 to 67 in 2000, the collection and publishing of the traditional Epic of King Gesar, which is the longest epic poem in the world and had only been handed down orally before, allocation of 300 million Renminbi since the 1980s for the maintenance and protection of Tibetan monasteries. The Cultural Revolution and the cultural damage it wrought upon the entire PRC is generally condemned as a nationwide catastrophe, whose main instigators, in the PRC's view, the Gang of Four, have been brought to justice. The China Western Development plan is viewed by the PRC as 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.
GeographyTibet is located on the Tibetan Plateau, the world's highest region. Most of the Himalaya mountain range, one of the youngest mountain ranges in the world at only 4 million years old, lies within Tibet. Its most famous peak, Mount Everest, is on Nepal's border with Tibet. The average altitude is about 3,000 m in the south and 4,500 m in the north.
The atmosphere is severely dry nine months of the year, and average 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.
Historic Tibet consists of several regions:
Amdo (A mdo) in the northeast, incorporated by China into the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan.
Kham (Khams) in the east, divided between Sichuan, northern Yunnan and Qinghai. Western Kham, part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region
Ü-Tsang (dBus gTsang) (Ü in the center, Tsang in the center-west, and Ngari (mNga' ris) in the far west), part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region
Tibetan cultural influences extend to the neighboring states of Bhutan, Nepal, adjacent regions of India such as Sikkim and Ladakh, and adjacent provinces of China where Tibetan Buddhism is the predominant religion.
On the border with India, the region popularly known among Chinese as South Tibet is claimed by China and administered by India as the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Several major rivers have their source in the Tibetan Plateau (mostly in present-day Qinghai Province), including:
Yangtze Yellow River Indus River Mekong Brahmaputra River — the main river that flows through Tibet. In Tibetan, referred to as the Yarlung Tsangpo Ganges Salween Yarlung Tsangpo RiverThe 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.
Cities, towns and villagesLhasa 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 country's second largest city, west of Lhasa. Gyantse, Chamdo are also amongst the largest.
Other cities in Historic 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 that escaped Chinese persecution and fled to India.
CultureReligionTibetan BuddhismReligion is extremely important to the Tibetans; Tibet is the traditional center of Tibetan Buddhism, a distinctive form of Vajrayana, which is also related to the Shingon Buddhist tradition in Japan. Tibetan Buddhism is practiced not only in Tibet but also in Mongolia, the Buryat Republic, the Tuva Republic, and in the Republic of Kalmykia.
BönBön is the ancient traditional religion of Tibet, however it is now eclipsed by Buddhism in the area.
IslamIn Tibetan cities, there are also 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. There is also a well established Chinese Muslim community (gya kachee), which traces its ancestry back to the Hui ethnic group of China. It is said that Muslim migrants from Kashmir and Ladakh first entered Tibet around the 12th century. Marriages and social interaction gradually led to an increase in the population until a sizable community grew up around Lhasa.
Buddhist monasteries in TibetNotable monasteries:
Ani Tsankhung NunneryChangzhu TempleChokorgyel MonasteryDorje DrakDrepung MonasteryDrigung MonasteryDzogchen MonasteryGanden MonasteryJokhangKhorzhak MonasteryKumbum Monastery (Kham)Labrang MonasteryMenri MonasteryNamgyal MonasteryNarthang MonasteryNechungPalcho MonasteryRalung MonasteryRamoche TempleSakya MonasterySanga MonasterySera MonasteryShalu MonasteryShechen MonasterySimbiling MonasterySurmang MonasteryTashilhunpoTsurphu MonasteryYerpa
Tibetan artTibetan 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.
ArchitectureTibetan architecture contains Chinese 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.
MusicThe 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.
FestivalsTibet has various festivals which commonly are performed to worship the Buddha throughout the year. Losar is the Tibetan New Year Festival and the Monlam Prayer Festival follows it in the first month of the Tibetan calendar which involves many Tibetans dancing and participating in sports events and sharing picnics.
Tibetan New Year is the most important festival in Tibet. It is an occasion when Tibetan families reunite and expect that the coming year will be a better one. Known as Losar, the festival starts from the first to the third day of the first Tibetan month. 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. Eating Guthuk is fun since the barley crumbs are stuffed with a different filling to fool someone in the family. The Festival of Banishing Evil Sprits is observed after dinner. Signs that the New Year is approaching when one sees lit torches, and people running and yelling to get rid of evil spirits from their houses. Before dawn on New Year's Day, housewives get their first buckets of water for their homes and prepare breakfast. After breakfast, people dress up to go to monasteries and offer their prayers. People visit their neighborhoods and exchange their Tashi Delek blessings in the first two days. Feast is the theme during the occasion. On the third day, old prayer flags are replaced with new ones. Other folk activities may be held in some areas to celebrate the events.
Monlam, the Great Prayer Festival, falls on the fourth up to the eleventh day of the first Tibetan month. The event was established in 1049 by Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama's order. It is the grandest religious festival in Tibet. Religious dances are performed and thousands of monks gather for chanting before the Jokhang Temple. Examinations taking form of sutra debates for the Geshe degree, the highest degree in Buddhist theology, are also held. Pilgrims crowd to listen to the sermons while others give religious donations.
OtherHistorically, Tibet is considered the home of the ancient art of paper folding known as Origami. The tradition started as an artistic way of folding chanted or meditated mantras into decorative shapes in order to help spread their influence.
The Potala Palace, former residence of the Dalai Lamas, is a World Heritage Site, as is Norbulingka, former summer residence of the Dalai Lama.
During the suppression of pro-independence forces in the 1950s, and during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, most historically significant sites in Tibet were vandalized or totally destroyed.
Since 2002, Tibetans in exile have allowed a Miss Tibet beauty contest in spite of concerns that this event is considered a Western influence.
CuisineThe 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 and many Tibetans drink up to 100 cups a day.
Tibet in popular cultureIn 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. Both of these films were banned by the Chinese government because of Tibetan nationalist overtones. 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.
In 2006, Sherwood Hu made Prince of the Himalayas, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, set in ancient Tibet and featuring an all-Tibetan cast. Seen also briefly in the 1994 movie The Shadow, starring Alec Baldwin. , is a film made by National Geographic about a Chinese reporter that goes to Tibet to report on the issue involving the endangerment of Tibetan Antelope. It won numerous awards at home and abroad.
In 1995 a British electronic music act Banco de Gaia released the album Last Train to Lhasa, dedicated to the music of Tibet, with many samples of Tibetan chantings.
Since early 2007, British comedian Russell Brand has campaigned, but in a humorous manner, for the Chinese occupation of Tibet to cease on his weekly BBC Radio 2 show. He regularly exclaims "China - get outta Tibet!" and has, on numerous occasions, said how when he looked at Tibet on Google Maps he sees Chinese people. Despite his perseverance on the campaign, Brand and co-host Matt Morgan have admitted that their knowledge on the situation is very poor.
External linksAgainst PRC rule and policies in Tibet Website of the Office of Tibet,London Tibetan Government in Exile's government site International Tibet Independence MovementThe Sky Burials of Tibet Students for a Free Tibet's website People's Movement For An Independent Tibet Tibetan Review The International Campaign for Tibet Tibet News Site Tibet Online 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 Deutschland (Germany) Tibet Initiative Munich (Germany) Israeli Friends of the Tibetan People Friends of Tibet New Zealand Den Norske Tibet-Komite, Norway
For PRC rule and policies in Tibet Tibetan History on the China Tibet Information Center of the PRC White Paper on Tibetan Culture and Homa
Apolitical Tibetan Studies Internet Resources Tibetan Aid Project Pictures of Tibet Haiwei Trails - Timeline of Tibet The Language of Tibet Tibet Photo Gallery - A complete Travel Photos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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16 people reviewed Tibet
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at 9:40PM June 11, 2009
To see in person the Great Wall of China
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at 8:22AM January 21, 2009
July 18 i leaving from usa for vacation we stay 13 days in honk kong
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at 7:18PM January 5, 2009
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at 12:34AM September 19, 2008
A real traditional experience
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at 4:20AM June 13, 2008
An amazing experience.
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at 5:17AM June 5, 2008
visited there in 2001...such a wonderful place! feeling peace!
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at 9:22PM May 23, 2008
I can only dream about it and I hope; One day!!!!!:0)
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at 9:38PM May 17, 2008
I never been in the other side of the globe!! Wanna go to Europe Someday, to Amsterdan, London, Italy, Frace, Germany and China PRC. so I can visit Tibet!!!
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at 10:58AM May 8, 2008
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at 6:59PM May 6, 2008
Truly an unbelievable trip - we got to see many unbelievable monasteries including the Potala Palace - the Dalai Lama's Palace and Jokhang and many other amazing monasteries.
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at 12:46PM April 15, 2008
well, not right now actually, i mean... someday...
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at 7:41AM April 13, 2008
If you want Tibet without the hassles go to "Little Tibet", Ladhak. (Look it up). Fantastic place for trekking, jeep visits to moon-landscape monasteries fly to Leh (capital) from Srinagar or go by bus if want adventure and some of the best Himalayan scenery.....a wow place.
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at 7:58PM April 12, 2008
peace
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at 7:46PM April 9, 2008
Oh, I want to go here so dang bad!!!
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at 10:54AM March 28, 2008
Paysages fabuleux, culture passionnante mais tant de chinois....
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at 3:52AM March 7, 2008
non
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