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Tibet

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Asian Countries;
Countries

   SOS Children cares for Tibetan orphans in India. For more information
   see SOS Children: India
   Cultural/historical Tibet (highlighted) depicted with various competing
                             territorial claims.
               Claimed by Tibetan exile groups.
   Tibetan areas designated by PRC.
   Tibet Autonomous Region (actual control).
   Claimed by India as part of Aksai Chin.
   Claimed (not controlled) by the PRC as part of TAR.
   Other historically/culturally-Tibetan areas.

   Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་;  Wylie: Bod; pronounced
   [pʰø̀ʔ] in the Lhasa dialect; Chinese: 西藏; pinyin: Xīzàng or Simplified
   Chinese: 藏区; Traditional Chinese: 藏區; pinyin: Zàngqū [the two names are
   used with different connotations; see Name section below]) is a region
   in Central Asia and the home of the Tibetan people. With an average
   elevation of 4,900 m (16,000 ft), it is often called the "Roof of the
   World".

Definitions

   When the Government of Tibet in Exile and the Tibetan refugee community
   worldwide refer to Tibet, they mean a large area that formed the
   cultural entity of Tibet for many centuries, consisting of the
   traditional provinces of Amdo, Kham (Khams), and Ü-Tsang (Dbus-gtsang),
   but excluding areas outside the People's Republic of China (PRC) like
   Arunachal Pradesh (or South Tibet), Sikkim, Bhutan, and Ladakh that
   have also formed part of the Tibetan cultural sphere.

   When the People's Republic of China 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
   (presently under the administration of India). India considers
   Arunachal Pradesh as its integral part. Sikkim, Bhutan, and Ladakh may
   also be considered to be parts of cultural Greater Tibet in addition to
   Amdo, Kham, and Ü-Tsang. The TAR covers the Dalai Lama's former domain
   consisting of Ü-Tsang and western Kham, while Amdo and eastern Kham are
   now found within the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan, and Sichuan.

   The difference in definition is a major sticking point in the dispute.
   The distribution of Amdo and eastern Kham into surrounding provinces
   was initiated by the Yongzheng Emperor during the eighteenth century
   and has been continuously maintained by successive Chinese governments.
   Tibetan exiles, in turn, consider the maintenance of this arrangement
   since the eighteenth century as part of a divide-and-rule policy.

A sovereign nation?

   Flag of Tibet used intermittently between 1912 and 1950. This version
   was introduced by the 13th Dalai Lama in 1912. It continues to be used
   by the Government of Tibet in Exile, but is outlawed in the PRC.
   Enlarge
   Flag of Tibet used intermittently between 1912 and 1950. This version
   was introduced by the 13th Dalai Lama in 1912. It continues to be used
   by the Government of Tibet in Exile, but is outlawed in the PRC.

   Tibet was once an independent empire, and is today administered mostly
   under the People's Republic of China. Tibet is also officially claimed
   by the Republic of China (Taiwan). The Chinese government and the
   Government of Tibet in Exile, however, disagree over when Tibet became
   a part of China, and whether this incorporation into China was
   legitimate.

Name

In Tibetan

   Tibetans call their homeland Bod (བོད་), pronounced pö in Lhasa
   dialect. It is first attested in the geography of Ptolemy as βαται
   (batai) (Beckwith, C. U. of Indiana Diss. 1977). They refer to a
   fatherland (pha yul), while the Chinese use a gender-neutral term.

In Chinese

   The modern Chinese name for Tibet, 西藏 (Xīzàng), is a phonetic
   transliteration derived from the region called Tsang (western Ü-Tsang).
   The name originated during the Qing Dynasty of China, ca. 1700. It can
   be broken down into "xi" 西 (literally "west"), and "zang" 藏 (literally
   "Buddhist scripture" or "storage"). The term can be interpreted as
   either "Buddhist scripture of the west" or "western storage." The
   pre-1700s historic Chinese term for Tibet was 吐蕃 (Tufan, Medieval
   Chinese pronuncation: /t'obwǝn/), which comes from the Turkish word for
   "heights" and is also the origin of the English term "Tibet."

   The government of the People's Republic of China equates Tibet with the
   Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). As such, the name "Xizang" is equated
   with the TAR. In order to refer 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 ("Xizang"), not 藏区 ("Zangqu"), to mean historic Tibet.

   Some English-speakers reserve "Xizang", 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 (Tufan) or 图伯特 (Tubote), which
   are both phonetic transcriptions of the word "Tibet", to refer to
   historic Tibet, this is still used for research area and is known and
   accepted by most of the Chinese.

   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" 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). The two characters of
   Xīzàng can literally mean "western storage", which some Tibetans find
   offensive and indicative of what they see as Chinese colonial attitudes
   towards Tibet. However, the offending character, "zàng", also literally
   means "sacred treasure" or "Buddhist scripture." In addition, Chinese
   transliterations of non-Chinese names do not necessarily take into
   account the literal meanings of words; usually a positive or neutral
   connotation combined with phonetic similarity is enough for the
   transliteration to come into use. See Transliteration into Chinese
   characters for other examples.

In English

   The English word Tibet, like the word for Tibet in most European
   languages, is derived from the Arabic word Tubbat. Ultimately, the word
   derives via Persian from the Turkic word Töbäd (plural of Töbän),
   meaning "the heights". The same Turkic word is the origin of the
   Chinese term 吐蕃 (Pinyin tǔfān, but in Medieval times pronounced
   t'o-bwǝn ).

Cities

   Lhasa is Tibet's traditional capital and the capital of Tibet
   Autonomous Region. Other cities in Historic Tibet include, in the TAR,
   Shigatse (Gzhis-ka-rtse), Gyantse (Rgyal-rtse), Chamdo (Chab-mdo),
   Nagchu, Nyingchi (Nying-khri), Nedong (Sne-gdong), Barkam ('Bar-khams),
   Sakya (Sa-skya), Gartse (Dkar-mdzes), Pelbar (Dpal-'bar), and Tingri
   (Ding-ri); in Sichuan, Dartsendo (Dar-btsen-mdo); in Qinghai, Kyegundo
   (Skye-rgu-mdo) or Yushu (Yul-shul), Machen (Rma-chen), Lhatse
   (Lhar-tse), and Golmud (Na-gor-mo). There is also a large Tibetian
   settlement in South India near Kushalnagara. India created this
   settlement for Tibetian refugees that escaped Chinese persecution and
   fled to India.

History

Early days

   A statue of King Srong-tsan-gam-po Songtsen Gampo in his meditation
   cave at Yerpa
   Enlarge
   A statue of King Srong-tsan-gam-po Songtsen Gampo in his meditation
   cave at Yerpa

   The Tibetan language is generally considered to be a Tibeto-Burman
   language of the Sino-Tibetan language family, distantly related to
   Chinese (Sinitic languages).

   In general, the history of Tibet begins with King Srong-tsan-gam-po
   Songtsen Gampo (604–650 CE), although there were 27 kings before him.
   King Songtsen Gampo is generally considered to have introduced Buddhism
   to Tibet at this time. Christianity is known to have been present in
   Tibetan regions prior to 782.

   King Songtsen Gampo sought to marry Princess Wen-Cheng, a member of the
   extended royal family of the Chinese Tang Dynasty.

   Conflict between Tibet and the Tang began as Tu-Yu Huen was against the
   marriage. Tibet sent an army to drive it from the valleys around the
   source of Huang He. After the Tang general Hou Jun Ji drove the
   Tibetans out of Song Zhou, the Tang government became receptive and
   marriage took place in 641.

   The next Tang emperor sent General Hsueh Zen-Kuei with an army to
   recover Tu-Yu Huen for the southern part of Qinghai (Amdo in Tibetan).
   A Tibetan army defeated him on the high plateau of Qinghai.
   Subsequently, Tibet conquered all small tribes in Qinghai and southern
   Xinjiang.

   During this period, Tibet had a population of 10 million with 3 million
   Tibetans and an army of comparable strength facing the two Tang armies
   of Southern Xinjiang (24,000 soldiers) and of the Silk Road (75,000
   soldiers). Disputes involved trade controls. Tibet wanted the four Tang
   garrisons at the Southern Xinjiang (which guarded the silk-road from
   central Tang through Xinjiang and Central Asia). After the Tang's
   withdrawal of the Silk-road army and its garrison troops of Northern
   and Southern Xinjiang during the An Lu-san rebellion, Tubo (Tibetan)
   military power conquered all of that territory up to the border of the
   Hue-He (Mongols), capturing the Silk-road.

   Tibet had also conquered the ethnic tribes scattered in the present
   areas of Lijiang and Dali, Yunnan, and had established a military
   administration in northwest Yunnan. Yunnan was a tributary of Tibet.
   Tibet also bordered with India, and Persia. This was the largest area
   which was ever controlled by Tibet.

   The military route used by the Tibetans to reach Yunnan was closely
   related to the contemporary tea and horse route. “Tea and Horse Caravan
   Road” of Southwest China is less well known than the famous Silk Road.

   According to the Tibetan book Historic Collection of the Han and Tibet
   (Han Zang shi ji) “In the reign of the Tibetan King Chidusongzan [Khri
   ‘Dus sron] (676-704), the Tibetan aristocracy started to drink tea and
   use the tea-bowl, and tea was classified into different categories.”

   After the downfall of the Tibetan Dynasty, the Tang recovered the
   Silk-road (848). According to one study, more than 20,000 warhorses per
   year were exchanged for tea during the Northern Song (960-1127)
   dynasty.

   The distinctive form of Tibetan society, in which land was divided into
   three different types of holding—estates of noble families, freeheld
   lands and estates held by monasteries of particular Tibetan Buddhist
   sects—arose after the weakening of the Tibetan kings in the 10th
   century. This form of society was to continue into the 1950s, although
   Tibetan themselves claim that this is not an accurate description and
   that Tibetans consist of many different background and not just monks,
   masters, and serfs.
   The Potala Palace in Lhasa
   The Potala Palace in Lhasa

Mongols & Manchus

   In 1240, the Mongols marched into central Tibet and attacked several
   monasteries. Köden, younger brother of Mongol ruler Güyük Khan,
   participated in a ceremony recognizing the Sa-skya lama as temporal
   ruler of Tibet in 1247. The Mongol khans had ruled northern China since
   1215. They were the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty. Kublai Khan was a
   patron of Tibetan Buddhism and appointed the Sa-skya Lama his "Imperial
   preceptor," or chief religious official. Tibetans viewed this
   relationship as an example of yon-mchod, or priest-patron relationship.
   In practice, the Sa-skya lama was subordinate to the Mongol khan. The
   collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368 led to the overthrow of the
   Sa-skya in Tibet. Tibet was then ruled by a succession of three secular
   dynasties. In the 16th century, Altan Khan of Tumet Mongolian tribe
   supported the Dalai Lama's religious lineage to be the dominant
   religion among Mongols and Tibetans.

   Beginning in the early 18th century, the Qing government sent a
   resident commissioner ( amban) to Lhasa. Tibetan factions rebelled in
   1750 and killed the ambasa. 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 2000. 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.

British influence

   Main article: British expedition to Tibet

   In 1904 a British diplomatic mission, accompanied by a large military
   escort, forced its way through to Lhasa. The head of the diplomatic
   mission was Colonel Francis Younghusband. The principal motivation for
   the British mission was a fear, which proved to be unfounded, that
   Russia was extending its footprint into Tibet and possibly even giving
   military aid to the Tibetan government. But in his way to Lhasa,
   Younghusband killed 1300 tibetans in Gyam-Tse(as written in "The Great
   Game" of Peter Hopkirk), because the natives were in fear of what kind
   of unequal treaty the English would offer to the Tibetans. When the
   mission reached Lhasa, the Dalai Lama had already fled to Urga in
   Mongolia, but a treaty was signed by lay and ecclesiastical officials
   of the Tibetan government, and by representatives of the three
   monasteries of Sera, Drepung, and Ganden. The treaty made provisions
   for the frontier between Sikkim and Tibet to be respected, for freer
   trade between British and Tibetan subjects, and for an indemnity to be
   paid from the Tibetan Government 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 Gyantse. The
   provisions of this 1904 treaty were confirmed in a 1906 treaty signed
   between Britain and China, in which the British also agreed "not to
   annex Tibetan territory or to interfere in the administration of
   Tibet.". The position of British Trade Agent at Gyantse was occupied
   from 1904 up 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.
   Early 19th-century map of Lhasa.
   Enlarge
   Early 19th-century map of Lhasa.

   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, Britain also recognized the "suzerainty of China
   over Thibet" and, in conformity with such admitted principle, engaged
   "not to enter into negotiations with Thibet except through the
   intermediary of the Chinese Government." Suzerainty is a situation in
   which a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which
   allows the tributary some limited domestic autonomy but controls its
   foreign affairs. The Qing central government established direct rule
   over Tibet for the first time in 1910. The thirteenth Dalai Lama fled
   to British India in February 1910. In 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
   Bell. The official position of the British Government was that they
   would not intervene between China and Tibet, and it would only
   recognize the de facto government of China within Tibet at this time.
   In Bell's history of Tibet, he would write of this time that "the
   Tibetans were abandoned to Chinese aggression, an aggression for which
   the British Military Expedition to Lhasa and subsequent retreat [and
   consequent power vacuum within Tibet] were primarily responsible".

Relations with the Republic of China

   In February of 1912 the Qing emperor abdicated and the new Republic of
   China was formed. In April of 1912 the Chinese garrison of troops in
   Lhasa surrendered to the Tibetan authorities. The new Chinese
   Republican government wished to make the commander of the Chinese
   troops in Lhasa their new Tibetan representative, but the Tibetans were
   in favour of having all of the Chinese troops return to China Proper.
   The Dalai Lama returned to Tibet from India in July 1912. By the end of
   1912, the Chinese troops in Tibet had returned, via India, to China
   Proper. In 1913, Tibet and Mongolia signed a treaty proclaiming mutual
   recognition and their independence from China. In 1914, a treaty was
   negotiated in India by representatives of China, Tibet and Britain: 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 90,000 square
   kilometers of traditional Tibetan territory in southern Tibet, which
   corresponds to most of the modern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh,
   while recognizing Chinese suzerainty, but not sovereignty, over Tibet.
   Tibetan representatives secretly signed under British pressure;
   however, the representative of Chinese 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
   was sovereign over Tibet, did not sign the treaty, the treaty was
   meaningless, and the annexation and control of southern Tibet 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.

   The subsequent outbreak of World War I and civil war in China caused
   the Western powers and the infighting factions of China proper to lose
   interest in Tibet, and the 13th Dalai Lama ruled undisturbed. 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
   by ethnic Hui warlord Ma Bufang, who constantly strove to exert control
   over the rest of Amdo (Qinghai).

Rule of the People's Republic of China

   Chinese police before Potala Palace in Lhasa.
   Enlarge
   Chinese police before Potala Palace in Lhasa.

   Neither the Republic of China nor the People's Republic of China has
   ever renounced China's claim to sovereignty over Tibet. In 1950, the
   People's Liberation Army entered the Tibetan area of Chamdo, crushing
   nominal resistance from the ill-equipped Tibetan army. In 1951, the
   Seventeen Point Agreement was forced upon by PLA's military, by
   representatives of the Dalai Lama and Beijing affirming Chinese
   sovereignty over Tibet with a joint administration under
   representatives of the central government and the Tibetan government.
   Most of the population of Tibet at that time were serfs ("mi ser"),
   often bound to land owned by monasteries and aristocrats, the
   Tibetans-in-exile claim that the Serfs and Masters were only small part
   of Tibet and that Tibetans are from vast different backgrounds such as
   nomads, merchants, farmers, traders, thieves, bandits, aristocrats,
   Tibetan doctors, teachers, monks, nuns, beggars, artists, singers,
   musicians, and many more, just like any other civilization. Argument
   has always made by Tibetans that Tibet would modernized by itself
   without the unnecessary intervention by China. Any attempt at land
   redistribution or the redistribution of wealth would have proved
   unpopular with the established landowners. This agreement was initially
   put into effect in Tibet proper. However, Eastern Kham and Amdo were
   outside the administration of the government of Tibet, and were thus
   treated like any other Chinese province with land redistribution
   implemented in full. As a result, a rebellion broke out in Amdo and
   eastern Kham in June of 1956. The insurrection, supported by the
   American CIA, eventually spread to Lhasa. It was crushed by 1959.
   Tibetan exiles claim that 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 CIA support was withdrawn.

   Although the Panchen Lama remained a virtual prisoner, the Chinese set
   him as a figurehead in Lhasa, claiming that he headed the legitimate
   Government of Tibet since Dalai Lama has fled to India because of the
   1959 riots and established the traditional head of the Tibetan
   government. 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, the Red Guards inflicted a campaign of organized vandalism
   against cultural sites in the entire PRC, including Tibet's Buddhist
   heritage. Many young Tibetans joined in the campaign of destruction,
   voluntarily due to the ideological fervour that was sweeping the entire
   PRC and involuntarily due to the fear of being denounced as "enemies of
   the people". Of the several thousand monasteries in Tibet, over 6000
   were destroyed, only a handful remained without major damage, and
   thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns were killed or imprisoned.

   In 1989, the Panchen Lama mysteriously died, just as his open
   condemnation of Chinese policies intensified. The Dalai Lama and the
   PRC recognised different reincarnations. While officially an atheist
   state, the People's Republic of China has affirmed its right to
   confirming high-level reincarnations, a tulku in the Tibetan tradition
   of Vajrayana Buddhism, citing a precedent set by the Qianlong Emperor
   of the Qing Dynasty (The PRC view is that Qianlong instituted a system
   of selecting the Panchen Lama, the Dalai Lama and other high lamas by
   means of a lottery which utilised a golden urn with names wrapped in
   barley balls; the view of Tibetan exiles is that the system was a
   suggestion made by Qianlong and was not a prerequisite for choosing the
   Panchen Lama). The Dalai Lama named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th
   Panchen Lama but without confirmation by the vase lot, while the PRC
   named another child, Gyancain Norbu by the vase lot. Gyancain Norbu was
   raised in Beijing and has appeared occasionally on state media. Because
   of China's selection of the next potentially important lama, many
   Tibetan believe that China is systematically destroying the Tibetan
   identity and solidarity. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family have gone
   missing, into imprisonment according to Tibetan exiles, and under a
   hidden identity for protection and privacy according to the PRC.
   Train station in Lhasa, Tibet.
   Enlarge
   Train station in Lhasa, Tibet.

   Since 1979, there have been major economic changes, like the rest of
   the PRC, but the political system remains undemocratic and repressive.
   Some PRC policies in Tibet have been described as moderate, while
   others are judged to be more oppressive. Most religious freedoms have
   been officially restored, provided the lamas do not challenge PRC rule.
   Foreigners can visit most parts of Tibet, and it is claimed that the
   less savoury aspects of PRC rule are kept hidden from visitors.

   The PRC continues to portray its rule over Tibet as an unalloyed
   improvement, and foreign governments continue to make occasional
   protests about aspects of PRC rule in Tibet because of frequent report
   of human rights violation in Tibet by many Human rights group such as
   Human rights watch (hrw.org). All governments, however, recognize PRC
   sovereignty over Tibet, and none has recognized the Dalai Lama's
   government in exile in India.

Evaluation of PRC rule

Evaluation by the Tibetan exile community

   A Tibetan refugee market in Ladakh, India.
   Enlarge
   A Tibetan refugee market in Ladakh, India.
   The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile in Dharamsala, India.
   Enlarge
   The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile in Dharamsala, India.

   Tibetan exiles state that the number that have died in the much
   unwanted Great Leap Forward, of violence, or other indirect causes
   since 1950 is approximately 1.2 million, which the Chinese Communist
   Party denies. According to Patrick French, the estimate is not reliable
   because the Tibetans were not able to process the data well enough to
   produce a credible total. There were, however, many casualties, perhaps
   as many as 400,000. This figure is 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 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.
   While refusing to agree to China's demands that he renounce the idea
   that Tibet was once an independent country, the Dalai Lama has stated
   his willingness to negotiate with China for "genuine autonomy" (over
   the objection of those Tibetans who push for full independence). The
   Dalai Lama sees the millions of Han immigrants, attracted to the TAR by
   economic incentives and preferential socioeconomic policies, as
   presenting an urgent threat to the Tibetan nation by diluting the
   Tibetans both culturally and through intermarriage. 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. Supporters of the Dalai Lama argue that
   comparisons between the theocracy before 1950 and the Tibet of today
   are false because, if China had not invaded, the Dalai Lama would have
   worked to improve the material lot of the people, their political
   rights, and in doing so has disturbed the natural process of a
   legitimate nation.

   It is reported 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 behind neighbouring provinces. Policies were
   changed, and since then the central government's policy in Tibet has
   granted most religious freedoms. But monks and nuns are still sometimes
   imprisoned, and many Tibetans (mostly monks and nuns) continue to flee
   Tibet yearly. At the same time, many Tibetans view projects that the
   PRC claims to benefit Tibet, such as the China Western Development
   economic plan or the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, as politically-motivated
   actions to consolidate central control over Tibet by facilitating
   militarization and Han migration while benefiting few Tibetans; they
   also view the money funneled into cultural restoration projects as
   being aimed at attracting foreign tourists. They note that Tibet is
   still behind the rest of the PRC: for example, the first big hospital
   in Tibet was not built until 1985; that several of Lhasa's main roads
   weren't paved until 1987; and that the first students at Tibet
   University didn't graduate until 1988. They also say that there is
   still preferential treatment awarded to Han in the labor market as
   opposed to Tibetans.

Evaluation by the People's Republic of China

   The world's highest railway connecting Tibet with eastern Chinese
   provinces for the first time by rail. Operational since July 2006.
   Enlarge
   The world's highest railway connecting Tibet with eastern Chinese
   provinces for the first time by rail. Operational since July 2006.

   The government of the PRC says that the population of Tibet in 1737 was
   about 8 million, and that due to the backward rule of the local
   theocracy, there was rapid decrease in the next two hundred years and
   the population in 1959 was only about 1.19 million. Today, the
   population of Greater Tibet is 7.3 million, of which, according to the
   2000 census, 6 million are ethnic Tibetans. The government of the PRC
   views this population growth as the result of the abolition of the
   theocracy and the introduction of a modern, higher standard of living.
   Based on the census numbers, the PRC also rejects claims that the
   Tibetans are being swamped by Han Chinese; instead the PRC says that
   the border for Greater Tibet drawn by the government of Tibet in Exile
   is so large that it incorporates regions such as Xining that were never
   traditionally Tibetan in the first place, hence exaggerating the number
   of non-Tibetans.
   The modern Chinese city of Xining in Qinghai province. Claimed as part
   of "Greater Tibet" by the Tibetan exile community.
   Enlarge
   The modern Chinese city of Xining in Qinghai province. Claimed as part
   of "Greater Tibet" by the Tibetan exile community.

   The government of the PRC also rejects claims that the lives of
   Tibetans have deteriorated, pointing to rights enjoyed by the Tibetan
   language in education and in courts and says that the lives of Tibetans
   have been improved immensely compared to the Dalai Lama's rule before
   1950. Benefits that are commonly quoted include: the GDP of Tibet
   Autonomous Region (TAR) today is 30 times that before 1950; TAR has
   22,500 km of highways, as opposed to 0 in 1950; all secular education
   in TAR was created after the revolution; TAR now has 25 scientific
   research institutes as opposed to 0 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 to 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 and whose reoccurrence is
   unthinkable in an increasingly modernized China. 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.

Geography

   Tibet is located on the Tibetan Plateau, the world's highest region.
   Enlarge
   Tibet is located on the Tibetan Plateau, the world's highest region.
   Tibet has beautiful mountainous terrain.
   Enlarge
   Tibet has beautiful mountainous terrain.

   Tibet 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 feet 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 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 summer and intense cold in 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
     * U (dBus), in the centre, and Tsang (gTsang) in the centre-west,
       part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region
     * 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
     * Ganges
     * Salween

Economy

   The Tibetan yak is an integral part of Tibetan life.
   Enlarge
   The Tibetan yak is an integral part of Tibetan life.

   The Tibetan economy is dominated by subsistence agriculture. Due to
   limited arable land, livestock raising is the primary occupation. 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.

   The Qinghai-Tibet Railway which links 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. But 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. They 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 Government-in-exile's
   spokemen, the Dalai Lama welcomes the building of the railway,
   "conditioned on the fact that the railroad will bring benefit to the
   majority of Tibetans."

Demographics

   Ethnolinguistic Groups of Tibet, 1967 (See entire map, which includes a
   key)
   Enlarge
   Ethnolinguistic Groups of Tibet, 1967 ( See entire map, which includes
   a key)
   Ethnic Tibetan autonomous entities set up by the People's Republic of
   China. Opponents to the PRC dispute the actual level of autonomy.
   Enlarge
   Ethnic Tibetan autonomous entities set up by the People's Republic of
   China. Opponents to the PRC dispute the actual level of autonomy.

   Historically, the population of Tibet consisted of primarily ethnic
   Tibetans. Other ethnic groups in Tibet include Menba (Monpa), Lhoba,
   Mongols and Hui. 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.

   The issue of the proportion of the Han Chinese population in Tibet is a
   politically sensitive one. The Tibetan Government-in-Exile says that
   the People's Republic of China has actively swamped Tibet with Han
   Chinese migrants in order to alter Tibet's demographic makeup, while
   the People's Republic of China has denied this.

View of the Tibetan exile community

   Between the 1960s and 1980s, many prisoners (over 1 million, according
   to Harry Wu) were sent to laogai camps in Amdo ( Qinghai), where they
   were then employed locally after release. 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 gives the number of non-Tibetans in Tibet
   as 7.5 million (as opposed to 6 million Tibetans), and considers this
   the result of an active policy of demographically swamping the Tibetan
   people and further diminishing any chances of Tibetan political
   independence, and as such, to be in violation of the Geneva Convention
   of 1946 that prohibits settlement by occupying powers. 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) is also a major
   concern, as it is believed to further facilitate the influx of
   migrants.

View of the People's Republic of China

   The PRC government does not view itself as an occupying power and has
   vehemently denied allegations of demographic swamping. The PRC also
   does not recognize Greater Tibet as claimed by the government of Tibet
   in Exile, saying that the idea was engineered by foreign imperialists
   as a plot to divide China amongst themselves, and that those 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. 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.
   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%
   - Chamdo Prefecture 586,152 563,831 96.2% 19,673 3.4% 2,648 0.5%
   - Lhokha Prefecture 318,106 305,709 96.1% 10,968 3.4% 1,429 0.4%
   - Shigatse Prefecture 634,962 618,270 97.4% 12,500 2.0% 4,192 0.7%
   - Nagchu 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%
   - Nyingtri 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
   - Aba 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%

   This table includes all Tibetan autonomous entities in the People's
   Republic of China, 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.
   Source: Department of Population, Social, Science and Technology
   Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics of China
   (国家统计局人口和社会科技统计司) and Department of Economic Development of the State
   Ethnic Affairs Commission of China (国家民族事务委员会经济发展司), eds. Tabulation on
   Nationalities of 2000 Population Census of China (《2000年人口普查中国民族人口资料》).
   2 vols. Beijing: Nationalities Publishing House (民族出版社), 2003. ( ISBN
   7-105-05425-5)

Culture

   The Tibetan-Buddhist Tashilhunpo Monastery
   Enlarge
   The Tibetan-Buddhist Tashilhunpo Monastery
   Young monks at Drepung monastery in Tibet
   Enlarge
   Young monks at Drepung monastery in Tibet
   Large Snow Lions guard the entrance to the Potala Palace
   Enlarge
   Large Snow Lions guard the entrance to the Potala Palace

   Tibet is the traditional centre 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. Tibet is also home to the original spiritual tradition
   called Bön (also spelled Bon). Various dialects of the Tibetan language
   are spoken across the country. Tibetan is written in Tibetan script.

   In 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 the invasion of Tibet in 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.

   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. Due to
   recent build up of some of the major monastery, Tibetans believe that
   this is attempt to portray false image of Tibet.

   Since 2002, Tibetan's 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.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet"
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