China - Tibetans
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Location: Tibet Lies at the Centre of Asia, with an Area of 2.5 Million Square Kilometers. the Earth's Highest Mountains, a Vast
Location: Tibet lies at the centre of Asia, with an area of 2.5 million square kilometers. The earth's highest mountains, a vast arid plateau and great river valleys make up the physical homeland of 6 million Tibetans. It has an average altitude of 13,000 feet above sea level. Capital: Lhasa Population: 6 million Tibetans and an estimated 7.5 million Chinese, most of whom are in Kham and Amdo. Language: Tibetan (of the Tibeto-Burmese language family). The official language is Chinese. Tibet is comprised of the three provinces of Amdo (now split by China into the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu & Sichuan), Kham (largely incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan and Qinghai), and U-Tsang (which, together with western Kham, is today referred to by China as the Tibet Autonomous Region). The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) comprises less than half of historic Tibet and was created by China in 1965 for administrative reasons. It is important to note that when Chinese officials and publications use the term "Tibet" they mean only the TAR. Tibetans use the term Tibet to mean the three provinces described above, i.e., the area traditionally known as Tibet before the 1949-50 invasion. Today Tibetans are outnumbered by Han Chinese population in their own homeland, there are est. 6 million Tibetans and an estimated 7.5 million Chinese, most of whom are in Kham and Amdo. The official language is Chinese. But those Tibetans living in exile still speak, read and write in Tibetan (of the Tibeto-Burmese language family). -
Tibet* 1 NOT FREE /100
5/19/2020 Tibet | Freedom House FREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2020 Tibet* 1 NOT FREE /100 Political Rights -2 /40 Civil Liberties 3 /60 LAST YEAR'S SCORE & STATUS 1 /100 Not Free Global freedom statuses are calculated on a weighted scale. See the methodology. * Indicates a territory as opposed to an independent country. https://freedomhouse.org/country/tibet/freedom-world/2020 1/19 5/19/2020 Tibet | Freedom House Note This report assesses the Tibet Autonomous Region and areas of eastern Tibet that are incorporated into neighboring Chinese provinces. Overview Tibet is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government based in Beijing, with local decision-making power concentrated in the hands of Chinese party officials. Residents of both Chinese and Tibetan ethnicity are denied fundamental rights, but the authorities are especially rigorous in suppressing any signs of dissent among Tibetans, including manifestations of uniquely Tibetan religious belief and cultural identity. State policies encourage migration from other parts of China, reducing the ethnic Tibetan share of the population. Key Developments in 2019 Tibetans faced intensified restrictions on movement due to a series of politically sensitive anniversaries, including the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in October, which featured a large-scale military parade and political rallies in Lhasa. Chinese officials continued a multiyear campaign to consolidate control over major centers for Tibetan Buddhist learning in Sichuan Province, reportedly evicting more than 7,000 residents from Yachen Gar, returning many of its monks and nuns to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) for political “reeducation,” demolishing monastic dwellings, and installing 600 Chinese officials at the center to monitor residents and visitors. -
Tibet Under Chinese Communist Rule
TIBET UNDER CHINESE COMMUNIST RULE A COMPILATION OF REFUGEE STATEMENTS 1958-1975 A SERIES OF “EXPERT ON TIBET” PROGRAMS ON RADIO FREE ASIA TIBETAN SERVICE BY WARREN W. SMITH 1 TIBET UNDER CHINESE COMMUNIST RULE A Compilation of Refugee Statements 1958-1975 Tibet Under Chinese Communist Rule is a collection of twenty-seven Tibetan refugee statements published by the Information and Publicity Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1976. At that time Tibet was closed to the outside world and Chinese propaganda was mostly unchallenged in portraying Tibet as having abolished the former system of feudal serfdom and having achieved democratic reforms and socialist transformation as well as self-rule within the Tibet Autonomous Region. Tibetans were portrayed as happy with the results of their liberation by the Chinese Communist Party and satisfied with their lives under Chinese rule. The contrary accounts of the few Tibetan refugees who managed to escape at that time were generally dismissed as most likely exaggerated due to an assumed bias and their extreme contrast with the version of reality presented by the Chinese and their Tibetan spokespersons. The publication of these very credible Tibetan refugee statements challenged the Chinese version of reality within Tibet and began the shift in international opinion away from the claims of Chinese propaganda and toward the facts as revealed by Tibetan eyewitnesses. As such, the publication of this collection of refugee accounts was an important event in the history of Tibetan exile politics and the international perception of the Tibet issue. The following is a short synopsis of the accounts. -
Development for Tibetans, but by Whom?
Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development Vol. 5, Iss. 1 (2011), Pp. 168-175 Development For Tibetans, But By Whom? Diana Jue Department of Urban Studies and Planning, International Development Group Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA [email protected] Keywords: Tibet, China, development, design. 1. Introduction: Tibetans in China In addition to the Han majority, the People‟s Republic of China officially recognizes 55 ethnic minority groups within its borders. The degree to which minorities have been incorporated into the national mainstream community varies widely from group to group, with some demonstrating considerable resentment against the ethnic majority. Most notable are the Turkic Muslim Uyghurs, who made international headlines in July 2009 for the Urumqi riots; the Hui in Hunan province, where unrest broke out in 2004; and, of course, the Tibetans, whose high-profile protests were in to the spotlight in the months preceding the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing. The Tibet-China conflict is one of the most polarized disputes in which China is currently embroiled. At the core of this debate is Tibet‟s status as either an autonomous region of the People‟s Republic of China or an independent country. The Chinese leadership is staunchly against the “legitimate and meaningful autonomy” demanded by the Dalai Lama (BBC News, 2009); the Dalai Lama has also been labeled as a “separatist” by China‟s president Hu Jintao but maintains that he does not want to separate Tibet from China (Mazumdar 2010). Additionally, discontent among Tibetans is not limited to those residing in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). -
Origin and Character of Loesslike Silt in the Southern Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau, China
Origin and Character of Loesslike Silt in the Southern Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau, China U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1549 Cover. View south-southeast across Lhasa He (Lhasa River) flood plain from roof of Potala Pal ace, Lhasa, Xizang Autonomous Region, China. The Potala (see frontispiece), characteristic sym bol of Tibet, nses 308 m above the valley floor on a bedrock hill and provides an excellent view of Mt. Guokalariju, 5,603 m elevation, and adjacent mountains 15 km to the southeast These mountains of flysch-like Triassic clastic and volcanic rocks and some Mesozoic granite character ize the southernmost part of Northern Xizang Structural Region (Gangdese-Nyainqentanglha Tec tonic Zone), which lies just north of the Yarlung Zangbo east-west tectonic suture 50 km to the south (see figs. 2, 3). Mountains are part of the Gangdese Island Arc at south margin of Lhasa continental block. Light-tan areas on flanks of mountains adjacent to almost vegetation-free flood plain are modern and ancient climbing sand dunes that exhibit evidence of strong winds. From flood plain of Lhasa He, and from flood plain of much larger Yarlung Zangbo to the south (see figs. 2, 3, 13), large dust storms and sand storms originate today and are common in capitol city of Lhasa. Blowing silt from larger braided flood plains in Pleistocene time was source of much loesslike silt described in this report. Photograph PK 23,763 by Troy L. P6w6, June 4, 1980. ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF LOESSLIKE SILT IN THE SOUTHERN QINGHAI-XIZANG (TIBET) PLATEAU, CHINA Frontispiece. -
The Lhasa Jokhang – Is the World's Oldest Timber Frame Building in Tibet? André Alexander*
The Lhasa Jokhang – is the world's oldest timber frame building in Tibet? * André Alexander Abstract In questo articolo sono presentati i risultati di un’indagine condotta sul più antico tempio buddista del Tibet, il Lhasa Jokhang, fondato nel 639 (circa). L’edificio, nonostante l’iscrizione nella World Heritage List dell’UNESCO, ha subito diversi abusi a causa dei rifacimenti urbanistici degli ultimi anni. The Buddhist temple known to the Tibetans today as Lhasa Tsuklakhang, to the Chinese as Dajiao-si and to the English-speaking world as the Lhasa Jokhang, represents a key element in Tibetan history. Its foundation falls in the dynamic period of the first half of the seventh century AD that saw the consolidation of the Tibetan empire and the earliest documented formation of Tibetan culture and society, as expressed through the introduction of Buddhism, the creation of written script based on Indian scripts and the establishment of a law code. In the Tibetan cultural and religious tradition, the Jokhang temple's importance has been continuously celebrated soon after its foundation. The temple also gave name and raison d'etre to the city of Lhasa (“place of the Gods") The paper attempts to show that the seventh century core of the Lhasa Jokhang has survived virtually unaltered for 13 centuries. Furthermore, this core building assumes highly significant importance for the fact that it represents authentic pan-Indian temple construction technologies that have survived in Indian cultural regions only as archaeological remains or rock-carved copies. 1. Introduction – context of the archaeological research The research presented in this paper has been made possible under a cooperation between the Lhasa City Cultural Relics Bureau and the German NGO, Tibet Heritage Fund (THF). -
2019 International Religious Freedom Report
CHINA (INCLUDES TIBET, XINJIANG, HONG KONG, AND MACAU) 2019 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT Executive Summary Reports on Hong Kong, Macau, Tibet, and Xinjiang are appended at the end of this report. The constitution, which cites the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and the guidance of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, states that citizens have freedom of religious belief but limits protections for religious practice to “normal religious activities” and does not define “normal.” Despite Chairman Xi Jinping’s decree that all members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) must be “unyielding Marxist atheists,” the government continued to exercise control over religion and restrict the activities and personal freedom of religious adherents that it perceived as threatening state or CCP interests, according to religious groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and international media reports. The government recognizes five official religions – Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism, and Catholicism. Only religious groups belonging to the five state- sanctioned “patriotic religious associations” representing these religions are permitted to register with the government and officially permitted to hold worship services. There continued to be reports of deaths in custody and that the government tortured, physically abused, arrested, detained, sentenced to prison, subjected to forced indoctrination in CCP ideology, or harassed adherents of both registered and unregistered religious groups for activities related to their religious beliefs and practices. There were several reports of individuals committing suicide in detention, or, according to sources, as a result of being threatened and surveilled. In December Pastor Wang Yi was tried in secret and sentenced to nine years in prison by a court in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, in connection to his peaceful advocacy for religious freedom. -
17-Point Agreement of 1951 by Song Liming
FACTS ABOUT THE 17-POINT “Agreement’’ Between Tibet and China Dharamsala, 22 May 22 DIIR PUBLICATIONS The signed articles in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Central Tibetan Administration. This report is compiled and published by the Department of Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan Administration, Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamsala 176 215, H. P., INDIA Email: [email protected] Website: www.tibet.net and ww.tibet.com CONTENTS Part One—Historical Facts 17-point “Agreement”: The full story as revealed by the Tibetans and Chinese who were involved Part Two—Scholars’ Viewpoint Reflections on the 17-point Agreement of 1951 by Song Liming The “17-point Agreement”: Context and Consequences by Claude Arpi The Relevance of the 17-point Agreement Today by Michael van Walt van Praag Tibetan Tragedy Began with a Farce by Cao Changqing Appendix The Text of the 17-point Agreement along with the reproduction of the original Tibetan document as released by the Chinese government His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Press Statements on the “Agreement” FORWARD 23 May 2001 marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the 17-point Agreement between Tibet and China. This controversial document, forced upon an unwilling but helpless Tibetan government, compelled Tibet to co-exist with a resurgent communist China. The People’s Republic of China will once again flaunt this dubious legal instrument, the only one China signed with a “minority” people, to continue to legitimise its claim on the vast, resource-rich Tibetan tableland. China will use the anniversary to showcase its achievements in Tibet to justify its continued occupation of the Tibetan Plateau. -
An Annotated List of Birds Wintering in the Lhasa River Watershed and Yamzho Yumco, Tibet Autonomous Region, China
FORKTAIL 23 (2007): 1–11 An annotated list of birds wintering in the Lhasa river watershed and Yamzho Yumco, Tibet Autonomous Region, China AARON LANG, MARY ANNE BISHOP and ALEC LE SUEUR The occurrence and distribution of birds in the Lhasa river watershed of Tibet Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China, is not well documented. Here we report on recent observations of birds made during the winter season (November–March). Combining these observations with earlier records shows that at least 115 species occur in the Lhasa river watershed and adjacent Yamzho Yumco lake during the winter. Of these, at least 88 species appear to occur regularly and 29 species are represented by only a few observations. We recorded 18 species not previously noted during winter. Three species noted from Lhasa in the 1940s, Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata, Solitary Snipe Gallinago solitaria and Red-rumped Swallow Hirundo daurica, were not observed during our study. Black-necked Crane Grus nigricollis (Vulnerable) and Bar-headed Goose Anser indicus are among the more visible species in the agricultural habitats which dominate the valley floors. There is still a great deal to be learned about the winter birds of the region, as evidenced by the number of apparently new records from the last 15 years. INTRODUCTION limited from the late 1940s to the early 1980s. By the late 1980s the first joint ventures with foreign companies were The Lhasa river watershed in Tibet Autonomous Region, initiated and some of the first foreign non-governmental People’s Republic of China, is an important wintering organisations were allowed into Tibet, enabling our own area for a number of migratory and resident bird species. -
Bilingual Education Policy in Tibet
BILINGUAL EDUCATION POLICY IN TIBET The Systematic Replacement of Tibetan Language with Mandarin Chinese Tibetan Centre for Human Rights & Democracy TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................1 Tibetan Language ...............................................................3 Background on Tibet .........................................................4 Impact of The Dominance of Mandarin Chinese ...........5 Tibetan Autonomy .............................................................7 LINGUISTIC RIGHTS ..............................................................14 History of the PRC’s Minority Language Policies in the PRC ........................................................................14 Analysis of PRC Laws on Minority Language Rights ..22 Language Rights as Human Rights .................................27 EDUCATION RIGHTS & POLICY ...........................................35 Background on PRC Education Policies and Perceptions of Tibetan Culture ...........................................................35 History of Bilingual Education Policy in Tibet ...........38 Bilingual Education Policy ............................................58 Failings of the Bilingual Education Policy in Tibet ...63 Pros and Cons of Bilingual Education Policy .............70 ANALYSIS OF HUMAN RIGHTS TO LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION POLICY ....................................................................................73 Failure to Uphold Laws ...................................................73 -
2020 TIBET DAY and THANK YOU DALAI LAMA YEAR PROCLAMATION
Town Council Phone: (413) 259-3002 [email protected] 2020 TIBET DAY and THANK YOU DALAI LAMA YEAR PROCLAMATION WHEREAS, on March 10, 2020, Tibetans throughout the world will gather to commemorate the 61st Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising against the brutal occupation of their country and pay tribute to the more than one million Tibetans who lost their life lives in their struggle for the freedom of Tibet; and WHEREAS, the occupation and ongoing suppression of human rights and freedom in Tibet and the intentional marginalization of Tibetan language, culture, and identity should continue to be a concern for all freedom- loving people everywhere; and WHEREAS, on January 11, 2020 China’s Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) passed the so calledso-called Ethnic Unity Law which further aims to curb the undiminishing defiance of the Tibetan people and their call for the protection of their identity, for freedom, human rights, and for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet; and WHEREAS, in December, 2018, the United States House Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act (initiated by Representative Jim McGovern), that called for an end to China’s isolation of Tibet and providing American citizens, including Tibetan Americans in Amherst, with the same opportunity of access to Tibet as enjoyed by Chinese citizens visiting our country; and WHEREAS, on January 28, 2020 the United States House of Representative with overwhelming bipartisan support passed the Tibet Policy and Support -
Review of Evidential Systems of Tibetan Languages
Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2017 Review of Lauren Gawne Nathan W. Hill (eds.). 2016. Evidential systems of Tibetan languages. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 40(2), 285–303 Widmer, Manuel DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.00002.wid Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-168681 Journal Article Accepted Version Originally published at: Widmer, Manuel (2017). Review of Lauren Gawne Nathan W. Hill (eds.). 2016. Evidential systems of Tibetan languages. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 40(2), 285–303. Linguistics of the Tibeto- Burman Area, 40(2):285-303. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.00002.wid Review of Evidential systems of Tibetan languages Gawne, Lauren & Nathan W. Hill (eds.). 2016. Evidential systems of Tibetan languages. de Gruyter: Berlin. vi + 472 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-047374-2 Reviewed by Manuel Widmer 1 Tibetan evidentiality systems and their relevance for the typology of evidentiality The evidentiality1 systems of Tibetan languages rank among the most complex in the world. According to Tournadre & Dorje (2003: 110), the evidentiality systeM of Lhasa Tibetan (LT) distinguishes no less than four “evidential Moods”: (i) egophoric, (ii) testiMonial, (iii) inferential, and (iv) assertive. If one also takes into account the hearsay Marker, which is cOMMonly considered as an evidential category in typological survey studies (e.g. Aikhenvald 2004; Hengeveld & Dall’Aglio Hattnher 2015; inter alia), LT displays a five-fold evidential distinction. The LT systeM, however, is clearly not the Most cOMplex of its kind within the Tibetan linguistic area.