Tibet

 In 1950 China sent troops into Tibet, imposing its authority over the region. Today the autonomy of Tibet remains heavily disputed: while the Dalai Lama maintains Tibet was originally an independent country, China claims sovereignty over Tibet on the theory that Tibet has been an integral part of China for centuries. After a failed uprising by Tibetans in 1959 the 14th Dalai Lama fled Tibet and set up a government in exile in India. Today the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) comprises less than half of historic Tibet; currently Tibetans are outnumbered by Han Chinese population in their own homeland.

Human rights groups accuse the People’s Republic of China of political and religious repression. Tibetans are forced to undergo patriotic reeducation classes extolling the virtues of Chinese rule and the evils of their exiled leader, the Dalai Lama. As China has also claimed the power to identify reincarnated lamas in Tibet, the Dalai Lama and Beijing are at odds over the 11th incarnation of the Panchen Lama (the second highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama); each has designated a different child as the incarnation. The Dalai Lama's choice, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, has not been seen since his detention by the Chinese authorities in 1995.

Torture and disappearances are frequent tactics used to enforce adherence to Chinese rule. Over 1.2 million Tibetans, one-fifth of the Tibet’s population pre-invasion, have died as a result of China's policies, while others languish in prisons and labor camps. More than 6000 monasteries, temples and other cultural and historic buildings have been destroyed and pillaged. In March 2008 popular protests in Tibet led to mass arrests, disappearances, deaths by torture, and lengthy prison terms for Tibetans.

China openly pressures world leaders against meeting with the Dalai Lama and has blocked all UN resolutions on Tibet. The Tibetan Government-in-Exile has received meaningful support from European governments but, as yet, the United States government has not offered any significant assistance in response to the deadlock in negotiations between Tibet and China. In 2008 the Chinese government declined a request made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Tibet and independently assess the situation.

 

Tibet
Tibet videos Tibet pictures not available Tibet audio not available

About Tibet

 

Film

Documentary:

  • Tibet - Cry of the Snow Lion, Tom Piozet, director, 2002
  • Angry Monk: Reflections on Tibet, Luc Schaedler, director, 2005
  • The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet’s Struggle for Freedom, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, directors, 2010

Fiction:

  • Kundun, Martin Scorsese, director, 1997
  • Windhorse, Paul Wagner, director, 1998
  • Dreaming Lhasa, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, directors, 2005

 

Literature

Tibetan Authors:

  • G. T. Andrugtsang. Four- Rivers-Six Range: A True Account of Khampa Resistance. Dharamsala: DIIR,1973.
  • H.H. The Dalai Lama. My Land and My People. New York: McGraw-Hill,1962.
  • H.H. The Dalai Lama. Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama. New York: Harper Collins,1990.
  • Dawa Norbu. Red Star over Tibet. London: Collins, 1974.
  • Jamyang Norbu. Horseman in the Snow. Dharamsala: Information Office,1979.
  • Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, Tibet - A Political History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967.
  • Tibet Under Communist China –50 Years. Dharamsala: Dept. of Information & International Relations, 2001.

Western Authors:

  • John Avedon. In Exile From the Land of Snows. New York: Vintage Books, 1986.
  • Melvyn C. Goldstein. A History of Modern Tibet. Berkeley: California Press, 1989.
  • Heinrich Harrer. Seven Years in Tibet. New York: E.P. Dutton,1954.
  • Dr. Blake Kerr. Sky Burial. Chicago: The Noble Press, 1993.
  • H.E. Richardson. Tibet and Its History. London: Oxford University Press, 1962.
  • Michael C. van Walt van Praag. The Status of Tibet. Boulder: Westview Press,1987.
  • Pierre-Antoine Donnet. Tibet: Survival in Question. London: Zed Books Ltd.,1994.
  • Jasper Becker. Hungry Ghosts. The Free Press, New York, 1996.
  • Petra Kelly, The Anguish of Tibet, Parallax Press.

Chinese Authors:

  • Wei Jing. 100 Questions About Tibet. Beijing: Beijing Review Press, 1989.
  • Wang Xiaoqiang & Bai Nanfeng. The Poverty of Plenty. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991
  • Tibet - Its Ownership & Human Rights Situation. Beijing: Info. Office of the State Council of the PRC,1992.

 

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