Tibet Hiking Tour

"Freedom of religion" (of all religions)

is a fundamental right of Chinese citizens

under the protection of China Constitution

Every day thousands of Tibetan Buddhism belivers

(including local Lhasa residents and overseas pilgrims)

can be seen taking ritual walks encircling Potala Palace.

Foreign Tibetan living in India or Nepal

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Destiny of Dalai Lama

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Difference between Genuine and Foreign Tibetans

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Tibet University and Preservation of Tibetan culture

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Tibet sees happy Buddhism believers

2008-07-04 09:54:00

Buddhism believers are taking ritual walks in front of the Potala Palace, photo from chinatibetnews.com, June 30.

Buddhism believers in the Tibet Autonomous Region enjoy the freedom of religious belief with the support from the government.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200807/t20080704_410827.htm

Expert: Big progress in religious freedom in Tibet

2008-04-22 10:55:00

A Tibet expert on Monday defended progress in religious and individual rights in the region, saying religion had progressed from a coercive force before 1951 to a legally protected freedom.

Old Tibetan law stipulated that Buddhism was the only legal religion, and other religions were banned as heresy, said Sherab Nyima, vice president of the Beijing-based Central University for Nationalities, on the sidelines of the Beijing Forum on Human Rights.

Now freedom of religion was a fundamental right of Chinese citizens, which was under the protection of the constitution, he said.

Under the feudal serfdom of old Tibet, most people were merely slaves who were deprived of basic human dignity. They had no personal rights, and no right of subsistence, not to mention political and other human rights.

Tibetan law before 1951 when Tibet was peacefully liberated even publicly protected privileges of a few and inequality, he said.

The expert said the Chinese government's respect of religious freedom was out of the respect for basic human rights.

http://eng.tibet.cn/Features2008/314sj/commentary/200804/t20080423_377117.htm

Tibetan people enjoy religious freedom

2008-05-27 15:35:00

A Tibetan Buddhism believer is reading blessing scriptures that he just took from Jokhang Temple, photo from Tibet Daily.

The religious freedom in the Tibet Autonomous Region is well protected with China's religious freedom policy. More than 40,000 monks and nuns get along well with believers as well as free thinkers.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/editor/200805/t20080530_402510.htm

Tibetans greet Fairy Maiden Festival

2008-12-14 11:17:00

Tibetan women are praying in Jokhang Monastery on December 12 (December 15 on Tibetan calendar), photo from Xinhua.

A Tibetan woman is praying in Jokhang Monastery on December 12 (December 15 on Tibetan calendar), photo from Xinhua.

Tibetan believers are praying in Jokhang Monastery on December 12 (December 15 on Tibetan calendar), photo from Xinhua.

Tibetan believers are praying in Jokhang Monastery on December 12 (December 15 on Tibetan calendar), photo from Xinhua.

December 15 in Tibetan calendar marks the annual Tibetan Fairy Maiden Festival (Auspicious Goddess Festival). Tibetans gather around the Jokhang Monastery in Lhasa for presenting hadas to Auspicious Goddess.

Every October 15 on the Tibetan calendar, the Tibetans, especially Tibetan women, would gather in Lhasa around the Jokhang Temple to pray for happy marriage and true love.

Local legends have it that once upon a time the third and youngest daughter mistreated her mom who before dying laid a curse: when married, her lazy daughter would meet her husband once a year on October 15.

The curse worked and the miserable daughter has been regretting what she had done while her mother was still alive in this world.

For those who follow the Tibetan school of Buddhism, the legend was changed to recount:

The oldest of the three daughters was so true to her love tthe religious hat she pulled the wool over her mom's eyes to slip away from her duty at the temple and live with a brave warrior.

Her mother, a goddess who had traveled from India to guard the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, got so angry at the deception that she asked to have her daughter sending way away from her lover and allowed her to see him only from across the Lhasa River once a year on October 15.

Up till now, the lamas in Lhasa still carry the statue of that brave daughter to the Jokhang Temple to give her the annual chance to see across the Lhasa River her true lover on the other side of the stream.

For the ordinary people the secular version of the legend serves as an instruction for good behavior while for Buddhism followers version of the legend serves as an instruction for sound belief.

Each year on October 15 on the Tibetan calendar, the Jokhang Temple gets shrouded in light blue smokes rising from the incense burners along the Barkor Street around the temple.

Prayers continuously add branches of pine trees and roasted barley flour in the burners to keep the mist-like smokes rising all day long for lasting good luck and happy marriage.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200812/t20081214_443056.htm

Tibetans enjoy free religion belief in harmonious society

2008-12-24 15:39:00

Losangjigme, vice chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) of Tibet Autonomous Region as well as director with Tibet Ethnic Religious Affairs Committee currently said in an interview in response to the standpoint that "Tibetan people have no freedom of religion belief" wrote in the "Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People" which the Dalai Lama's private representatives presented to the central government, was totally lying, as the fact is that freedom of religion brief is fully respected in Tibet and religion is also in harmony with local society.

In Tibet, freedom of religion belief is guaranteed by China's Constitution and laws, believers of different religions and sects and non-Buddhists receive equal treatment and respect. More than 1,700 religion scenes in Tibet have been reopened to the public after renovating with some 46,000 monks/nuns, said Losangjigme.

On to ensuring normal progress of Tibetan Buddhism activities, both Chinese central government and Tibet's local government have exerted great efforts. Since 1980s, they have financed more than 700 million for reopening and repairing some state level protected cultural units and monasteries, he said.

The government has been thinking much of rules of reincarnation of Tibetan living Buddhas in different sects, including the seeking and confirming of reincarnation boy, ceremony of enthronement and initiating into monkhood.

Festival in Tibet is thrice as many as any other cities in China. Believers are free to take part in any traditional folk or religionary festival activities, like Shoton Festival and Sakadawa Festival, and some influential festivals have been gradually resumed.

According to Losangjigme, China has also invested huge fund to enable more people to study Tibetan Buddhism by setting up academies and schools. To meet the demand of Buddhists and monks, a total of 1,490 copies of Kanjur in Tibetan language have been published and plenty of books concerning Tibetan Buddhism have been printed.

A string of laws and regulations were carried out to guarantee the successful development of religionary activities and rights of monks and common people. People in Tibet are enjoying free religionary belief and such is protected by the law.

Politically, both Chinese leaders and Tibetan Buddhism heads have been exploring ways to reconcile religion with current social system, and the local governments are active in publicizing knowledge of religion. Economically, as Tibetology is hotter and hotter across the world, tourism business concerning Tibetan culture and religion becomes a hot choice for travelers. Not only does it spread the culture of Tibetan Buddhism, but drives the local economy.

To sum up, Losangjigme said, society in Tibet is in harmony with politics and religion while people are free to choose religion belief, which is just what Dalai Lama unwilling to see and recognize. In no way will lie become true, the standpoint "Tibetan people have no freedom of religion belief" is an arrant lie.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200812/t20081224_444872.htm

Tibetans celebrating the Butter Lamp Festival

2008-12-22 10:00:00

In memory of Tsongkhapa, founder of Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism who passed away on Oct 25 according to Tibetan calendar, butter lamps were glistening in both temples and Tibetan's houses.

A monk is lighting the butter lamps at Jokhang Temple of Lhasa on the evening of December 21 which falls on October 25 according to Tibetan calendar, photo from Xinhua.

Many monks of Jokhang Temple are lighting the butter lamps, photo from Xinhua.

Potala Palace is lighted by the the butter lamps, photo from Xinhua.

Butter lamps have been lighted by many monks of Jokhang Temple, photo from Xinhua.

Many monks of Jokhang Temple are winding the horns, photo from Xinhua.

Butter lamps have been lighted by many monks of Jokhang Temple, photo from Xinhua.

Monks seem happy by lightening the butter lamps, photo from Xinhua.

Butter lamps have been lighted by many monks of Jokhang Temple, photo from Xinhua.

A monk is lighting the butter lamps at Jokhang Temple of Lhasa, photo from Xinhua.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/photo1/200812/t20081225_445047.htm

Tibet builds first Buddhism academy

www.chinaview.cn 2008-10-18 18:01:27

A foundation-laying ceremony of Tibetan Buddhism College is held in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, on Oct. 18, 2008. With a total investment of 80 million yuan (about 11 million U.S. dollars) and an area of 17.5 hectares, the college is expected to be the first comprehensive higher educational institution of Tibetan Buddhism in the region. (Xinhua Photo)

LHASA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- A general academy of Tibetan Buddhism, the first of its kind in the southwestern autonomous region, began construction of the 80 million yuan (11.7 million U.S. dollars) facility on Saturday.

The Tibetan Buddhism Academy in Nyetang Town, Quxu County, covers an area of 17.4 hectares. Quxu is under the jurisdiction of the regional capital Lhasa.

Its total investment is all from the central government budget.

The first phase of construction will cost about 50 million yuan and is scheduled for completion in 2010. Its design includes a library and buildings for religious activities.

"This will be the first comprehensive and high-level Tibetan Buddhism academy in Tibet," said Lobsang Gyaincain, head of the United Front Work Department of the Tibet committee of the Communist Party of China.

"The academy will contribute a lot to conducting Buddhist studies and exchanges with the outside world."

The facility aims to train patriotic and devotional religious personnel who are widely recognized both in their religious accomplishments and moral character, he added.

In addition to religious theories, students will also be taught knowledge of other disciplines such as politics and sociology.

Currently, Tibet has more than 1,700 religious venues accommodating about 46,000 monks and nuns.

Since the 1980s, the central and local governments have invested more than 700 million yuan for the preservation and maintenance of monasteries and cultural relics in Tibet.

Lamas attend the foundation-laying ceremony of Tibetan Buddhism College in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, on Oct. 18, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/18/content_10215198.htm

Signed article: A breach of constitution under pretext of religion

17:44, December 04, 2008

Following is a signed article by Liu Hongji, a researcher with the China Tibetology Research Center, on the Dalai Lama side's recent claim of "genuine autonomy."

A breach of constitution under pretext of religion

by Liu Hongji

In the "Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People", the Dalai side, by claiming that "the Tibetan government in exile represents the interests of the Tibetan people and speaks on their behalf", listed several "basic needs" (including religion) of "genuine autonomy", which was quite misleading.

The Memorandum said that "We recognize the importance of separation of church and state, but this should not affect the freedom and practice of believers." It also says that "An interpretation of the constitutional principle in light of international standard would also cover the freedom of the manner of belief or worship. The freedom covers the right of monasteries to be organized and run according to Buddhist monastic tradition, to engage in teachings and studies, and to enroll any number of monks and nuns or age group in accordance with these rules. The normal practice to hold public teachings and the empowerment of large gatherings is covered by this freedom and the state should not interfere in religious practices and traditions, such as the relationship between a teacher and his disciple, management of monastic institutions, and the recognition of reincarnations."

As a matter of fact, freedom of religious belief is one of the basic rights endowed to the Chinese citizens by the Chinese Constitution. Article 36 of the Constitution says "Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief. No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion. The state protects normal religious activities. No one may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state. Religious bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination." In addition to the Constitution, other Chinese laws, including the Criminal Law, the Civil Code, the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, the Military Service Law, the Law on Compulsory Education, the Law on education, the Electoral Law for the National People's Congress and the Local People's Congresses, the Organic Law of Village Committees, the Labor Law and the Law on Advertising all stipulate that citizens' freedom of religious belief are protected and public organizations and individuals should not discriminate against citizens who believe in or do not believe in any religion. But one thing should be clarified, freedom of religious belief does not mean religious activities are also free from government regulation or legal obligations. To believe in a religion or not is a personal issue and a free choice, but religious activities, which might affect other people, must be bound by law.

To protect citizens' freedom of religious belief, maintain social harmony and regulate religious affairs, the State Council issued a Regulations on Religious Affairs in 2004. Article 2 of the Regulation says that no organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in or not to believe in any religion. Nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in any religion or citizens who do not believe in any religion. Religious citizens and non-religious citizens shall respect each other and co-exist in harmony, and so shall citizens who believe in different religions.

The provisions concerning protection of citizens' freedom of religious belief in the Constitution and laws have been seriously implemented in Tibet. Tibet now has more than 1,780 religious sites, about 46,000 monks and nuns, four mosques and one catholic church. Religious groups co-exist harmoniously and their religious activities are held orderly in Tibet. Without genuine freedom of religious belief, this would be impossible.

What the Dalai side asked for was absolute religious freedom which was not bound by law. They asked to manage monasteries and enroll monks and nuns according to "religious tradition" and "religious rules", which, in fact, meant that they wanted to resume the old "religion first" regime led by the Dalai before Tibet's democratic reform. By then, Tibet had 2,676 monasteries and 120,000 monks and nuns, accounting for one tenth of Tibet's total population. Monasteries, which owned more than one third of the means of production in Tibet, sustained the Tibetan feudal serfdom as one of the three major estate-holders. The other two were local bureaucrats and nobles. The old regime didn't benefit Tibet. Instead, it impeded Tibet's social development. According to the Tibetan Annals written in the Qing Dynasty, Tibet had a total population of 1.3 million in 1737. During the following 200 years, Tibet's population didn't increase. Instead, it declined to one million in 1951. Its economic situation was even worse. In 1951, Tibet was still a feudal serfdom society with no modern industries and education. What the situation would be if the old system was restored in Tibet in which one tenth of the population was monks and nuns? By 2007, Tibet has recorded 2,83 million population. If 280,000 people were monks or nuns and did not work, the pressure on laymen to support them would be crippling.

Education is the foundation for social development. Article 2 of the Law on Compulsory Education says that "The compulsory education is the education which is implemented uniformly by the state and shall be received by all school-age children and adolescents. It is a public welfare cause that shall be guaranteed by the state." Article 4 says that "All children and adolescents who have the nationality of the People's Republic of China and have reached the school age shall have equal right and have the obligation to receive compulsory education, regardless of the gender, nationality, race, status of family property, religion, belief, etc." And Article 5 stipulates that "The people's governments at all levels and their relevant departments shall perform all functions as described by this Law and shall ensure the right to compulsory education of all school-age children and adolescents. The parents or other statutory guardians of school-age children and adolescents shall ensure that school-age children and adolescents go to school to receive and complete the compulsory education." The Dalai side's claim of enrolling any number of monks and nuns or age group in accordance with Buddhist monastic tradition violated the Law on Compulsory Education and will not help improve social development.

Currently, religious followers in China enjoy full freedom of religious belief. Almost all Tibetan Buddhists have scripture halls or Buddha statue niches at home, and they can invite monks to hold scripture recitation and religious ceremonies at home. Lhasa receives more than one million Buddhist followers annually, and the Jokhang Monastery is full of believers worshipping or rolling their prayer wheels. By denying the fact that the Tibetan people enjoy freedom of religious belief and asking for an amendment to the Constitution with so-called 'international standard', the Dalai side is attempting to restore theocracy in Tibet. Enditem

Source:Xinhua

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90785/6546827.html

Discovery: 8 writing materials found in Buddhism scriptures of Sagya Monastery

2008-12-08 13:20:00

It was currently found that Buddhism scriptures housed in the Sagya Monastery, which is dubbed as "the second Dunhuang", adopted eight different materials in writing and it is very rare in the history of Tibetan Buddhism.

Dorje, who is responsible for the repair of the Sagya Monastery, said researchers discovered the gold, silver, tusche, vermilion, pearl powder, conch powder, bone flour and kallaite were respectively used in writing the Buddhism scriptures kept in the monastery.

To use bone flour and kallaite was also firstly found in the Sagya Monastery. Dorje said the 98 pages scriptures found are really costly and the scriptures indicated those were created by a rich man to pray for his ill mother.

Buddhism scripture in both literal and figured illustrations is also a new discovery. "It is of great value of religion and research," said Dorje.

Found in 1073, the Sagya Monastery is the main monastery of Sagya sect of Tibetan Buddhism, and houses ten thousand of rare Buddhism scriptures, including the heaviest Buddhism scriptures in the world with some 1,000 jin. (equals to 500 gram)

The renovation of Sagya Monastery with a total investment of 86 million yuan started in 2002 and is expected to be finished by 2009. It mainly focuses on protection of frescos, reinforcing of Aga soil, a kind of soil formed in the drought grassland in temperate zone, enhancing of Baimacao wall and replacing of indoor timbers.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200812/t20081208_441900.htm

Painting Mandala on Tibetan cultural exhibition

2008-12-15 10:37:00

Three monks are carefully sprinkling the colored sand on the mandala, photo from Eastday.com.

The material needed for making of mandala, photo from Eastday.com.

A monks is filling his conical tool with colored sand, photo from Eastday.com.

On the opening ceremony of the "Auspicious Hada-Large Scale Tibetan Culture & Art Exhibition", monks from Shaten Monastery of Nagqu Prefecture brought the making of mandala face to face to the visitors.

Mandala, called Dultson Kyilkhor in Tibetan, means container of essence. The Mandala is a tri-dimensional graphical and geometrical representation of the universe. It represents a combination of the enlightened mind and body of Buddha and is considered to have great power.

These unique and exquisite works are usually made of colored sand. However, powdered flowers, herbs and even precious gems are also popularly used materials. Although Mandalas were originally created as religious objects used to aid in meditation and decorate and sanctify monasteries and homes, they have become appreciated as artwork for their elegance and beauty.

Mandalas are usually symmetric with series of concentric circles and squares. The center point is the residence of the resident deity, from whom the Mandala is identified. Lines are drawn from the centre until they intersect and form circles and squares. The finished Mandalas have four gates, which symbolize a culmination of the four virtues: compassion, kindness, sympathy and equanimity. Other Buddhist auspicious symbols can also be included in the design. Form and color application techniques are strictly followed in the process of creating a Mandala to show religious meanings.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200812/t20081215_443270.htm

(97)Catholic Church with more than 140 years of history in Tibet

2006-10-02 10:39:00

Perched on a hill, the whitewashed compound in the valley west of the Jinsha River in far-flung eastern Tibet, gleams under a sky that is unbelievably clear and blue.

But this building is no ordinary Tibetan-style residence. The two crosses fixed to the outer walls, and the beautiful interior decoration featuring Gothic arches and a ceiling painted with scenes from the Bible reveal the truth this is the Catholic church at Yanjing, also known as yerkalo, the only Catholic church in the whole of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Upper Yanjing has a population of 900 villagers, 600 of whom are Catholics. When Catholics from other areas are included, the church boasts 740 parishioners, compared to 342 when the church was first founded.

The Tibetan priest in residence, Father Laurent, says The existence of the Catholic church here, with a history of over 100 years, proves that different religions can co-exist in harmony.

According to him, the Catholic church was founded in 1865 by a French missionary named Felix Biet. Born in 1838, Father Felix was twenty-five years old when he was ordained in January 1864. He set out almost immediately for Tibet, arriving in March of the same year. He became a bishop and died in September 1901.

The Catholic church in Yanjing has a three-storey bell tower which also houses the clergy, and a two-storey church where religious services are held.

Getting established in Tibet was no easy matter for the small Catholic congregation. Clashes between the Catholic church and a nearby lamasery were a regular event and they culminated in the death of Father Felix's successor, Father Maurice Tornay, in the 1940s. Armed lamas then took over the church.

The church was not returned to Catholic hands until 1951.

During the Cultural Revolution, the church compound became a primary and middle school. Some of the church's treasures were destroyed, and the roof of the church was dismantled so that the school could expand. In the late 1980s, the church was partially renovated at a cost of 102,000 yuan (about 12,750 U.S. dollars), including 95,000 yuan of government funds.

Father Laurent's assistants in Yanjing parish are two Tibetan nuns.

There are two masses each day on weekdays and three on weekend days, with each mass lasting one hour. However, baptisms and weddings are not performed.

Lisa, an 84-year-old Tibetan woman from Upper Yanjing Village, is illiterate, but capable of reciting aloud the Tibetan version of the Holy Bible.

Newborns are brought to the Church by their parents and are christened by the priests. They bear their Christian names all their lives and are buried in accordance with Catholic rituals when they die, said Lisa.

The church has introduced locals to new ideas and also taught them to be more tolerant of people with different religious beliefs.

Lovers who belong to different religions no longer have to deal with opposition from their parents. They can stick to their faith when they get married, said Mary, the Tibetan nun in her 40s. Their children will also be free to choose their own religion.

Paul, a senior editor with the editorial board of Tibetan Studies Magazine published by the Tibet Autonomous Regional Academy of Social Sciences, said As a matter of fact, my father is a Catholic and my mother a Buddhist.

I have six siblings. The first three kids in the family all have Christian names like me, but the last four were given Tibetan names, said Paul.

Paul spent his childhood in Upper Yanjing Village. He nevertheless insists he believes in Marxism.

The Catholic faith in Tibet has taken on Tibetan features. For instance, Tibetan Catholics consider the Tibetan New Year, which normally falls in March, to be the beginning of the year, and recite the Holy Bible in Tibetan instead of English. They present hada, long pieces of silk used as a greeting gift among Tibetans, to the Virgin Mary, and the clergy wear Tibetan costumes, according to Priest Laurent.

The Tibetan priest says they invite parishioners from neighboring provinces or Buddhists from nearby lamaseries to celebrate occasions such as Christmas and in return are invited to attend Buddhist festivals.

Only a small minority of believers in Tibet are Catholics. The vast majority of Tibetans are Buddhists. But despite our religious discrepancies, we all have the same nationality and lifestyle, says Gongqiu Zhaxi, director of the Upper Yanjing Village Committee. Religious conflicts between Catholics and Buddhists were a thing of the past.

http://eng.tibet.cn/religion/school/200801/t20080116_330131.htm

Religious autocracy under the cover of democracy

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(98)Prayers return to normal at riot-hit mosque in Lhasa

2008-03-23 09:13:00

Prayers have returned to normal at the violence-hit grand mosque in Lhasa.

Friday is Jumu'ah, a day of holy obligation for Muslims, and at 2 p.m. on Friday more than 1,500 gathered at the mosque in Bagor Street, downtown Lhasa, to take part in prayers led by Imam Yagu.

Speaking about the riots, Imam Yagu told the congregation: "A handful of lawless people tried to cause conflict among people of different religions. Some people with ulterior motives seized the chance and spread rumors to sow discord among people of different ethnic groups and cause confrontation, which will not succeed."

The Imam urged believers to have a clear understanding of the situation and support social stability, economic development and national unity.

The unrest, which broke out in the Tibetan capital on March 14, left businesses looted and residences, shops and vehicles torched. The grand mosque was also set on fire at around 8:30 p.m.

At least 18 civilians and one police officer have been confirmed killed in the unrest, which also saw 382 injuries. Rioters set fire to seven schools, five hospitals and 120 residences. A total of 84 vehicles were burnt and 908 shops were looted. Damage is estimated at more than 244 million yuan (about 34.59million US dollars).

A group of officials from the China Buddhist Association Tibet Branch visited the prayers on Friday at the grand mosque.

Zhikongqungcang Lobsangqiangba, vice chairman of the China Buddhist Association Tibet Branch, said muslims in Lhasa and Tibetan Buddhists had been getting along well since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and expressed his sorrow for the harm they suffered in the Lhasa unrest.

"The riots were organized, premeditated and incited by the Dalai clique, with the purpose of damaging national unity, fomenting discord among people of different ethnic groups and causing chaos in society," said the Buddhist leader, hoping muslims could see clearly the nature of the Lhasa unrest

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200803/t20080323_370841.htm

Maintenance on Sakya Monastery to finish next spring

2008-12-01 10:33:00

The 86-million-yuan repair project of Sakya Monastery has by far been finished 80 per cent and will come into an end early next year.

Housing substantive Buddhism scriptures and frescos, the Sakya Monastery, located in the Sakya County of Xigaze Prefecture, is honored as "Second Dunhuang". Since 2002, the monastery has been undertaking several maintenances at a huge cost.

According to Dorje, who is responsible for the repair project, renovation of Sakya Monastery mainly focuses on protection of frescos, reinforcing of Aga soil, a kind of soil formed in the drought grassland in temperate zone, enhancing of Baimacao wall and replacing of indoor timbers.

Dorje said the renovation was carried out without changing of its original feature, which won yea from locals.

The maintenance project of Sakya Monastery, is a part of the "three cultural relics maintenance project" in Tibet, which costs 330 million yuan, and requires the most investment, highest technology and covers the largest renovation area in highest altitude among the three.

Found in 1073, the Sakya Monastery is the main monastery of the Sakya sect of Tibetan Buddhism and was inscribed into the state level protection cultural units in 1961.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200812/t20081201_440914.htm

Tibetan Buddhist monks hold firefighting drill

2008-12-04 09:04:00

Picture taken on Nov. 28, 2008 shows Tibetan Buddhist monks rush to a fire site during a drilling at Sagya Monastery in Xigaze of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Some 35 temples and lamaseries in the region have established their own fire brigades comprised of buddhist monk volunteers in recent years, photo from Xinhua.

Picture taken on Nov. 29, 2008 shows Tibetan Buddhist monks try to put out a fire during a drilling at Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery in Xigaze of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, photo from Xinhua.

Picture taken on Nov. 29, 2008 shows a Tibetan Buddhist monk hoding a fire hose during a drilling at Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery in Xigaze of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, photo from Xinhua.

Picture taken on Nov. 29, 2008 shows Tibetan Buddhist monks try to put out a fire during a drilling at Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery in Xigaze of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, photo from Xinhua.

Picture taken on Nov. 29, 2008 shows Tibetan Buddhist monks try to put out a fire during a drilling at Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery in Xigaze of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, photo from Xinhua.

Training was taught by Tibetan Firemen

The drill was completely volunteering and led by Tibetans Monks

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200812/t20081204_441476.htm

U.K. <<Guardian>>: Down with the Dalai Lama

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Bustling roads for ritual walks

2008-04-11 10:17:00

Buddhism believers are taking ritual walks at the foot of the Potala Palace, photo from Tibet Daily.

The Buddhists in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, take ritual walks as usual with increasing stability in the city.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/photo/200804/t20080411_375970.htm

Printing Tibetan Tripitaka Tanjur

2008-12-03 16:07:00

Workers of the Buddhism Scripture Printing Office of Tibet Buddhism Association are printing the Tibetan Tripitaka.

Workers are sealing the Buddhism scriptures.

In 1991, the Party Committee of Tibet Autonomous Region and local governments authorized the Tibet Buddhism Association to print the Lhasa edition of Tanjur of Tibetan Tripitaka and set up an office of Tibetan Tripitaka printing. With more than 10-year efforts, the Tibet Buddhism Association has by far printed 50,750 Buddhism scripture plates and finished printing 165 editions of Tanjur.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200812/t20081203_441324.htm

Tibet Fought Against Foreign Invasion

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Dalai Lama does not represent all Tibetan or Tibetan Buddhism and he has lots of enemies, even within Tibetan Buddhism. Enclosed photo showing a demonstration against Dalai Lama by Tibetan Buddhism Monks in Germany. In this photo many Germans(like many of us) were very much surprised.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-06/23/content_8424644.htm

(88)

In every capital of every European nation Dalai Lama was met with Protest: Stop Lying

Religious autocracy under the cover of democracy

Analyzing Dalai Lama's action for excluding Gyaiqen Xudain believers

2008-02-04 10:41:00

On January 6, 2008, the 14th Dalai Lama compelled the monks in India's Gaden Monastery to sign the pledge not to believe in the Buddhist Guardian, Gyaiqen Xudain and drove away nine monks who refused to take an oath. For another time, the Dalai Lama clique started a climax for restraining the believers of Buddhist Guardian, Gyaiqen Xudain. On January 9, the Dalai Lama brought forward that the problem of "Gyaiqen Xudain" can't wait any longer and forcibly ordered that the final decision must be made by a "public vote". Under Dalai's threat, some Tibetan Buddhism temples in India launched the "public vote" one after another to decide whether they should believe in the Buddhist Guardian, Gyaiqen Xudain or not. This action resulted in a great disturbance among Tibetan communities and Tibetan Buddhism believers.

Greeting Tibetan Buddhism believers who called this Nobel Peace "lying"

Why does the Dalai Lama care so much about the Buddhist Guardian, Gyaiqen Xudain? According to Dalai, he has two reasons for forbidding believing in Gyaiqen Xudain: Firstly, it is harmful to the fundamental cause of Tibet and is no good for the Dalai Lama's health by having faith in "devils"; Secondly, the Buddhist Guardian, Gyaiqen Xudain is heresy, the sect with evil wishes. In recent years, whenever the Dalai Lama was ill or there was any frustration of the so-called "Tibet Independence" cause, the Dalai Lama started accusing the Gyaiqen Xudain. It indicates that the 14th Dalai Lama becomes self-distrust, but there is no reason to force anyone else to stop worshipping what they believe in. There is a hidden purpose and that is to exclude dissidents. In 1990s, in the name of fighting against the Buddhist Guardian, Gyaiqen Xudain, the 14th Dalai Lama started slaughtering the members of "New Kadampa Sect" who dare accuse him. The 14th Dalai Lama incited the "Tibetan Youth Congress", "Tibetan Women Federation" and some other branches to forcefully dismantle the statues of the Buddhist Guardian Gyaiqen Xudain, and beat people who refused to obey them. Those who still refused in spite of these efforts were suppressed, with lamas and nuns driven out of monasteries or nunneries. Now, the 14th Dalai Lama resumes his former tricks dissimilarly with a name of "public vote".

Both the democracy and public vote are the production of modern civilization, but such "public vote" by the Dalai Lama is a kind of religious autocracy under the cover of democracy to attack and persecute the monks, nuns and believers who have faith in the Buddhist Guardian, Gyaiqen Xudain. Such "public vote" is indeed a kind of blasphemy and mock to democracy and freedom. Due to Dalai Lama's religious autocratic behavior, people can't help thinking about the inquisition in the Dark Ages and the Pope's slaughter to the heathenry. Die Welt published an article coauthored by Victor Trimondi and Victoria Trimondi, in early August 2007£¬saying "Tibet did not end its dark medieval period until the mid 20th century. Before that, it was plagued by violence, wars and power struggles under the name of religion. The religious trials held under the Lama regime were no different from those under the Catholic rule during the medieval days. For the problem of the Buddhist Guardian, Gyaiqen Xudain, the 14th Dalai Lama emphasizes his exclusive authority and orders an end to worshipping the Buddhist Guardian which has been inherited for hundreds of years. Though he himself goes in for democracy, the 14th Dalai Lama's leader station can't be fluctuated through the so-called public vote."

Dalai's religious autocracy action has caused strong resentment among international religious people and Gyaiqen Xudain believers. Early in ten years ago, over 300 Gyaiqen Xudain believers marched in the UK to protest the Dalai Lama with a slogan of "Your smile is charming, but your behavior is harming" and a 51-page material sent to over 300 news agencies to reveal Dalai Lama's persecution to Gyaiqen Xudain believers. Time flies, but the 14th Dalai Lama keeps on his religious autocracy and continues violating Gyaiqen Xudain believers' human rights and religious freedom, holds on making Buddhism sects split. Can it be that a "Tibetan Buddhism leader" or a winner of "Nobel Peace Prize" should have such action?

It is funny that those who are crazy about flattering the Dalai Lama and giving him a name of democracy and human right guard are silent as the grave about the incident that the 14th Dalai Lama persecutes those Gyaiqen Xudain believers and they treat it as if there is no such happenings. Do you really know nothing about this incident, or you have no choice, but keep silent before the fact or you guys simply agree with or even support the Dalai Lama to do things offensive to God and reason? Really hope that those advocators to democracy and human rights are brave enough to give a public answer.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200802/t20080204_367686.htm

China urges U.S. to stop supporting Dalai Lama in any form

www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-28 11:18:54

BEIJING, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Relevant people in the United States should stop supporting and conniving with the Dalai Lama and separatist forces for "Tibet independence," the Foreign Ministry said here on Monday.

Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao made the remarks when commenting on a report that Republican presidential candidate John McCain had met last Friday with the Dalai Lama, who was visiting the United States.

"China is seriously concerned about the report," Liu said, noting the Tibet issue is China's domestic affair.

China opposed the Dalai Lama conducting separatist activities in any country with any individual and opposed anyone making use of the Dalai Lama issue to interfere in China's domestic affairs. The stance is persistent and clear, Liu said.

He urged relevant people in the United States to abide by the basic principles of international relations, see clearly the true face of the Dalai Lama as separating China and destroying social stability and national unity in Tibet under the cloak of religion and stop supporting and conniving with the Dalai Lama and the separatist forces for "Tibet independence," as well as anything interfering in China's domestic affairs and damaging Sino-U.S. relations.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/28/content_8786288.htm

In Germany: Dalai Lama was accused "Cultural Genocide"

In Rome: Dalai Lama was called "Hypocrisy!"

In London: "Dalai Lama GIVE Religious Freedom"

http://news.ifeng.com/mil/2/200807/0714_340_651682.shtml  

Tibet Before 1951 Peaceful Liberation

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Tibet After 1951 Peaceful Liberation

click here

China launches largest ever Tibet cultural relic preservation

2008-04-20 09:38:00

China on Friday launched a 570 million yuan (81.43 million U.S. dollars) project to preserve 22 historical and cultural relics in the southwestern Tibet Autonomous Region.

The project, China's largest protection move in the region, will last until 2010. It included 15 monasteries under state-level protection and seven historical sites proving the rule over Tibet by central governments through history, said Yudawa, the Tibet Autonomous Regional Cultural Heritage Bureau director.

The preservation efforts were financed by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance.

Of the funds, 118 million yuan will go to the preservation of the 237,000-square-meter Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery in Xigaze. It consists of a main palace and six minor ones, 56 sutra halls, and more than 6,000 rooms for monks. It was built in 1447 and was the traditional residence of Panchen Lamas.

It is expected to take workers up to four years to seal cracks on the walls, fix windows and doors, repair water discharge channels, replace worn out electrical wires and install firefighting and lightning-proof facilities in the lamasery, the second largest cultural relic after the Potala Palace in Tibet.

Also included is 50 million yuan to be used for the preservation of the Jokhang, Ramogia, Sanyai and Samgya-Goutog monasteries. The restoration will start this year after the construction tenders are decided.

The latest move to protect Tibet's cultural and religious relics comes after a 330 million yuan preservation project on the Potala Palace, Sagya Monastery and Norbu Lingka Palace. These began in 2002 and were expected to be finished this year.

Over the past two decades, China has invested more than 700 million yuan to preserve and maintain more than 1,400 monasteries, cultural relics and religious sites, Yudawa said.

"These projects have protected Tibet's historical and cultural relics effectively."

The launching ceremony of a five-year Tibet Autonomous Region key cultural relics protection project and the Tashilumpo Monastery protection project is held at the Tashilumpo Monastery in Xigaze of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on April 18, 2008. The region's overall protection project covers 22 key cultural relics at a planned cost of 570 million yuan (81 million U.S. dollars), nearly 200 million yuan (28 million dollars) more than the previous five-year protection project. (Xinhua Photo)

Performers dance at the launching ceremony of a five-year Tibet Autonomous Region key cultural relics protection project and the Tashilumpo Monastery protection project held at the Tashilumpo Monastery in Xigaze of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on April 18, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

A lama smiles while attending the launching ceremony of a five-year Tibet Autonomous Region key cultural relics protection project and the Tashilumpo Monastery protection project held at the Tashilumpo Monastery in Xigaze of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on April 18, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/photo/200804/t20080420_376754.htm

Official: Historical records defy claims of lack of religious freedom in Tibet

2008-06-11 08:48:00

Two telegraphs sent by the 14th Dalai Lama to Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1956 and 1957 defied proclamations that "Tibet is lacking in freedom of religious belief", an official with the State Archives Administration (SAA) said here on June 8.

The two telegraphs, published by the SAA on its website, praised efforts of the communist Party of China in protecting religious freedom in Tibet, said SAA director Yang Dongquan.

"The Communist Party of China (CPC) represents the interests of all ethnic groups in China. It has resolutely implemented the policy of freedom of religious belief since its birth," the Dalai Lama wrote in his telegraph to CPC Central Committee Chairman Mao Zedong on July 1, 1956, congratulating the 35th anniversary of the founding of the CPC.

On April 1, 1957, the Dalai Lama wrote to Chairman Mao in his telegraph upon his return from India after taking part in a Buddhism conference, "Through participating in the Buddhist meeting in India we have not only strengthened the friendly relations between China and India, but also made the world see that the policy of freedom of religious belief has been and is being implemented thoroughly in China."

"From what the Dalai said in his telegraphs, it is reasonable to conclude that China has maintained religious freedom in Tibet after the region's peaceful liberation," Yang Dongquan said.

He said records of conversations between Mao Zedong and Lhalu, head of a visiting delegation of Tibetan youths, and Kashod Choskyi Nyima, personal representative of the Dalai Lama to the founding meeting of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in 1955 also revealed that religious freedom is well respected and preserved in Tibet.

"In the past, we were a bit afraid to hear that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was coming. And when it had actually arrived we saw that the PLA respected religious belief, protected lamaseries, helped people solve their difficulties, our misgivings were dispelled," Lhalu, who was born a noble in Tibet, was quoted as saying in the 1955 records.

Kashod Choskyi Nyima also hailed PLA's adherence to religious freedom according to the records.

"The Tibetan people generally have religious belief. Because the PLA has implemented the policy of equality among different ethnic groups, the policy of freedom of religious belief, the previous doubts of the Tibetan people have been largely dispelled and the Tibetan people and the PLA are better united," he said, over 50 years ago.

"From these words of the Dalai Lama and top officials of Tibet back then, we can see that China has fully implemented the policy of religious freedom after the peaceful liberation of Tibet," Yang Dongquan said.

However, in 1959 the Dalai Lama and the reactionary clique of the upper strata of Tibet instigated an armed rebellion in Tibet and went into exile abroad. They have since continuously claimed that "Tibet is lacking in the freedom of religious belief", Yang said.

"We can deduct from the contradiction of Dalai's own words that the essence of the Tibet issue is fundamentally not a religious one. Religious freedom is only an excuse employed by the Dalai clique to split China," Yang said.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200806/t20080611_405495.htm

Tibetologists call for better understanding of Tibet

2008-07-21 09:43:00

A senior Chinese Tibetologist has said in New York that regular and frequent exchanges of ideas can help Americans gain a better understanding of Tibet.

Tobdrub Wangben, vice minister of the State Commission for Ethnic Affairs, told a press conference here Friday that although China and the United States share similar views on many Tibet-related issues, they differ in many others as well.

However, frequent and in-depth exchange of ideas between the two countries' people will help achieve a better understanding of Tibet.

It is fairly important for the American public to understand the truth on Tibet, he told the press conference held in the Chinese Consulate-General in New York.

Wang Pijun, a senior official with the China Association for International Cultural Exchange, said the four-member Chinese Tibetologist delegation, headed by Tobdrub Wangben, has found that many people in the United States are ignorant of the current situation and history of Tibet.

Some legislators even haven't heard about the fact feudal serfdom once existed in Tibet, he said.

According to Wang, many politicians, legislators and media professionals said they changed their impressions of Tibet after they visited the Chinese autonomous region.

They believe that Tibet has a good governance, has set a good example for the world in dealing with issues relating to ethnic minorities and there is obvious religious freedom in Tibet, he said.

To help more people get a clear picture of Tibet, China will send more people from Tibet to exchange ideas with people in other countries and invite more foreigners to tour Tibet in the future, Wang said.

When asked about the consultation between the representatives of the Chinese central government and the Dalai Lama's envoy, Tobdrub Wangben said that the Chinese central government has been maintaining a persistent stance towards the Dalai Lama and the door of consultation remains open.

The consultation will move forward after the Beijing Olympic Games, he said.

Tobdrub Wangben also highly commended the efforts by the Chinese government in preserving and developing the Tibetan culture, saying the so-called cultural genocide in Tibet is absolute fabrication.

Luorong Zhangdui, a professor of Social and Economic Research Institute under the China Tibetology Research Center, said that tourism industry in Tibet is booming again. He advised those who want to visit to plan their trips as early as possible, or they may not be able to make it.

The four-member Chinese Tibetologist delegation arrived in New York on July 17 to promote understanding on the Tibet issue.

The group met with media professionals, lawmakers and scholars to present their views on Tibet issues, including the central government's policy, religious freedom and Tibetan cultural preservation.

The delegation is scheduled to leave the United States on July 21 and head for Canada.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200807/t20080721_413503.htm

(99)Interview: Abolishing Tibetan feudal serfdom equates to ending slavery in U.S

2008-07-24 10:31:00

There is no difference between the abolishing of feudal serfdom in Tibet and the ending of slavery in the United States, a senior Chinese Tibetologist said Monday.

Many Americans understand neither the history and the current situation in Tibet, nor China's Tibet policies, which always lead to wrong judgment on Tibet-related issues, especially when they are influenced by "one-sided" information, Tobdrub Wangben(local Tibetan born and raised in Tibet), vice minister of China's State Commission for Ethnic Affairs, said in an interview with Xinhua before leaving the United States for Canada.

"When I told Larry Seabrook, current New York City councilman from District 12 in New York City, that the abolishing of the feudal serfdom in Tibet in the 1950s is the same as the ending of the slavery system in the United States, Seabrook understood quite well what I was driving at," he said.

After hearing a brief introduction about the situation in Tibet and the facts of the March 14 riots in Lhasa, Seabrook offered to help Americans improve their understanding of Tibet by arranging them to visit Tibet and form their own opinion.

"If we could tell Americans as much as possible about the truth on Tibet, many of them could change their stereotyped ideas about Tibet," said Tobdrub Wangben, head of a four-member Chinese Tibetologist delegation, which arrived in New York last Thursday to promote understanding on the Tibet issue.

Harboring the hope that the delegation could tell more truth on Tibet to the American public, Tobdrub Wangben said regular and frequent exchanges of ideas between the two peoples are fairly important.

The U.S. tour was quite fruitful as many U.S. officials and legislators said that what they heard about Tibet was different from what they had heard in the past, he added.

Therefore, Tobdrub Wangben said, they expressed hope that more delegations of this kind would come to the United States and exchange ideas with the American public on a regular basis.

"The American public has shown great interest in Tibet, and of course, we will come back and satisfy their demands," he said.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200807/t20080724_414624.htm

The changed and unchanged 'Shangri-La'

2008-12-02 10:54:00

Quite a lot of people care about China's "Tibet issues", there is always a "Shangri-La" with oriental mystery, shadowiness and idealism flashing in their minds.

Tibet indeed has such mystery: spectacular scene of snow land plateau, unique language culture, long aged Tibetan Buddhism¡&endash;however, sometimes it's easy to ignore a basic fact if let the imagination spread freely beyond the practice, that is, the story of "Shangri-La" still took place in the earth, and it happens following basic axiom.

A Canadian historian A. Tom Grunfeld wrote in his book "The making of modern Tibet" that Tibet is "a land so wrapped in obscurity that almost any fantastic tales about it, or allegedly from it, are received with awe and believed, unquestioningly, by countless individuals the world over. A land whose society and history have been so romantically homogenized that many call themselves "experts" after reading a mere handful of texts, assuming that the uniformity of these accounts indicates their accuracy".

However, history records the old Tibet with irrefutable facts that it was not the "Shangri-La" as people imagined. There were one million people living in Lhasa in 1950s, 900,000 of whom were homeless. There were only 20,000 people living in urban areas in Lhasa. More than 1,000 needy people and baggers were seen on streets. An elder Tibetan told "At that time, there were many people fighting with dogs for food on streets in Lugu in the southwest of Jokhang Temple". Nowadays, Tibetan people have much longer life expectancy with current 67 years old from 35.5 years old in the old Tibet. The economy keeps fast development for the past 7 years with double digits increase rate above 12%.

Compared the old Tibet with the one after peaceful liberation, which is the truly "Shangri-La", it is not so hard to make the conclusion.

Protecting the unique culture of "Shangri-La" never means to protect wildness and backwardness. The culture protection in Tibet must adapt to the development, progress, union and happiness of the whole Tibetan people. Only the Tibetan culture can be better protected at the same time of economic development and life improvement, not going back to the darkness of caesaropapism and feudal serfdom system.

As a matter of fact, to better protect Tibetan culture, Chinese central government has put significant fund on the maintenance of the Potala Palace, Norbu Lingka and Sagya Monastery. A more than ever maintenance project for 22 monasteries and ancient culture constructions will be implemented from this year. China also sets up department specifically for correction and publication of different versions of Tibetan Tripitaka... For protecting the blue sky and clean water in Tibet, Chinese government will allocate 22 billion yuan from now to build more than 160 ecological environmental protection project.

Today's Tibet takes much care on its invaluable culture features, which is the unchanged "Shangri-La". Today's Tibet also puts great efforts on moving forward and getting rid of backwards and unwisdom, which is the changed "Shangri-La".

"Change" is a well sounded slogan in today's world, no matter in America or in Europe, people often hear the words: We need change. For Tibet, "Shangri-La" is inheriting the traditions in the unchanged, embracing the future in the change.

*Based on article written by Ye Xiaowen, director of State Administration for Religious Affairs of China.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200812/t20081202_440976.htm

The Dalai Lama, killer of Tibetans' dream of Shangri-La

2008-12-09 09:26:00

A glimpse into the Dalai Lama's final years in Tibet, before his fleeing China in 1959, will allow people to form a clear mind picture of what Tibet was like under the rein of "His Holiness"- In 1956, the Dalai Lama, with the pretext that the central government "would soon move on Lhasa," issued an appeal for gold and jewels to construct another throne for himself. This, he argued, would help rid Tibet of "bad omens." One hundred and twenty tons were collected. When the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959, he was preceded by more than 60 tons of treasure.

Till 1959, Tibet's Buddhist monastic nobility represented by the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan elites had long controlled all land in the Himalaya region on behalf of the "gods." In a then society of feudal serfdom and slavery, much the way as the medieval Catholic Church exploited peasants in feudal Europe, they monopolized Tibet's wealth by exacting tribute and labor services from serfs and herders. Tibetan serfs and herders had little personal freedom. Without the permission of the priests, or lamas, they could not do anything, and were considered appendages to the monastery.

The Dalai Lama was the most supreme and powerful serf owner, and any subordinate acting against the supreme was considered rebel and could be brutally mutilated or killed immediately. Shrouded in the darkness of theocracy, old Tibet was backward in both economy and culture, and the Tibetan people lived in dire poverty while enormous wealth accumulated in the monasteries and in the Dalai Lama's palace in Lhasa.

Shangri-La, "the paradise on the earth," as a fanciful land to many and an eternal myth which can always conjure up people's imagination about all beauty and serenity, was in those days literally a "lost paradise" to ordinary Tibetans, where they were deprived of even the basic living conditions. The Dalai Lama, however, did nothing for the general good of the Tibetan society, instead, he and the leading few tried desperately to solidify the exploitative system in the name of defending Tibetan culture and religion. Once they felt their privileges threatened, they would forgo the disguise of deity and even turn to violence.

Throughout these years, the words "democracy" and "human rights" have found their way in the vocabulary of the "government-in-exile," operating out of Dharamsala in India. But the Dalai Lama's commitment to democracy seems brittle, as he has yet to recognize the separation of church and state as a "modern democratic principle". Even worse, as a political figure clad in saffron, the Dalai Lama has for years ceaselessly lobbied around to rally the international support for his so-called 'Greater Tibet autonomy,' but in actually, "Tibetan independence" in a disguised form. The hypocritical nature of the Dalai Lama and the "government-in-exile" was further exposed by its relationship with the U.S CIA, and its wicked plots within the Chinese territory to seed and incite the ethnic feud among the Tibetans, which is doomed to a failure, as more and more Tibetan people begin to realize only through stability and common prosperity, can a real Shangri-La descend upon the snow-capped plateau.

In recent days, the poor shows staged by the "government-in-exile" and its affiliate "Tibetan Youth Congress" have gone far beyond redemption, and their secessionist nature is discerning to anyone with the rational thinking, Tibetan people inclusive. In the ordinary Tibetans' mind, the dreamy land, Shangri-La, means a common blessing shared by all, not a sort of paradise accommodating merely the happy few. But a place of common happiness in Tibetans' dream is by no means the thing that the Dalai Lama would and could bring to them.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200812/t20081209_442002.htm

Tibet Before 1951 Peaceful Liberation

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Tibet After 1951 Peaceful Liberation

click here

United States has to respect that today

Local Tibetan born and raised in Tibet

DO NOT WANT click here Dalai Lama to return Tibet

Genuine Tibetans Spoke in Ottawa, Canada 2008-07-23

Interview: Tibetologists say Tibetan culture well preserved

2008-07-24 10:04:00

The Tibetan culture has been well preserved and developing, said a visiting senior Chinese Tibetologist on Wednesday in Canada.

Tobdrub Wangben(local Tibetan born and raised in Tibet), professor of the Chinese Central University for Nationalities, told Xinhua in an interview that the Dalai Lama's claim of the so-called "cultural genocide" in Tibet is totally groundless.

Wangben is heading a four-member Tibetologist delegation on a three- day visit to Canada to promote understanding on the Tibet issue. The delegation has met with scholars from the Canadian International Council, local media outlets, government officials and parliamentarian representatives.

The total population of Tibetan ethnic group in Tibet has increased from nearly 1 million before 1951 to 2.77 million last year, while the illiterate rate dropped significantly from 95 percent in 1951 to 28 percent last year, Wangben explained with figures to make it clear whether the culture in Tibet was being damaged or developed.

When asked about the restrictions that foreign media encountered in Tibet, Wang Pijun, a senior official with the China Association for International Cultural Exchange, said that the Chinese government attaches great importance to strengthening communications and understanding with the international community on the issue of Tibet, and has arranged several rounds of visits by foreign correspondents to Tibet.

The government has promised to arrange more such tours in the future, Wang added.

Talking about the Dalai Lama's claim of not seeking Tibet independence, Lian Xiangmin, Director of Science and Research Office at China Tibetology Research Center, said people should not only look at what he says but also at what he does.

"The Dalai Lama said he is not seeking Tibet independence while he is the leader of the illegal Tibet government in exile," said Lian.

And it is also stated in the charter of some organizations such as the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) which seeks Tibet independence that they will listen to what the Dalai Lama says, and the Dalai Lama said he support the TYC's cause, Lian added.

Luorong Zhandui, professor of the Social and Economic Research Institute under the China Tibetology Research Center and a Tibetan himself, noted that the economy of Tibet and living standards of people there have improved greatly during the past years. The Qingzang Railway has proved to boost the local tourism considerably, and this is of vital importance to the industrial development of Tibet and to the promotion of Tibetan culture, he said.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200807/t20080724_414411.htm

Genuine Tibetans Spoke in Sydney, Australia 2008-07-25

Tibetologists hold talks with Australian officials

21:37, July 25, 2008

Visiting Chinese Tibetologist delegation on Friday held meetings with Australian officials, members of parliament and scholars, and briefed them about the situation in Tibet.

While meeting with Nic Manikis, Director of Office of Multicultural Affairs in Australian Capital Territory, Professor Sherap Nyima(local Tibetan born and raised in Tibet), head of the Chinese Tibetologist delegation, said the Chinese government has taken special measures to protect Tibetan culture and attached great importance to improve the education in the autonomous region.

Before 1951, only two percent of children received education, but now, 98 percent of children can go to schools with more than 1000 schools being established, of which 6 are universities, said Nyima, who is the Vice-President of the Central University of Nationalities of China and an expert on Tibetology.

Responding the concerns of Gary Humphries, the federal parliament senator, about the temples in Tibet. Nyima told him that temples in Tibet have been well protected by the local government .

"There are more than 1700 temples in Tibet with more than 46,000 lamas. It is a big amount in terms of its population of 2.8 million," the Tibetologist said.

Nyima assured Australian officials that the Chinese government had promised to maintain its policy towards the minorities as well as its support to the economic development in Tibet, after the incident in Lhasa on March 14.

"Only a tiny part of Tibetans took part in the incident, how could that change the determination of the central government to maintain its policy in Tibet?" Nyima said.

Grant Dooley, assistant secretary of North Asia Branch at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Australian government has always maintained its policy that Tibet is part of China. He also hoped that the talks between the Chinese government officials and the private representatives of Dalai Lama could have some results so that the Tibetan issue can be solved.

During its stay in Canberra, the Chinese delegation also held talks with scholars and experts on Chinese affairs in Australia National University, including Richard Rigby, Executive Director of Chinese Institute of ANU and exchanged ideas and opinions about the Tibetan affairs.

The Tibetan delegation arrived in Australia on Wednesday for a five-day visit before heading for New Zealand to continue its tour.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6459708.html

What to negotiate with Dalai Lama?

2008-07-01 16:41:00

To most people, no matter in the old Tibet or in Dharmsala today, where Tibetan government-in-exile locates, Dalai Lama is both a political and a religious figure. Although Dalai himself frequently refers to the "government-in-exile" as a "democratic government", he has never denied he is the political leader. But it does not make any sense at all to compare theocracy to a democratic system. If it did, people would assume he either lacks or ignore common sense.

Theocracy was abolished in Tibet. This is the reason why Dalai left Lhasa in 1959(click here), and it is also the result of his absence.

Tibet is an autonomous region, so the Tibetan autonomous government is the only legal government to represent Tibet, not that government-in-exile.

Therefore, to negotiate with China is actually to negotiate Dalai's future. Because he is not able to represent neither Tibet nor Tibetan on any legal grounds, and China will never consent to negotiate with him when he claims himself as the political figure of the "government-in-exile". I am not sure whether Dalai is clear about this or not.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200807/t20080701_410293.htm

What to talk with Dalai Lama?

2008-07-01 16:39:00

Seems a new round of talks between the Beijing central government and the Dalai Lama will start soon. Then, what are the topics on the table? Is it the current situation of Tibet, position of Tibet, future of Tibet, or the destiny of the Tibetan people, of course NOT.

The reason is simple. Dalai is a Buddhist lama, his past political status was based on the system of theocracy. The system, in which a society is ruled by a priest or monk who represent a god, has been abolished in Tibet long before. So if one is going to discuss with a monk the position and future of Tibet, and destiny of Tibetan people, doesn't that give an impression that China will allow theocracy to resume in Tibet?

Tibet is an autonomous region of China, and representing it is the government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The 14th Dalai Lama has set up an "exile regime" in Dharmsala, India, and he claims to be the leader of the exile regime. The fact is that not a single state in the world today admits the legitimacy of Dalai Lama's exile government in Dharmsala. If the central government is going to discuss the position, future of Tibet, and destiny of Tibetan people, doesn't that give an impression that Dharmasala exile regime is legitimate?

Tibet has achieved a lot in the past 50-odd years, but Tibet's success and progress has nothing to do with the Dalai Lama(click here). He by no means can represent Tibet or the Tibetan people now. So, China's central government is not going to discuss with Dalai Lama the current situation of Tibet, position of Tibet, future of Tibet, or the destiny of the Tibetan people, but only the future and destiny of Dalai Lama himself.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200807/t20080701_410290.htm

Last opportunity for Dalai Lama

2008-07-01 16:41:00

The 14th Dalai Lama is running out of opportunities. And that's why he is using the Beijing Olympics as his last straw. But could he really make the best use of this opportunity? Some Westerners are providing Dalai Lama with badly-needed guidance and support, which shed light on why he frequented Western countries in a rush. However, there are vast differences in the interest of those Westerners' and Dalai's, which can be seen through the fact that Dalai has been given a cold shoulder by the West from time to time in the past decades.

Therefore Dalai should tell the difference in interests and stop binding himself to certain political forces, which will lead to his loss of opportunities. Judging from the current situation, Dalai Lama is losing his most important opportunities on mending ties with the Chinese central government.

Of course, it remained to be seen whether Dalai Lama still has any power and influence to muster, without the support of some political forces in the West.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200807/t20080701_410291.htm

Chinese central government officials meet with Dalai Lama's private representatives

www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-03 15:37:37

BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Du Qinglin, head of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with private representatives of the 14th Dalai Lama in Beijing recently, the department said on Thursday.

Du, also the vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the two representatives, Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, the central government's policy towards the Dalai Lama is consistent and explicit. The door for dialogue is always open.

The Dalai Lama should openly and explicitly promise and prove it in his actions not to support activities to disturb the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games, not to support plots to fan violent criminal activities, not to support and concretely curb the violent terrorist activities of the "Tibetan Youth Congress" and not to support any argument and activity to seek "Tibet independence" and split the region from the country, he said.

While the country is welcoming the 30th anniversary of its reform and opening up, Tibet, together with the rest of the country, has progressed to realize economic development and improve people's living standards while protecting the environment and effectively using resources, he said.

In Tibet, the adherence to the CPC leadership, the socialist system and the regional autonomy of ethnic minorities will not be altered, he said.

The central government will apply its policies in Tibet, support the region's economic and social development and work to improve living standards of people in Tibet as it did before.

Du also briefed them about the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12 and the relief work.

He said at time of difficulty, the Chinese nation has shown strong cohesiveness and profound love among its people. The relief work serves as vivid illustrations of China's protection of human rights.

The CPC implemented its principle of putting people first and ruling the country for the people, while the advantages of socialist system are also manifested in the quake relief, as indicated in the policy of saving lives first, nationwide mobilization for quake relief and timely and smooth flow of information, he said.

Zhu Weiqun and Sitar, two deputy heads of the department, also met with the Dalai Lama's representatives and exchanged ideas on detailed issues.

If the Dalai Lama makes positive moves, the next round of contact may be held before the end of this year, according to the officials of the department.

The Dalai Lama's representatives also expressed their ideas on several relevant issues and said they would report the results to the Dalai Lama.

During their stay in Beijing, the two toured the Olympic stadiums and talked with some Tibetologists.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/03/content_8483444.htm

What kind of olive branch from the Dalai Lama?

2008-08-21 11:23:00

Just on the former day of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games, "New York Times", an American newspaper, published an article titled "An Olive Branch from the Dalai Lama" by Nicholas D. Kristof, a journalist who once worked in China. The article introduces the Dalai Lama's new opinions about Tibet.

Before analyzing the Dalai Lama's new ideas, I would like to share two points which puzzle me most.

Firstly, the Chinese government always opens doors to the Dalai Lama for talks. As a matter of fact, from 2002 to the beginning of this year, the departments concerned have conducted six rounds of talk with the Dalai Lama. In addition, after the March 14 Riots the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) had dialogues with the Dalai Lama twice although local people in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) were very angry with separatists due to great damages caused by riots. If the Dalai Lama has any new ideas indeed, he should communicate with the central government directly instead of conveying his comments by western media. The proposition from a western journalist not only makes people disbelieve its authenticity but also doubts the Dalai Lama's sincerity. Does he wish to solve the issue or just to strengthen public relations among the western world for another time?

Secondly, one point of the Dalai Lama's new allegation is that the object of the dialogue should be changed to the supreme leader from the United Front Work Department of CPC, which is out of all reason. That would do no good to the following dialogue. On the contrary, it will set new blocks to the progress. So I have to suspect the Dalai Lama's sincerity of resolving issues.

The first point of the Dalai Lama's new ideas is that "the Dalai Lama is willing to state that he can accept the socialist system in Tibet under Communist Party rule", which he regards as an important compromise. Actually, this is what the Dalai Lama should do according to the dialogue. It is really wise enough to interpret an inevitable thing as a big compromise, in terms of negotiation skills. It is a popular tactic in western public relations to put forward a fake topic and then gain virtual profit by making compromises. With the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965 after the democratic reform in 1959, the socialist system has become the foundation of Tibet's society today. The result of changing the reality is unimaginable. On the foundation of current social system, TAR has made great progress on the way to modernization. Further promoting the autonomous region is millions of Tibetan people's requirement and rights. It is selfish that some few people hope to change the progress of the history, which is impossible as well.

The second point of view is about the Dalai Lama's so-called "greater Tibet". He can accept the current boundary between TAR and other provinces but calls for "greater Tibet" "to be placed under one administration" and demanded "to create a Regional Authority for Tibetan Affairs that would administer key aspects of life" in greater Tibet. That is to say, he would like to gain the practical domination over greater Tibet by superficially giving up greater Tibet. Here we can learn the negotiation tactics of "moving forward two steps by moving back one step". In history, there has never been "all Tibetan areas" with an effective and consolidate administration. In the rule of law, his claiming greater Tibet disregards other nationalities' rights completely. As for politics and real life, if the plan of greater Tibet takes effect, a race launder with unprecedented scale will happen. Thus the plan of greater Tibet itself is ridiculous and persisting this plan is one of the greatest barriers for the dialogue between the central government and the Tibet separatist group. The Dalai Lama changed the expression way of the issue of greater Tibet without giving up the preposition actually, which is the essence of the problem of the so-called new ideas.

After recommending the new policy of his highly-praised Dalai Lama, Kristof raised a series of detailed requests on behalf of the Dalai Lama, such as allowing the Dalai Lama to arrive in or depart from China according to his will; restricting other ethnic people's migration; stopping the patriotism education in monasteries; permitting pre-school age children to go to school; promoting the status of Tibetan language and boosting the occupancy of Tibetan cadres. In my opinion, it is the Dalai Lama's rights to raise requests, but all those requests should be based upon rationality and reality.

Let's have a simple discussion at some topics. Firstly, the so-called migration problem. In terms of the modern nomology, except the well-organized and large scale migration to some areas based upon governmental public power and resources, it is the basic rights under the guarantee of constitution for citizens to migrate according to one's own interest demand within the frontier. It is wrong to restrict individual free migration according to the nomology and according to the modern human rights view, it is also improper. Now the fact is that there is no issue for government to organize migration to Tibet or some other Tibetan-inhabited areas while the government should respect and protect the behavior of individual migration according to market economy demand.

Secondly, permitting pre-school age children to go to school. The key problem is the balance of rights claim. China respects citizens' religion freedom according to the law and in opposite, the citizen must respect the law to fulfill the legal obligation and this is a kind of balanced contract relationship. It is the rights for children to enjoy education and the duty of parents and the government to help children to finish compulsory education. The reasonable claim is to help those children finish education and allow them to choose their religion belief after they have ability to fulfill their rights to perform their rights according to the constitution.

Thirdly, about the Tibetan language. With the development of modernization, any nationality will meet the challenge of adjusting to the modernization and protecting the traditional culture. A clear fact is that since the Reform and Opening-up, the Chinese Government has done a lot to popularize Tibetan language, protect and develop the Tibetan culture and has also made a lot of progress. In stead of criticism without any fact basis, the Chinese Government deserves affirmation and encouragement for its efforts on Tibetan language and Tibetan culture.

In Kristof's quotation cited from the Dalai Lama, a marked paragraph shows that he pays much attention to those words: "The main thing is to preserve our culture, to preserve the character of Tibet, That is what is most important, not politics." It sounds really good, but if you read carefully, you will still feel that culture is just used as an excuse as what the Dalai Lama cares most is the politics.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200808/t20080821_421558.htm

Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth

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Interview: U.S. journalist commends China's efforts to develop Tibet, preserve its culture

2008-05-06 08:22:00

The Chinese government has made impressive efforts to bring Tibet to the modern world of the 21st century and preserve its traditional culture, a U.S. journalist said on Sunday.

David Jones, the interim managing editor of the Washington Times, said in an email interview with Xinhua that he saw during his trip to Tibet last September that large sums of money had been put into repairing temples and building museums.

Traditional Tibetan singing and dancing were also kept alive as part of the government's efforts to preserve Tibetan culture, he said.

"Large sums have been spent to preserve and restore Tibet's temples and monasteries ... Almost 30 million U.S. dollars has already been spent on the Potala Palace alone," he wrote in a report about his trip to Tibet published in October.

"The government also sponsors professional and amateur dance and theater troupes and set aside up to one-third of Tibet's total area for wildlife preserves," he added.

In his October report, Jones said officials in Beijing and Lhasa seem to have come to the same conclusion that they could attract tourists to the region by preserving the world's most original culture.

Jones recalled that he had a "romantic picture" that Tibet was rather a backward and very religious place before he went there, but he was surprised to see a modern Tibet with first-class highways, many SUVs and good communication, and that even yak herders have cell phones and motorbikes.

"It is obvious to me that the government had spent a lot of money to build infrastructure," he said. "The mobile phone reception in some parts of Tibet is even better than West Virginia."

He also found the government of Tibetan Autonomous Region is "very much a mixture of Tibetan and Han officials at all levels."

Jones, a former reporter based in Hong Kong in 1980s, said that he has witnessed China's dramatic change in politics, economy and social life during several visits to the country from 1983 to 2007.

"Each time I went to China, I was amazed to see how much progress and development that have been (achieved) in such a short time."

Jones said that he was surprised to see how much more freedom Chinese people enjoy nowadays in choosing their professions and traveling abroad, among others.

He said he realizes westerners should not deny China's development mode based on its 5,000-year history. They should acknowledge how dramatically China has changed in such a short period and how challenging it is to undertake these changes in such a populous country.

http://eng.tibet.cn/Features2008/314sj/commentary/200805/t20080506_378568.htm

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No one knows about Tibet better than the people from India

<<The Hindu>> Journalist first-hand Tibet visit experience:

Social well-being a striking aspect of life in modern Tibet

| by: Parvathi Menon | From: The Hindu

2008-08-28 14:16:00

Life has changed beyond recognition since 1959, when the system of monastic feudalism presided over by the Dalai Lama was overthrown and over a million serfs were set free.

In what used to be the dungeons of the Potala Palace, once the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas in Lhasa and now a religious and tourist site, is an unusual museum. The Zhol jail, a place where disobedient or rebellious serfs and labourers were subject to horrific forms of torture, was once located here. Today, photographs, paintings, models, and sound effects are used to recreate the brutality of the ancien regime against those classes whose labour created and sustained the splendid monument that soars above.

The squalor, poverty and social hierarchies of Lhasa, captured vividly in black and white photographs of the 1940s and 1950s, belong to a historical phase now squarely in the past.

Today the Potala Palace overlooks a city of modern infrastructure and conveniences. It has attractive tree-lined avenues, a busy business district, hotels, cultural centres and open spaces like the 12.2 square km Lhalu wetlands, a protected marsh that acts as what our hosts refer to as the kidneys of the Lhasa urban area. The modernity of the capital bears the impress of a strong Tibetan stamp in architecture, dress, and cultural practice.

Apart from warm clothes and altitude sickness pills, a foreign visitor to Tibet usually carries baggage of another kind. This is a belief that the 'real' Tibet lies hidden somewhere beneath what the eye sees and the mind registers; that the well being and modernisation evident in contemporary Tibetan society is a sort of maya. This perspective has been shaped by a vast literature and propaganda offensive that has emanated over the years from within the support base of the 14th Dalai Lama. It comes in large part from people who have not set foot in Tibet, and has, unfortunately, many well-meaning adherents.

A report published this year by the Dalai Lama's Dharamsala-based Government-in-Exile and titled Environment and Development in Tibet: A Crucial Issue has this to say: China claims that Tibet is experiencing growth and prosperity, but the reality is that, under Chinese rule, Tibetans are impoverished, marginalised and excluded; the sensitive and globally important ecology of Tibet is deteriorating; and many plant and animal species face extinction.

In fact, the fatal flaw of the report is that it has been written by people who have not visited their research area, for it is evident to any visitor's eye that the allegations of the impoverishment, marginalisation, and exclusion of Tibetans are unsubstantiated.

I was part of a journalists' delegation invited by the Chinese government to Tibet in July this year. To a visitor, the relatively high levels of living standards of people in the Tibet Autonomous Regions (TAR) are a striking feature of observable social life. In Lhasa, small towns and the villages of Tibet, there are no crowds of people ill, destitute, and unemployed - on the contrary, the overwhelming visual impression is of a population healthy and gainfully employed. Schools and universities hum with activity, and cultural assets like museums and ancient monasteries are treasured - these are but some marks of a society that is on the move.

Older Tibetans emphasise that life has changed beyond recognition since 1959, when the system of monastic feudalism presided over by the Dalai Lama was overthrown and over a million serfs were set free.

I consider myself middling-prosperous, says Zhuoga, the head of an eight-member farming family in Gapa, a village of 60 households, 10 km from Lhasa. She and her family members offer fruit, biscuits and Tibetan tea to her visitors in her warm and colourful sitting room decorated with Tibetan thangkas (religious scroll paintings) and carpets.

The Zhuoga household's annual income of 20,000 yuan (roughly Rs. 140,000) comes from her oilseed and corn harvest, from the rent paid by vegetable farmers for land they lease from her, from a 500 yuan annual subsidy given by the Government, and from collective work she and the family put in on village projects. School education and health care are free. Although a Buddhist, she thinks the Dalai Lama is not a good man as he masterminded the disturbances of March 14th 2008. We could not go to the city for work, she said. I was angry and scared.

Life now is like this, says Pingtso Tashi giving a thumbs-up sign. And before 1959 it was like this. He holds up his little finger. This 58-year old dam inspector and farmer is the son of former serfs. Today, hard work pays, he said. Every village family owns land and the average individual land holding of the village is 3.8 mu (15 mu = 1 hectare)

A range of special preferential policies and measures for social and economic development apply to Tibet. There is a preferential taxation policy by which income tax in Tibet is three percentage points lower than elsewhere, and farmers and herdsmen are completely exempt from taxes and administrative charges. There is a preferential interest rate on bank loans, the rate being two percentage points lower in the TAR than in the rest of China.

Yang Chen and Deji, microbiologists working for a bio-pharmaceutical company in Lhasa, and their office colleagues, are part of a cheerful and spirited group of women dressed in formal western office wear who have come to see a photographic exhibition on Tibetan women at the Tibet museum in Lhasa. Asked about the exhibition and whether it reflects the progress of women in Tibet, Yang Chen says, Yes it does. Today we are equal to men in every way. She and Ms Deji have two daughters each, and hope that the girls will one day become doctors. The one-child norm does not apply to Tibetans and other ethnic minorities as it does to Han Chinese.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200808/t20080828_422961.htm

Modern education a key to Tibet's social and economic progress

2008-09-04 10:01:00

| by: Parvathi Menon | From: The Hindu

Before 1951, 92 per cent of the population of Tibet was illiterate. That proportion is now 44 per cent.

A report published this year by the Dalai Lama's Dharamsala-based "Government-in-Exile" and titled Environment and Development in Tibet: A Crucial Issue (available on their website) seeks to perpetuate the myth that Tibetans are fast becoming a minority in their homeland as a result of a state-sponsored policy of Han settlement in Tibet. In fact, of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) population of 2.8 million, Tibetans account for 92 per cent, other ethnic minorities for around 2 per cent, and Han Chinese a little under 6 per cent.

Government officials in Tibet emphasise that the accusation that Han Chinese control the administration of Tibet is wrong. Tibetans constitute a majority of the cadre within government and the Communist Party. According to Duo Ji Ciren, Vice-Commissioner of the Administrative office of Nyingchi prefecture, 70 per cent of civil servants in Nyingchi prefecture are either Tibetans or from other ethnic minorities, and key prefectural posts are held by Tibetans.

Education has been key to social and economic progress in Tibet. Modern education only began after 1951. In 2007, enrolment in primary schools reached 98.2 per cent, in middle schools 90.97 per cent, in high school 42.96 per cent, and in colleges 17.4 per cent. Before 1951, 92 per cent of the population of Tibet was illiterate. That proportion is now 44 per cent, although the illiterate are now concentrated in the older age groups.

"You had to be a monk if you wanted education in the old society," said Dr. Losang Yundeng, 51, Director of the 210-bed County Peoples Hospital in Nyingchi. An ethnic Tibetan from a poor family of labourers in a remote village in Nyingchi prefecture, he was sent to one of the first schools to be opened in his village. When a medical team visited the village in 1972, the 15-year-old boy was chosen by his village to train as a barefoot doctor. After the Cultural Revolution, Dr. Yundeng trained at the Nanjing Medical College and later at the famous Norman Bethune Medical Academy to become a doctor.

Dr. Wangmo, 44, a brilliant Tibetan plant pathologist and professor in the Department of Plant Technology at the Tibetan Agriculture and Animal Husbandry College, Nyingchi, speaks of how education transformed life in her village. "I studied in a village which you could only get to by horse," she said. "But education gave us ability and confidence. In my school, 80 per cent of the children were Tibetan and our Tibetan education was very good." In the college where she teaches, half of the 3,000 students are girls and 80 per cent of all students are Tibetan.

Dr. Wangmo's current research is on understanding the structure of a fungus called Cordyceps Sinensis, which grows wild in certain high-altitude counties. Called "yatsagompo" in Tibetan, the fungus, which looks like an innocuous dry twig, has been the reason for a sudden increase in incomes among certain communities living in these regions. Used in traditional medicine and valued for its healing properties, the fungus is highly priced. "I have seen people earn 80,000 yuan a year from this," Dr. Wangmo explained. Her research team is also working on how to undertake the sustainable cultivation of this precious resource.

Indeed, the issue of ecological sustainability and protection of the natural habitat is one over which demonstrable measures have been taken. The Tibetan plateau is a cradle of the planet's natural wealth. It has the world's highest peaks and lakes, gives birth to Asia¡¯s mighty rivers, and has vast deposits of mineral and forest wealth.

The 10-hour drive from Lhasa to the Nyingchi prefecture, one of TAR's ecological treasure houses, is as remarkable for its stunning landscapes as it is for the absence of heavy motor traffic, roadside hoardings, the defacement of rock surfaces with advertisements or writing, and litter. The Nyingchi Prefecture has a forest cover of 46 per cent, the largest virgin forest in China. The preservation of the ecology is central to government policy here. "Our slogan is 'Build Nyingchi as the largest district in western Tibet with the best preserved ecology,'" said Mr. Ciren, its administrative head. The beautiful Environmental Museum in Nyingchi offers a stunning display of its plant and animal wealth.

China's Tibet policy was defined to us by Dong Yunhu, Director General of the State Council Information Office, as "the continuous improvement in the living standards of Tibetans," By this criterion, the implementation of China's Tibet policy is marked by measurable and visible success.

http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200809/t20080904_424239.htm

China issues white paper, refutes charge of "cultural genocide" in Tibet

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Religious autocracy under the cover of democracy

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Compulsory and Free-of-Charge Education

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Senior Nepali journalist: Fundamental human rights well protected in Tibet

2008-05-08 09:19:00

There are many facets of human rights and those fundamental and basic ones are well protected in Tibet, a senior Nepali journalist who visited Tibet last year told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"If you want to know about my first impression, I was highly impressed with China's economic development. My visit to Lhasa was an eye opener of the fact that so much has been accomplished," said Ambar Mainali, Chief Reporter of The Rising Nepal.

The development, which is crucial to human rights, is well safeguarded in Tibet, he said.

Mainali paid a half-month visit to Tibet and the provinces of Qinghai and Sichuan in the western part of China last September, where he visited different cultural sites and "saw that many monasteries were being renovated."

"There cannot be absolutely good human rights situation anywhere in the world. As for basic and fundamental rights of free movement, doing business and having access to education, all of them seem to be well protected in Tibet," he said.

"I feel that one country has its own policies and one should stick to it while at the same time respect the international human rights treaties that they have signed," Mainali said, referring to the recent Lhasa riots.

"It is obvious that Nepal has been sticking to the one-China policy," he said.

Talking about the recent anti-China activities by some Tibetan separatists in Kathmandu, Mainali noted that the Nepali government will not ignore the activities, which they believe, are not intended for peaceful purposes.

http://eng.tibet.cn/Features2008/314sj/commentary/200805/t20080508_378821.htm

Russian scholar: Tibetan culture well preserved

2008-04-25 08:15:00

The Tibetan culture is well preserved and the cultural development there is prosperous, a Russian sinologist told Xinhua Thursday.

The Chinese government is preserving the Tibetan culture sincerely, said Vinogrotschi, chief editor of the Russian magazine China, in a written interview with Xinhua.

Recalling his visit in 2007 to Lhasa, capital of China's Tibet Autonomous Region, and several other major cities, Vinogrotschi said he was left with a deep impression by some of the religious sites and places of interest.

The 51-year-old sinologist, who has devoted himself to the research of ancient Chinese culture for a long time, took part in the translation of a series of Chinese classics, including I Chingand Inner Canon of Huangdi.

The preservation and development of culture in modern society is not an easy job, Vinogrotschi said. "I believe that China wants to solve the problem and is pursuing the harmonious and right way to do it. This is what I saw (in Tibet)," he added.

Also impressing Vinogrotschi during his visit is the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the first of its kind to connect Tibet with other parts of China. He described the project as a "tremendous blessing" to the Tibetans.

Showing great interest in the Himalayan plateau, Vinogrotschi expressed willingness to introduce Tibet to Russian readers. "It needs extremely careful and deep research on Tibet, and more material related should be published," he said.

Vinogrotschi hoped that China will continue to present the true picture of Tibet to the international community, so that the public will not listen to groundless accusations.

http://eng.tibet.cn/Features2008/314sj/commentary/200804/t20080425_377322.htm

German scholar refutes Dalai's claim of "cultural genocide" in Tibet

2008-04-25 08:12:00

A German sinologist and ethnologist on Wednesday refuted the Dalai Lama's claim that the Chinese government has conducted "cultural genocide" in Tibet and criticized some Western media for not letting the voices of ordinary Tibetans be heard.

CULTURAL GENOCIDE? COMPLETELY WRONG

"The concept of 'cultural genocide' is completely wrong," said Ingo Nentwig, who chairs the research department of the Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig, in a written interview with Xinhua.

"The Tibetan culture flourishes and prospers in China," including "language, literature, study of oral literature, everyday life and traditional architecture," he said.

Nentwig said that China has published a vast collection of books, newspapers and magazines in Tibetan language, and "there are a lot of Tibetan publishing houses, not only in Tibet but also in the neighboring provinces and even in Beijing."

Tibetan authors write in the Tibetan language and Chinese, Tibetan translation of foreign books are also available in China, and "there is an academy for traditional Tibetan medicine in Lhasa," he cited the example to illustrate his point.

The scholar said that unlike "some representatives of the clerical elite demanding independence for Tibet or just wanting to exert political power" who describe the modernization of the Tibetan society as "cultural genocide," "most Tibetans recognize the opportunities in a modern Tibet, which is part of China and open to the modern world."

SYSTEMATIC ASSIMILATION? OUT OF THE QUESTION

Nentwig said a systematic immigration and assimilation of Tibet "through a Han-Chinese (China's majority ethnic group) settlement invasion is just out of the question."

"If you come to Lhasa, you actually have the impression that there are many Han-Chinese who account for more than 50 percent of the population in Lhasa for sure," he said, but noting the bulk of them, however, stay there only temporarily.

Soldiers, for example, are to leave after demobilization, many construction workers are just there for road or railway projects, some officials are assigned to work in Tibet on a rotation basis and then leave. While some business people operate stores or restaurants there, but they seldom intend for a long-term stay, he said.

"But once you leave Lhasa, you hardly meet any Han-Chinese," said Nentwig, who spent a month in Tibet for a field research on yak shepherds in the summer of 2002.

"I did my field research in a county where just 20 or 30 Han-Chinese live among 50,000 to 60,000 Tibetans," he said.

The scholar said the overall proportion of long-term Han residents in Tibet is about just 7 percent, while ethnic Tibetans account for over 90 percent.

Even taking the short-term residents into account, the Han people account for an estimated 20 to 25 percent of entire population in Tibet, while ethnic Tibetans are still the "overwhelming majority of about 75 to 80 percent," he said.

Areas inhabited by ethnic Tibetans in the neighboring provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan, however, are ethically and culturally more diversified, where Tibetans have coexisted peacefully with Han and other ethnic groups such as Hui, Mongolian, Qiang, Tu and Salar for many centuries, Nentwig said.

If exiled Tibetans, under the "anti-assimilation" or "anti-sinicization" slogans, want to fight for Tibetans' cultural or political dominance, this would go against the historical truth and would be unfair for all other residents there, he said.

OLD RULING CLASS' ACCUSATION? DIFFERENT STORY TO TELL

The scholar listed some historical and geographical reasons for Tibet's relatively slow development compared with other Chinese regions.

Tibet is "unsuitable for a comprehensive industrialization and its agriculture is also handicapped by natural conditions" as large grazing areas there have "such thin topsoil that virtually nothing can be cultivated," he said.

He also called attention to the fact that before 1950, there were no hospitals and no schools except the monastic education.

While acknowledging such huge gap "can not be narrowed overnight," Nentwig noted with delight that the average life expectancy in Tibet has raised from 35 years in the 1950s to the present 67 years.

He hailed the liberation of the vast majority of the Tibetan people from the bondage of serfdom as a "great progress," adding most Tibetans are in much better conditions now than 50 years ago.

He said the Chinese government's ethnic policy is "enormously generous" and there are many examples to illustrate that China's ethnic minorities are given preferential treatments.

"The Tibetans, for example, may basically have two children ... (and) Tibetans in the countryside may have three or even more children" while the one-child policy is applied to the Han.

"The latest census showed that in the past 20 to 30 years, the population growth rate of Tibetans was much higher than that of the Han," he said.

Nentwig criticized some Western media for only reporting the voices of the former ruling class, namely, representatives of the old theocracy, the clerical and feudal aristocrats, who lost their power and can "no longer exploit the people at will," while ignoring the voices of the ordinary Tibetan people who "have a totally different story to tell."

Admitting that China's approach to ethnic minorities still has much room for improvement, he said if anyone wants to criticize China, such criticism should be concrete, constructive and based on expertise.

"It helps nobody if unqualified nonsense is disseminated as many Western media unfortunately have done and are still doing," he said.

http://eng.tibet.cn/Features2008/314sj/commentary/200804/t20080425_377318.htm

Think again when matters about Tibet calm down, says China's religious department head

2008-04-17 14:19:00

Every rational person should reflect on the chaos surrounding the Tibet issue, a senior Chinese religious official said in his essay on Tuesday's People's Daily.

Ye Xiaowen, head of the State Administration for Religious Affairs of China (SARA), raised three problems he himself had considered in the essay titled "Please Think Again When Mote Drops Placidly."

"What will a boycott to the Olympic Games bring?" he wrote. "Did those trying to grab the Olympic torch during the relay realize they were harming the feelings and dignity of 1.3 billion Chinese? Did those trying to boycott the Olympic Games realize they were boycotting the Olympic spirit of peace, harmony and friendship recognized by 6 billion people?"

China is hosting a sport event that harasses nobody, he wrote. "We believe the world will smile to us if we smile to it."

"Second, what will a connivance with violence bring?" Ye wrote.

As a disaster for all human beings, violence and its extreme form terrorism is often linked in today's world to ultra-nationalism and religious extremism, he said in the essay.

Citing the United States as an example, Ye said it indulged violent organizations in the Middle East years for its political concerns, and it backfired .

"I have noticed a tendency of integration of ultra-nationalism and religious extremism among supporters of Tibetan independence," he said. "Didn't the 'Tibet Youth Congress (TYC)' say openly that it did not rule out gaining independence through suicide bombing?"

If it indulged such tendency, the world will soon see a group of terrorists "fighting for Tibet independence" and it will be a disaster, and not only for China, he said.

"Third, what will theocracy bring?" the essay said.

Tibetan people tried very hard to get rid of a theocratic feudal serfdom half a century ago and are moving into a modern social system, Ye said in the essay. "European countries had undergone the same thing some 600 years ago."

Tibetans are living a better life than five decades ago. The average life-span has increased from 35.5 to 67 years, he said.

About 120,000 monks and nuns are living in 3,700 monasteries in Tibet, compared with its 2.62 million population. Some big monasteries hold several thousand monks.

On the contrary, the Dalai Lama who had sat at the top of the old hierarchy in Tibet still sticks to theocracy. The "constitution" of his "government-in-exile" holds that Tibet is a theocratic "country," Ye wrote.

"He and his men attacked every new move in Tibet's modernization, from financial assistance given to Tibet by the rest of China to the Qinghai-Tibet railway," he wrote.

"Is anyone in the world willing to return to the Middle Ages?" he asked.

http://eng.tibet.cn/Features2008/314sj/commentary/200804/t20080418_376598.htm

Commentary: Violence under the cloak of religion

2008-03-20 08:48:00

"Religion is the last subject that the intellect begins to understand," the late Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and philosopher Will Durant said on March 19.

The power of religion and belief was often used to further the political ambitions of kings and emperors. Even in modern times, religious shrines and the faith of the faithful can still be used by those with ulterior motives.

Sometimes by cliques that attempt to split a country.

There could be only one real purpose for the bloody riot in Lhasa: to separate Tibet from China.

Otherwise, why did the rioters kill and attack innocent civilians, set fires and destroy public facilities?

Why did groups of monks start a "March to Tibet" across the border in India, on exactly the same day that 300 aggressive monks from the Drepung Monastery paraded into downtown Lhasa?

Why did similar turmoil occur in other parts of China and why did mobs attack Chinese diplomatic missions overseas?

And on top of everything, why is the man behind the bloodshed playing the good guy and making false claims that the Chinese government, rather than the rioters, was to blame for the violence?

Anyone with the least common sense can see through this: by pleading innocence, he is seeking sympathy from innocent people across the globe and soliciting international support for his independence claim.

The chain of events that took place in Lhasa and elsewhere was apparently organized. The Lhasa mobs, who seem to have been equipped with stones and flammable liquid, were ready to kill, sabotage and trigger public fear.

What happened in Lhasa is not even remotely close to what the Dalai Lama and his clique claim: that the events were "spontaneous" and "peaceful" protests.

When the Dalai Lama clique allegedly tried to defend Tibet fromso-called "cultural genocide" and "religious repression", they were using the same old trick to put their anti-China stance under the camouflage of religion.

"The rioters who wore cassocks were no real monks and what they did is completely against Buddhist codes," said Ngawang Daindzin, a living Buddha.

If the Dalai Lama really wanted to be worthy of his self-proclaimed title of spiritual leader, he should at least have stopped abusing the power of religion.

And if he really loved his homeland and his fellow Tibetans, he shouldn't have disrupted the peaceful Buddhist holy city with fire and blood and left innocent people groaning in pain.

Even children became victims.

My heart ached when I read that more than 20 knife-wielding mobs set fire to a school in Lhasa after failing to break into the campus on Friday. More than 800 teen-aged students huddled together in fear and felt anguish over their lost classrooms, satchels, books and the danger of losing their lives.

I have no idea how long the painful memory will cling to these children, Tibetans and Hans alike. Not all their lives, I hope.

The Dalai Lama's hypocrisy has put the power of his religion at stake, but he cannot cheat all the people all the time. Buddhism is no harbor for separatism.

All in all, it's China's Tibet, now and forever.

http://eng.tibet.cn/Features2008/314sj/commentary/200803/t20080324_370949.htm

Dalai's brag about "peace", "non-violence" is nothing but lie

www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-08 20:20:48

BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday criticized that the Dalai Lama has proved with his own acts that his brag for "peace" and "non-violence" is nothing but lie.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu made the remarks at a regular press conference on Tuesday afternoon when asked to comment on the Dalai Lama's claim in his recent statement that he sticks to his "middle way" approach and does not seek for "Tibet independence".

Jiang said the Dalai Lama is the head representative of the serf system which integrates religion with politics in old Tibet.

Such serf system, which harbors no democracy, freedom and human rights in any form, is the darkest slavery system in human history, Jiang said, adding that only the serf owners could enjoy special privileges under such a system.

The "middle way" approach that the Dalai Lama is pursuing for is aimed at restoring his own "paradise in the past", which will throw millions of liberated serf back into a dark cage, Jiang said.

"Such a 'middle way', who can accept it?" said Jiang.

On the Dalai Lama's claim that he is unconnected with the riots in Lhasa, Jiang said "Dalai has always been dependent on telling lies", noting that it does not matter much about what he said, only what he did.

One thing that the Dalai Lama has done recently is to instigate and orchestrate the violence in Lhasa, Jiang said.

The Dalai Lama's own acts have proved "peace" and "non-violence" are all lies to cheat people, Jiang said.

Jiang also added that the central government's policy toward the Dalai Lama is consistent and the central government has been patiently keeping contact with the Dalai Lama side.

"Our door to conduct dialogue with the Dalai Lama was open in the past and is still open now", Jiang said.

Only if the Dalai Lama changed his mind, stopped separatist activities, violence and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games, "we are still willing to contact and consult with him", Jiang said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/08/content_7941607.htm

"Nonviolence" in the mouth of "Dalai Lama"

16:29, June 24, 2008

Buddhists always preach that no living things are to be killed and all violent actions have to be opposed. "I say that 21st century should be one of dialogue," the Dalai Lama told his audience on May 19 when he delivered a speech in Berlin, and he said repeatedly that he only wants autonomy for Tibetans. "This (21st century) should be the century of peace and dialogue," he noted.

Can his remarks hold true for the whole 21st century? Only three days latter, on May 22, he alleged in Paris that if the talks between his personal envoys and China broke down, grave violence may occur in Tibet again.

So, it is quite possible for "nonviolence" and "grave violence" to slip back and forth in the mouth of the same person.

Dalai Lama has passed himself off as "a disciple of the Gandhi school" and so he adheres to the nonviolence. He, nevertheless, has hardly expected what Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), the leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, had explicitly said, "Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and put off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our very being."

But the Dalai Lama has indeed taken nonviolence as a garment to hide his shame and so he has put on and put off at will. Why does he need to put on such a garment? He could be overjoyed if "stayed naked and then he would have nothing to worry about," as a popular Chinese saying goes. It is not because he is not willing but he won't able to do so. As he had said explicitly in an address in Oslo in 1989: If Tibetans took up arms, Communist troops in China would have the excuse for the suppression of them and they would be possibly be extinct.

The Dalai Lama claimed that he advocates "nonviolence"but he is not able to stop the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) and other radical forces from going in for violence, as he said that some of the Tibetans in exile listened to him while others did not. As is known to all, 80 percent of the staff of the government in exile were TYC members, and the so-called "the charter (or constitution) of Tibetans in Exile" specifies that these Tibetans must obey the "supreme political and religious leader Dalai Lama."

Since the Dalai Lama is the "supreme leader" who controls and governs all the supreme power in politics and religion, how he is not able to check TYC and curb violence?

In numerous journals owned by TYC, there are often articles concerning the use of violence or to spouse armed struggle to materialize their dream of "Tibetan independence". There are also agitating articles in recent years to urge Tibetans to follow suit of Palestinians to carry out suicide bombing, and openly alleged that they had a lot to draw on from the terrorism of the September 11 attacks of 2001 in the U.S. The Dalai Lama, however, has turned a deaf ear and blind eye to all this.

While parroting "nonviolence", the Dalai Lama has often instigatted and voiced his support to violence both in public or in private. Sufficient evidence has showed that the March 14 Lhasa violence was part of the "Tibetan People's Uprising Movement," a schemed plotted by the Dalai clique. So, he was so elated that day and repeatedly exhorted that he appreciated with all his heart the Tibetans inside the border for their absolute loyalty, courage and determination.

What the Dalai Lama has"appreciated" is the unrest erupted in Lhasa on March 14 when rioters set fire to and looted public facilities, residential houses and shops. On the same day, he told American reports that he would not stop Tibetans because they had the right to do whatever they desired.

To date, the dust has been settled in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet autonomous region, and the splendid, towering snow mountains around remain holy. The Dalai Lama, however, has turned somewhat impatient, anxious and restless, and he even predicted that grave violence could possibly recur in Tibet. Was it something not more plain and definite that what he had "appreciated" days before the "March 14th" riot'? And what he was really hinting, inciting and expecting?

With a too fast replacement of the "nonviolence" garment by the garment of "violence", it seems that flaws or burst seams are apt to be exposed. No wonder some personality in the West have referred to the Dalai Lama as the "Drama" Lama and often found what he said or preached joining in the fun or playing the game merely on the occasion.

In order to retain the Dalai Lama's "Buddhist" compassionate face and rope in the kind-heated people, the Dalai clique have all along brandished the "nonviolence" as their banner. Whenever following in their footprints, these people can see the stripes of "violence" on their buttocks, and then roar with laughters and disperse helter-skelter.

By People's Daily Online and its author is Zong Yiwen, a council member of the China Religious Culture Communication Association

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6436017.html

Dalai clique is chief criminal of violent crimes

16:54, June 07, 2008

The three bombing cases that took place in eastern Tibet's Qamdo prefecture in April have recently been cracked. All suspects are Buddhist monks who have been instigated by the Dalai Cliques' separatist thought. Plots of the attacks echo the 3.14 unrest. The Dalai clique is the chief criminal of the three bomb attacks.

"Buddhists should believe in clemency. True Buddhists should learn Buddhist scriptures by heart; love their country and their religion; abide by the law; and bring happiness to people. They should not involve themselves in cruel murders and sabotage," said Dainzin Chilai, vice-chairman of the China Buddhist Association and vice-chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference of the Tibet Autonomous Region. His words are a reminder of the essence of Buddhism, and criticism to the Dalai clique and the few monks who are keen on violent attacks.

People's actions are inseparable from their thoughts. The bomb attack suspects are inspired and instigated by the Dalai clique's propaganda. Having listened to overseas radio broadcasts for a long time, they have accepted the Dalai Lama's separatist thoughts. Once know the happening of the Lhasa incident and the contents of "Tibet Uprising" planned by the Dalai Lama, they actively cooperated with the Dalai clique. The three bomb attacks indicate how dangerous the Dalai Lama's separatism is and therefore demands our attention.

Facts prove again that "Tibet Independence" is unpopular and violent acts are intolerable. Those who try to undermine social stability come to no good end; and the separatist activities will never succeed.

By People's Daily Online

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6426375.html

 
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Video: Tibet Riot Documentary.

Facts exposing Dalai clique's masterminding of Lhasa violence

17:21, March 31, 2008

Xinhua was authorized to release a signed article on Sunday to reveal how the Dalai clique plotted and incited the Lhasa violence on March 14, which killed at least 18 civilians and one police officer.

The story, by Yi Duo, says that it was untrue of the Dalai Lama and his backers to claim that the riot was a "spontaneous peaceful protest" that the Dalai Lama had nothing to do with.

AN INSIDER'S CONFESSION

An unidentified suspect who was connected with the Lhasa violence has confessed to the police that the "security department" of the "Tibetan government-in-exile" asked him to distribute leaflets promoting the so-called "Tibetan people's uprising" to civilians and monks in Tibet, according to the article.

"The violence on March 14 was related to the instigation of the 'security department' of the 'Tibetan government-in-exile'," the suspect said.

"To protect myself, (the Dalai clique) asked me not to participate in the demonstrations in person, just to take charge of stirring people up," the suspect said.

"The beating, smashing, looting and burning were by no means peaceful demonstrations and the deeds were inhuman," the suspect admitted. "If they (the Dalai clique) wanted to follow the non-violent 'middle way', such violence should have never happened."

On the same day that mobs attacked innocent Lhasa civilians, a closed-door meeting was held by the Dalai Lama clique on how to build on the "achievements," the article said.

FOLLOW-UP PLOTS

The meeting finally decided to mobilize all of the monasteries in Tibet, each with more than 100 lamas, especially those of the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, and ask the monks to take to the street and involve common Tibetans in the demonstrations. The meeting also plotted to launch ongoing protests, in stages, in Tibetan-inhabited areas.

Samdhong, the "prime minister" of the "Tibetan government-in-exile," said at the meeting that they should seize the very rare opportunity provided by the Beijing Olympics to make breakthroughs in the "Tibet cause", to pave the way for the Dalai Lama to "return" to Tibet and to achieve a high level of autonomy in "Greater Tibet", as well as the goal of "abolishing" the existing management method on the reincarnation of Tibetan living Buddhas.

The Dalai clique also entrusted the "ministry of finance" under the "government-in-exile" to "financially support the decisive battle against the Chinese government," the article said.

A day after the violence began on March 14, the "Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC)", a hardline organization under the Dalai Lama's supporters that openly preaches violence, decided to "set up guerillas to infiltrate Tibet and start armed struggles" at a meeting in Dharamsala, where the "Tibetan government-in-exile" was located, the article said.

They also drafted recruitment plans and plans to purchase weapons and planned to steal into Tibet through the China-Nepal border.

The "TYC" leaders said that they were ready to "sacrifice another 100 Tibetans at least" to achieve their goal.

Besides the "TYC", other organizations that were among the Dalai Lama's supporters also sent people to Tibetan communities in India and Nepal, urging residents there to contact people in Tibet and other Tibetan-inhabited areas in China by telephone or e-mail and incite them, "in the name of the Dalai Lama", to hold demonstrations following the Lhasa violence.

Cewang Rigzin, the "TYC" president, said at a meeting on March 20 that violence has "achieved its goal" to "awaken resistance among people in Tibet and attract high-profile international attention to the Tibet issue" but the struggle "will not stop and this incident is just the prelude of this year's fight."

INSTIGATION OF LHASA RIOT

The article detailed how the Dalai Lama's backers masterminded a so-called "Tibetan people's uprising" that led to the violence in Lhasa.

Five organizations under the "Tibetan government-in-exile", the "TYC", the "Tibetan Women's Association (TWA)," "Students for a Free Tibet (SFT)," the "National Democratic Party of Tibet (NDPT)"and the "Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet (GCSMT)" announced the formal start of the "Tibetan people's uprising" on Jan. 4 this year and founded a temporary preparation office in charge of coordination and financing, headed by Cewang Rigzin, according to the report.

They claimed that the movement would be a "turning point in the history of Tibetans' struggle for freedom," the article said.

"They divided the movement into four stages," it said. The first was to recruit participants and promote the ideas of the movement. The second stage, or the action step, started on March 10, followed by the third, which was to organize demonstrations across the world. The last one was to launch actions in the regions inhabited by Tibetan people inside China.

FOREIGN ASSISTANCE

From Feb. 15 to 17, the five organizations launched training programs for people in charge of the movement activities in Dharamsala in northwest India, where the "Tibetan government-in-exile" was located.

Four days later, in the same place, they started a six-day campaign to recruit participants.

The "GCSMT" obtained financial assistance from the U.S.-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) on Feb. 27 from a fund "for activists to deal with danger."

According to an NED report, the foundation granted 1.36 million U.S. dollars to the Dalai Lama's backers between 2002 and 2006. In 2006 alone, it gave 85,000 U.S. dollars to organizations such as the "TWA" and "GCSMT."

The Dalai clique questioned about 300 Tibetans who were smuggled across the border from China during February in a bid to collect information for planned attacks on border points or infiltration into China, the article said.

On March 10, after careful selection, 101 hard-core members setoff from Dharamsala to unleash the movement.

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF

March 10 is the anniversary of the so-called "Tibet uprising" in 1959. On that date, 49 years ago, Lhasa saw a bloody riot initiated by the Dalai Lama's backers. Rioters killed Pagbalha Soinam Gyamco, a senior lama and a member of the preparation committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region, tied his body to a horse and dragged it for two kilometers.

The day, annually commemorated by the Dalai Lama's backers, has been a reminder of violence. And history seems to have repeated itself.

On the same date this year, a ceremony was held in Dharamsala to mark the event. The 14th Dalai Lama said in a critical statement that the Chinese government had imposed "more severe repression upon Tibetans in Tibet" and "trampled on human rights and limited religious freedom".

He also expressed appreciation for the "Tibetan people's sincerity, courage and resolution."

Immediately after the ceremony, about 300 monks from the Zhaibung Monastery tried to march into central Lhasa. In the following days, monks from other temples in Lhasa also tried to demonstrate but were restrained by police.

When the monks' efforts to spread unrest failed, rioters came. They torched shops and vehicles, attacked innocent passers-by on the streets and even attacked ambulances on March 14.

TRYING TO ESCAPE RESPONSIBILITY

After the Lhasa riot on March 14, which is so far known to have claimed at least 18 civilian lives and caused 382 injuries, unrest erupted in other Tibetan-inhabited regions in the southern part of Gansu Province and the northern part of Sichuan Province.

Mobs, some shouting slogans for "Tibet independence" and bearing flags of the so-called "Tibetan government-in-exile", stormed into and attacked government offices, police stations, hospitals, schools and banks.

Moreover, the backers of the Dalai Lama spread violence even further by organizing rioters to attack Chinese embassies and consulates in the United States, Canada, India, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Australia, the article said.

The Dalai Lama released a statement via his personal secretariat on March 14, in which violent actions were described as "peaceful protests". On the same day, the "Tibetan government-in-exile" defined the riots in another statement as peaceful demonstrations by Tibetans to protest Chinese policies.

In commenting to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on March 16, the Dalai Lama said, when prompted, that he would not ask the rioters to stop.

The Chinese government later released film and photographs showing the violent attacks that took place during the riot in Lhasa, which have been regarded as a contradiction to the vaunted "peaceful image" of the Dalai Lama.

On the advice of his supporters, the Dalai Lama changed his tune at a press conference on March 18, when he said that he should not have created an anti-Chinese mood in the international arena. The only option would be his retirement if the situation got out of control, the Dalai Lama said.

His comments were soon seen by the international community as an admission that he had a responsibility for the riots in Lhasa.

BEIJING OLYMPICS

After Beijing won a bid for hosting the 29th Summer Olympic Games in 2008, Dalai clique claimed that it would be a "decisive battle" to seek for "Tibet Independence" by interfering the Olympics.

Chairman of the working department of "2008 Free Tibet Movement" Lordain said in December 2004, "People around the world will pay close attention to China (for Olympics) and that gives us a unique opportunity to bring political pressure to Chinese government."

On February 7 of this year, Gama Qoinpe, "Speaker of the Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies" said that they should make use of the opportunity to compel Chinese government to resolve the Tibet issue in 2008 or within future two years.

In recent two years, the Dalai Lama and his followers have launched a series of Olympics-related actions for the above-mentioned purpose:

-- Members of "Students for a Free Tibet (SFT)" raised banners of "Tibet Independence" to boycott Beijing Olympics at the base camp of the Mount Qomolangma in April 2007.

-- In May, Dalai clique declared that it will hold "Tibetan Olympics" in Dharamsala and established a "organizing committee" for it.

-- Dalai clique's "Network of International Support to Tibet" also built an athlete "delegation" consisting of Tibetans living outside China and requested International Olympic Committee to allow them to "participate in the Beijing Olympics on behalf of Tibet".

-- The "TYC" decided to launch a "Death Torch" relay in April from Dharamsala to New Delhi, India's Capital.

-- Head of Dalai clique's "Tibet Independence Movement" has said that The Beijing Olympics is an important timing for international communities to press Chinese government to improve human rights, continue dialogs with the Dalai Lama and peacefully resolve the Tibet issue. Tibetans living everywhere should participate in the fighting, he said.

Source:Xinhua

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90785/6384226.html

Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth

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Tibet issue is not about religion

BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The People's Daily newspaper on Tuesday posted a commentary saying the Tibet issue was not a religious issue.

The Dalai clique called for the international community's concern for the Tibet issue, claiming Tibetans lacked religious freedom, the commentary said.

An open court session in connection with the Lhasa violence on March 14 is held at the Intermediate People's Court of Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, April 29, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

However, the Dalai clique's accusation against China contradicts the facts, the commentary quoted Narasimhan Ram, editor-in-chief of the Hindu Newspaper Group, as saying.

It said the living Buddha reincarnation, various ritual ceremonies and resumption of academic degrees of monks showed that religious activities in Tibet were normal.

Currently, Tibet has over 1,700 monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism,46,000 monks and nuns, four mosques and one Catholic church, the commentary said, stressing all religious activities go on smoothly in Tibet.

On average, there was one religious venue for every 1,600 Tibetans, but only one church for every 3,125 people in England, it said.

In recent years, many learned monks won Gexe Lharampa, the highest academic degree of the four ranks in the Gexe system, from the yellow sect, or the Gelugba school of Tibetan Buddhism, annually.

An open court session in connection with the Lhasa violence on March 14 is held at the Intermediate People's Court of Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, April 29, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

The commentary also said common followers have religious freedom. Sutra streamers, prayer wheels and other religious instruments are ubiquitous in Tibet.

Most followers have built scripture chambers in their own houses and over 1 million Tibetans went to Lhasa to pay homage to Buddha.

The Chinese government has allocated more than 700 million yuan(about 100 million U.S. dollars) since 1980 to maintain 1,400 monasteries and cultural relics. The Potala Palace, Norbu Linkag and the Sakya Monastery were renovated with central government funding.

The central government has also made efforts to collect and publish Tibetan Buddhism classics, including the Tibetan Tripitaka.

Many Tibetan traditional festivals have been preserved, including Spring Festival according to the Tibetan Calendar, and Shoton (Yogurt) Festival.

The commentary said the government respected and protected the religious freedom in conformity with the law.

Nowadays, religious freedom is the basic right of Chinese citizens. In addition, the legitimate rights of religious staff and followers are protected by law.

In the dark ages, only Tibetan Buddhism could be followed but nowadays religion in the autonomous region had developed with time. With Tibetan Buddhism dominating, more religions have been introduced to this area, including Muslim and Catholicism with 3,000 and 700 followers, respectively.

The above facts have showed explicitly the Tibet issue was not about religion but only a card played by the Dalai clique to woo sympathy from others, the commentary said.

The essence of the Tibet issue was a scheme for "Tibet independence" and this couldn't be disguised as a religious problem, it stressed.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/29/content_8073148.htm

Tibet in eyes of foreign journalists

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"Tibet issue" is definitely not human rights issue

15:37, April 30, 2008

Dalai clique has worked to promote the "Tibetan Human Rights issues" on its tours of Europe and the United states since the 50s and 60s of the 20th century. So, the human rights have been solemnly turned into a trump card in their hands as well as the weaponry they exploit to call the attention of the international community to the so-called "Tibet issue".

Then, is the "Tibet issue" an issue of human rights?

Concerning the human rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights made a clear and explicit explanation. "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights," says the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "No one shall be held in slavery and servitude¡&endash;"

Old Tibetan society under the rule of the Dalai clique was rigidly stratified, however, and local Tibetans were divided into three social strata within nine grades, where once five percent superstructure (monks and aristocracy) ruled the serfs, making up over 95 percent of the total population, who were economically exploited ruthlessly, politically oppressed and mentally controlled, and even their right to live could not be guaranteed.

Tibetologist Alexander Daweinier of France in her "Old Face of New China in Tibet", said all (serf) farmers were life-long liabilities in old Tibet, and that all serfs then lost all the freedom as human beings. With the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, the one million serfs then began to enjoy genuine democracy, freedom and human rights.

How can the endeavor to let former slaves be masters of their own destiny be termed as the act of "encroaching upon human rights" and how can there be such an absurdity is in the world today! Late senior leader Dang Xiaoping said, "what are human rights, how many people are there meant for; and whether these rights belong to the minority, to the majority or ¡&endash;"

If some people are said to have lost their "human rights" in Tibet, it is meant to the Dalai clique, which represents the handful of serf owners who lost their absolute "special privileges" to kill the innocent at will.

In fact, it is better for the Dalai clique to resolve their own human rights issues rather give heed to the non-existent Tibetan Human Rights issues. The Dalai clique is composed of high-level or upper-class monks and aristocrats to be represented by the Dalai families, and ordinary Tibetan exiles, nevertheless, remain in the status of being enslaved, with most of them huddling in slums in Dharamsala, India, and yet they still have to pay a type of "independence fee' for the Tibetan government in exile; they do not have any human rights to speak of at all, and at what time has Dalai clique ever paid any attention to this reality.

The Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 4, 1986, confirmed that the right to development is an inalienable human right. Since the peaceful liberation of Tibet, local economy has retained an annual growth of up to 12 percent for years, local farmers and herders are covered by the government-sponsored medical care system and their kids enjoy free boarding and education at their schools. Moreover, recent years represent the fastest period of growth in history for Tibetans to own their private homes.

In sharp contrast, the Dalai clique, who has bent on propagating or promoting the so-called "human rights," has not contributed in the least to the development of Tibet, and instead repeatedly infringed upon the rights and interests of people of various ethnicities in the Tibet region. They harassed the life and production of Tibetans residing inside Tibet in early years and, in recent years they turned to infiltrations for disruption, and successively plotted violent incidents to undermine the rights of Tibetans for survival and to development.

Dalai clique has kept up hyping the so-called Tibetan Human Rights issues with a lot of publicity simply for the reason that it poses a"fashionable topic". Meanwhile, there are always some Western politicians to work in coordination with them and speak in "all seriousness" to hoodwink people who are not aware of the truth. Hoisting the banner as "the defenders of human rights", they tried all means to denigrate the development and progress scored in new Tibet, while not uttering a single word on how old Tibet had trampled upon human rights of local Tibetans.

A noted Russian Tibetologist has referred to "three factors" in citing Dalai Lama, who had ruthlessly persecuted serfs in old Tibet, as the defender of the "human rights", namely, ignorance, shamefulness and betrayal of justice for selfish private interests. And an ace Canadian scholar is even more to the point when he said some people who "interested" themselves in the Tibet issue, not out of their "moral support" or "sympathy", but to serve the needs for their strategic global layout.

Espousing "Tibetan human rights" to stir up ethnical sentiments and to draw on the support of the West and ultimately to achieve Tibetan independence and separate China - Consequently, we can see therefrom what issue really is the Tibetan Human rights issue of the Dalai clique.

By People's Daily Online and its author is He Zhenhua

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6401910.html

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Video: Where does Dalai Lama's "middle path" lead to? .

What issue is "Tibet issue"?

17:00, April 16, 2008

Dalai Lama clique has made repeated appeals and statements to impose pressure or punitive measues upon China, and Nancy Pelosi of the United States and others of her ilk also kept up noises and uproars. Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, and the European Parliament (EP) have passed resolutions on Tibet one after another. So the so-called "Tibet issue" has become increasingly fashionable.

So, people cannot but ask what issue is actually the "Tibet issue"?

To answer this question, people'd better ask Ms. Pelosi first. In her view, the Tibet issue has originated from the suppression of the Chinese government in Tibet. So, if she and her peers do not interfere in the "Tibet issue", she said with anxieties, "we have lost all more authority to speak on behalf of human rights."

Of course, we might as well see the appeals and statements of the Dalai clique, and the "Tibet issue" it is here being referred to includes "the lack of freedom in religious belief" and the so-called "ethnic inequalities".

Then, what is the "human rights issue" of the "Tibet question"? We first of all cite an example of the recent Lhasa riots. Faced with such violent actions as beating, smashing, looting and arson in Lhasa and other ethnic Tibetan areas since March 14, how can the government sit idle, and who will then come over to protect the human rights of innocent civilians? If the government's settlement of this incident is meant to encroach upon the human rights, Ms. Pelosi should better ask herself about the Los Angeles civil unrest happened right before her eyes 16 years ago, in which the US government aroused much military and police power and arrested more than 100,000 people.

The riots of 1992 in Los Angeles stunned the entire U.S. with its resultant 53 deaths, 2,325 injuries and an immense loss of property damage.

As for the Dalai Clique, people will never forget that Tibet was still under the semi-feudal serfdom till the first half of the 20th century, which was much darker and more sinister and vicious than the days under the "integration of the state and religion" in the Middle Age Europe. The ecclesiastical and secular serf owners, though accounting to less than five percent of the population of Tibet, controlled the personal freedom of serfs and slaves, who then made up 95 percent of the Tibetan population. These wretched of the earth could have their hands and feet chopped off, eyes gouged out, tongues cut or be subjected to other tortures and fatal penalties; and so they could hardly have a guaranteed right for survival under serfdom.

Afterward, it is ascribed to the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951 and the ensuing democratic reform in 1959 in the region that let serfs of old Tibet to gain their dignity and human rights.

Tibet's total population has increased from 1.14 million in 1951 to more than 2.8 million today; compulsory education, medical services and a minimum living allowance system have covered the whole of the Tibetan autonomous region. With such a historical background and present reality, how the Dalai clique, the chieftains of serfdom in old Tibet, are qualified to talk excessively and glibly about the "human rights" issue of Tibet?

The "Tibet issue" is also not a "religious issue". If Tibet is lacking the "freedom in religious belief', then how can people explain scenes of Lamaseries across the region crowded with believers or worshippers of varied ages to burn incenses, thousands upon thousands of Tibetans make pilgrimages to Lhasa, and suspending sutra streamers and Mani stone mounds put up by devout believers can be seen everywhere in Tibet?

It is even more absurd for the Dalai clique to clamor the so-called "ethnic inequalities". Let alone huge state appropriations made for developing traditional Tibetan medical science and Tibetan medicine, China has input more than 700 million yuan (about 100 million US dollars) to overhaul the imposing Potala Palace in Lhasa over recent years and to overhaul, rescue-repair and preserve traditional Tibetan culture.

Thanks to increased allocations from the central government, the Tibetans are the first among ethnic minority groups in China to have an international standard language, so that the Tibetan is currently an ethnic miority language with a permit to enter global information super highway networks.

In fact, it is crystal clear what the exact issue of the "Tibet issue" is. Dalai clique tries to seek "Tibet independence" under the signboard of varied "issues" -- This can seen from the "middle way" solution he has kept to, from their negation of the existing political system in Tibet, from their attempt to create the "Greater Tibet' that had been non-existent in history, and from their request urging other ethnicities to move out of Tibet and for the pullout of troops from the "Greater Tibet".

In the final analysis, the "Tibet issue" is not at all a "human rights issue", a religious issue, or an ethnical issue, but an issue concerning China's state sovereignty and territorial integrity, and an issue of core interests for the Chinese nation. Not a single nation on earth can tolerate to see its sovereignty sustain losses or sit idle to see its territory being seceded. On this issue, the Chinese government has made it very clear that the unity of the Chinese nation is the supreme, overriding principle, and there is no room whatsoever for any bargain on the issue of sovereignty. So any scheme to encroach upon China's sovereignty and meddle in China's internal affairs on the Tibet issue is only futile under whatever banner is hoisted.

By People's Daily Online and its author is He Zhenhua

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6393934.html

Tibet Fought Against Foreign Invasion

click here

Only by halting violence can there be harmony

15:16, May 08, 2008

The Chinese nation has always attached importance to social harmony. For the Dalai clique that claimed its "willingness to be a member of the big family of the People's Republic of China," it also openly voiced its "appreciation and support" to the building of a harmonious society in the country.

Just as the Dalai clique said, a harmonious society cannot be separable from "freedom" and the "rule of law" and, as is known to all that either "freedom" or the "rule of law" has nothing in common with one thing -- violence. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed 60 years ago, notes that human beings have the freedom of averting terror and shortages, as terror and shortages are often associated with violence. So violent crimes also pose a direct challenge and trample upon the civilization of a modern legal system; and a society which indulge and tolerate violence can absolutely not be a harmonious society.

The Dalai clique, nevertheless, plotted and incited the March 14 Lhasa riots, in which they resorted to violence to disrupt the peaceful life of Tibetans, and brought terror and scourge to the innocent people, thus seriously infringing upon the "freedom" and "rule of law', and fundamentally undermining social harmony in Tibet. If such violent moves are prettified as "peaceful protests" with the "courage and resolve" and they themselves bragged as "winning the endorsement and support" of the international community, then why they should have given such expressions to the endorsement and recognition of the harmonious society, and how they would carry out their commitment to the sake of "interests of the Tibetan people"?

For the Dalai clique, they claimed they worked for the future of Tibet but has been bent on whipping up violent incidents in the past half century ever since 1959 for sabotaging the production and living environment of people of varied ethnicities in Tibet; they alleged they worked for "freedom" and the "human rights" for Tibetans but continuously encroached upon the ordinary people's basic rights of survival and development ¡&endash; The failure of their deeds to match their words cannot but let people doubt the sincerity of the Dalai clique, and people cannot but pander over what a member of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), a terrorist organization, has said, namely, "peace and non-violence" were only spoken to leading Western powers.

Violence cannot give rise to harmony, and still less win public will. When peace and development have been turned into the tide of the contemporary world, violent actions to the detriment of peace have become the common foe of all people in the world yearning for peace. Under the pretexts of the "human rights" issue, or a religious issue, or whatever issues, with whatever purposes, violence can only mean moving against the current of the times and is therefore unacceptable.

Violence runs counter to what the Dalai clique has said about the Tibetan Buddhism culture with the protection of benevolence as the core. In the history of human civilizations, Buddhism has been regarded as a religion of peace and goodwill since ancient times. The vain attempt of the Dalai clique to seek "Tibetan independence" with the use of violence has not only harmed the quintessence of Buddhism with "mercy at heart" but also runs counter to the Buddhist core foundation of "not hurting all living beings", let alone carry forward and develop the Buddhist culture to seek harmony.

With the formation of equal, harmonious relationships among people of various ethnicities in Tibet since its peaceful liberation in 1951, a situation of harmony among the people of ethnicities for common prosperity has taken shape. In disregard of this reality, the attempt of the Dalai clique to fan up violent actions to disrupt the peaceful life of Tibetans and their fundamental well-being and even to connive at some extremists' evil-doings from violence to terrorism not only runs counter to the tide of the times but is unacceptable. If the Dalai clique really wants to support the construction of a harmonious society and to work for the interests of Tibetan people, it should proceed from the most rudimentary thing - that is to halt plotting and instigating violent actions.

By People's Daily Online and its author is He Zhenhua

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6406995.html

Only by halting separatist activities can there be a way out

16:04, May 07, 2008

All people, including Buddhist monks, have their own motherland, and their hearts always yearn and turn to their motherland.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau on the roof of the world is the common homeland of the Han people, Tibetans and people of other ethnic minorities. Tibet has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times. It became an administrative region directly under the administration of the central government of China's imperial Yuan dynasty (1271-1368 A.D.). Tibet was subsequently subjected to the administration of the central authority from the imperial Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties and the Republic of China (1912-1949) through the People's Republic of China upon its establishment in October 1949.

In history, Tibet has never been an independent nation, nor any power in the world has ever recognized the so-called "Tibet independence". This has been an indisputable historical fact and a common acknowledgement of the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, including Tibetan compatriots.

The attempt to seek "Tibet independence" and to separate the motherland in disregard of this rudimental historical fact and the common feelings of people of all ethnicities in China not only violatrd religious rites or tenets and the established historical rules or practices, but also undermines the tradition of patriotism of Tibetan Buddhism. There are very rich and profound contents of patriotism in the classic tenets of Buddhism. And past generations of eminent monks made important contributions in safeguarding the unity of the motherland.

From the struggles against colonialist powers of the West between 1624 and 1632 to the war of resistance to British imperialist armed aggression against Tibet in 1888 and 1904, and from the remarks of the 13th Dalai Lama that he knew very well that sovereignty could not be lost though Britons indeed had lured¡&endash; and the famous speech "Tibet Is China's Territory" by the Ninth Panchen Lama, or Bainqen Erdini Qoigyi Gyaincain (1938-1989).- All these have demonstrated the patriotic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and the patriotic spirit of eminent Buddhist monks.

The shared history and common belief have enabled Tibetan compatriots and people of other ethnicities in the motherland to share weal and woe and turn mutually dependent on each other. The Tibetan culture, as an important component part of the Chinese culture, can keep up developing and prospering only when it is deep rooted in the culture of the Chinese nation.

Great changes or many vicissitudes of life in Tibet over the past five decades or so have shown to the world that the people in Tibet cannot bid farewell to the dark serfdom and move toward the modernization development if without the unity of the motherland, without the peaceful liberation and without reform and opening to the outside world in the past three decades. Breaking away from the embrace of the motherland and going in for the system of integrating politics with religion does not comply with general historical trends or the tide of the times and still less with the common aspiration of the people of the whole Chinese nation, including Tibetan compatriots.

State sovereignty and territorial integrity represent the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation, and it is the lofty duty and the mission of every Chinese citizen to safeguard the unity of the motherland and ethnical unity. History has proven and will continue to prove that the scheme to secede the motherland can never succeed but is doomed to failure.

Abandoning all views or propositions for separating the motherland and halting all activities in this regard - this will test the sincerity of the Dalai clique in safeguarding the unity of the motherland, the sincerity in what the Dalai clique said "Tibet remains in China" and the "true heart" in what is meant by the Dalai clique with the words, "for the interests of Tibetan people". People of the Chinese nation both at home and overseas shall wait and see if they will work with their concrete actions for safeguarding the unity of the motherland and if they truly "think of the future for Tibetans".

By People's Daily Online and its author is He Zhenhua

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6405977.html

Dalai coterie's conspiracy aimed at sabotaging Olympics, seeks Tibet independence

www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-03 17:56:41

BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- While some "pro-Tibet Independence" activists claimed their goals were different from the Dalai Lama, evidence has shown conspiracies behind all the plots initiated by them were linked.

Following trips to Berlin, London and Sydney, the Dalai Lama is expected to visit the United States and France. His "visits" are scheduled to end on Aug. 20 -- four days before the conclusion of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

As early as March, some Tibetan exiles, instigated by "Tibet independence" forces, launched their "Marching into Tibet" movement from Dharamsala, India.

They plotted to penetrate the China-India border and cross over Mount Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest, and come into Tibet. Their arrival was fixed for August, the same month of the Beijing Olympics.

While it's been more than two months since the March 14 riot in Tibet, the Dalai Lama has shown no intention of taking a break or to display any sincerity in reining in his negative comments on the Chinese government.

The past two months has witnessed his continued criticism over the way China dealt with the unrest, and "testifying" at a hearing on the country's so-called human rights issue.

On June 4, Indian police arrested 265 members of the "Marching into Tibet" movement, including the ringleaders of the "Tibetan Youth Congress"(TYC). Also detained were members of the "Tibetan Women's Association" among other secessionist organizations. Later the Associated Press reported another 50 activists attempted to march into Tibet.

A CONSPIRACY NETWORK

Shortly after Beijing won the Olympic hosting rights seven years ago, the London-based "International Tibet Support Network" held a meeting and formed a propaganda plan. This included training their underlings to speak uniformly when being interviewed by media.

They were even taught rock climbing techniques -- something that came in handy when activists climbed San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled a banner on April 9.

Compared with other "senior" high-profile groups, the network, founded in 2000, wasn't known by many people previously.

According to the U.S.-based International Herald Tribune, in the early period, the network mainly sent out media-fanning communiques to its 153 member organizations. Later, it made the Beijing Olympics the focus of its campaign.

Before the Olympic torch relay kicked off its foreign legs at the end of March, a Canadian "general commander" of a torch-disruption network drafted detailed plans to interfere with the relay and sent her orders to group members.

Another Canadian, Lhadon Tethong, sneaked into China in April, 2007, and put up secessionist slogans at the foot of Qomolangma (Everest) with other activists. According to a report from the Toronto-based Globe and Mail newspaper, Lhadon Tethong is a member of the group "Students for a Free Tibet" under the network. His father is a Tibetan who keeps close relations with the Dalai coterie's senior level.

In the past six months, the group had established about 200 branches in Estonia, the Czech Republic and other countries. Alison Reynolds, director of the network, announced it had already started to plot "post-Olympic activities."

"All these are related to the TYC. The International Tibet Support Network itself was organized by the TYC," said Xie Gangzheng, a researcher with the Sichuan Tibetology research center.

OLYMPIC PLOTTING

Before the March 14 unrest, the secessionists' intention to tarnish the Olympics had already emerged with a senior member of the Dalai clique. In addition, the TYC said it would seize the opportunity of the Games.

Some people believed the current round of "Tibet independence" activities was mostly plotted at a meeting held in Brussels one year ago.

From May 11 to 14, 2007, the Dalai coterie held the fifth international conference on supporting Tibetans in the Belgian capital. According to a website compiled by independent journalists and social scientists who observed Germany's foreign policy, 315 people from 56 countries were invited by the International Tibet Support Network to attend. After days of discussion, the conference reached consensus for an action plan.

According to the full text of the plan provided by the website, the three-year plan for their future actions on Tibet independence included seven aspects -- the 2008 Olympics topped the list.

The plan said, in the next 15 months, it had four "goals" for their activities during the Olympics which underscored the word "Tibetan National Team." They included:

1. Recruit Tibetan athletes to the team and apply for the Games;

2. Launch a global torch relay with the free-Tibet theme, starting from Greece;

3. Making August 4, 2007, their international campaign day and starting a one-year countdown;

4. Contact the public under the pretext of the Olympics and other Tibet issues.

Rolf Berndt, principal of the conference organizer, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, said the Games were "an excellent opportunity" to publicly promote the cause of the "Tibet movement."

After the conference, a "Tibetan National Team," consisting of overseas Tibetans, was set up. In May 2007, the Dalai coterie announced it would hold a Tibetan Olympics at Dharamsala the following May.

SO-CALLED MIDDLE WAY

In January 2008, new "pro-Tibetan Independence" organization emerged in foreign countries.

From January 1 to 25, seven "pro-Tibet independence" organizations held a series of press conferences in New Delhi, India, during which a written proposal of "Tibet People's Uprising Movement" was formulated and began to spread via more than 100 websites.

A campaign team headed by Cewang Rigzin, president of the secessionist TYC, then started to collect funds and initiated a four-step action plan, including provocative activities such as organized protests.

From Feb. 15 to 17, TYC held training sessions in Dharamsala for leaders of the movement. From Feb. 21 to 26, it started to recruit campaigners. On Feb. 27, the Dalai Coterie sought financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), in the United States as a "fund to cope with emergencies".

On March 10, 101 members of the Dalai clique set out from Dharamsala and launched the so-called "Marching into Tibet" campaign. On the same day, several Tibetan secessionists staged a torch-lighting ceremony in front of the ancient archeological siteof Olympia, Greece, to protest the upcoming Games in Beijing.

All the incidents were by no means a coincidence but well-organized and planned, said researcher Xie.

"They started to plan the whole thing by the end of last year."

The so-called "marching into Tibet" movement was expected to last until the eve of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, he added.

The planned activities of the "pro-Tibet Independence" forces included instigating Tibetans to stage global protests, storm Chinese embassies and disrupt foreign legs of the global Olympic torch relay on the same day -- March 10.

These activities aimed to create sensational effects and attract the world's attention, Xie said.

The aim of the "pro-Tibet Independence" forces was to launch secessionist activities in 2008, the year of the Beijing Olympics, said You Xiangfei, an associate researcher at the Sichuan Tibetology Research Center. "It was to make their political aims known and amplify their political ambitions."

He noted this had a direct link with the "Middle Way" put forth by the Dalai Lama in the 1980s.

By "Middle Way," the Dalai Lama means "high-level autonomy" or "real autonomy" in Tibet and other Tibetan-inhabited areas.

However, Tenzin Chogyal, the Dalai Lama's younger brother, said it would seek "autonomy" in Tibet in the first place and then drive away other nationalities living in the area.

Gyalo Thondup, another brother of the Dalai Lama, had a more specific explanation.

Under the conception of "middle way," the autonomy of "Greater Tibet" would be realized. In 20 years, the destiny of future Tibet would be decided by residents within "Greater Tibet" in a referendum, he said.

The Dalai coterie aimed at puzzling the public by adding the conception of "Middle Way" into their political slogan, the core of which was to seek "Tibet independence," said associate researcher You.

The sensational effects that the Dalai Lama created were targeted at attracting international attention and to call for international pressure on the Chinese government, Xie said. This year, a critical moment for China to host the Olympics, then became a significant occasion for the Dalai Coterie to seek "Tibet independence," he said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/03/content_8484479.htm

Expert: "Tibetan Youth Congress" a violent spearhead

www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-02 21:48:05

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), though seemingly a civil organization, is a radical spearhead of violence supported and employed by the Dalai Lama clique, according to a Chinese Tibetologist.

The TYC was set up in 1970 at the direct incitement of the Dalai Lama, said Xie Gangzheng, a research fellow at the Sichuang Tibetology Research Center in southwestern China's Sichuan Province.

The organization was set up with the aim of colluding with "pro-independence" Tibetan youths "in-exile" to carry out secessionist activities, according to Xie.

Although ostensibly a civil organization, the TYC has been the backbone of the Tibetan "government-in-exile" since 1990, as currently 90 percent of the "government-in-exile" personnel were TYC members, according to Xie.

Since 1992, all the Kalon Tribas, or "prime ministers," of the Tibetan "government-in-exile," including the current Kalon Triba Samdom Rinpoche, were also TYC members, Xie said.

"The TYC are no different from the Tibetan 'government-in-exile' in their pursuit of 'Tibet independence' and internationalizing the Tibet issue," Xie said.

VIOLENT ACTIVITIES

According to Xie, the TYC has since its founding been a radical organization that aims to split China through violence.

Xie said the current president of the TYC, Cewang Rigzin, has refused to make any guarantees against violence since he was elected in August 2007.

Instead, Cewang Rigzin has focused on launching the "Tibetan People's Uprising Movement" and a series of extreme activities in March and sabotaging the Beijing Olympics.

To implement the "Tibetan People's Uprising Movement," the TYC held training in guerrilla warfare and explosives use.

After the March 14 riot in Lhasa, M. K. Bhadrakumar, an Indian diplomat and former Indian ambassador to Turkey and Uzbekistan, said in an article titled "India Wakes to a Tibetan Headache" that" Tibetan activists ... darkly hinted they were indeed expecting the disturbances".

Xie Gangzheng said the Dalai Lama's backers and especially the TYC remote-controlled the March 14 riot and made elaborate plans for their activities after the riot.

On March 15, the TYC approved a decision to "found a guerrilla movement as soon as possible to secretly enter China and carry out armed struggles" at a meeting of its "central executive committee" in Dharmsala, the location of the Dalai Lama's "government-in-exile" in India.

They made detailed plans for personnel, funding and armament purchases, and planned to sneak into China via the border with Nepal, which they had carefully surveyed, Xie said.

Five days later, Cewang Rigzin on March 20 announced that violence has "reached its goal to awaken resistance forces among people in Tibet and attract high-profile international attention to the Tibet issue."

He added: "The struggle will not stop and this incident is just the prelude of this year's fight," adding that they might use suicide attacks.

According to Xie, the TYC has also been actively training an armed force at a military base in Dharmsala while inciting common people to commit violence.

"The TYC is still a stubborn advocacy group for 'Tibet independence' supported by the Tibetan 'government-in-exile,' which upholds complete violence and has become an armed spearhead of the Dalai clique," he said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/02/content_8478426.htm

Primary School on Roof-of-the-World 

http://pic.people.com.cn/GB/31655/6543727.html

This unique Primary School is located on Roof-of-the-World, 5573 meters above sea-level.

The Government of China is committed to provide a free-of-charge and compulsory education for every Tibetan child.

The Central Government of China invested a huge sum of money to re-build this school from ruins in 1986, so that the children of the nomads can receive an education.

This school covers an area of 8400 square meters and the building provides a useful area of 1221 square meters. The children are too far away from their nomadic families and are all staying in this boarding school for the entire school term.

Every morning the whole school will be singing the China national anthem.

The windows of this school are installed with double layers(rarely seen in China) due to winter fourty below temperature.

This school uses the latest technology, i.e. teaching Fine Art with computerized CD equipment.

The six teachers in this school and some of their students.

There are 141 students and all stay in this boarding school. It is too far from their nomadic camps. Students will learn how to take care of their bedding.

The school principal (also a teacher) is teaching his student how to read/write Tibetan.

The school principal's wife decided to move to such high altitude location, just to help out cooking tasks at the school.

Teaching Biology and practice it with a micropscope.

Students using computer aided equipments and internet access receive long distance educational training.

The cracks on a young face of every student review the hardship of the sun at high-altitude and lack of oxygen. It takes a very dedicated teaching staff to remain working long term in this special school.

The students automatically line up for their meals during lunch hours. This is a very well organized school.

Older students are serving rice (the main dish) to the students.

A study of the food being served, it reviews that students receive a very well-balanced diet.

After lunch being served, students are having fun at the school play ground.

During the Dalai Lama era there was no school or university, a child had to join one of the Monasteries to receive an education and that was the reason why many Tibetan mothers were forced by their own clans to give up their love ones to the Monasteries. Today, no Tibetan mother has to make such a decision.

The truth is that during the Dalai Lama era most Tibetan women were second class citizens and very seldom had any chance of an education. Today, all Tibetan children, both boys and girls, have equal chances of a free-of-charge and compulsory education. Tibetan women today provide a major and essential workforce in the government of Tibet Autonomous Region.

Without Lhamo Toinzhub(14th Dalai Lama), Tibet is better off today!

In 1951 Lhamo Toinzhub signed widely known as 'the 17 Pacts'

to run Tibet for Chairman Mao until he sneaked out in 1959.

For almost 9 years Lhamo Toinzhub had worked for Chairman Mao.

Tibet Today still fighting her Biggest Enemy...

Click below:

Secret CIA Sponsorship of Tibetan Rebels against China Exposed---

How A Ground-breaking Book Unveiled History as It Was

http://www.china-hiking.com/tibet/invasion.htm

In 1959 conned by then Ambassador in India(Henderson) at his own free will,

Lhamo Toinzhub left Tibet and thus had given up his right to run Tibet.

As an early version of Iranian Czar or Filipino Marcos, he was tricked to leave Tibet.

Since 1959 for 49 years Tibet Autonomous Region has been run by capable

native Tibetans, most of whom were a SERF during Dalai Lama era.

These Tibetan leaders should be the only people who can make decisions

for the future of Tibet Autonomous Region, NOT Lhamo Toinzhub.

He has neither Tibetans' Trust nor experience to run Democratic and Modern Tibet.

Tibetans do not want someone both a Political and Religious leader to head Tibet.

Why do nations want to have Tibet returned to a SERF system under Dalai Lama?

It is because they want to control Tibet with a puppet like Dalai Lama.

This will lead Tibet into neither Democratic nor 'Freedom of Choice'.

Our World is enough to have only one Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini !

USA Professor asked: Want Another Taliban?

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6389959.html

Lhamo Toinzhub has to realize Tibet today is a well established society,

and stop allow himself being used as a puppy by nations against China.

It is sincerely hope before his approaching death Lhamo Toinzhub

(14th Dalai Lama) will give up his so called 'Tibet Independence'

and for once in entire life doing something good for people of Tibet.

The only way to avoid ending up in history like Iranian Czar or Filipino Marcos!

http://pic.people.com.cn/GB/31655/6543727.html

What to negotiate with Dalai Lama?

2008-07-01 16:41:00

To most people, no matter in the old Tibet or in Dharmsala today, where Tibetan government-in-exile locates, Dalai Lama is both a political and a religious figure. Although Dalai himself frequently refers to the "government-in-exile" as a "democratic government", he has never denied he is the political leader. But it does not make any sense at all to compare theocracy to a democratic system. If it did, people would assume he either lacks or ignore common sense.

Theocracy was abolished in Tibet. This is the reason why Dalai left Lhasa in 1959(click here), and it is also the result of his absence.

Tibet is an autonomous region, so the Tibetan autonomous government is the only legal government to represent Tibet, not that government-in-exile.

Therefore, to negotiate with China is actually to negotiate Dalai's future. Because he is not able to represent neither Tibet nor Tibetan on any legal grounds, and China will never consent to negotiate with him when he claims himself as the political figure of the "government-in-exile". I am not sure whether Dalai is clear about this or not.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200807/t20080701_410293.htm

What to talk with Dalai Lama?

2008-07-01 16:39:00

Seems a new round of talks between the Beijing central government and the Dalai Lama will start soon. Then, what are the topics on the table? Is it the current situation of Tibet, position of Tibet, future of Tibet, or the destiny of the Tibetan people, of course NOT.

The reason is simple. Dalai is a Buddhist lama, his past political status was based on the system of theocracy. The system, in which a society is ruled by a priest or monk who represent a god, has been abolished in Tibet long before. So if one is going to discuss with a monk the position and future of Tibet, and destiny of Tibetan people, doesn't that give an impression that China will allow theocracy to resume in Tibet?

Tibet is an autonomous region of China, and representing it is the government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The 14th Dalai Lama has set up an "exile regime" in Dharmsala, India, and he claims to be the leader of the exile regime. The fact is that not a single state in the world today admits the legitimacy of Dalai Lama's exile government in Dharmsala. If the central government is going to discuss the position, future of Tibet, and destiny of Tibetan people, doesn't that give an impression that Dharmasala exile regime is legitimate?

Tibet has achieved a lot in the past 50-odd years, but Tibet's success and progress has nothing to do with the Dalai Lama(click here). He by no means can represent Tibet or the Tibetan people now. So, China's central government is not going to discuss with Dalai Lama the current situation of Tibet, position of Tibet, future of Tibet, or the destiny of the Tibetan people, but only the future and destiny of Dalai Lama himself.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200807/t20080701_410290.htm

Last opportunity for Dalai Lama

2008-07-01 16:41:00

The 14th Dalai Lama is running out of opportunities. And that's why he is using the Beijing Olympics as his last straw. But could he really make the best use of this opportunity? Some Westerners are providing Dalai Lama with badly-needed guidance and support, which shed light on why he frequented Western countries in a rush. However, there are vast differences in the interest of those Westerners' and Dalai's, which can be seen through the fact that Dalai has been given a cold shoulder by the West from time to time in the past decades.

Therefore Dalai should tell the difference in interests and stop binding himself to certain political forces, which will lead to his loss of opportunities. Judging from the current situation, Dalai Lama is losing his most important opportunities on mending ties with the Chinese central government.

Of course, it remained to be seen whether Dalai Lama still has any power and influence to muster, without the support of some political forces in the West.

http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200807/t20080701_410291.htm

Chinese central government officials meet with Dalai Lama's private representatives

www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-03 15:37:37

BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Du Qinglin, head of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with private representatives of the 14th Dalai Lama in Beijing recently, the department said on Thursday.

Du, also the vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the two representatives, Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, the central government's policy towards the Dalai Lama is consistent and explicit. The door for dialogue is always open.

The Dalai Lama should openly and explicitly promise and prove it in his actions not to support activities to disturb the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games, not to support plots to fan violent criminal activities, not to support and concretely curb the violent terrorist activities of the "Tibetan Youth Congress" and not to support any argument and activity to seek "Tibet independence" and split the region from the country, he said.

While the country is welcoming the 30th anniversary of its reform and opening up, Tibet, together with the rest of the country, has progressed to realize economic development and improve people's living standards while protecting the environment and effectively using resources, he said.

In Tibet, the adherence to the CPC leadership, the socialist system and the regional autonomy of ethnic minorities will not be altered, he said.

The central government will apply its policies in Tibet, support the region's economic and social development and work to improve living standards of people in Tibet as it did before.

Du also briefed them about the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12 and the relief work.

He said at time of difficulty, the Chinese nation has shown strong cohesiveness and profound love among its people. The relief work serves as vivid illustrations of China's protection of human rights.

The CPC implemented its principle of putting people first and ruling the country for the people, while the advantages of socialist system are also manifested in the quake relief, as indicated in the policy of saving lives first, nationwide mobilization for quake relief and timely and smooth flow of information, he said.

Zhu Weiqun and Sitar, two deputy heads of the department, also met with the Dalai Lama's representatives and exchanged ideas on detailed issues.

If the Dalai Lama makes positive moves, the next round of contact may be held before the end of this year, according to the officials of the department.

The Dalai Lama's representatives also expressed their ideas on several relevant issues and said they would report the results to the Dalai Lama.

During their stay in Beijing, the two toured the Olympic stadiums and talked with some Tibetologists.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/03/content_8483444.htm

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Interview: 'China's policy in Tibet very successful'

2008-05-07 08:47:00

"I have seen an economically-developed Tibet and the Tibetans are living and working in peace and contentment. China's policy in Tibet is very successful," said Seema Mustafa, a renowned Indian political commentator.

The opinion and reporting in some western media is grossly unfair to China on the Tibet issue, Mustafa, the former political editor and New Delhi Bureau Chief of The Asian Age newspaper published in India, told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview.

Mustafa, who visited Tibet late last year, said she could not sense any alleged restrictions on the Tibetans' religious freedom as the monasteries she visited were full of religious Tibetans who were devoutly doing Buddhist services.

Now editor of the newly-launched Indian magazine Covert, Mustafa voiced concerns over the gravely distorted coverage of the riots in Tibet in March by some Western media outlets, including CNN.

"Western media's reports on the Tibet issue are filled with bias or prejudices," she said.

Some Western reporters have never been to Tibet, but they often write stories to attack China's policy in Tibet, she noted.

"It is ridiculous. They have never been there and how did they know the reality there. They are short of basic professional ethics," she said.

Mustafa also recalled that an Indian-born Tibetan she met last year in Lhasa decided to stay in the capital city of Tibet and not to return to India, convinced that she could lead a better life there.

The Tibetan girl, who spoke very fluent Hindi, made her decision after spending about six months in Tibet. She was born and brought up in India after her parents fled Tibet.

Meanwhile, Mustafa listed a number of reasons as to why some Western reporters have followed a harmful trend of reporting the unrest in Tibet, among them the deeply-rooted racism in the hearts of some Western media and the fact that some Western leaders and media are jealous and scared of China's rapid development.

"They are scared of the challenges triggered by China's development to their supremacy around the globe... They inclined to cook up or fabricate stories and sensations in the international community once there is a sign of disturbance or trouble," said Mustafa, who got her master degree in political science at Lucknow University in India in the early 1980s.

She also raised questions about the strong interest on the part of the United States in the Tibet issue.

"I have many question marks on why the White House has showed strong interest in those happenings in Tibet," she said.

The United States has done many inglorious deeds in Russia, the Baltic region and the Middle East, and the so-called democracy and human rights are just a cheap excuse to conceal its real intentions, she said.

"Some Americans really want to see an absolutely independent Tibet instead of autonomous one. They want to see a broken-up China," said the commentator.

http://eng.tibet.cn/Features2008/314sj/commentary/200805/t20080507_378701.htm

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