Tibet

A domestic yak and suckling calf in Tibet, on a high plateau in the Himalayas. Yaks are kept for milking, wool, and for meat, as well as being used as pack animals. Domestic yaks are smaller than the scarce wild yaks, due to cross-breeding with cattle.

The gilded roof of Tashilumpo Monastery, Xigaze, Tibet. The monastery is the former home of the Panchen Lama, second in the lamaist hierarchy to the Dalai Lama. The Panchen Lama, a supporter of Chinese policy in Tibet, moved to Beijing in 1965.

Glacier in the northern Himalayas, Tibet. Glacial erosion produces a great variety of geographic features and landscapes.

Tibetans perform a popular traditional dance. Dance, both secular and religious in origin, forms an important part of Tibetan cultural life.

Street in Lhasa, Tibet. Lhasa is the capital of Tibet, and the holy city of Lamaism. Following Tibet's annexation by the Chinese in 1950-51, an increasing number of Chinese settlers moved to the region, provoking conflict and resentment.

Yaks ploughing in Tibet. The yak is a mainstay of the economy, providing meat, milk, and leather, and serving as a pack and saddle animal. Their dried dung also serves as fuel on the treeless plateaus. Wild yaks have been greatly reduced in number and are now an endangered species.

Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet. The palace is the former winter residence of the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 following the Chinese annexation. When the office was first founded in the 15th century, the Dalai Lama had a purely religious role. However, in the 17th century (when the palace was built), the fifth Dalai Lama united Tibet politically and assumed a temporal as well as spiritual role.

Village in Tibet. Situated on a plateau in the Himalayas, Tibet is inhabited by nomadic groups, semi-nomads, and agriculturalists. The dry air and cold temperatures in the higher altitudes allow foodstuffs to be stored and preserved for long periods of time.

Glaciers in Tibet. The Tibetan Plateau is the largest and highest-elevated region in the world, with an average height of 4,500 m/15,000 ft above sea-level. Glaciers are found on the snow-capped mountain of Muztag Ulu, which has an elevation of 7,282 m/23,892 ft.

Potala Palace, former home of the Dalai Lama, Lhasa, Tibet. Construction of the present palace began in 1645 during the reign of the fifth Dalai Lama; it was built on the foundations of an earlier palace dating to 637.

New buildings being constructed by traditional methods, Tibet. Fears that traditional architecture has been disappearing beneath a wave of modern concrete buildings have prompted authorities to encourage architects and builders to use local materials and designs.

Tibet is situated on a plateau in the Himalayas and is traversed west to east by a number of mountain ranges.

Flat-roofed houses in a mountain village, Tibet. Flat roofs are widely used in arid climates where water-drainage is of minor importance.

Autonomous region of southwestern China; area 1,221,600 sq km/471,700 sq mi; population (2000 est) 2,620,000 (many Chinese have settled in Tibet; 2 million Tibetans live in China outside Tibet). The capital is Lhasa. Although Tibet has its own People's Government and People's Congress, Tibetan nationalists regard the province as being under colonial rule. The controlling force in Tibet is the Communist Party of China, represented locally by First Secretary Wu Jinghua from 1985. There is a government-in-exile in Dharmsala, Himachal Pradesh, India, where the Dalai Lama lives. The religion in the region is traditionally Lamaism (a form of Mahāyāna Buddhism).

History

From 1910-13 the capital, Lhasa, was occupied by Chinese troops, after which independence was re-established. China invaded Tibet in 1949, signing a treaty in May 1950 which recognized Chinese sovereignty but Tibetan local autonomy. The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) controlled Tibet 1951-59, although the Dalai Lama remained as nominal spiritual and temporal head of state. In response to repeated breaches by the Chinese of the 1950 agreement, including forcing the monks (who formed 25% of the population) out of the monasteries, in 1959 a Tibetan uprising spread from bordering regions to Lhasa and was supported by Tibet's local government. The rebellion was suppressed by the PLA, prompting the Dalai Lama and 9,000 Tibetans to flee to India. The Chinese proceeded to dissolve the Tibet local government, abolish serfdom, collectivize agriculture, and suppress Lamaism. In 1965 Tibet became an autonomous region of China. Chinese rule continued to be resented, however, and the economy languished.

Tibet occupies a barren plateau bounded to the south and southwest by the Himalayas and north by the Kunlun Mountains, traversed west to east by the Bukamagna, Karakoram, and other mountain ranges, and having an average elevation of 4,000-4,500 m/13,000-15,000 ft. The Sutlej, Brahmaputra, and Indus rivers rise in Tibet, which has numerous lakes, many of which are salty. The yak is the main domestic animal.

Industries include wool, borax, salt, horn, musk, herbs, furs, gold, iron pyrites, lapis lazuli, mercury, textiles, tanning, chemicals, and agricultural machinery. In the later 20th century industrial development was facilitated by the limited development of hydro-electric and thermal and geothermal power stations, with the Lhasa area as the main beneficiary. Tibet has the largest uranium reserves in the world: uranium processing and extraction is causing pollution as well as human and animal birth deformities.

Recent history From 1979, the leadership in Beijing adopted a more liberal and pragmatic policy towards Tibet. Traditional agriculture, livestock, and trading practices were restored (under the 1980 slogan ‘relax, relax, and relax again’), a number of older political leaders and rebels were rehabilitated or pardoned, and the promotion of local Tibetan cadres was encouraged. In addition, a somewhat more tolerant attitude towards Lamaism has been adopted (temples damaged during the 1965-68 Cultural Revolution are being repaired) and attempts have been made to persuade the Dalai Lama to return from exile.

Pro-independence demonstrations erupted in Lhasa September-October 1987, repeatedly throughout 1988, and in March 1989. These were forcibly suppressed by Chinese troops. In May and October 1988 peacefully demonstrating monks and civilians were shot by police. In 1989 many anti-China demonstrators were shot and all foreigners were expelled. These clashes exhibit the continuing strength of nationalist feeling.

From the late 1980s, the Chinese authorities attempted to engineer economic growth in Lhasa, in the hope of diluting political tensions. A consumer culture began to emerge, with a generation of young Tibetans, who have not known the Dalai Lama, buying sports shoes, jeans, and video recorders. Lhasa became a special economic zone in 1992, attracting thousands more Han Chinese and in continuing the move towards a consumer-led culture. The UN cancelled the Lhasa Valley development project in 1994 because it was benefiting Chinese immigrant workers rather than Tibetans.

The country is of immense strategic importance to China, being the site of 50,000-100,000 troops and a major nuclear missile base at Nagchuka.

The Dalai Lama complained that in June 1996 the communists had launched a new wave of repressions directed against the Tibetan religion and national identity. The Karmapa Lama, a 14-year-old Buddhist leader, who was the third most holy figure in Tibet and was formerly backed by the Chinese government, left Tibet for India in January 2000, fleeing repression and seeking political asylum.