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China is racing toward the future, so be quick if
you want to witness the country's unique traditions, says Nigel
Richardson, because they're being bulldozed as hastily as old buildings.
In recent decades Shanghai has been transformed into a frantic megalopolis of nearly 20 million people Photo: Corbis
Workers in the rice paddiesPhoto: Alamy
There were signs up – pictograms of a camera with a red cross
through it. No photographs. But the use of eyes was permitted. From a
distance, and provided we didn't record it digitally, we were being
allowed to witness the future.
"Ahhh!" said the small group of people around me. We blinked and
craned our necks, scarcely believing what we were seeing. "Waaa!"
Humans were flying.
One hundred yards away across a parade ground of red earth, they
were plunging and swooping from the top of a scaffolding wall the
height of a 20-storey building. Controlled from the ground by steel
cables attached to the middle of their backs, they performed
breathtaking aerial routines that will be seen in public for the first
time in November, at the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in the
Chinese city of Guangzhou.
The incredible flying men, who also performed at the Beijing
Olympics, were all students of martial arts at the place where kung fu
originated, Shaolin Temple in the heart of China.
My partner and I were 10 days into a month-long trip around China, and
for the umpteenth time I had been reduced to involuntary vocalising by
something unexpected and astonishing.
For China is flying too – in bullet trains, through futuristic
airport terminals, on expressways that punch their way nonchalantly
through entire mountain ranges – and there seems nowhere progress
cannot reach.
Most people are familiar with the neon overdose that is Shanghai,
whether they have been there or merely seen the pictures of Nanjing
Road and the Pudong skyline. Now the scale and speed of that
development is being duplicated across the country.
In the centre of every city, old buildings are being bulldozed to
make way for new, and on the outskirts, entire neighbourhoods are
sprouting where less than a decade ago peasants worked the fields by
hand. Black limousines with darkened windows – once the favoured
runabouts of Party cadres, now more likely to belong to nouveau riche
entrepreneurs – cruise immaculately landscaped boulevards.
In small towns you may, as we did, come across brassy new hotels
with monumental marble atriums, indoor fountains and plasma television
screens in the lavatories, as if Las Vegas had landed in Shropshire.
It's exhilarating and strange to witness – and frightening too, for who
knows what babies are being thrown out with all this bathwater?
"Now is the best time in China," said a friendly chap with good
English who came up to us as we walked along the top of the city walls
in Xian, an ancient imperial capital and "home of the Terracotta
Warriors". The man, let's call him Mr Li, seemed anxious to talk.
"First we had Old China," he said, meaning the 4,000 or so years
of dynastic rule that preceded Communism. "Then New China." He meant
Maoism, which he likened to North Korea under Kim Jong-il. "And now we
have Modern China."
As tourists bicycled past us, smiling and waving, Mr Li pointed
beyond the red lanterns hung along the perimeter of the wall to the
smoggy skyline – ranks of new apartment blocks and the concrete
carcases of those still under construction.
Modern China – "Capitalism with Chinese characteristics" is how
the Party likes to describe it – is responsible for all this
hyperactivity, and Mr Li welcomes it. But all the concrete and glass in
the world could not blot out his memories. For soon Mr Li was talking
about the Cultural Revolution of the Sixties and Seventies in which, at
the behest of Mao Tse-tung, the people and fabric of China were
brutally knocked about.
"People's grandparents were beaten for having books," he said. "A lot of buildings were destroyed. Flowers were pulled up."
"And grass," I said, having read my Wild Swans (as indeed had Mr Li, though the book is banned in China). "Grass. Yes." He shook his head at the insanity of it.
Guessing at his age, I suggested he must have fascinating memories
of this time. "I did it!" he exclaimed. "You've heard of Mao's Red
Guard? I was a Red Guard." And in this moment of confession I wondered,
not for the only time on this trip, whether China's frantic embracing
of the new wasn't also a running away from the past.
The tension between old and new is palpable – a case in point
being our onward journey from Xian. We had been booked on the 0830
train to Luoyang, another of China's ancient capitals, which lies 200
miles to the east in Henan Province.
According to the Lonely Planet guidebook, the train journey
between the two cities takes about six hours, and we had stocked up
accordingly. But having survived the bunfight to get aboard, we found
ourselves in a carriage as roomy and plush as a business-class cabin on
an international airline.
The guidebook was already out of date, though published just 12
months earlier: we were on a new bullet train service, which runs on an
entirely new track, serviced by new stations, and speeds from Xian to
Luoyang in one hour and 50 minutes. En route, the elevated trackway
zipped above fields where poor farmers, waist-high in wheat, removed
their conical straw hats and gazed at us in awe from the prison of the
past.
Four days later we dropped in – literally – on some of these
peasant farmers, who have been excluded from the party that is modern
China. By this stage we had reached Shanxi Province, which embodies a
uniquely Chinese paradox. It is simultaneously industrial – coal mines,
cement works, power stations – and profoundly rural.
The landscape is defined by friable yellow earth called loess that
is sliced into terraces, making the gentle hills look as if they have
been tipped from jelly moulds, and planted with wheat and fruit trees.
The farmers who work this thin soil by hand are not just close to the
earth, they are in it – for many live in caves and underground houses
cut from the loess.
With our guide, Luo Xiao Shan, who uses the name Peter Luo with
foreign clients, we drove out from the modern city of Yuncheng on a
toll expressway, and into a backwater of narrow lanes lined with wild
hollyhocks. Chinese pheasants flitted through apricot orchards, a pig
slept in dappled shade, a toothless crone smiled happily over a fence.
Peter asked the driver to stop and led us up a small hill with a
flat top of bare earth. In the middle of the hill a sheer-sided hole
dropped 30 feet to a sunken courtyard, as if someone had spatula-ed out
a square from a dish of lasagne. This was the underground home of the
local vet, 62-year-old Wang Shou Xian, and his wife.
Mr Wang beckoned us back down the hill to the entrance and put the
kettle on for tea in one of the several rooms off the courtyard. Onion
and coriander seeds were drying on the courtyard cobbles, and some
herbal medicinal concoction was bubbling on a stove in one corner.
Mr Wang reckoned his family had lived here for more than 10
generations (each generation, Peter explained, being about 60 years).
"The clay in the walls is like the flesh," said Mr Wang. "The stones
are like the bones."
It seemed a delightful set-up. The rooms were spotless and
cucumber-cool in the humid heat, and the Wangs have television,
internet and piped water. But appearances can be deceptive, for the
surrounding village is moribund, with more and more young men moving to
the city in pursuit of the grail of modernity.
Peter said this way of life was dying out, and he did not regret
it. He was ashamed of the rural poverty we saw, describing Shanxi
Province ruefully as "backward-developed". On the other hand, the pace
of change was bewildering to him. "I grew up in the Sixties and we used
coupons," he said. "It was hard even to buy bean curd. China is
changing so fast, so fast, and it is hard to follow the steps of it."
One striking difference from the time of my last visit, 12 years
ago, is the development of domestic tourism. In 1998 the world-class
Shanghai Museum was studiously quiet and virtually empty of people. In
2010 it reverberates with noise, laughter and the lizard clicks of a
thousand digital cameras.
In the past decade the populace has gained both the leisure time
and the money to travel, and on any given day millions are on the move,
apparently not too fussy about where they go or what they see, so long
as they are together and mobile. They travel by coach in large,
irrepressibly noisy groups from one site to the next – 1,500-year-old
statues as vast and dramatic as Abu Simbel, Buddhist temples, holy
mountains and quaint museums – each group led by a guide with a
megaphone and flag.
In the Qiao Family Courtyard near Pingyao, in Shanxi Province, a sprawling Qing Dynasty complex where Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern
was filmed, four groups were crammed into one small room, each with its
own guide trying to outdo the others by screeching into his megaphone.
The heat and noise were extraordinary, but it was a strangely
uplifting experience – hilarious and touching, as if those gathered
were still learning how to be tourists and weren't quite sure how it
was done.
Off the beaten track as we were for most of the time, we were
often objects of curiosity to these bustling hordes, but people were
unfailingly polite and kind. In fact, the only rude utterance on the
entire trip issued from the mouth of a scantily dressed Russian woman
in the precincts of Shaolin Temple.
"Please move, sir!" she shouted, not wishing to have me infest the
photograph she was taking of her husband doing the spiritual thing and
lighting some incense sticks. "Very bad luck to light two," muttered
our guide at the time, a happy-go-lucky young man called Ma Qong Bo.
"It should be three."
Perched among the sacred Song Shan mountain range, Shaolin was one
of the few places where we were able to see blue sky for any length of
time. The inescapable truth is that much of China is miserably and
shockingly polluted. Emissions from coal-fired power stations, coke
plants, domestic stoves and exhaust pipes have reduced the sun to a
tarnished coin in the sky.
In Beijing, they somehow pulled off the trick of removing the
worst of the pollution from the city itself in time for the 2008
Olympics, but it remains as a kind of cordon around the perimeter. In
the north of the city there is a bridge called Silver Ingot Bridge
where in the Ming Dynasty – our Middle Ages – it was fashionable to
stand and appreciate the view of the hills that rise some 15 miles west
of the city.
The hills have not been seen for some time from Silver Ingot
Bridge. But the crowds of young people, both locals and tourists, who
throng this trendy neighbourhood are focused on other things. For this
is the Lotus Market, a drag of bars and cafés that include a
pole-dancing club called Sex and Da City.
At the end of the street we waited for a taxi in the shade of a
tree and watched a group of old guys playing snatches of Chinese opera
on traditional flute and erhu, a two-stringed instrument that looks like part of a car engine.
In front of this ensemble an elderly man in shorts, ankle socks
and slipper-like shoes was practising his calligraphy. He did so with a
calligraphy brush the size of a broom and he wrote not in ink but in
water, dipping the brush in a bucket and sweeping it across the hot
paving stones.
The letters he formed faded as fast as he wrote, and I suddenly
felt relieved that we had come to China when we did, before much of
what is memorable and unique fades too in the heat and rush of
progress.
China essentials
The author's trip was organised by CTS Horizons (020 7836 9911; www.ctshorizons.com),
which can tailor-make tours of any length and complexity. A nine-day
tour of Beijing, Xitang, Shanghai, Suzhou and Xian costs from £1,395
per person, including b & b on a shared basis, international and
internal flights, transfers, transport, sightseeing as listed and the
services of English-speaking guides. A 14-day trip to Shanghai, Guilin
and Yangshuo costs from £1,795 on the same basis.
New series - China voices: Tania Branigan www.guardian.co.uk
China voices: the schoolgirl
As part of our series
offering a portrait of modern China, we ask ordinary Chinese people how
they see their nation. Hu Xiaoyue, 16, lives in Chengdu 阅
What is the biggest change you have seen in China? And in your own life?
In the past people did not care about hygiene and
would spit and throw rubbish on the streets, but now they've become
more polite. The biggest change in my life was moving out of the
countryside when I was six. I had to help my grandparents farm; it was
very tiring. There were snakes which were frightening and I could
always smell shit. We ate vegetables more than meat and sometimes I saw
worms in our meals. Now we live in the city, I feel happy. I even feel
the bitter melon we eat tastes sweet. I work in a wedding photo shop at
weekends; I never knew such a thing existed.
What's your greatest hope for China and for yourself?
I hope our country can save more trees and
forests. When I was in the countryside, there were trees everywhere and
I used to talk to them when I felt unhappy – they were like friends.
But now I see fewer and fewer, and birds have lost their homes.
Personally, I hope to start working when I finish school; my family's
not rich so I want to earn money to help my parents. When I was a kid
I wanted to be a teacher, but now I think being a model or an actor or
singer would be better; life would be more interesting and I could earn
more.
What's your biggest fear?
Losing everything I have now. Last year's
earthquake in Sichuan still casts its shadow on me. I've heard there is
a serious economic crisis all over the world and some boys in our
school said the end of the world is coming. I feel terrified sometimes
when I think about it. I'm happy with my life and it's just started, so
I'm afraid of losing it.
China voices: the pensioner
As part of our series offering a portrait of modern China, we ask ordinary Chinese people how they see their nation. Kong Yuanyang, 74, lives in Hangzhou
As part of our series offering a portrait of modern China, we ask ordinary Chinese people how they see their country. He Benying, 31, is a construction site worker in Beijing
What is the biggest change you have seen in China? And in your own life?
Economic development; there's been a big change with the market economy. And transport fees are very cheap now. I'm from a village in Hubei and in the 1990s – especially around 1993 or 1994 – people started going away to work; I came here to work about two years after that. My hometown is in a mountainous area and incomes here are much better – there's a huge difference. When we were at home we couldn't feed ourselves; now we have money to spend and live in better conditions. I want to stay here for a long time. I like the city. We have more freedom. It's more civilised and safer. In the past, police checked your temporary residence licence regularly, but now they barely do it. So it's more settled and convenient.
What's your greatest hope for China and for yourself?
I hope that our country will become better and better in every way, of course – in things like its economy and its importance in the world.
I hope I can earn enough money to start my own little business with my wife, who is also here in the city. I don't know what kind yet, but the work here [on a building site] is harder and people want a better life. We would like to have a business in Beijing; things like tax are more regulated – it's under better management.
Then I would like to bring our children to live with us. We have two sons, aged six and two, but at the moment their grandparents are looking after them in our hometown. We see them once a year and of course we miss them, but we have no choice; we have to work here to earn money. I hope I can get them a better education. I'd like them to start businesses in future and live a better life.
What's your biggest fear?
I don't have any fears. I'm so young! China is working well; everything's pretty good.
As part of our new series offering a portrait of modern China, we ask ordinary Chinese people how they see their country. Song Huiran, 71, lives in Xiloudian village, Henan province
What is the biggest change you have seen in China? And in your own life?
Our country has solved the problem of starvation. Everyone has enough to eat. Our economy is strong and big. The financial crisis has not affected us much. I haven't noticed any difference in village life, though some migrants have come back home. As individuals, we don't feel that we have got much richer. We don't have much money. The biggest change since I was young is the loss of water. I used to swim in the ponds around our village, but they have all dried up.
What's your greatest hope for China and for yourself?
I would like the government to provide more support to improve the environment in rural areas. They always say that they treat the city and the countryside equally, but that is not the case when it comes to sanitation. We need more help from above. But I believe our country is generally following the right direction set by our party. We could see the power of China last year during the Olympics and in the way we helped each other after the earthquake. Our country can be the greatest in the world.
What is your greatest fear?
My biggest concern is my wife's health. She has Alzheimer's. She always supported me by looking after the farmland while I was out. But now, I must stay home and look after her. She has been sick for two years now. We have to pay all our medical bills ourselves. That is tough. Our income is very low. We earn 1,000 to 2,000 yuan (£100-£200) per year from our farmland. They say there will be a new medical insurance system later this year that will help us, but I haven't seen anything about it yet.
Ming Imperial Granary Museum opens to public. 2010-01-13
The Museum of Imperial Granary in the Ming Dynasty opened in Nanxincang on January 10. Here people can view the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal free of charge, learn about the history of canal transportation and grain storage in imperial granary in the Ming and Qing dynasties as well as experience the life of being a granary head to grind the millstone and open the granary.
Ming Imperial Granary Museum opens to public
Surrounded by a bamboo forest, the small and delicate Suzhou garden appears, and a fleet of ships laden with grains moves upstream. The sound, light and electricity combine to simulate the winding of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal all the way long.
When ships reach the dock of Tongzhou District, dockers shouldered the grain bags, and filled the handcarts. The scenery depicted in the Along the River During the Qingming Festival that hangs behind these dock workers shows the prosperity. Once visitors enter the museum, they will go through time and space to experience the whole process of canal transportation in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
"Through these methods that make the process realistic, visitors will have a deeper impression during the visit and learn the history of canal transportation." A staff member of the museum said, "Visitors can also enjoy other scenes, for example, visitors can walk on two small bridges to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal."
Apart from showing the process of transporting grains, the museum also demonstrates the way of storing grains in ancient times. The reporter found that the museum specially prepared five big grain silos that are about three meters high to simulate the scene at that time. “In ancient times, people had to climb ladders to put grains into the silos for storage, but it was easier to get grains out.” The staff member of the museum explained, "There is a gate at the bottom of every silo. As long as grain bags are directed at the gate, all people have to do is just open the gate directly." When the museum is under trail operation, visitors who are lucky enough can experience opening the granary personally, and bring grains back home.
There are many cultural relics in the museum, though they seem inconspicuous. A wind turbine during the Xuantong period that still works is among these cultural relics. The wind turbine can blow the impurities on the surface of grains away. A bamboo hat and a straw rain cape are hanging on the wall in the granary built 600 years ago, which is made of blue ricks and round wood. A millstone still works, and visitors can push the millstone to experience the hardships of ancient people.
What is worth mentioning is that the Museum of Imperial Granary in the Ming Dynasty is located at the place where the imperial granary in Ming Dynasty was situated, Nanxincang. During trial operation, the museum will open every day, and residents can visit the museum free of charge.
Translated by LOTO Editor: Shi Taoyang | Source: CCTV.com
Old Map Shows China was the Centre of World. 2010-01-13
A rarely seen 400-year-old map that put China at the centre of the world and identified Florida as "the Land of Flowers" went on display on January 12th at the Library of Congress in the United States.
North America part of a 400-year old map created by Matteo Ricci [Photo: Global Times]
The map created by Matteo Ricci was the first in Chinese to show the Americas. Ricci, a Jesuit missionary from Italy, was among the first westerners to live in what is now Beijing in the early 1600s. Known for introducing western science to China, Ricci created the map in 1602 at the request of Emperor Wanli.
Ricci's map includes pictures and annotations describing different regions of the world. Africa was noted to have the world's highest mountain and longest river. The brief description of North America mentions "humped oxen" or bison, wild horses and a region named "Ka-na-ta."
Several Central and South American places are named, including "Wa-ti-ma-la" (Guatemala), "Yu-ho-t'ang" (Yucatan) and "Chih-Li" (Chile).
The Ricci map gained the nickname the "Impossible Black Tulip of Cartography" because it was so hard to find.
This map - one of only two in good condition - was purchased by the James Ford Bell Trust in October for $1 million, making it the second most expensive rare map ever sold. The library bought another of the world's rarest maps, the Waldseemuller world map, which was the first to name "America," for $10 million in 2003.
The Ricci map going on display had been held for years by a private collector in Japan and will eventually be housed at the Bell Library at the University of Minnesota. It map symbolizes the first connection between Eastern and Western thinking and commerce, said Ford W. Bell, co-trustee of the fund started by his grandfather, General Mills founder James Ford Bell.
The map was being shown publicly for the first time in North America. It measures about 3.7 by 1.5 metres and is printed on six rolls of rice paper.
The Library of Congress rarely exhibits artifacts it does not own because its holdings are so vast, but curators made an exception for the Ricci map. It will be on view through April alongside the Waldseemuller map and later will be shown at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
The library also will create a digital image of the map to be posted online for researchers and students.
Ti Bin Zhang, first secretary for cultural affairs at the Chinese Embassy, said the map represents "the momentous first meeting of East and West" and was the "catalyst for commerce."
No examples of the map are known to exist in China, where Ricci was revered and buried. Only a few original copies are known to exist, held by the Vatican's libraries and collectors in France and Japan.
Editor: Du Xiaodan | Source: CRI
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An outstanding collection of photographs from the past 60 years under various topics
A farmer's representative in Kongjia village in Qufu, Shandong province 1964. Source: Yuan Yiping. China Photographers Association. From One Hndred Photographers Focus on China - China Daily Politcal Archive.
President Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao(hOO' jin'tou') , 1942–, Chinese political leader, b. Jixi, Anhui prov. A hydroelectric engineering graduate (1965) of Qinghua Univ., he joined the Chinese Communist party in 1964 and worked for the ministry of water conservancy until 1974, when he transferred to the Gansu Provincial Construction Committee. Also rising in the party, he attained leadership positions in the Communist Youth League in the early 1980s, became a member of the party's central committee in 1982 (initially as an alternate), and was party leader in Guizhou (1985–88) and Tibet (1988–92), where he imposed martial law in order to suppress Tibetan nationalists. In 1992, sponsored by Deng Xiaoping, he was elected to the standing committee of the party's politburo, serving as president of the party school (1993–). Hu became vice president of China in 1998 and succeeded Jiang Zemin as general secretary of the Communist party in 2002 and as president of China the following year. He also serves (2004–) as chairman of the important party and national central military commissions. As China's leader, Hu has emphasized achieving sustainable economic growth that benefits rural as well as urban areas
Premier Wen Jiabao Sichuan 2008
Wen Jiabao(wen' jyä'bou') , 1942–, Chinese political leader, b. Tianjin. Originally a geologist, he worked for the Gansu provincial geological bureau (1968–82), where he was the head of its political section, and rose to deputy director general. He later (1982–85) was an officer of the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources. In 1985 Wen became a deputy director of the general office of the Chinese Communist party's central committee, thus beginning a steady climb up the national party's leadership ladder. A calm and able administrator, he served China's top leaders as chief of staff for some two decades, became deputy premier, and was named premier in 2003. Upon taking office, Wen, who has favored free-market reforms, announced that one of his key priorities was to revive rural China's stagnant economy.
We are proud to celebrate China's 30 Years of Change through the following articles and Direct Links with CCTV below.
President Hu Jintao re-iterates China's commitment to reform, opening-up and peaceful development. Source: Xinhua: 2008.11.23.
LIMA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao said Saturday that China will unswervingly carry forward reform and opening-up and reiterated the country's firm commitment to the path of peaceful development.
Addressing the 16th APEC economic leaders' meeting, Hu said that through reform and opening-up in the past three decades, China has accomplished the historic transformation from a highly-centralized planned economy to a robust socialist market economy and from a closed and semi-closed society to one that fully embraces the world.
China has enjoyed sustained and fast economic growth, significant improvement in people's livelihood and marked progress in various social undertakings, Hu added.
"At the same time, we are keenly aware that China remains the largest developing country in the world, and the difficulties and problems we face in the course of development are rarely seen elsewhere in terms of both their scale and complexity."
He noted the Chinese people will unswervingly carry forward reform and opening-up and continue to work hard to promote all-round, coordinated and sustainable economic and social development and achieve the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
As economic globalization continues to deepen, China's destiny is more than ever closely tied to that of the world, the Chinese president went on to say.
To achieve development, China needs an international environment of peace, stability, harmony and cooperation, and China will contribute its part to fostering such an environment, he said.
"I wish to reiterate that China is firmly committed to the path of peaceful development, to an opening-up strategy of mutual benefit and win-win progress and to achieving peaceful development through openness and cooperation."
He said China will devote itself to the building of a harmonious world of enduring peace and common prosperity.
Hu arrived here on Wednesday for a state visit to Peru and the Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on Nov. 22-23.
BEIJING, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- A calligraphy and painting exhibition was unveiled here Friday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of China's reform and opening up drive.
Jia Qinglin, member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Political Bureau and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), attended the opening ceremony.
More than 200 works were on display, all by painters and calligraphers who also act as CPPCC members.
Sun Jiazheng, vice-chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, said the exhibition displayed the country's achievements in arts. Editor: Du Xiaodan
That could be the best word. Before Professor Huo gives us more analysis. let's first take a look back over the past year.
For China, 2008 started with a winter storm that disrupted journeys as people returned home to their families, halting transportation and paralyzing the electricity network.
For China, 2008 started with a winter storm that disrupted journeys as people returned home to their families, halting transportation and paralyzing the electricity network.
But this was not the end of disasters. Just months later, the whole nation was shaken by a devastating earthquake in May in Sichuan Province. The catastrophe killed nearly 70-thousand people and led to direct economic losses of over 845-billion yuan. But the world witnessed China's strengths through its relief efforts.
Hu Jintao, Chinese President,said, "I firmly believe that no hardship could knock down the heroic Chinese people." The government said the disasters did not affect the fundamental aspects of China's economy. But they did bring more uncertainties to the country's development,such as inflationary pressures.
All this didn't affect China's ability to successfully host the Beijing Olympic Games. The event was not only a promotion for Beijing, but the whole country. And analysts believe the Games will have long term advantages for China's economy.
But it was the unfolding global financial crisis, the worst ever since the Great Depression in the late 1920s,that actually made China even more attractive.
As the whole world is seeking ways out of the crisis, they have turned to emerging markets, especially China. The Government of China also believes opportunities always come with crisis.
For China, 2008 started with a winter storm that disrupted journeys as people returned home to their families, halting transportation and paralyzing the electricity network.
Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao said, "China is in a stage of rapid industrialization and urbanization, and has huge potential for economic growth. This important period of strategic opportunities for China's development will last quite a long time. We have full confidence and also the capability to overcome various difficulties to ensure sound and fast growth of the national economy for an even longer period of time."
Looking back, the past year was indeed a bittersweet memory for China. But the country is certainly not loosing confidence. No single year prior to 2008 has brought China so many ups and downs. No single year has given China so many tests and uncertainties. China faced baptism by fire in 2008. Some say the past 30 years of reform and opening up have been the easy part for China.
Now comes the hard part, with increasing instability and uncertainty both at home and abroad. When people look forward to the coming year, they can't help but think about how much the challenges of the past year have affected China.
They must also wonder what are the effective ways to face the challenges in both the short and long run.
Graduates to teach in the countryside.
China is sending tens of thousands of unemployed graduates into the countryside to teach peasants, in a repeat of one of Chairman Mao's most controversial policies.
By Malcolm Moore at East China Normal University, Minhang. 25 Dec 2008
Forty years after millions of students were sent to the provinces during the Cultural Revolution, the economic downturn has forced students to head for rural areas once again. A record 5.6 million students will graduate this year, according to government figures, and jobs are scarce. They will have to compete with the 700,000 graduates from 2007 who remain jobless. Major international companies are now receiving tens of thousands of applications for every available post.
In response, the Chinese government has turned the clock back to embrace Chairman Mao's "Shang Shan Xia Xiang", or "Climb the Mountains and Go down to the Villages" policy from 1968. Almost 17 million teens were sent out of China's cities in the belief that they would be transformed by living among pfarming communities. Many members of China's current leadership spent spells in the countryside, and President Hu Jintao helped build a dam on the Yellow River for a year.
The scheme continued until 1980. Next year, however, the government "will recruit over 30,000 college graduates to go to rural and western regions to teach," said the ministry of Education, adding that it had rapidly expanded the scheme in order to cope with the rising levels of unemployment.
Not only is the jobs market stuttering, but the flow of students is greater than ever before. Between 1999 and 2006, the number of graduates quintupled, flooding the labour market and depressing wages.
"Graduates who choose to work in remote and rural areas for a required period will be exempt from paying college tuition fees and the government will pay off their student loans," promised the ministry.
The People's Liberation Army is also hiring. Students who enlist have been promised the chance to study in army universities and of "quick promotions". Gao Hui, a 20-year-old postgraduate political sciences student at East China Normal University on the outskirts of Shanghai said that she had "always wanted to be a teacher; it was either teaching or joining the army". Miss Gao, and three other students had to come top of their class to qualify for a chance to be sent for a year to Wuding, a town of around 300,000 people in Yunnan, a province that borders Vietnam, Laos and Burma in China's south west.
After the four students from East China University have spent a year teaching 16 and 17-year-olds in a middle school, they will return to Shanghai to resume their postgraduate studies. Their only fear is not harsh living conditions, but whether their limited teaching experience will be a hindrance. They will each have their costs paid, and will earn a stipend of 600 rmb (£60) a month, more than twice the average wage of a peasant, but a fraction of what they could be paid in Shanghai.
"We are very excited. Farmers are honest and have integrity," said Wu Chenhao, a 20-year-old maths student. "As a Shanghainese, I need to broaden my vision." She added: "
Among the other students there are many who are trying to go to the countryside in order to put off entering the jobs market, because of the pressures of employment. But I think after a year in the countryside, they will be different people. They cannot help but change."
Foot note:This certainly mirrors my experiences. Unlike most foreigners in China, I have considerable contacts and experience with students and families in rural communities - one which I identify with from my childhood in the UK. It is also one of the driving forces behind my particular ambitions to work for the benefit of students from rural areas. The Government in China has been encouraging participation of students in rural areas since 2003 (Sichuan Province), a policy which has been adopted since in other areas. From my experience, it appears to have been beneficial, and my expectation is, that it will continue to be so.See other pages, especially 'Viewpoint'.
China passes 850m yuan medical reform plan. Source: CCTV.com 2009.01.22.
China's State Council has passed a long-awaited medical reform plan. It lays out 850 billion yuan through to 2011 for basic universal medical service to the 1.3 billion population. The plan was studied and passed at Wednesday's executive meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.
China's State Council has passed a long-awaited medical reform plan.
According to the plan, authorities would take measures within three years to provide basic medical security to all Chinese in urban and rural areas. The government will also build hospitals and improve medical services at the county level and in remote areas. It will also expedite the reform of state-run hospitals, strengthening their administration, operation and supervision. A system will also be developed to allow both urban and rural residents to use a universal healthcare account by 2011. Editor: Qin Yongjing
Beijing raises pensions & medical coverage. Source: CCTV. 12-25-2008 10:03
The Beijing municipal government has announced a series of measures to help the elderly and unemployed cope with the economic slowdown. Retirement pensions and medical insurance coverage will both rise starting next week.
The Beijing municipal government has announced a series of measures to help the elderly and unemployed cope with the economic slowdown.
From January the 1st, pensions will go up by 200 yuan per month for Beijing's 1.73 million retirees. The basic monthly pension will be raised to 1,830 yuan with a minimum of around 800 yuan per month. Unemployment benefit has also been raised to just over 600 yuan per month. The city will also lower social insurance charges.
Zhang Xinqing, BJ Labor & Social Security Bureau said "We have lowered various payment levels and all companies and enterprises will benefit. We have also raised the social welfare standard for the city's 1.7 pensioners."
From 2009, retired workers still can use their medical insurance, even if their employers don't pay the premiums. It is the first such policy in the country. Meanwhile, urban senior residents in Beijing and those without a stable career will also be able to claim their medical expenses. Beijing's fiscal budget will rise by an estimated 80 million yuan in 2009. The social pension fund will go up 100 million yuan. Editor: Xiong Qu
1 trillion yuan to stimulate economy by late February
The central government says that a quarter of the four trillion yuan economic stimulus package it announced last November will be put into service by late February.
Together with social investment, this will create a total of 1 trillion yuan worth of investment to stimulate the Chinese economy.
The National Reform and Development Commission says that 100 billion yuan had already reached the market before the New Year and that another 400 billion yuan from the central government's budget will be added by late February.
Together with social investment, this will create a total of 1 trillion yuan worth of investment to stimulate the Chinese economy. Editor:Zhang Ning
Information accessibility for disabled people Source: Xinhua | 01-13-2009
A three-year, 150 million yuan (about 22 U.S. dollars) program to improve information accessibility for China's disabled population was launched here on Monday.
An employee tries a digital system designed for the blind in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Jan. 12, 2009. A program to improve information accessibility for China's disabled population was launched here by China Disabled Persons' Federation and the Ministry of Science and Technology on Monday.(Xinhua/Chen Ruixin)
China Disabled Persons' Federation, the Ministry of Science and Technology, together with more than 30 research institutes and colleges have joined the project.
A website for the disabled will be set up, providing rehabilitation training courses, distance education and entertainment, said Zhang Cheng, official of China Disabled Persons' Federation.
"For example, there will be puzzle games for people with mental retardation diseases, as support for their rehabilitation," Zhang said.
A man tries an intellective seeing eye cane, which can remind the blind through ultrasonic when testing the obstacles, in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Jan. 12, 2009. A program to improve information accessibility for China's disabled population was launched here by China Disabled Persons' Federation and the Ministry of Science and Technology on Monday.(Xinhua/Chen Ruixin)
For the blind there is a channel with a voice service system, Zhang added.
There will also be a database of the country's 83 million disabled people, detailing their names, ages, addresses and health condition. "The government can check online the ID information of the disabled person applying for some preferential policies about social and medical insurance, or jobs," Zhang said. Editor: Liu Anqi
Chinese President underscores stable agricultural, rural economic development Source: Xinhua | 01-25-2009 09:13
BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao urged the promotion of stable agricultural and rural economic development and said issues concerning agriculture, countryside and farmers should continue to be the top priority of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Hu, also General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks during a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Friday. Attendees at the meeting studied the means to promote agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics. Maintaining stable agricultural and rural economic development was more important under current circumstance, Hu said.
Agricultural production was the basic support to stimulate economic growth; rural areas had the potential to boost domestic demand; and to improve farmers‘ living standards was a major task and also a difficult job, he said. He called for more efforts on three major tasks of agricultural work.
First, greater importance should be laid on ensuring the country‘s grain security and supplies of major agricultural products. The country should stick to the most strict system to protect and save farming land as well as stabilize the grain sowing area, Hu said. He said the government should increase subsidies for agricultural production and continue to raise the minimum state purchasing prices for grain.
In the latest move to protect farmers‘ interests and boost grain output, the National Development and Reform Commission said Saturday it would raise the minimum state purchasing prices for rice in major rice-producing areas by as much as 16.9 percent this year. Hu also stressed the quality supervision and monitoring of agricultural products to ensure food safety.
Second, more importance should be attached to promote rural infrastructure construction as well as improve social welfare and living standard of farmers, he said. He urged increasing capital input in infrastructure construction and rural social welfare and said greater efforts should be made to improve rural education, medical services and poverty alleviation.
Third, an array of measures should be taken to promote the growth of farmers‘ income and expand the rural market, Hu said. He urged more efforts to discover new measures and channels to boost farmers‘ income and improve the commodity circulation network in rural areas. The program of subsidized home appliance, autos and motorcycles should be promoted, he said.
He also urged quality authorities to make best efforts to protect farmers‘ interests and avoid fake and shabby products flowing in to rural markets.
Speaking of rural workers employment, Hu said governments should encourage enterprises to be more responsible and employ more rural workers. The governments could also provide more job opportunities for rural workers by letting them work on the infrastructure projects amid the country‘s efforts to boost domestic demand, he said.
More support should be given to migrant workers who returned because of employment difficulty in cities and encourage them to start their own businesses, Hu said. He also suggested Party leaders and governments at all levels should apply the scientific outlook on development to their work to deal with the emerging problems and challenges facing agricultural and rural economic development, and contribute more to promoting rural reform, development and stability. Editor: Shi Taoyang
China to boost economic, social development in Tibetan regions
Source: Xinhua 2008.10.16 Special Report: Tibet Today
BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- China will take measures to boost economic and social development in Tibetan regions in four provinces, according to a notice about a meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.
Wednesday's executive meeting of the State Council, the country's Cabinet, discussed how to support development in the Tibetan regions of Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu provinces.
Tibetan regions in these areas are autonomous where Tibetans and people of other nationalities live together. The regions are the important plateau ecological barrier that cover the head-stream area of major rivers, such as the Yellow, Yangtze and Lancang.
The ecological environment in these areas are fragile with natural disasters occurring frequently. Infrastructure remained less developed, which hindered the development in these areas, the meeting said.
Measures should be taken to protect and build the ecological environment and improve people's living standard in these areas, and to make the income of urban and rural residents approach or reach the average level in western China by 2012 and approach national average by 2020.
Moreover, public services including education, public health and medical services should be improved in these areas, and infrastructure construction should be carried out to better support development. Editor:Zhang Ning
CPC leadership convenes to discuss further rural reform. Source: Xinhua | 10-10-2008
BEIJING, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) started its third plenary session on Thursday to discuss important changes in rural reform and development policies. A draft of the Central Committee decision on major issues concerning rural reform and development would be deliberated at the four-day meeting, said a statement issued after the session opening.
The document is expected to guide reform and development in rural areas. Before the session, the draft was reviewed by senior Party members and advisors from various walks of society, including delegates to the 17th CPC National Congress, and amended according to their proposals. The CPC leadership agreed that changes and problems had occurred in the countryside where economic reform started 30 years ago, the statement said.
Based on the changing reality, advancing rural reform would be a key step for the country, it said. This would also lay the foundation for China's development strategy.
On Sept. 30, President Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, visited Xiaogang village in eastern Anhui Province. In 1978, a group of villagers there decided to adopt a household contract responsibility system, which entrusted the management and production of public owned farmlands to individual households through long-term contracts. Later the system, described by then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping "a great invention of Chinese farmers", was widely adopted across the country and triggered the economic reform.
Hu's visit has underscored the importance the government has placed on the issues of farmland management and rural development.
China launches institution for water supply improvement in rural areas. Source: Xinhua | 10-08-2008 09:05
BEIJING, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- A national association for water supply and water-efficiency technology in rural areas was launched on Tuesday by the Ministry of Water Resources. The move was China's latest initiative to enhance agricultural production and improve farmers' livelihood.
Zhai Haohui, the new association's head, said the institution would intensify its research on water supply and water efficiency in rural areas. It would conduct research and development on water-saving measures and technologies for ensuring drinking water safety in such areas and help commercialize the new technologies.
The association will also help related authorities provide training courses on the technologies concerned, according to Zhai.
Water resources minister Chen Lei said at the launching ceremony that since 2000 China had pumped 61.6 billion yuan (9.03 billion U.S. dollars) into water supply improvements in rural areas. This included 31 billion yuan from the central government and 30.6 billion yuan from local governments and farmers.
In the past nine years, 160 million rural people were provided with access to clean and safe drinking water.
Because of conservation efforts, nearly 14 billion cubic meters of water had been saved annually since the 1990s; farmland with a total area of 23.33 million hectares was covered by water-efficient irrigation systems, according to Chen.
Under the condition of no increases in water usage, more than 13 billion kg were added to the annual grain production capacity nationwide.
However, Chen pointed out, there were still more than 200 million rural residents with no access to safe drinking water. Water that was brackish or high in fluorin and arsenic content threatened their health.
The rural areas had suffered a water shortage of about 30 billion cubic meters annually, he added.
China will be a democracy by 2020, says senior party figure.
China will transform itself into a working democracy in just over a decade, according to one of the country's most influential reformers. By Malcolm Moore (Telegraph) in Shanghai 14 Oct 2008
Police in Beijing try to persuade demonstrators against bad air quality to stop protesting. Photo: AP
Zhou Tianyong, an adviser to the Communist Party's Central Committee and one of its most liberal voices, told the Daily Telegraph that "by 2020, China will basically finish its political and institutional reforms". He added: "We have a 12-year plan to establish a democratic platform. There will be public democratic involvement at all government levels." Mr Zhou also predicted "extensive public participation in policy-making, such as drawing up new legislation".
Mr Zhou is deputy head of research at the Central Party School, the most important institution for training senior leaders. President Hu Jintao is among its former directors.
After two weeks of heightened tension between China and Taiwan because of a £3.5 billion American arms sale to the island, Mr Zhou said the transition to democracy was "essential for relations with Taiwan and a possible peaceful reunification". His comments appear to rebuff the widespread belief that Chinese political reform had stalled after the riots in Tibet in March and a security clampdown before the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Instead, Mr Zhou said the government was determined to reform itself, but that there had been some infighting between different departments. He called for the number of ministries in Beijing to be halved to between 19 and 21 in order to form a "modern government structure".
Mr Zhou added that civil society in China would also play an important role. "There will be many more non-governmental organisations, chambers of commerce, industry associations and other social groups. He added. "We should recognise that the government should serve the people and society."
But Mr Zhou did not predict the end of the one-party state, nor the demise of the Communist Party's monopoly of power.
Any transition to democracy is likely to be a slow process. China already has grassroots elections in over 660,000 villages, although these contests are often rigged. However, there are already small signs of change, with larger cities, such as Nanjing and Guangzhou, recently opening more important posts to public competition.
Tibet - Exhibition opens in Beijing. - see related links for full information
Source China Daily By Xie Yu. 2009.02.25.
Another exhibition showing the changes that have taken place in Tibet over the past 50 years has opened in Beijing.
Liu Yunshan, head of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Publicity Department, said: "In the past 50 years, with the help of the central government, people in Tibet have developed a great passion to build new lives for themselves."
The exhibition is being held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Tibet's democratic reforms, he said.
"Tibet is an inalienable part of Chinese territory," he said.
More than 600 exhibits that tell the history of Tibet will be on show over the next two months, Liu said.
Liu Xinning, 77, a former journalist, visited the exhibition with his wife yesterday.
"I wanted to learn about the history of Tibet, which is a holy territory in my country. The secessionists that spoke out after the riots last year should come and see the exhibition."
Cai Xiang, 22, a Tibetan student from the Minzu University of China, said: "I was born and grew up in Sichuan province and don't know the history of Tibet. But this exhibition told me about the reforms."
"I hope Tibet becomes more prosperous in the future, so people can live better lives," he said.
In 1951, the central and Tibetan governments signed the 17-Article Agreement to liberate the Chinese region. In 1959, the ruling elite of Tibet staged an armed rebellion in Lhasa.
The central government disbanded the local government of old Tibet and crushed the rebellion after a two-year conflict, paving the way for democratic reform.
Last year, riots broke out in Lhasa, ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
"Now Tibet is stable and the social order is calm. Tibetans in areas that celebrate the New Year at this time are going ahead with celebrations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular briefing yesterday.
"The Dalai Lama clique's attempt to spread rumors to destroy Tibet's stability will fail," he said.
China is set to build more than 750 hydroelectric power stations across Tibet to boost the region's electricity supply. By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai. 14 Oct, 2008
China is determined to dam Tibet's rivers and lakes despite concerns about the local environment and about the effect the projects will have on neighbouring countries. Among others, Tibet is the source of the Yangtze, the Indus and the Brahmaputra rivers. Almost half the world's population live in the irrigation basins of rivers that originate in Tibet. In the last eight years, the Chinese government has invested 2.9 billion RMB (£244 million) in building hydroelectric power stations and it now wants to step up the pace of construction.
In the past, Tibetans have opposed many of the projects. In particular, the project to dam the holy Yamdrok Yumtso, or Scorpion Lake, which lies at 14,500 ft above sea level and is thought to contain the spirit of Tibet.
The hydro-power projects are the least environmentally-damaging way of electrifying the region and raising living standards. Wang Qinghua, the head of the regional power board, said over 1.9 million Tibetan residents, or 69 per cent of the population, now have access to electricity, a 400 per cent increase from the figure three decades ago.
The Longtan hydropower station in Nanning will come on line before the end of the year, according to Dai Bo, the general manager.
Only the Three Gorges Dam (pictured top) and the unbuilt Xiluodu Dam project are bigger in size than the 4,900 megawatt Tibetan dam.
Longtan will cost around £2.5 billion (US$4.5bn - RMB30bn) and is a key project for China's western provinces, boasting the highest concrete dam in the world and the largest underground industrial complex.
Two other major power stations have come online in the last year. The latest was a 40,000 kilowatt power station which started up at Gongbo'gyamda County* in east Tibet two weeks ago. Wang Lidong, director of the station's construction, said it would ease power shortages in the area.
* Nyingchi - Gongo'gyamda County pictured above centre. Map of Tibet Autonomous Region showing Ningychi Prefecture. China inset.
Chinese land reforms to 'double wealth of farmers'
China's leaders have announced they are determined to double the wealth of the country's farmers in the next decade. From Malcolm Moore in Shanghai. The Daily Telegraph (London) 13 Oct 2008
The move is expected to increasen invest,ment in the countryside and create large-scale and efficient farming. Photo: EPA.
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Under the current system, each of China's 900 million or so officially-registered rural residents are allocated their own patch of land by their village committee. That land cannot be transferred even if they move away, resulting in a patchwork of tiny plots across the country.
Last week, President Hu Jintao hinted that private ownership may be introduced, a move that could lead to the re-emergence of the hated landlord class that was wiped out in China's communist revolution. "We will allow farmers to transfer the right of land contract in accordance with their will," said President Hu.
Supporters suggested that the move would spur investment in the countryside and create large-scale and efficient farming. In practice, many of the 150 million farmers who have left for China's cities are already in formally renting their land, especially on China's East coast.
However, the central committee only said that it would "liberate and develop rural society's productivity and hasten the construction of a new Socialist countryside." It said it wanted to double rural incomes, which stood at £355* a year in 2007, by 2020.
Sally Sargeson, a fellow at the Contemporary China Centre and Department of Political and Social Change at the Australian National University, said she felt the government would shy away from "hasty reforms". She said: "In the current economic climate it seems unlikely that the leadership would risk introducing 'radical' land reforms that would eliminate the social safety net that land has provided."
* It's not clear precisely how this figure is calculated. From my calculations, I think it is the annual income per adult in each family. Alan.
Tibetan areas as designated by the People's Republic of China
Chinese-controlled areas claimed by India as part of Aksai Chin
Indian-controlled areas claimed by China as part of Tibet
Other areas historically within Tibetan cultural sphere
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas, and the home to the indigenous Tibetan people. With an average elevation of 4,900 metres (16,000 ft), it is the highest region on Earth and has in recent decades increasingly been referred to as the "Roof of the World".
Before Tibet got into the limelight, the term Roof of the World was applied to the Pamirs.
In the history of Tibet, it has been an independent country divided into different kingdoms, and a part of China each for a certain amount of time. Today it is part of the People's Republic of China.
A unified Tibet first came into being under Songtsän Gampo in the seventh century. A government headed by the Dalai Lamas, a line of spiritual leaders, nominally ruled a large portion of the Tibetan region at various times from the 1640s until its incorporation into the government of PRC in the 1950s. During most of this period, the Tibetan administration was subordinate to the Chinese empire of the Qing China. After the fall of Qing, the Dalai Lama proclaimed Tibet independent in 1913, however, Tibet was not recognized as an independent nation by any country. The statues of Tibet is dispute during the period of the Republic of China from 1911 until 1950. As a measure of the power that regents must have wielded, it is important to note that only three of the fourteen Dalai Lamas have actually ruled Tibet; regents ruled during 77 percent of the period from 1751 until 1960.The Communist Chinese gained control of Central and Western Tibet (Tibetan area ruled by the Dalai Lama) after a decisive military victory at Chamdo in 1950. The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 and the Tibet Autonomous Region was established in 1965.
Tibetan plateau
The English word Tibet or Thibet dates back to 1827. While historical linguists generally agree that "Tibet" names in European languages are loanwords from ArabicTibat or Tobatt, they disagree over the original etymology. Many sources propose Tibetan Stod-bod (pronounced tö-bhöt) "Upper Tibet",some suggest TurkicTöbäd "The Heights" (plural of töbän),and a few favor Chinese Tǔbō or Tǔfān.
From the perspective of historical linguistics, Tibetan most closely resembles Burmese among the major languages of Asia. Grouping these two together with other apparently related languages spoken in the Himalayan lands, as well as in the highlands of Southeast Asia and the Sino-Tibetan frontier regions, linguists have generally concluded that there exists a Tibeto-Burman family of languages. More controversial is the theory that the Tibeto-Burman family is itself part of a larger language family, called Sino-Tibetan, and that through it Tibetan and Burmese are distant cousins of Chinese.
The language is spoken in numerous regional dialects which, although sometimes mutually intelligible, generally cannot be understood by the speakers of the different oral forms of Tibetan. It is employed throughout the Tibetan plateau and Bhutan and is also spoken in parts of Nepal and northern India, such as Sikkim. In general, the dialects of central Tibet (including Lhasa), Kham, Amdo and some smaller nearby areas are considered Tibetan dialects. Other forms, particularly Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Sherpa, and Ladakhi, are considered by their speakers, largely for political reasons, to be separate languages. However, if the latter group of Tibetan-type languages are included in the calculation then 'greater Tibetan' is spoken by approximately 6 million people across the Tibetan Plateau. Tibetan is also spoken by approximately 150,000 exile speakers who have fled from modern-day Tibet to India and other countries.
Although spoken Tibetan varies according to the region, the written language, based on Classical Tibetan, is consistent throughout. This is probably due to the long-standing influence of the Tibetan empire, whose rule embraced (and extended at times far beyond) the present Tibetan linguistic area, which runs from northern Pakistan in the west to Yunnan and Sichuan in the east, and from north of the Kokonor lake (Qinghai) south as far as Bhutan. The Tibetan language has its own script that it shares with Ladakhi and Dzongkha, which is derived from the ancient Indian Brahmi script.
The general history of Tibet begins with the rule of Songtsän Gampo (604–50 CE) who united parts of the Yarlung River Valley and ruled Tibet as a kingdom. He also brought in many reforms and Tibetan power spread rapidly creating a large and powerful empire. In 640 he married Princess Wencheng, the niece of the powerful Chinese emperor Emperor Taizong of Tang China.
Under the next few kings who followed Songsten Gampo, Buddhism became established as the state religion and Tibetan power increased even further over large areas of Central Asia while major inroads were made into Chinese territory, even reaching the Tang's capital Chang'an (modern Xi'an) in late 763. However, Tibetan troops' occupation of Chang'an only lasted for fifteen days after they were defeated by Tang and its ally, the Turkic empire Uyghur Khaganate.
Nanzhao (in Yunnan and neighbouring regions) remained under Tibetan control from 750 to 794, when they turned on their Tibetan overlords and helped the Chinese inflict a serious defeat on the Tibetans.
In 747, the hold of Tibet was loosened by the campaign of general Gao Xianzhi, who tried to re-open the direct communications between Central Asia and Kashmir. By 750 the Tibetans had lost almost all of their central Asian possessions to the Chinese. However, after Gao Xianzhi's defeat by the Arabs and Qarluqs at the Battle of Talas river (751), Chinese influence decreased rapidly and Tibetan influence resumed. In 821/822 CE Tibet and China signed a remarkable peace treaty. A bilingual account of this treaty including details of the borders between the two countries are inscribed on a stone pillar which stands outside the Jokhang temple in Lhasa. Tibet continued as a Central Asian empire until the mid-9th century.
13th, 14th and 15th centuries
At the end of the 1230s, the Mongols turned their attention to Tibet. At that time, Mongol armies had already conquered Northern China, much of Central Asia, and as far as Russia and modern Ukraine. The Tibetan nobility, however, was fragmented and mainly occupied with internal strife. Göden, a brother of Güyük, entered the country in 1240. A second invasion led to the submission of almost all Tibetan states. In 1244, Göden summoned the Sakya Pandita to his court, and in 1247 appointed Sakya the Mongolian viceroy for Central Tibet, though the eastern provinces of Kham and Amdo remained "under direct Mongol rule". When Kublai Khan founded the Yuan Dynasty in 1271, Tibet became a part of the Yuan Dynasty.
Between 1346 and 1354, towards the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Pagmodru myriarch, Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen (1302–1364) toppled the Sakya. The following 80 years were a period of relative stability. They also saw the birth of the Gelugpa school (also known as Yellow Hats) by the disciples of Tsongkhapa Lobsang Dragpa, and the founding of the important Ganden, Drepung, and Sera monasteries near Lhasa. After the 1430s, the country entered another period of internal power struggles.
16th and 17th centuries
In 1578, Altan Khan of the Tümed Mongols invited Sonam Gyatso, a high lama of the Gelugpa school. They met near Khökh Nuur, where Altan Khan first referred to Sönam Gyatso as the Dalai Lama; Dalai being the Mongolian translation of the Tibetan name Gyatso, or "Ocean".
The first Europeans to arrive in Tibet were Portuguese missionaries in 1624 and were welcomed by the Tibetans who allowed them to build a church.
In the 1630s, Tibet became entangled in the power struggles between the rising Manchu and various Mongol and Oirad factions. Ligden Khan of the Mongolian Chakhar tribe, retreating from the Manchu forces, set out to destroy the Yellow Hat Gelug school in Tibet but died on the way near Kokonor, in 1634.His vassal Tsogt Taij continued the fight but was defeated and killed by Güshi Khan of the Khoshud in 1637, who, in turn, became the overlord over Tibet, and acted as a "Protector of the Yellow Church" Güshi helped the Fifth Dalai Lama to establish himself as the highest spiritual and political authority in Tibet and destroyed any potential rivals.
18th century
In 1705, Lobzang Khan of the Khoshud used the 6th Dalai Lama's refusal of the role of a monk (although the incumbent did not reject his political role as Dalai Lama) as an excuse to take control of Tibet. The regent was murdered, and the Dalai Lama sent to Beijing. He died on the way, also near Kokonor, ostensibly from illness. Lobzang Khan appointed a new Dalai Lama, who, however, was not accepted by the Gelugpa school.
A rival reincarnation was found in the region of Kokonor. The Dzungars invaded Tibet in 1717, deposed and killed a pretender to the position of Dalai Lama (who had been promoted by Lhabzang), which met with widespread approval. However, the Dzungars soon began to loot the holy places of Lhasa which brought a swift response from Emperor Kangxi in 1718, but his military expedition was annihilated by the Dzungars not far from Lhasa.
Emperor Kangxi finally expelled the Dzungars from Tibet in 1720 and the troops were hailed as liberators. They brought Kelzang Gyatso with them from Kumbum to Lhasa and he was installed as the Seventh Dalai Lama in 1721, though they did not make Tibet a province, allowed it to maintain its own officials and legal and administrative systems, and levied no taxes.[20][22] However, the ManchuQing put Amdo under their control in 1724, and incorporated eastern Kham into neighbouring Chinese provinces in 1728.The Qing government sent a resident commissioner, namely Amban, to Lhasa. In 1751, Emperor Qianlong installed the Dalai Lama as both the spiritual leader and political leader of Tibet leading the government, namely Kashag.
While the ancient relations between Tibet and China are more complex, there is generally little doubt regarding the subordination of Tibet to Qing China following first decades of the 18th century. In 1788, Gurkha forces sent by Bahadur Shah, the Regent of Nepal, invaded Tibet, occupying a number of frontier districts. The young Panchen Lama fled to Lhasa and Qing Emperor Qianlong sent troops to Lhasa, upon which the Nepalese withdrew agreeing to pay a large annual sum. In 1791 the Nepalese Gurkhas invaded Tibet a second time, seizing Shigatse and destroyed, plundered, and desecrated the great Tashilhunpo Monastery. The Panchen Lama was forced to flee to Lhasa once again. Emperor Qianlong then sent an army of 17,000 men to Tibet. In 1793, with the assistance of Tibetan troops, they managed to drive the Nepalese troops to within about 30 km of Kathmandu.
The 18th century brought Jesuits and Capuchins from Europe who gradually met opposition from Tibetan lamas who finally expelled them from Tibet in 1745. However, at the time not all Europeans were banned from the country — in 1774 a Scottish nobleman, George Bogle, came to Shigatse to investigate trade for the British East India Company, introducing the first potatoes into Tibet.
19th century
However, by the 19th century the situation of foreigners in Tibet grew more tenuous. The British Empire was encroaching from northern India into the Himalayas and Afghanistan and the Russian Empire of the tsars was expanding south into Central Asia and each power became suspicious of intent in Tibet. Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, the Hungarian scientist spent 20 years in British India (4 years in Ladakh) trying to visit Tibet. He created the first Tibetan-English dictionary.
By the 1850s Tibet had banned all foreigners from Tibet and shut its borders to all outsiders.
In 1865 Great Britain began secretly mapping Tibet. Trained Indian surveyor-spies disguised as pilgrims or traders counted their strides on their travels across Tibet and took readings at night.
In 1904, a British expedition to Tibet under the command of Colonel Francis Younghusband, accompanied by a large military escort, invaded Tibet and reached Lhasa. The principal reason for the British invasion was a fear, which proved to be unfounded, that Russia was extending its power into Tibet and possibly even giving military aid to the local Tibetan government. But on his way to Lhasa, Younghusband slaughtered many Tibetan troops in Gyangzê who tried to stop the British advance.
When the mission reached Lhasa, the Dalai Lama had already fled to Urga in Mongolia, but Younghusband found the option of returning to India empty-handed untenable. He proceeded to draft a treaty unilaterally, and have it signed in the Potala by the regent, Ganden Tri Rinpoche, and any other local officials he could gather together as an ad hoc government. The treaty made provisions for the frontier between Sikkim and Tibet to be respected, for free trade between British and Tibetan subjects, and for an indemnity to be paid from the Qing court to the British Government for its expenses in dispatching armed troops to Lhasa. The provisions of this 1904 treaty were confirmed in a 1906 treaty Anglo-Chinese Convention signed between Britain and China. The British, for a fee from the Qing court, also agreed "not to annex Tibetan territory or to interfere in the administration of Tibet", while China engaged "not to permit any other foreign state to interfere with the territory or internal administration of Tibet".
The position of British Trade Agent at Gyangzê was occupied from 1904 until 1944. It was not until 1937, with the creation of the position of "Head of British Mission Lhasa", that a British officer had a permanent posting in Lhasa itself.
André Migot, a French doctor who travelled for many months in Tibet in 1947 described the complex border arrangements between Tibet and China, and how they had developed:
"In order to offset the damage done to their interests by the [1906] treaty between England and Tibet, the Chinese set up about extending westwards the sphere of their direct control and began to colonize the country round Batang. The Tibetans reacted vigorously. The Chinese governor was killed on his way to Chamdo and his army put to flight after an action near Batang; several missionaries were also murdered, and Chinese fortunes were at a low ebb when a special commissioner called Chao Yu-fong appeared on the scene.
Acting with a savagery which earned him the sobriquet of "The Butcher of Monks," he swept down on Batang, sacked the lamasery, pushed on to Chamdo, and in a series of victorious campaigns which brought his army to the gates of Lhasa, re-established order and reasserted Chinese domination over Tibet. In 1909 he recommended that Sikang should be constituted a separate province comprising thirty-six subprefectures with Batang as the capital. This project was not carried out until later, and then in modified form, for the Chinese Revolution of 1911 brought Chao's career to an end and he was shortly afterwards assassinated by his compatriots.
The troubled early years of the Chinese Republic saw the rebellion of most of the tributary chieftains, a number of pitched battles between Chinese and Tibetans, and many strange happenings in which tragedy, comedy, and (of course) religion all had a part to play. In 1914 Great Britain, China, and Tibet met at the conference table to try to restore peace, but this conclave broke up after failing to reach agreement on the fundamental question of the Sino-Tibetan frontier. This, since about 1918, has been recognized for practical purposes as following the course of the Upper Yangtze. In these years the Chinese had too many other preoccupations to bother about reconquering Tibet. However, things gradually quieted down, and in 1927 the province of Sikang was brought into being, but it consisted of only twenty-seven subprefectures instead of the thirty-six visualized by the man who conceived the idea. China had lost, in the course of a decade, all the territory which the Butcher had overrun.
Since then Sikang has been relatively peaceful, but this short synopsis of the province's history makes it easy to understand how precarious this state of affairs is bound to be. Chinese control was little more than nominal; I was often to have first-hand experience of its ineffectiveness. In order to govern a territory of this kind it is not enough to station, in isolated villages separated from each other by many days' journey, a few unimpressive officials and a handful of ragged soldiers. The Tibetans completely disregarded the Chinese administration and obeyed only their own chiefs. One very simple fact illustrates the true status of Sikang's Chinese rulers: nobody in the province would accept Chinese currency, and the officials, unable to buy anything with their money, were forced to subsist by a process of barter."
In 1910, the Qing government sent a military expedition of its own to establish direct Chinese rule and deposed the Dalai Lama in an imperial edict. The Dalai Lama once again fled, this time to British India, in February 1910. The Dalai Lama returned to Tibet from India in July 1912, and by the end of the year the Chinese troops in Tibet had returned, via India, to China Proper.
Upon the Dalai Lama's return to Tibet, Chinese President Yuan Shikai sent a telegram offering to restore his earlier titles. The Dalai Lama replied that he "intended to exercise both temporal and ecclesiastical rule in Tibet."[ In 1913, the Dalai Lama issued a proclamation that stated that relationship between the Chinese emperor and Tibet "had been that of patron and priest and had not been based on the subordination of one to the other." "We are a small, religious, and independent nation," the proclamation stated.
In early 1913, Agvan Dorzhiev and two other Tibetan representativessigned a treaty between Tibet and Mongolia in Urga, proclaiming mutual recognition and their independence from China. The 13th Dalai Lama later told a British diplomat that he had not authorized Agvan Dorzhiev to conclude any treaties on behalf of Tibet.Because the text was not published, some initially doubted the existence of the treaty,but the Mongolian text was published by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in 1982.
In 1914, representatives of Tibet, Britain, and China attended the Simla Convention which was convoked by Britain to discuss the issue of Tibet's status. The convention included a map delineating a boundary between Tibet and India later called the McMahon Line. It provided that the Tibetan Government at Lhasa would administer "Outer Tibet," roughly the same area as the modern Tibet Autonomous Region. The convention also affirmed Chinese suzerainty and stated that Tibet was "part of Chinese territory". When the Chinese government refused to ratify, Tibet and Britain concluded the treaty as a bilateral agreement and attached a note denying China any privileges under it.
The subsequent outbreak of World War I and the division of China into military cliques ruled by warlords caused the Western powers and the infighting factions within China to either lose interest or too busy and fragile to interfere in Tibet. Some believe the 13th Dalai Lama ruled undisturbed until his death in 1933.
"Thus, from 1913 when the last Qing officials and troops left Tibet to the death of the thirteenth Dalai Lama in 1933, no Chinese officials or troops were permitted to reside in Tibet, and the Tibetan government accepted no interference from Beijing. Chinese fortunes in Tibet improved slightly after the death of the thirteenth Dalai Lama when Tibet allowed a "condolence mission" sent by the Guomingdang government of Chiang Kaishek to visit Lhasa, and then permitted it to open an office to facilitate negotiations aimed at resolving the Tibet Question. These talks proved futile, but Tibet allowed the office to remain.
The Japanese invasion of China in 1937 saved Tibet from having to defend its de facto independence from China, and Tibet continued to operate without interference from Chiang Kaishek. China did not, however, abandon its claims over Tibet. To the contrary, it effectively reinforced its position throughout the world (and in China itself) with a propaganda campaign that actively sought to create the impression that Tibet was in fact part of China. Tibet, with virtually no officials who understood the West or spoke English, blithely ignored this ominous development, much as it had earlier closed its eyes to reality and returned British governmental correspondence unopened."
Nepalese envoy, Major Bista, with Secretary. Lhasa, 1938.
In 1935 the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso was born in Amdo in eastern Tibet and was recognized as the latest reincarnation. He was taken to Lhasa in 1937 where he was later given an official ceremony in 1939. In 1944, during World War II, two Austrian mountaineers, Heinrich Harrer and Peter Aufschnaiter came to Lhasa, where Harrer became a tutor and friend to the young Dalai Lama giving him a sound knowledge of western culture and modern society, until he was forced to leave in 1959.
Supporters of the PRC have characterized the socio-economy of Tibet prior to Communism as 'feudal serfdom'. However, supporters of an independent Tibet objected to this assessment. For a discussion of the debate see Serfdom in Tibet controversy. For a description of the traditional social structure see Social classes of Tibet.
China claims the Republic of China (1912-1949) established an administrative body in Tibet, together with the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission's representative office in Tibet, direct communication was kept between Tibet and the Central government of China.
Tsering Shakya, a Tibet born professor who teaches at the University of British Columbia in Vancouvar, Canada, also wrote in his book that that the Chinese government managed to establish a permanent office in Lhasa, and installed a direct radio communication with Nanjing, the capital city of the Republic of China at that time. China also argues that official documents showed that the National Assembly of China and both chambers of parliament had Tibetan members, whose names had been preserved all along.
Furthermore, China claims that the Kuomintang Government ratified the current 14th Dalai Lama, and Central Government's representative General Wu Zhongxin (Wu Chung-hsin) presided over the sitting in ceremony, both the ratification order of February 1940 and the documentary film of the ceremony still exist intact.[44]
A rebellion against the Chinese occupation was led by noblemen and monasteries and broke out in Amdo and eastern Kham in June 1956. The insurrection, supported by the American CIA, eventually spread to Lhasa. It was crushed by 1959. During this campaign, tens of thousands of Tibetans were killed and the 14th Dalai Lama and other government principals fled to exile in India.
Chinese sources generally claim progress towards a prosperous and free society in Tibet, with its pillars being economic development, legal advancement, and peasant emancipation. These claims, however, have been refuted by the Tibet Government-in-Exile and some indigenous Tibetans, who claim of genocide in Tibet from the Chinese government, comparing it to Nazi Germany.
The official doctrine of the PRC classifies Tibetans as one of its 56 recognized ethnic groups and part of the greater Zhonghua Minzu or multi-ethnic Chinese nation. Warren Smith, an independent scholar and a broadcaster with the Tibetan Service of Radio Free Asia, whose work became focused on Tibetan history and politics after spending five months in Tibet in 1982, portrays the Chinese as chauvinists who believe they are superior to the Tibetans, and claims that the Chinese use torture, coercion and starvation to control the Tibetans.
Mao's Great Leap Forward (1959-62) led to famine in Tibet. "In some places, whole families have perished and the death rate is very high," according to a confidential report by the Panchen Lama sent to Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1962. "In the past Tibet lived in a dark barbaric feudalism but there was never such a shortage of food, especially after Buddhism had spread....In Tibet from 1959-1961, for two years almost all animal husbandry and farming stopped. The nomads have no grain to eat and the farmers have no meat, butter or salt," the report said.
The following Cultural Revolution and the damage it wrought upon Tibet and, indeed, the entire PRC is generally condemned as a nationwide catastrophe. In the PRC government's view, the main instigators were the Gang of Four, who have since been brought to justice. Large numbers of Tibetans died violent deaths due to the Cultural Revolution, and the number of intact monasteries in Tibet was reduced from thousands, to less than ten.
Tibetan resentment towards the Chinese deepened.Tibetans participated in the destruction, but it is not clear how many of them actually embraced the Communist ideology, and how many participated out of fear of becoming targets themselves.
Projects that the PRC government claims to have benefited Tibet as part of the China Western Development economic plan, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway for example.There is still ethnic imbalance in appointments and promotions to the civil and judicial services in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, with disproportionately few ethnic Tibetans appointed to these posts.
The PRC government's rule over Tibet is an unalloyed improvement, and the China Western Development plan is a massive, benevolent, and patriotic undertaking by the wealthier eastern coast to help the western parts of China, including Tibet, catch up in prosperity and living standards.
Some foreign organizations continue to make occasional protests about aspects of CCP rule in Tibet because of frequent reports of human rights violation in Tibet.
The government of the PRC maintains that the Tibetan Government did almost nothing to improve the Tibetans' material and political standard of life during its rule from 1913–59, and that they opposed any reforms proposed by the Chinese government. According to the Chinese government, this is the reason for the tension that grew between some central government officials and the local Tibetan government in 1959.
The government of the PRC also rejects claims that the lives of Tibetans have deteriorated, and states that the lives of Tibetans have been improved immensely compared to self rule before 1950.Belying these claims, some 3,000 Tibetans brave hardship and danger to flee into exile every year.
These claims are, however, disputed by many Tibetans. In 1989, the Panchen Lama, finally allowed to return to Shigatse, addressed a crowd of 30,000 and described what he saw as the suffering of Tibet and the harm being done to his country in the name of socialist reform under the rule of the PRC in terms reminiscent of the petition he had presented to Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1962.
In 1995, the Dalai Lama named 6 year old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama without the approval of the government of China, while the PRC named another child, Gyancain Norbu in conflict. Gyancain Norbu was raised in Beijing and has appeared occasionally on state media. The PRC-selected Panchen Lama is rejected by exiled Tibetans and anti-China groups who commonly refer to him as the "Panchen Zuma" (literally "fake Panchen Lama").
The Dalai Lama has stated his willingness to negotiate with the PRC government for genuine autonomy, but according to the government in exile and Tibetan independence groups, most Tibetans still call for full Tibetan independence.
In 2005, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered to hold talks with the 14th Dalai Lama on the Tibet issue, provided he dropped the demand for independence. The Dalai Lama said in an interview with the South China Morning Post "We are willing to be part of the People's Republic of China, to have it govern and guarantee to preserve our Tibetan culture, spirituality and our environment." This statement was seen as a renewed diplomatic initiative by the Tibetan government-in-exile. He had already said he would accept Chinese sovereignty over Tibet but insisted on real autonomy over its religious and cultural life.
In January 2007 the Dalai Lama, in an interview on a private television channel, said, "what we demand from the Chinese authority is more autonomy for Tibetans to protect their culture". He added that he had told the Tibetan people not to think in terms of history and to accept Tibet as a part of China.
Talks between representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government began again in May 2008 and again in July, but with little results. The two sides agreed to meet again in October.
Geography
Tibet is located on the Tibetan Plateau, the world's highest region.
Snow mountains in Tibet
Traditionally, Western (European and American) sources have regarded Tibet as part of Central Asia;today's maps show a trend toward considering all of modern China, including Tibet, to be part of East Asia. Some academics also include Tibet in South Asiia. Tibet is west of China proper, and within China, Tibet is regarded as part of (Xībù), a term usually translated by Chinese media as "the Western section", meaning "Western China".
The atmosphere is severely dry nine months of the year, and average annual snowfall is only 18 inches, due to the rain shadow effect whereby mountain ranges prevent moisture from the ocean from reaching the plateaus. Western passes receive small amounts of fresh snow each year but remain traversable all year round. Low temperatures are prevalent throughout these western regions, where bleak desolation is unrelieved by any vegetation beyond the size of low bushes, and where wind sweeps unchecked across vast expanses of arid plain. The Indian monsoon exerts some influence on eastern Tibet. Northern Tibet is subject to high temperatures in the summer and intense cold in the winter.
Cultural Tibet consists of several regions. These include Amdo (A mdo) in the northeast, which is under the administration as part of the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan. Kham (Khams) in the southeast, divided between western Sichuan, northern Yunnan, southern Qinghai and the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Ü-Tsang (dBus gTsang) (Ü in the center, Tsang in the center-west, and Ngari (mNga' ris) in the far west) covered the central and western portion of Tibet Autonomous Region.
South of the border between China and India, the region popularly known in China as South Tibet, is claimed by People's Republic of China and the Republic of China as part of the Tibet Autonomous Region. It is currently administered by India as the majority part of the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Tibet Government in Lhasa altered its position on the McMahon Line in late 1947 when the local Tibetan government wrote a note presented to the newly independent Indian Ministry of External Affairs laying claims to the Tawang (inhabited by mostly ethnic Tibetans) south of the McMahon Line.
Tibetan cultural influences extend to the neighboring states of Bhutan, Nepal, regions of India such as Sikkim, Ladakh, Lahaul, and Spiti, and adjacent provinces of China where Tibetan Buddhism is the predominant religion.
Looking across the square at Jokhang temple, Lhasa
There are over 800 settlements in Tibet, Lhasa is Tibet's traditional capital and the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region. Lhasa contains the world heritage site the Potala Palace and Norbulingka, the residences of the Dalai Lama. Lhasa contains a number of significant temples and monasteries which are deeply engrained in its history including Jokhang and Ramoche Temple.
Shigatse is the country's second largest city, west of Lhasa. Gyantse, Chamdo are also amongst the largest.
The Tibetan yak is an integral part of Tibetan life.
According to Chinese sources, Tibet's GDP in 2001 was 13.9 billion yuan (USD1.8billion)The Central government exempts Tibet from all taxation and provides 90% of Tibet's government expenditures. The Tibetan economy is dominated by subsistence agriculture. Due to limited arable land, livestock raising is the primary occupation mainly on the Tibetan Plateau, among them are sheep, cattle, goats, camels, yaks, dzo, and horses. However, the main crops grown are barley, wheat, buckwheat, rye, potatoes and assorted fruits and vegetables. As a result of being a subsistence agricultural society Tibet is ranked the lowest among China’s 31 provinces,on the Human Development Index according to UN Development Programme data.
In recent years, due to the increased interest in Tibetan Buddhism, tourism has become an increasingly important sector, and is actively promoted by the authorities.The Tibetan economy is heavily subsidized by the Central government and government cadres receive the second-highest salaries in China.
Tourism brings in the most income from the sale of handicrafts. These include Tibetan hats, jewelry (silver and gold), wooden items, clothing, quilts, fabrics, Tibetan rugs and carpets. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway which links the region to Qinghai in China proper was opened in 2006.The Chinese government claims that the line will promote the development of impoverished Tibet.But opponents argue the railway will harm Tibet. For instance, Tibetan opponents contend that it would only draw more Han Chinese residents, the country's dominant ethnic group, who have been migrating steadily to Tibet over the last decade, bringing with them their popular culture. Opponents believe that the large influx of Han Chinese will ultimately extinguish the local culture.
Other opponents argue that the railway will damage Tibet's fragile ecology and that most of its economic benefits will go to migrant Han Chinese. As activists call for a boycott of the railway, the Dalai Lama has urged Tibetans to "wait and see" what benefits the new line might bring to them. According to the Government-in-exile's spokesmen, the Dalai Lama welcomes the building of the railway, "conditioned on the fact that the railroad will bring benefit to the majority of Tibetans."
In January 2007, the Chinese government issued a report outlining the discovery of a large mineral deposit under the Tibetan Plateau. The deposit has an estimated value of $128 billion and may double Chinese reserves of zinc, copper, and lead. The Chinese government sees this as a way to alleviate the nation's dependence on foreign mineral imports for its growing economy. However, critics worry that mining these vast resources will harm Tibet's fragile ecosystem and undermine Tibetan culture.
On January 15, 2009, China announced the construction of Tibet’s first expressway, a 37.9-kilometre stretch of road in southwestern Lhasa. The project will cost 1.55 billion yuan ($227 million).
Demographics
An elderly Tibetan woman
Ethnolinguistic Groups of Tibetan language, 1967 (See entire map, which includes a key)
Ethnic Tibetan autonomous entities set up by the People's Republic of China. Opponents to the PRC dispute the actual level of autonomy.
Historically, the population of Tibet consisted of primarily ethnic Tibetans and their related ethnic groups. Other ethnic groups in Tibet Autonomous Region include Menba (Monpa), Lhoba, Mongols and Hui Chinese. Ethinc groups in other parts of Tibet (excluding dispute area with India) with significant population or with the majority of the ethnic group reside in Tibet include Han, Qiang, Mosuo, Nakhi, Monguor (Tu people), Blang, Salar, Dongxiang and Bonan. According to tradition the original ancestors of the Tibetan people, as represented by the six red bands in the Tibetan flag, are: the Se, Mu, Dong, Tong, Dru and Ra.
The issue of the proportion of the Han Chinese population in Tibet is a politically sensitive one. The Central Tibetan Administration, an exile group, says that the PRC has actively swamped Tibet with Han Chinese migrants in order to alter Tibet's demographic makeup
Religion and spirituality is extremely important to the Tibetans and has a strong influence over all aspects of lives; ingrained deeply into their cultural heritage. Bön is the ancient traditional religion of Tibet, but following the introduction of Tantric Buddhism into Tibet by Padmasambhava this became eclipsed by Tibetan Buddhism, a distinctive form of Vajrayana. Tibetan Buddhism is practiced not only in Tibet but also in Mongolia, parts of northern India, the Buryat Republic, the Tuva Republic, and in the Republic of Kalmykia and some other areas in China besides the Tibet region. As every where in China was undergoing Cultural Revolution, there were over 6,000 monasteries and convents in Tibet, and nearly all but a handful were ransacked and destroyed by the Red Guards.[134] Some of the monasteries has begun to rebuild by the Chinese government since the 1980s and greater religious freedom also granted - although it is still limited. Monks returned to monasteries cross Tibet and monastic eduction resumed even though the number of monks imposed is strictly limited.
Tibetan Buddhism has four main traditions (the suffix pa is comparable to "er" in English):
Gelug(pa), Way of Virtue, also known casually as Yellow Hat, whose spiritual head is the Ganden Tripa and whose temporal, the Dalai Lama. Successive Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet from the mid-17th to mid-20th centuries. This order was founded in the 14th to 15th century by Je Tsongkhapa, based on the foundations of the Kadampa tradition. Tsongkhapa was renowned for both his scholasticism and his virtue. The Dalai Lama belongs to the Gelugpa school, and is regarded as the embodiment of the Bodhisattva of Compassion[138].
Kagyu(pa), Oral Lineage. This contains one major subsect and one minor subsect. The first, the Dagpo Kagyu, encompasses those Kagyu schools that trace back to Gampopa. In turn, the Dagpo Kagyu consists of four major sub-sects: the Karma Kagyu, headed by a Karmapa, the Tsalpa Kagyu, the Barom Kagyu, and Pagtru Kagyu. There are further eight minor sub-sects, all of which trace their root to Pagtru Kagyu. Among the eight sub-sects the most notable of are the Drikung Kagyu and the Drukpa Kagyu. The once-obscure Shangpa Kagyu, which was famously represented by the 20th century teacher Kalu Rinpoche, traces its history back to the Indian master Niguma, sister of Kagyu lineage holder Naropa. This is an oral tradition which is very much concerned with the experiential dimension of meditation. Its most famous exponent was Milarepa, an eleventh century mystic.
Sakya(pa), Grey Earth, headed by the Sakya Trizin, founded by Khon Konchog Gyalpo, a disciple of the great translator Drokmi Lotsawa. Sakya Pandita 1182–1251CE was the great grandson of Khon Konchog Gyalpo. This school very much represents the scholarly tradition.
Islam
Muslims have been living in Tibet since as early as the eighth or ninth century. In Tibetan cities, there are small communities of Muslims, known as Kachee (Kache), who trace their origin to immigrants from three main regions: Kashmir (Kachee Yul in ancient Tibetan), Ladakh and the Central Asian Turkic countries. Islamic influence in Tibet also came from Persia. After 1959 a group of Tibetan Muslims made a case for Indian nationality based on their historic roots to Kashmir and the Indian government declared all Tibetan Muslims Indian citizens later on that year.[139] Other Muslim ethnic groups who have long inhabited Tibet include Hui, Salar, Dongxiang and Bonan. There is also a well established Chinese Muslim community (gya kachee), which traces its ancestry back to the Hui ethnic group of China. It is said that Muslim migrants from Kashmir and Ladakh first entered Tibet around the 12th century. Marriages and social interaction gradually led to an increase in the population until a sizable community grew up around Lhasa.[citation needed]
Tibetan representations of art are intrinsically bound with Tibetan Buddhism and commonly depict deities or variations of Buddha in various forms from bronze Buddhist statues and shrines, to highly colorful thangka paintings and mandalas.
Architecture
Tibetan architecture contains Oriental and Indian influences, and reflects a deeply Buddhist approach. The Buddhist wheel, along with two dragons, can be seen on nearly every Gompa in Tibet. The design of the Tibetan Chörtens can vary, from roundish walls in Kham to squarish, four-sided walls in Ladakh.
The most distinctive feature of Tibetan architecture is that many of the houses and monasteries are built on elevated, sunny sites facing the south, and are often made out of a mixture of rocks, wood, cement and earth. Little fuel is available for heat or lighting, so flat roofs are built to conserve heat, and multiple windows are constructed to let in sunlight. Walls are usually sloped inwards at 10 degrees as a precaution against frequent earthquakes in the mountainous area.
The Potala Palace
Standing at 117 meters in height and 360 meters in width, the Potala Palace is considered as the most important example of Tibetan architecture. Formerly the residence of the Dalai Lama, it contains over one thousand rooms within thirteen stories, and houses portraits of the past Dalai Lamas and statues of the Buddha. It is divided between the outer White Palace, which serves as the administrative quarters, and the inner Red Quarters, which houses the assembly hall of the Lamas, chapels, 10,000 shrines, and a vast library of Buddhist scriptures.
The music of Tibet reflects the cultural heritage of the trans-Himalayan region, centered in Tibet but also known wherever ethnic Tibetan groups are found in India, Bhutan, Nepal and further abroad. First and foremost Tibetan music is religious music, reflecting the profound influence of Tibetan Buddhism on the culture.
Tibetan music often involves chanting in Tibetan or Sanskrit, as an integral part of the religion. These chants are complex, often recitations of sacred texts or in celebration of various festivals. Yang chanting, performed without metrical timing, is accompanied by resonant drums and low, sustained syllables. Other styles include those unique to the various schools of Tibetan Buddhism, such as the classical music of the popular Gelugpa school, and the romantic music of the Nyingmapa, Sakyapa and Kagyupa schools.
Nangma dance music is especially popular in the karaoke bars of the urban center of Tibet, Lhasa. Another form of popular music is the classical gar style, which is performed at rituals and ceremonies. Lu are a type of songs that feature glottal vibrations and high pitches. There are also epic bards who sing of Tibet's national hero Gesar.
Tibet has various festivals which commonly are performed to worship the Buddha throughout the year. Losar is the Tibetan New Year Festival. Preparations for the festive event are manifested by special offerings to family shrine deities, painted doors with religious symbols, and other painstaking jobs done to prepare for the event. Tibetans eat Guthuk (barley crumb food with filling) on New Year's Eve with their families. The Monlam Prayer Festival follows it in the first month of the Tibetan calendar, falling on the fourth up to the eleventh day of the first Tibetan month. which involves many Tibetans dancing and participating in sports events and sharing picnics. The event was established in 1049 by Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama's order.
Since 2002, Tibetans in exile have allowed a Miss Tibetbeauty contest in spite of concerns that this event is considered a Western influence. The beauty contest is condemned by the Tibetan government in exile.
Cuisine
The most important crop in Tibet is barley, and dough made from barley flour called tsampa, is the staple food of Tibet. This is either rolled into noodles or made into steamed dumplings called momos. Meat dishes are likely to be yak, goat, or mutton, often dried, or cooked into a spicy stew with potatoes. Mustard seed is cultivated in Tibet, and therefore features heavily in its cuisine. Yak yoghurt, butter and cheese are frequently eaten, and well-prepared yoghurt is considered something of a prestige item. Butter tea is very popular to drink.
Iconic images celebrate the country's 60-year journey
By Zhou Liming (China Daily) Updated: 2009-06-02 08:01
A stunning photography series commemorating the 60-year journey of the People's Republic of China was launched as part of China Daily's 28th birthday celebrations Monday.
State Council Information Office Director Wang Chen (2nd from left) prepares for a toast as China Daily Editor-in-Chief Zhu Ling (on his right) applauds during China Daily's 28th anniversary celebration in Beijing Monday night. [Photo by Xu Jingxing/China Daily] Related Video: Focus on China
The photo collection, aptly named "China 1949-2009", is a retrospective of 362 pictures taken by 248 of the nation's top photojournalists. It chronicles China mostly from the perspective of ordinary people. In the images are the gravitas of history and warmth of humanity.
The front cover of a photo collection named "China 1949-2009", which is a retrospective of 362 pictures taken by 248 of the nation's top photojournalists. [chinadaily.com.cn] Related Video: Focus on China
To add a touch of history to the occasion, 90-year-old Hou Bo, who took the iconic picture of Chairman Mao Zedong at the exact moment when he announced the establishment of the People's Republic atop Tian'anmen Rostrum, attended the book launch and recounted her story. She also told how Premier Zhou Enlai pulled her back from falling over the railings.
The retrospective is the latest addition to China Daily's renowned photographic series, which started in 2003 when the country was hit by the SARS epidemic. On the cover of that collection was a man, who though lying on his back, held out his hand and made a fist. That was Dr Yin Peigang, who contracted the virus while treating other patients.
Images from the earthquake and the Beijing Olympics are included in the photo series.
Wang Chen, director of the State Council Information Office, wished China Daily a "happy birthday" and congratulated the paper for "bringing out better cultural products to present China's peaceful development and to foster communications between China and the rest of the world".
China Daily Editor-in-Chief Zhu Ling thanked "our readers, including peers and clients" for the continuous support. He was proud that the paper was "an authoritative voice on China and a platform for the voice of the people".
He said China Daily would "continue to provide in-depth news and insightful analysis crucial to understanding this vast and changing country and world."
Commenting on the coincidence that the paper's birthday falls on June 1, Children's Day, Zhu Ling joked that "China Daily will always be like a kid, full of youthful energy."
![North America part of a 400-year-old map created by Matteo Ricci [Photo: Global Times]](http://p3.img.cctvpic.com/20100113/images/1263374840846_1263374840846_r.jpg?145)
A farmer's representative in Kongjia village in Qufu, Shandong province 1964. Source: Yuan Yiping. China Photographers Association. From One Hndred Photographers Focus on China - China Daily Politcal Archive.
President Hu Jintao
Premier Wen Jiabao 
Sichuan 2008
Police in Beijing try to persuade demonstrators against bad air quality to stop protesting. Photo: AP
The move is expected to increasen invest,ment in the countryside and create large-scale and efficient farming. Photo: EPA.
