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Tibet

Historical Tibet claimed by exiled Tibetans
Tibetan territories designated as the CPP
Tibet Autonomous Region
Claimed by India as part of the Aksai Chin
Claimed by the PRC as part of the Tibet Autonomous Region
Other areas of the Tibetan historical sphere of influence
The single administrative entity carrying today officially named ” Tibet “(in Tibetan བོད་ Bod , in Chinese : 西藏 ; in pinyin : Xizang ) is the current Tibet Autonomous Region in China . At its eastern and southern periphery, there are administrative subdivisions Tibetan autonomous incorporated into the neighboring provinces of Qinghai , the Sichuan from Gansu and Yunnan .
On the cultural Tibet is the area Asian inhabited by Tibetans (however there are other ethnic groups: Han , Hui , Mongolian , Tu , Qiang ). In its widest sense, it covers the Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan autonomous areas in China, and Tibetan areas existing in neighboring countries.
As the ” historic Tibet “this area, claimed by the Tibetan government in exile , is composed of three traditional areas: the Ü-Tsang (which most of the territory is included in the Tibet Autonomous Region ), the ‘ Amdo (now split between the provinces of Qinghai , the Gansu and Sichuan ) and Kham (whose territory is divided between the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan and the Tibet Autonomous Region ) 2 .
At the 2000 census, the number of Tibetans in all these areas was 5.02 million, according to the statistical office of the China 1 , and approximately 6 million according to the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala ( India ). Autonomous Region had 2,616,000 inhabitants in 2000 3 . The national census of 2010, it had 3,002,166, an increase of 14.75%. 90% of the population are Tibetans of birth 4 . Some 150,000 Tibetans live in exile, mainly in India . Some left Tibet in 1959 .
The area of Tibet varies from 1,221,600 km ² for the Tibet Autonomous Region (which corresponds roughly to independent Tibet de facto between 1912 and 1950 , but is smaller than that of the territory administered by the Dalai Lamas Dynasty Qing ) 5 to 2.5 million square kilometers for the “historical Tibet” 6 or “Greater Tibet” 2 . The historic capital, which traditionally focuses religious and temporal authority of Tibet is Lhasa .
Tibet sees sometimes spelled “Tibet”, including the stories of the explorer and Orientalist Alexandra David-Neel .
Tibetans speak one of three dialects of Tibetan , a language family of Tibeto-Burman , and are mostly Buddhists , specifically practicing Buddhism Vajrayana

The question “What is Tibet? “Called many answers. We can define this territory angles geographic, ethnic and political (Stephanie Roemer) 7 , but also history and culture.
Geographical Tibet
Main article: Geography of Tibet .
This is the “roof of the world,” the Tibetan Plateau , the world’s largest plateau, bordered by three gigantic mountain ranges: the mountains Kunlun , the chain of the Himalaya and Karakoram (Karakorum or), which constitute natural boundaries 8 .
“Tibet policy”
According to Melvyn C. Goldstein , the Tibetan government had lost control of most of Kham and the Amdo in the middle of the xviii th century for the benefit of the Manchu emperors, Tibetan historiography virility ex in the West has become customary to distinguish between “political Tibet” , that is to say, the territory remained under the control of the Tibetan government until 1951 (the political entity ruled by the Dalai Lama), other areas inhabited by Tibetans. Thus, the British diplomat and historian Hugh Richardson , following the work of Sir Charles Bell , distinguished the “Tibet policy” of the “ethnographic Tibet” of the former provinces of Kham and Amdo 9 .
Anne-Marie Blondeau discusses the distinction made ​​by Melvyn Goldstein, between “Tibet Policy” would amount to the Tibet Autonomous Region, and “ethnographic Tibet”, which would be those which others call “Tibetan History”: “These definitions, for convenient whether we seem simplistic and dangerous for a possible settlement of the Tibet issue. They want to clearly separate the problem of the RAT of the eastern provinces incorporated into Chinese provinces 10 . ”
Autonomous Region of Tibet or Xizang

The Tibetan autonomous administrative subdivisions of the People’s Republic of China .
Main articles: Tibet Autonomous Region and Discussion of the sovereignty of Tibet .
The single administrative entity that now bear the name “Tibet” is the current Tibet Autonomous Region 11 , 12 . In Chinese the name of the autonomous region is Xizang .
Under the Republic of China , which now administers more than the island of Taiwan, the province was further divided into two of 1939 to 1950 , with, for the third Eastern Province Xikang , whose capital was Kangding . It was formerly a special administrative district in Tibet. In 1955, part of Xikang became part of Sichuan Province 13 .
When the People’s Republic of China uses the term Tibet , it refers to the Tibet Autonomous Region , with its capital at Lhasa , one of five autonomous regions of the PRC 14 , in which it includes most of the state India of Arunachal Pradesh , which she and the Republic of China claiming possession 15 .
The Tibet Autonomous Region is an administrative center established in 1965 and covering some 1.2 million square kilometers 11 . The administrative area is designated as the “Tibet” by the government of China and most Western media 16 , as well as encyclopedias and travel guides 17 .
This definition is disputed by Katia Buffetrille : “The current borders of Tibet, so the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region, is by far not all of Tibet. This corresponds to an administrative boundaries imposed by the Chinese in 1965. Added to Tibetan areas in Gansu, Yun’nan, Sichuan and Qinghai, ” 18 . Françoise Robin states that the reality of “coverage of Tibet” is known to specialists but remained invisible to the general public 19 . The Tibetan autonomous administrative subdivisions of the People’s Republic of China to the existing eastern and southern periphery of the Tibet Autonomous Region, administratively part of the neighboring provinces of Qinghai , the Sichuan from Gansu and Yunnan .
For the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Helvetic Confederation, “Tibet is a region of the People’s Republic of China. It has a status of autonomous region of the Tibetan ethnic group and, administratively, rank of a province ” , he adds, “as part of a government, Tibet enjoys no sovereignty own under international law 20 . ”
For the Tibetan Government in Exile , Tibet refers to a larger area including all of the former provinces of Ü-Tsang, Kham and Amdo, Denver Divorce Lawyer with the exception of Arunachal Pradesh 21 .
Other Tibetan autonomous subdivisions
The PRC has also created Tibetan autonomous subdivisions in the Chinese provinces of Gansu, Sichuan, Qinghai and Yunnan (eastern Tibet, the ancient Kham and Amdo ). These subdivisions are twelve in number two with ten prefectures and counties in 22 :
in Gansu , the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and the County of Tianzhu Tibetan autonomous county ;
in Sichuan , two autonomous prefectures, the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze and Autonomous Prefecture of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous County and the Muli Tibetan Autonomous Xian ;
in Qinghai , Tibetan prefectures 5, the Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Haibei , the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , the Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and one Tibetan and Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, the Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Haixi ;
Finally, in Yunnan , the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Deqen .
Other than administrative or official definitions
“Tibetan culture”
Related article: Tibetan Culture .
The concept of “Tibetan culture” has a more or less extensive, encompassing a whole is only formed by the Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan autonomous areas, is this set up the Tibetan areas in the countries bordering on Tibet. Thus, for Tibetologist Andrew Martin Fischer , the Tibet Autonomous Region, joined other Tibetan autonomous areas (prefectures and counties) included in other Chinese provinces, form the so-called Greater Tibet Tibet cultural or 23 . By cons, for Antoinetta Annika Lundkvist, author of a thesis on Buddhism Vajrayana in the New York State in the U.S., also includes cultural Tibet Tibetan people present not only in western China, but also in Bhutan, India (Ladakh, Zanskar, Lahul, Kinnaur and Spitti), Pakistan (Baltistan), Nepal, Sikkim and 24 .
“Tibetan ethnic” or “ethnological”

Ethno-linguistic groups of Communist China (map of the Geographical Information Office of the CIA, 1967). In purple, the Tibeto-Burman languages.
According to Stephanie Roemer, ethnic or ethnographic Tibet exceeds the natural boundaries. It represents all regions that were once inhabited solely or mostly by people of Tibetan origin. This is the most geographically Tibet Bhutan , the eastern and western regions of Nepal , regions, currently India, the Ladakh , the Spiti and Kinnaur, of Arunachal Pradesh (in part) and Sikkim 25 , 26 .
“Three provinces of Tibet”

The Tibetan Empire and its neighbor China in vii th century
Tibetan Empire (Kingdom of Tubo)
China Tang
Oriental Turkish territories disputed between several nations under Chinese control from 630 to 682
Turkish territories disputed between several Western nations, under Chinese control from 642 to 665
According to the Tibetan government in exile and the Tibetan diaspora, Tibet has three areas 27 :
gTsang or the dbus- Ü-Tsang (pronounced [ytsaŋ] in central Tibet), Chinese “Wei-Zang卫藏” corresponds to the present Tibet Autonomous Region,
the A-mdo , Chinese Anduo安多, north, for the Chinese provinces of Qinghai , southern Gansu and northern Sichuan (District FMNR-ba阿坝)
the Kham , Chinese Kang康, east and southeast, that is now part of eastern autonomous region and two provinces in China: the Yunnan and Sichuan (District dkar- mdzes甘孜).
All of these regions was unified in vii th century during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo , but also sort Ralpachen who signed the peace treaty of Sino-Tibetan 822 28 , or the xvii th century under the 5 th Dalai Lama 29 .
According to Melvyn C. Goldstein , this unit does not apply however to the eleven centuries following the collapse of the Tibetan empire in the ix th century and saw the number of peripheral regions to become independent or fall under the sway of neighboring States 30 .
According to the Chinese government, non-Tibetan populations settled for centuries in some areas, this is the case of Hans around Xining and eastern Kham, of Mongols around the lake Kokonor and in the basin of Qaidam , of Hui of you (or Mongour) and Qiang 31 .
“Historical Tibet”

Tibet Cultural
For some historians, the notion of “historical Tibet” refers to the vii th and viii th centuries when Tibet, in its heyday, stretched over much of Asia including parts of China 32 .
Various authors use the term “historical Tibet” to denote the set formed by the Tibet Autonomous Region, Kham and Amdo 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 . This expression of “historical Tibet”, applied to the entire autonomous region of Tibet and Tibetan prefectures and counties, this is also the site of the association Free Tibet Campaign 40 and the site of the Canada Tibet Committee 41 .
For Professor A. Tom Grunfeld , the idea that Tibet covers all territories inhabited by Tibetans amounts to include in a map of Mexico the entire southwestern United States 42 .
“Greater Tibet”
Main article: Grand Tibet .
The American Tibetologist Melvyn C. Goldstein uses the term “Greater Tibet” ( Greater Tibet ) in his book The Snow Lion and the Dragon . He said the exiled government is firmly committed to recreating the Greater Tibet, including one administrative unit in the Tibetan political and ethnographic Tibet, due to the large number of refugees from Tibet and ethnographic to avoid the risk of a split in the exile community 43 .
In interviews in 2008 and 2010, the Dalai Lama said that the name “Greater Tibet” is used by the Chinese government, but the Tibetan authorities in exile never use 44 , 45 .
Geography

Main article: Geography of Tibet .
Extending from east to west for a distance of approximately 2 400 km and from north to south approximately 1 000 km , the plateau of Tibet is situated between longitudes 78 ° 24 ‘and 104 ° 47′ East and latitudes 26 ° 2 ‘and 40 ° 3′ North in the heart of Asia. This is a huge country of about 2.5 million km ² (5 times France) with an average altitude of 4200 m , which includes the highest mountains in the world.
The Tibetan plateau is home, in the province of Qinghai , the Nature Reserve Sources of three rivers , the largest nature reserve in China and highest in the world, from which the three major Chinese rivers the Mekong , the Yángzǐ Jiang (扬子江) and the Huang He (黄河).
The name Western Tibet , related to the name Mongolian Töbüt , is not related to the native name Bod . In Chinese, the ancient name of Tibet is Tǔfān (吐蕃, incorrectly pronounced Tubo by many Chinese), but the current name of the autonomous region is Xizang (西藏literally Zang West). Some authors xī means “west” and zang means one of two parties in the region of U-Tsang, Xizang having been employed for the first time by the Emperor Qianlong (乾隆, 1711-1799) of the dynasty Manchu Qing to the xviii th century . For other authors and cheap paint ball the Tibetan government in exile, Xizang would mean “treasure of the West” (developed in “treasure house of the West” or “reservoir of natural resources of the West”).
Place names have been changed since the enactment of the unified system of romanization for the PRC (People’s Republic of China): the pinyin : gZhi-ka-rtse becomes Xigaze. Also the same place in Tibet can be many “spellings”: the name in Chinese characters, whose transcription can be in pinyin or the old Western transcripts, such as Wade-Giles (Anglo-Saxon) or transcription EFEO (French), and the name in Tibetan, which can be transliterated in different ways. The best solution is to use the Wylie transliteration of Tibetan spelling, according to the use of Tibetologists both Western and Chinese, although it realized the spelling, not pronunciation.
Climate [ change ]

At 3700 m altitude, the vegetation is still thick around the lakes.
The climate in Tibet is very continental, cold and dry. Paradoxically, the average annual temperature is higher than that of the atmosphere at an altitude equivalent (radiation of the earth). This effect causes significant north-south gradients of pressure, and actively participates in the phenomenon of monsoon. Temperature changes are fairly abrupt on the Tibetan plateau: it was sunny and warm, the temperature can drop suddenly several tens of degrees, if the clouds are covering the sky. The climate also varies greatly between night and day 46 .
Geology

Digital terrain model of the Tibetan plateau and mountain ranges devices
The Tibetan plateau is the result of the collision since 50 million years between the plates Indian and Eurasian. It is by far the highest (over 5000 m ) and largest plateau in the world (more than five million square kilometers). It is bordered by different mountain ranges ( Tien Shan NW, Qilian Shan NE, Himalaya to the south. Its exceptionally large direct result of the collision of India and Eurasia, at a fast speed ( 15 cm / yr before the collision, 5 cm / year at present). deformities associated with this collision are found in much of Asia into Siberia . The very low relief plateau, despite the high altitude is related to rheological boundaries the continental crust : the collision causes the thickening (60 to 90 km thick), more than twice a crust normal. The continental crust contains isotopes radioactive of thorium , of uranium and potassium that produce heat. The highest concentration of radioactive isotopes causes a warming of the crust: it becomes “soft” and can no longer bear a greater thickening. then observed extensive deformation ( normal faulting within the zone compression) and the propagation of the deformation horizontally. Earthquakes are common on the Tibetan plateau: to limit its effects, the houses are built around large pillars made ​​of whole tree trunks.
History

Main articles: History of Tibet , History of exploration of Tibet , International Relations of Tibet and Tibetan Society .

Tibetan flag , created in 1916 by the 13 th Dalai Lama and used for military and official until 1951, it continues to be employed by the Tibetan government in exile , but has been banned since 1959 in China

“The Five People gathered,” the Flag of the Republic of China from 1912 to 1928 , representing Hans , the Manchus , the Mongols , the Uighurs and the Tibetans – the five main peoples of the Republic of China 47 .

1892 map of the “Chinese Empire”. Tibet is represented included, such as East Turkestan and Mongolia .
The Tibetan flag , created by the 13 th Dalai Lama in 1916, was proscribed by the PRC in 1959, nine years after the Chinese military intervention . It is now the emblem of the Tibetan government in exile . This flag is based on previous patterns of flags used by Tibetan regiments, especially the figure of the snow lion , which dates back to the reign of King of Tibet Songtsen Gampo in the vii th century 48 .
The story , including the events of xx th century , led to a double interpretation in the field of historiography .
Before 1950 [ modify ]
The vii th century , Tibet was unified founded by Songtsen Gampo , who created a vast and powerful empire. To consolidate his political alliances, he took to wife the Nepalese princess Bhrikuti , daughter of King Amsuvarma , and the Chinese princess Wencheng Gongzhu , niece of Emperor Tang Taizong . Tibetans ascribe the introduction of Buddhism and the foundation of the temple of Jokhang these two queens are considered as two incarnations of the Bodhisattva Tara .
Between 742 and 797 (?), Trisong Detsen , the second “King according to Buddhist doctrine,” made ​​Buddhism the state religion, inviting Indian masters, including Padmasambhava , Shantarakshita and Vimalamitra , who is credited with the introduction of Buddhism Tantric in Tibet. There are translations of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Tibetan. The expansion of the empire continues. The Tibetans occupied the Chinese capital Xi’an ( Xi’an ) in 763 .
From 815 to 838 , Tri Ralpachen is the third “according to Buddhist doctrine king.” There has been many translations of Buddhist texts in Tibetan Sanskrit and Chinese. China and Tibet signed several peace treaties. The peace treaty of 822 Sino-Tibetan , engraved on three pillars of which is still visible in Lhasa , Tibetans and Chinese place on an equal rank, and establishes the boundaries between the two countries.
From 838 to 842 , during the reign of Lang Darma , who was assassinated by a monk, we are witnessing the end of the “first spread of Buddhism” and Life Insurance Quotes the country is again split into small fiefdoms.
The second half of the x th century to the xii th century , we witness the “second spread of Buddhism.” Tibetans traveling in India with great masters. The activity of translating Buddhist texts back. Many great masters founded schools, and Marpa the translator (1012-1097), whose disciple, the famous Milarepa (1040-1123), is the origin of the order of the Kagyu , and Khon Könchok Gyalpo (1034-1102 ), who in 1073 founded the Sakya order. Finally, Atisha , Indian monk, came to Tibet in 1042 and founded the Kadampa order. This order will affect both existing orders that will spread in the other orders and disappear as such in the following centuries. The school referring to the “first spread of Buddhism” is the name of Nyingma (“elders”).

China, Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia, 1294
After the invasion and control by the Mongol regime in China xii th century and the founding of the Yuan Dynasty by Kublai Khan , the political relations between the heads of schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the Emperor of China, the Mongol time, began. Kublai Khan interacts with the Sakya who retain their political role.
1357 saw the birth of Tsongkhapa , founder of the order of Gelugpa (the “Righteous”), whose school will come from the Dalai Lamas.
In 1368 begins the Chinese dynasty of Ming , which lasted until 1644 . The Ming dynasty patronized religious activity in Tibet according to historians of the PRC. However, most scholars outside the PRC say that the relationship was a suzerainty, that the securities were only nominal Ming so that Tibet remained a independent region. [ref. required]
From 1643 to 1949 , Tibet was ruled by the Dalai Lama and the regent of Tibet and the Tibetan government in place by the 5 th Dalai Lama, sometimes as head of state, sometimes as a vassal of and the Emperor of China or as a first grand Lama , or by sharing power with the Panchen Lama . [ref. required]

Map of China, Chinese Tartary, and “Tibet” in 1734 by Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville
According to the Minister advise the PRC Hong XiaYong from 1727 to 1911, are a total of 57 ambans (Tibetan affairs ministers under the Qing Dynasty ) who are stationed in Tibet where they have control over local government for on behalf of the central authority 49 .
According to Michael Harris Goodman quoting Perceval Landon (in) , the High Commissioners , without real power, merely an observation of formalities 50 , 51 .
According to sociologist Chinese Ma Rong 52 , in the Qing Dynasty, the main task fallen to two ambans and their troops was to ensure the subordination of Tibet to the imperial power, to maintain peace in Tibet and to defend against any foreign invasion. There were 3000 soldiers (Han, Mongolian and Manchu) in Lhasa in the early xviii th century, their number increasing to 10 000-15 000 during the war against the Gurkhas in 1791. “There can be no doubt about the subordination of Tibet to China ruled by the Manchus in the early decades of the xviii th century (Melvyn C. Goldstein) ” 53 .
In the second half of the xix th century and early xx th century, a situation of competition develops between Russia and Britain , the latter seeking to control Tibet since India , and Russia seeking to help it to maintain its influence in Central Asia . [ref. required]
In 1904 the British Governor General of India, during which led to a British military expedition in Tibet , held that China had no power or authority over the Tibetan government. The military expedition led by Colonel Francis Younghusband , crushed in blood in 1904 defending the British and Tibetan in Tibet and are required to assign privileges to trade and diplomatic.
Following the international reaction and discontent of the public opinon in England, the treaty was quickly challenged, and redeveloped, including the Sino-British treaty of 1906 or the Treaty of Beijing (English Convention Between Great Britain and China Respecting Tibet ) in which denver car accident lawyer there will be no British occupation of Tibet, the war indemnity will be solved in three Britons and reaffirm the sovereignty of China over Tibet. Beijing will make all payments to the English by the Tibetans 54 .
In 1908 , taking advantage of the departure of British troops, China temporarily resume control of Tibet 55 as the suzerain power, until the revolution of 1911 which marked the collapse of the Qing Empire and the installation of the Republic of China . After his flight to India, the 13 th Dalai Lama is filed by China 55 .
The troops and authorities are expelled from the Chinese official in Tibet in 1912 by the Tibetans.
In 1912 , following a letter from Yuan Shikai wishing to restore the role of the Dalai Lama, he replies that it requires no way the Chinese government as it seeks to exercise his spiritual and temporal power in Tibet 56 . This letter is considered a declaration of independence 55 . The 13 th Dalai Lama publicly proclaimed by edict and February 14, 1913 Tibet’s independence 57
Alfred P. Rubin , an American expert in international law who has studied the declarations office chairs of independence of Tibet, said they were under no legal-political statements but simply the statement by the 13 th Dalai Lama as the priest-patron relationship or chaplain-patron ( mchod-yon ) between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese emperors had died because of the end of the empire 58 .
In 1912, Tibet and Mongolia (which adopted the Tibetan Buddhism and became a vassal of the Chinese Empire and had been independent since 1911) signed a treaty of mutual recognition of their independence from China in the presence of Agvan Dorzhiev . According to Charles Bell , the Kashag and the 13 th Dalai Lama did not recognize this agreement 59 , 60 . Still according to Bell, the international community had not recognized the independence of Mongolia, nor that of Tibet 60 . According to lawyer Barry Sautman , Tibet and Mongolia in 1913 was not recognized as States by other States, the fact that one and the other to recognize each other not more important than the recognition Mutual of South Ossetia and of Abkhazia, now 61 . According to Elliot Sperling that Tibetans and Mongolians have stated in their 1913 treaty be removed from the Manchu domination by the state, and financial assistance thus be more related to China, is significant in terms of terminology 62 .
According to Barry Sautman , no state recognizes the GTE nor the assertion that Tibet was an independent 63 .
For Elizabeth Martens , Tibetan independence is not based on any official document and was never recognized by any country in the world, nor by the UN 64 . The author adds that the “de facto independence” of Tibet in the early xx th century is really an economic and political dependence vis-à-vis England 65 .
In his letter to UN Secretary-General dated 9 September 1959, the 14 th Dalai Lama gave a series of arguments showing the international recognition of the sovereignty of Tibet, including the fact that Mongolia and Britain have signed treaties with Tibet (the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance between the Government of Mongolia and Tibet and the Simla Convention ), and representatives of Tibetan Tibetan passports are received by India , to France , of Italy , the United Kingdom and the United States of America 66 .
By 1913 the 13 th Dalai Lama urges major administrative and economic reforms 67 . It decides in particular to create in addition to Tibetan coins , of Tibetan banknotes , and stamps specific to wow gold Tibet. He is also the creation of the Tibetan flag from the flags of the various armed border. However, flag, passports, stamps and currency are, according to Barry Sautman , superficial signs of the existence of a state. These “so-called indications of sovereignty,” as he calls them, are also confined to territories which are not States 68 .
Main article: Tibet (1912-1951) .

Flag

Banknote

Coin

Stamp

Passport

Army (1938)
In 1914 , the Simla Conference , where Britain, Tibet and China are represented, the British proposed that regions of Tibetan people are divided into two parts:
an “Outer Tibet” (composed of the western part of the current autonomous region, west of Lhasa, this one included), administered directly by the Dalai Lama ,
an “inner Tibet” (composed of the regions of Koukou-Nor – the current Qinghai ) – and Chuan-Pieng – or Kham, that is to say the east of the present autonomous region and western Sichuan ), administered by China and only under the authority of the Dalai Lama spiritual.
Both areas would be considered under the “suzerainty” of China and not its “sovereignty” 69 . The original agreement was invalidated by the rejection, by the Chinese government, the initialling of its delegate on the text of the agreement 70 .
During the Long March in 1935 conducted by the Red Army to escape the Nationalist Army of the Kuomintang during the Chinese Civil War , troops of Mao Zedong pass through Tibetan areas and undergo several ambushes of Tibetans. [ref. needed] According to Frederic Lenoir and Laurent Deshayes , the Tibetan people have fond memories of dramatic communists and nationalists who have staked their journeys of horror, torture and looting [nonneutral] 71 .
In 1946 , after the Sino-Japanese War , government officials meet with the Tibetan government who now heads the KMT and Taiwan still considers Tibet as part of China in Nanjing 72 .
After 1950 [ modify ]
In 1950 , the People’s Liberation Army entered the eastern Tibetan region of Chamdo 73 and met little resistance from a Tibetan army weak and ill-equipped 74 .
On 23 May 1951 , representatives of the Dalai Lama in Beijing signed the 17-Point Agreement on the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet , under the threat of further advancing the PLA 75 .
In 1954 , the 14 th Dalai Lama, the 10 th Panchen Lama and the 16 th Karmapa traveled to Beijing to discuss the issue of Tibet with Mao Zedong 76 . In an interview with the Dalai Lama, Mao assured him that Tibetan identity will be respected and that no great reform will be undertaken in Tibet for six years 77 .
In 1956 began to Litang in Kham Tibetan revolt, supported by the CIA 78 , 79 , against the Chinese occupation, which has spread to other areas of Kham and then in 1957 and 1958 in areas of Amdo , then in 1958 and 1959 in the Ü-Tsang , the Tibet Autonomous Region, before spreading to the entire territory. In 1959 , the insurrection broke out in Lhasa , the Dalai Lama fled Tibet and sought refuge in India . It will be followed by about 100,000 Tibetans . An armed rebellion, conducted with the assistance of the CIA , was severely repressed by the Chinese government.
The CIA , in the aim of anti- United States , are supporting the guerrilla Tibetan opposition to Chinese Communist Party, leading the Tibetan warriors 80 , supplying them with military equipment 81 , and encourages the Dalai Lama into exile in India 82 , 83 , 84 , 78 .
The martial arts denver number of Tibetan victims of these conflicts, a major bone of contention between China and the Tibetan government in exile, is generally estimated at tens of thousands of people.
From 1959, after suppressing what he calls a revolt of the old privileged class of ancient Tibet, the communist government in Tibet sets up a series of reforms, including, as the same government, the abolition of serfdom 85 . However, the existence of serfdom in Tibet has led to a controversial university 86 .
In 1979, Deng Xiaoping invited Gyalo Thondup , brother of the Dalai Lama to Beijing and told him that regardless of the issue of Tibetan independence, all other issues could be discussed and all problems could be solved. He proposed that the Dalai Lama sends delegations to Tibet investigation to free iPhone observe the living conditions of Tibetans. The Chinese believed that delegations would be impressed by the progress made ​​in Tibet and by the solidarity of Tibetans with the Chinese nation 87 .
Main article: Fact-finding missions to Tibet (1979-1985) .
In 1980, after an inspection visit to Tibet, the general secretary of Chinese Communist Party, Hu Yaobang “demand greater autonomy and proclaims the respect for freedom of belief” 88 . During the 1980s, the Chinese Communist Party moderates pave the way for increased use of Tibetan language, the reconstruction of religious buildings (leading in some areas on a larger number of temples today than before 1951) and the encouragement of Tibetan culture 89 . According to Laurent Deshayes and Frédéric Lenoir , the eviction policy in 1987 and the death of Hu Yaobang in 1989 “broke the momentum for reform shy” 90 .
Main article: Inspection Tour of Hu Yaobang in Tibet (1980) .
According to Amnesty International , since 1987 , over 214 attempts for independence demonstrations were repressed and arrested protesters shipped to labor camps. All were sentenced to terms ranging from 3 to 20 years in prison.
In March 1989, there have been social unrest in Tibet , suppressed by the Chinese authorities and leading to the imposition of martial law . In 1990, an estimate of more than 450 people killed by security forces had been given by Tang Daxian , a dissident Chinese journalist refugee in the West, who also claimed that police in Lhasa had been ordered to Beijing to cause an incident 91 . The Chinese government for its part had reported a dozen dead 5 and 6 March 1989 92 .

Tibetan monks arrested and paraded with placards in the neck, in April 2008

Monks and lay Tibetans arrested in Ngaba in April 2008
The Chinese authorities have installed surveillance cameras in Lhasa to monitor any events. Many international associations denounce repression of religion in Tibet, as illustrated by the example of house arrest Gedhun Choekyi Nyima , in 1995 , just after its recognition as a 11 th Panchen Lama by the 14th Dalai Lama , or destruction in 2001 of the Institute of Buddhist Serthar founded by Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok , also put under house arrest and disappeared under suspicious circumstances, or sentenced to imprisonment for life of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche in 2005 . Most of the great masters of Tibetan Buddhism were forced into exile, as illustrated by the leak on the eve of the year 2000 the 17 th Karmapa , Urgyen Trinley Dorje 93 .
In March 2008 , protests by monks against Chinese rule in Lhasa degenerate into violent riots against the non-Tibetan people and their property. They occur a few months before the Summer Olympics of 2008 . Other demonstrations were also held outside the capital, particularly in the Tibetan region of Amdo , around the monastery of Labrang in the province of Gansu . According to the authorities of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the toll is 19 dead, victims of the rioters, and a thousand shops and public buildings destroyed. According to the Tibetan government in exile, at least 209 Tibetans have died, victims of repression. Demonstrations of support for an independent Tibet supporters took place during the stages of London and the Paris Olympic Torch Relay in 2008 .
Main article: Troubles in Tibet in March 2008 .

Arrest of Tibetans
While 16 Tibetans themselves on fire in Tibet since March 2011 , Chinese police opened fire in January 2012 when pro-Tibetan protests in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze killing at least three dead 94 .
Demographics

Ethno-linguistic groups of Tibetan Language (1967) ( See the full map , having a legend)
The ethnic Tibetan has historically been the main component of the population of Tibet. Ethnic Monpa , Lhoba , Mongolian and Hui (Chinese Muslims) are also present. According to tradition, the first ancestors of the Tibetan people, represented by the six red bands of the Tibetan flag , are the Se, Mu, Dong, Tong, Dru and Ra’s.
Population size before 1948 [ modify ]
The Tibetologist Italian Giuseppe Tucci, based on the research he had done during his travels in Tibet from 1927 to 1948, concludes that the population figure in all of Tibet (that is to say including the old provinces of Kham and Amdo) was between 2 and 3 million . He adds that “there were certainly more people in the past from the traces that remained of intensive cultivation and irrigation works in places now almost entirely abandoned” 95 .
Population development since the mid-twentieth th century
The question of the proportion of Hans in the population of Tibet is politically very sensitive. The Tibetan government in exile says the People’s Republic of China practices a policy to encourage Han migration in order to make Tibetans a minority in their own country, that the Chinese government vigorously denies.
Official figures

Demographic Tibetan between 1953 and 2000 96 , 1
The PRC does not consider itself an occupying power and forcefully denied allegations of demographic submersion. It does not recognize the existence of what she calls the “Greater Tibet” 97 claimed by the Tibetan government in exile . She said the idea was forged by foreign imperialists as part of a plot to split China. It brings the idea that the Japanese Empire had established a Manchukuo in Manchuria during World War II and that Mongolia gained independence – however, decreed in 1913 – with support from the Soviet Union on which it is aligned thereafter, which would constitute a precedent for China which impressed people. It relies on the fact that the territories of Tibetan people who do not belong to the autonomous region were not controlled by the Tibetan government in 1959, but have been administered for centuries by neighboring provinces 98 .
According to the PRC, the number of Tibetans in the autonomous region was 100 day loans 2.4 million in the census conducted in 2000, 190,000 non-Tibetans, and the number of Tibetans in all Tibetan autonomous entities (slightly smaller than historical Tibet claimed by exiled Tibetans) was 5 million, 2.3 million non-Tibetans. In the Autonomous Region itself, most of Hans are in Lhasa . The Chinese authorities claim that they respect the Tibetan cultural difference (eg by relaxing the Minority population control imposed severe Hans). The population control policies such as the one-child policy only apply to Hans , and not to minorities such as Tibetans 99 .
Jampa Phuntsok , a Tibetan born in Chamdo ( Kham ) and current president of the Tibet Autonomous Region, said the central government had no policy of migration into Tibet due to the harsh conditions associated with altitude, as 6% Han in the TAR is a very fluid group mainly came for business or work, and there is no immigration problem 100 .
Regarding the population of Tibetan ethnic group itself, the Chinese government claims that according to the first national census conducted in 1954, there were 2.77 million Tibetans in China, including 1.27 million in the autonomous region, while according to the fourth census conducted in 1990, there were 4.59 million Tibetans in China, including 2.09 million in the autonomous region. He said these figures are proof that the Tibetan population has doubled since 1951, and that the allegations of Tibetans in exile are untrue 101 , 102 . 160,000 Tibetans live in exile (including 120,000 in India).
The following table 1 gives the population figures, according to the census conducted throughout China in 2000, for all Tibetan autonomous entities and for the courts of Xining and Haidong . The presence of these last two jurisdictions in the table can present all the figures of Qinghai Province, and also reflects the vision of the Tibetan government in exile claiming these jurisdictions as part of historical Tibet. The figures do not include members of the People’s Liberation Army in active service.

Perspective of the Tibetan government in exile
Between the years 1960 and 1980 , many prisoners (over a million, according to Harry Wu , director of the Laogai Research Foundation , a foundation funded by the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy ) 103 were sent to labor camps ( Laogai ) of the Tibetan province of Amdo ( Qinghai ). Since the 1980s, the implementation of economic liberalization and greater mobility within China resulted in an influx of Hans into Tibet. The actual number remains disputed. The Tibetan government in exile gives a figure of 7.5 million non-Tibetans in Tibet history, for 6 million Tibetans. He said it is the consequence of an active population of the Tibetan people flooding which reduces the chances of political independence of Tibet, in violation of the Geneva Convention of 1946 which prohibits occupying powers installation of settlers in the territories they control 104 .
The Tibetan Government in exile denies the statistics provided by the Chinese government on the grounds that they do not take account of members of the People’s Liberation Army stationed in Tibet, nor the significant floating population of unregistered migrants 105 , 106 . The Qing-Zang railway line linking Xining to Lhasa is also a major concern, since it facilitates the influx of new immigrants.
The Tibetan Government in Exile quotes an article in the People’s Daily published in 1959 to say that the Tibetan population has declined significantly since 1959. According to the article, figures from National Bureau of Statistics of the PRC show that the population of the Tibet Autonomous Region was then 1,273,969 people . In Tibetan areas of Kham , there were 3,381,064 Tibetans . Qinghai and other Tibetan areas incorporated into Gansu , there were 1,675,534 Tibetans. The sum of these figures led to a Tibetan population of 6,330,567 in 1959 107 . In 2000 , the total number of Tibetans in all these regions was about 5,400,000 according to the National Bureau of Statistics 108 . These figures imply that between 1959 and 2000 the Tibetan population has decreased by about one million people, a decline of 15%. During the same period, China’s population has doubled and tripled world population 109 . This analysis provides an additional argument concerning the estimated number of Tibetan deaths during the period from 1959 to 1979. It suggests the existence of a demographic deficit of the Tibetan population, the causes and the temporal evolution remain unclear.
These figures are more than twice higher than in 1953 and 1964 (from China), respectively 2.77 and 2.50 million Tibetans 96 , they may include non-Tibetan population. For its part, the Kashag evaluated the Tibetan population in 1950 to just under 3 million, but nothing indicates that this figure corresponds to the total population, not only to that of central Tibet then threatened by the advancing Chinese 110 . The fact remains that the numbers of Chinese sources show a decrease in population between 1953 and 1964, clearly visible on the graph to the next chapter, its causes remain to be determined precisely 111 , 112 .
Economy

Main article: Economy of Tibet .
The Tibetan economy is weak. The main activities are the breeding of sheep , the goat and yak , the cultivation of cereals (in the valleys of South and Southeast) and logging (in the South). The tourism , though still framed, is an important part of the economy.
Development
Main article: Development Program West .
In Tibet before 1950, according to the Slovenian philosopher and writer Slavoj Zizek , the ruling elite prevented any development of the industry for fear of a disruption of society, so much so that all metal had to be imported from India 113 .
According to the newspaper Liberation , which he calls “the Chinese presence in Tibet” is not a disinterested economic perspective regarding:
mining raw materials: Tibet “is especially rich in his basement, full of gold , of copper , and lead . ” , the paper recalls 114 .
Water Resources: “Added to this Himalayan rivers, promising hydroelectric dams and water. China, with 7% of the planet’s resources for a quarter of the population is obsessed with water ” , says Liberation 114 .
The industry began to emerge in the late 1950s with the opening of several factories in Lhasa. By 1980, the economy revolved around tourism and agricultural processing. At the end of the XX th century, industrial growth has continued a gradual but Tibet remains the least prosperous province of China 115 .
The mining industry is still in its infancy. The effort initially focused on the location of mineral resources, including chromium, copper, gold, lead, zinc, salt, coal, oil. The exploitation of these resources has begun and is part Relevant Life Policy of the market economy and with funds available locally or from outside the region. In 2006, the RAT has extracted 1,500 tons of borax , 16 000 tons of boromagnésites and hundreds of thousands of tons of chromite . Mining still accounts for only 4% of annual gross income of Tibet 116 .
According to Les Echos , the growth has primarily benefited Hans came to settle in Tibet and “Away in a small Tibetan middle class, working with policymakers Han, the majority of Tibetans would have little advantage of this growth Chinese still live in abject poverty 117 . ”
Tourism
Main article: Tourism in Tibet .
After being open to foreign tourists in 1979, the Tibet Autonomous Region received in 300 in 1980, 2,000 in 1984 and 28 000 in 1994 118 . In 2004, the figure climbed to 1.1 million visitors from 119 in 2005 to 1.6 million and in 2007 to 4,000,000 120 , 90% were Chinese. Due to the March 2008 events and their aftermath, the figure dropped to about 2.2 million 121 .
Between January and July 2009, over 2.7 million tourists visited the region three times more than during the same period in 2008, recently said the Tibet Daily 122 , for an income of 2.29 billion yuan 123 .
In 2010, the region hosted 6.85 million Chinese and foreign tourists, generating revenue of 7.14 billion yuan (11 billion), or 14% of its gross domestic product 124 .
According to Jim Underwood, who worked in the construction sector in rural Tibet, tourism in the region can be seen as a positive influence for the sustainability of traditional architecture to the extent that tourists come to see this architecture. The various trades can only benefit from the rehabilitation of old buildings 125 .
Opening up of Tibet
Direct rail link from Beijing to Lhasa
Main article: Qing-Zang railway line .

Front of the train station in Lhasa
The 1 st July 2006 , Hu Jintao inaugurated the first train to Lhasa at the station in Golmud in the Tibetan and Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Haixi the province of Qinghai . This new rail line now links Tibet with the rest of China, placing Beijing in two days of train 126 . Thanks to her, 4 561 km are crossed for about 80 Euros.
It should, said that the Chinese government, foster economic integration, economic development and tourism in the Tibet Autonomous Region, but from the ancient Tibetan prisoners of Gu-Chu-Sum quoted by journalist Philip Bruno , accelerate sinicization of Tibet 127 .
For the regional government, the railway will cut more than half the cost of moving goods in the region. Two freight trains daily must bring to Lhasa to 7.5 million tonnes of cargo annually. President of the Autonomous Region, Champa Phuntsok, said that new sections were being studied between Lhasa and other cities in the region, including border 128 .
The Tibetan singer Han Hong has written a song called “The Way of Heaven” (天路, tian read Mandarin Chinese), which describes this line of railway, she calls the “Iron Dragon”. It recalls the opening it will give the plateau of Tibet, this remote area, the rest of the world, and its benefits to the population (vital resource flows), as for the rest of the world (Culture and discovery Tibetan hospitality) 129 . This song is also interpreted by the singer in Tibetan Tibetan Basang (巴桑, Basang) 130 on an album with the name of the song.
For Gregory Clark, former head the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and vice president of Akita International University, where the establishment of this line of 1 142 km long at 5000 m above sea level is a sin, should he provided to allow the Tibetans never confined in an isolated retrograde 131 ?
Tibetan exiles fear that this line does not favor a migration from the rest of China (including the ethnic Han majority) and it brings the Tibetans become a minority in their region. They also fear that the Chinese government is using the line to strengthen its military presence in Tibet, and that increases the exploitation of natural resources with all the risks this poses to the fragile environment of Tibet 132 .
The India , which borders China, consider this line of railway with concern because of the military implications and potential strengthening of the Chinese army, already important in Tibet, including its ability to deploy tactical nuclear weapons 133 .
At the opening of the railway track, the Dalai Lama asked Tibetans to wait to evaluate the benefit or harm it could bring. There it welcomed the railroad “provided it benefits the majority of Tibetans.” But in late January 2007, he said that Beijing was using the new railway link to flood Tibet with beggars, prostitutes and the unemployed, endangering the survival of Tibetan culture and traditions, 134 , 135 .
Road infrastructure
At the date of 2003, 41 302 km of roads were built. The region had five national, regional and fourteen six intersecting. In addition to the 3 200 km of paved roads, there were now 32 195 km of rural roads connecting some 683 municipalities and 5,966 villages 136 .
January 15, 2009, China announced the construction of the first highway in Tibet, a stretch of 37.9 km of road in the southwest of Lhasa. The project will cost 1.55 billion yuan ( 227 million dollars) 137 .
Status of Tibet: state of the

Main articles: Dialogue between the Tibetan government in exile and the People’s Republic of China since 2002 and Discussion on the sovereignty of Tibet .
Tibet’s status under international law
Main article: Colonization of Tibet .

The World in 1945 , Map of UN 138 . However, this presentation does not reflect the expression of an opinion of the UN Secretariat on the legal status of any country or territory 139 .
According to the American philosopher and linguist Noam Chomsky (1967), Tibet was recognized internationally as a region of China. This status has been accepted by India and Communist China and Nationalist China and has never been formally challenged by the United States 140 .
As pointed Martine Bulard , journalist Monde Diplomatique , in charge of Asia, Tibet has never been listed by the UN as “countries to be decolonized,” whether before or after 1971, when the entry of China People within this international organization, and no country has so far recognized the Tibetan government in exile 141 . In the list of countries and territories to be decolonized published in 2008 by the UN , Tibet is not mentioned, and China is not mentioned among the “administering Powers’ 142 .
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, hosting the People’s Republic of China in its midst in 1971, the UN did not challenge Beijing’s sovereignty over Tibet, which sovereignty is recognized by all States with forged diplomatic relations with the PRC since 1949 143 .
However, to date, the Tibetan people has never been consulted on the status of Tibet. Under international law, to what the International Commission of Jurists , he has a right to self-determination has not yet exercised. She said a referendum on the future status of the region will help resolve the political conflict in Tibet 144 .
For Barry Sautman , which refers to “non-recognition by states and international organizations, both in old Tibet that the Tibetan government in exile”, it does not exist in international law, “right to independence “to secede, for any part of a country 145 .
The United Nations in 1960 defined the limits and conditions of law enforcement and national self-determination but do not consider it relevant during his calls to respect the Tibetan people’s right to self-determination .
Status of Tibet under China
Historical argument

The five languages ​​of the Manchu dynasty of Qing ( summer palace in Chengde ): from left to right, character Manchu , Uyghur , Chinese , Tibetan and Mongolian
The PRC said that relations between China and Tibet are old and date back to the xii th century : thus, for example, that the majority of Chinese imperial buildings have been several hundred years the top five entries that are the sinograms , the Manchu , the Mongolian , the Uighur and Tibetan , a habit that seems to date from the Manchu dynasty of Qing .
In 1260 , the Mongol Kublai Khan moved to Beijing, founded the Yuan dynasty in the Chinese way and itself becomes emperor of China 146 . At that time, Tibet was incorporated into the Empire of the Great Khan , which extends beyond China to Manchuria and to Lake Baikal .
The Ming Dynasty ( one thousand three hundred sixty-eight – 1644 ) inherited the dynasty Yuan the power of administration of Tibet 147 .

Map of the Republic of China, 1914
In 1722 , Emperor Kangxi of the last Qing Dynasty established the Lama Temple in Beijing as a Tibetan temple. The Emperor Qianlong built a palace in Tibetan Summer Palace in Beijing and Tibetan monasteries to Chengde , which in 1771 the Putuo Zongcheng which is a reduction in the Potala Palace in Lhasa. The Qing Dynasty ( in 1644 – 1 911 ) also claims sovereignty over the country, leaving two ministers in Lhasa ( Amban ) and a small garrison 148 . In 1846 , French missionaries Evariste Huc and Joseph Gabet were expelled from Tibet on the order of Amban 149 .
The fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 , however, will overturn the deal: well, the personal link uniting the Manchu emperor to the Dalai Lama being the de facto deleted, the links between the two countries would, according to some, broken.
In 1913 , the Republic of China shows no consideration for the proclamation of independence of Tibet by the 13 th Dalai Lama and does not react. It rejects the Simla Convention DUI Attorneys of 1914 which divides the region populated by Tibetans in Tibet an autonomous external administered by the government of Tibet and Tibet where only internal spiritual authority of the Dalai Lama would be recognized, both under suzerainty Chinese and membership of Tibet to China is also recognized 150 .
In international relations, Tibet remains a province of China 151 , 152 .
Political argument
Main article: Controversy about serfdom in Tibet .
The Chinese government claims to be returned to Tibet in 1949 to liberate the country from “foreign imperialists” 153 , 154 and its people living under the domination of an oligarchy and feudal theocracy. For example, before the communist takeover, the bondage was legal and practiced in Tibet 155 , and Tibetan monks and aristocrats owned 95% of the 156 .
The Chinese authorities claim that religious freedom is again ensured since 1983 157 .
Tibetans, like other ethnic groups (called “nationalities” in China) minority, enjoy an affirmative 158 For example, students belonging to the Tibetan bonuses have to go to university 159 , 160 , workers belonging to the Tibetan ethnic group are primarily recruited by public institutions compared to those of Han 161 .
Tibet is the only region of China that enjoys free care 162 and free primary education with board and lodging free, bilingual education is the 163 , 164 .
Economic and social arguments
Economic development of Tibet since led for decades by China helped open up the country, including through the construction of roads, railways and airports 165 , which promote the development of tourism 166 , the Industry and Commerce in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Since 1950, the Tibetan population has increased threefold due to advances in health care and improvements in the agricultural and economic 167 .
The correspondent of the French business daily Les Echos noted in March 2008 that “since its” liberation “by China, the region recorded a decline in infant mortality and illiteracy, and increased life expectancy. ” Similarly, “Independent experts agree that Tibet’s GDP has doubled between 2002 and 2007 and its annual growth regularly exceeds 12%. ” 168 .
Geopolitical argument
The China considers Tibet as a strategic region for his safety 169 .
Some see this as a defensive presence, Tibet is “an immense desert which acts as a shield against the India , now menacing power ” according to the French daily Liberation 114 .
Others see it as a potentially more offensive position. For geopolitical Aymeric Chauprade , “one who can break into Tibet on China, India, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia” 170 .
Depending on the status of Tibet Tibetan Government in Exile
The Tibetan exile government considers China’s presence as a foreign occupation that began during what he calls the invasion of 1950-1951 by the People’s Liberation Army . He accused the Chinese policy of having been responsible for the deaths of 1.2 million Tibetans , to practice a massive transfer of Han population and destroy the Tibetan culture, inducing a cultural and demographic sinicization Tibet. Since 1979, the 14 th Dalai Lama is no longer seeking the independence , but autonomy for all real Tibetan-populated regions 171 .
The issue of Resolutions 1353, 1723 and 2079 of the UN General Assembly
Tenor of resolutions
The UN General Assembly adopted three resolutions 172 , 173 condemning violations of fundamental rights and freedoms of the Tibetan people, the blows to his culture and religion, this in 1959 ( resolution 1353 (XIV) 174 ) and in 1960 ( resolution 1723 (XVI) 175 ). In this two e resolution the right to self-determination of Tibetan people is mentioned explicitly. Finally, the latest resolution, that of 1965 ( resolution 2079 (XX) 176 ), refers to which it takes the previous themes but no explicit reference to self-determination. China is not explicitly named in those resolutions. According to Jean-Claude Buhrer , a writer and journalist, the three General Assembly resolutions calling for the recognition of the right of Tibetans to self-determination and respect for human rights 177 .
Historical context and scope of the resolutions
These resolutions passed by the General Assembly are merely recommendations, they are not legally binding. Moreover, since they were adopted while the PRC was not part of the UN, the country could not participate in debates and thus does not recognize these resolutions 178 . Since 1965, they were never renewed, and upon admission of China to the UN in 1971, the fact was not taken into account. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, hosting the People’s Republic neuropathy treatment of China in its midst in 1971, the UN did not challenge Beijing’s sovereignty over Tibet, which sovereignty is recognized by all States with forged diplomatic relations with the PRC since 1949 179 .
According to Bhaskar Vyas and Rajni Vyas , “after the UN resolution 1965 and the confirmation of international genocide “, it was hoped that China, as a result of shame would comply at least with the 17-Point Agreement, in a realistic and genuine autonomy apply. Although UN resolutions did not change in the facts, China became aware that she had to deal with this issue 180 .
The charge of “Tibetan genocide”

Main articles: Controversy Tibetan genocide , Tibet Prison and Torture in Tibet .
Issue Brief
According to the Tibetan government in exile , more than one million two hundred thousand Tibetans have died directly or indirectly from the occupation of Tibet by China between 1949 and 1979 181 , 182 , 183
Under the chapter entitled “The ‘Genocide’ Myth Re-examined” his study of Tibetan population in China: Myths and Facts Re-examined 183 , the demographer Yan Hao (Commission of the State Planning Department to Institute for Economic Research in Beijing) dissects a table with the specified source is Office of Tibet , Human Rights, 1984 (depending on GTE) and that the figure of 1,278,387 dead Tibetan, page 19 “(Table 4 : Distribution of Tibetan resulting and Deaths Directly from China’s invasion, by causes of death and regions (1949-1979)). ” , 184 , 185 , 186 .
Quoted by Patrick French , the legal historian Warren W. Smith Jr who studied the growth deficits of the population, says that Chinese statistics “confirm the theories of Tibetan massive numbers of dead and refute denials Chinese.” He estimated more than 200,000 Tibetans are “missing” in the population of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The death toll seems too high in Tibetan areas of Gansu , the Sichuan and Qinghai , three regions where the mortality rate in early 1960 are high and verifiable. If this is correct, we can estimate that about half a million Tibetans have died directly because of the policy implemented in Tibet by the PRC 187 Regarding the famine in China and in the regions of Tibet , Patrick French shows there are CrossFit Denver no statistics for central Tibet, but he says that “the savagery that presided over the suppression of the revolt against Chinese rule does not know whether the deaths were caused by hunger, by disease , by war or persecution ” .
Against by the statistics exist for three other Chinese provinces partially Tibetan. Thus, if during the period 1959-1962 (compared to data from the years 1956 to 1958) the overall mortality rate increased by 115%, the three provinces increased on average by 233% 188 .
This figure is estimated from a calculation Warren W. Smith Jr 189 , based on censuses of Tibet shows Tibetans 200,000 “missing” in Tibet, the Chinese number attributed to the famine that caused more than 20 million deaths in China after the Great Leap Forward 190 .
Criticism and refutations
In 2003 in his book Tibet, Tibet, a personal story of a lost country , the English journalist and writer Patrick French questions the number of 1.2 million dead Tibetans. Having been allowed to see the raw data and verify their treatment, he found that they obtained from the testimony of refugees, did not get the total figure announced. Instead of names, French found only “figures inserted in an apparently random in each section and duplicated in a systematic, uncontrolled,” for example a single gunfight, narrated by five different refugees, found himself booked five times. Moreover, he found that the 1.1 million deaths recorded, there were only 23,364 women , which involved the disappearance of the 1.07 million 1.25 million Tibetans male, one impossibility. French’s book was criticized by Jamyang Norbu 191 , a Tibetan writer in exile considered persistent voice of the independence of Tibet 192 .
The figure of 1.2 million people is challenged by the Chinese demographer Yan Hao who says the numbers are exaggerated and that the ratings by the Tibetan government in exile based in part on sources produced 193 .
However the analysis shows an oversight. When attempts to count the number of deaths in combat, Yan Hao said that “political Tibet” (the future autonomous region), “resistance peaked in 1959, but the uprising was mostly confined to Lhasa and was subdued by the army of China in two days. The only organized resistance continued elsewhere that for another month. ” But the guerrilla Kampa has endured for many months, Yan Hao does not mention it 194 .
The thesis of physical genocide is also rejected by the university Barry Sautman , which auto insurance quotes highlights the lack of verifiable data: “The figures used regularly by the exile community not based on any basis. They put the figure at 1.2 million Tibetans died in the 1950s to the 1970s, but without giving any source. As a lawyer, I give no credit statistics are not supported by data from sources visible ” 195 .
The charge of “cultural genocide”

Main article: Cultural Genocide in Tibet .
Issue Brief
According Tibetologists Amy Heller and Anne-Marie Blondeau , we must distinguish between the official cultural policy, its implementation and how it is viewed daily on the ground. During the Cultural Revolution , throughout China’s cultural values ​​have been destroyed, but the destruction in Tibet have been particularly important. But culture in Tibet was essentially related to religion, mainly Buddhist, and social structures. And many cultural events have disappeared or have been denatured. In addition the Chinese government’s goal is the “secularization of Tibetans, which is completely antithetical to the traditional Tibetan culture.” Therefore if the festivities are allowed, is “to do the simple folk events 196 . ”
It would also be due to a desecration of some aspects of this culture that they would lose their original meaning. According to TCHRD , the monasteries in Tibet are often more of a tourist attraction and spiritual 197 .
According to the linguist Nicolas Tournadre “In less than fifty years, the Tibetan language has become an endangered language, condemned to an irreversible decline or even disappearance in two generations if the current language policy is maintained. Responsibility of regional government and central government is, in this area, clear 198 “.
In November 2011, the 14 th Dalai Lama denounced the cultural genocide in Tibet led China by 199 as the source of the wave of immolation of Tibetans . Indeed, eleven monks and nuns immolated themselves in 2011 in the region of the Kirti monastery in the Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Ngawa and in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze 200 in Sichuan and at least seven of them died. In these immolations has added another desperate move by India to the Chinese embassy in New Delhi .
Criticism and refutations
This discourse on death foretold of the Tibetan language contrasts with the fact that cultural or ethnographic Tibet has three TV channels, one for each of the three Tibetan dialects spoken. Lhasa and the Tibet Autonomous Region have a television in the Tibetan language, which broadcasts 24 hours since the 24 1 st October 2007. At its inception in 1999, it issued only 11 hours a day 201 . There is a second string in the Tibetan language in Qinghai , outside the Autonomous Region 202 . Finally, a third satellite television channel, for the 2.4 million Tibetan Khampa dialect-speaking, was inaugurated on 28 October 2009 in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. It emits 6 h per day and a half 203 .
According to Elisabeth Martens “Since the 1980s, culture and religion of Tibet are practiced freely, children are bilingual, Tibetology institutes have been opened for young Tibetans, the monasteries are full of llamas (even young children), and in street, the faithful are happily turning their prayer wheels. There is no question of a “cultural genocide”, as we present here. In reality, the vast majority of the six million Tibetans wary of the Tibetan exile community is for them a danger of destabilization ” 204 .
In 2008, Professor Robert Barnett , of Columbia University in the U.S., says he must finish with the idea that the Chinese are malicious or trying to get rid of Tibet 205 . In an account of work he wrote for the magazine New York Review of Books , he evokes the question: “If the Tibetan culture inside Tibet is being swiftly annihilated, how is it that so many Tibetans inside Tibet still appear to have a more dynamic cultural life – witness the hundreds of literary magazines in Tibetan – than their counterparts exiles? ” 206 .
The issue of “stand by sinicization”

Main articles: sinicization Tibet , Tibet Colonization and Birth Control in Tibet .
The Tibetan exiles in Dharamsala emphasize that many Hans , the ethnic majority in China, came to settle in Tibet 207 , while at the same time, the Tibetans have difficulty finding work 208 .
The sinologist Jean-Luc Domenach believes that the Tibetan issue will be “resolved by settlement, as the Chinese, one way or another, will flood Tibet” 209 .
The White Paper published by the PRC government, the modernization and development of Tibet explain the arrival of Han workers 210 and Western specialists 211 . Since the introduction of market economy in 1992, according to Xinhua , every inhabitant of the PRC has the right to move freely in the country and work in the location of his choice 212 . According to Robert Marquand , Tibet is regarded by the Chinese as part of their country for thousands of years, they feel entitled to settle here 213 .
Human rights in Tibet

Main article: Human rights in Tibet .
Environment

Warning sign of high risk of fire in the protected park of Pota tso zang in Tibetan, Han Chinese and English.
Main article: Nuke Tibet .
The ecological balance of the Tibetan plateau is very fragile because of the climate and altitude that slow down the biological renewal. There is a biodiversity important locally comparable to the Amazon rainforest [ref. required] . Part of Tibet is still considered one of the last pristine ecological areas of our planet and is the northwestern Chang Tang or Tibetan plateau , south of the Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang . Michel Peissel the partially explored with his team 214 .
Tibetan areas range from high deserts to the best credit cards frozen steppe in the highlands, rainforests, and alpine meadows. They concern the Tibet Autonomous Region, bordering provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan, and Gansu province not adjacent.
Tibet is also the source of all major Asian rivers including the Ganges , the Salween , the Huang He (or Yellow River), the Mekong , the Brahmaputra , the Yangtze (or Yangtze), the Sutlej and the Indus , and are fed by an average rainfall of 100 mm in the north to over 1000 mm in the southeast, but with global warming , these rivers tend to dry up. Due to rainfall is very low in 2009 , hydro generation is expected to fall by 30%, which justified the construction of a 100 MW thermal power plant to power Lhasa 215 .
Safeguards
The government of the Tibet Autonomous Region banned highly polluting industrial projects and energy-intensive plants such as pulp and paper, as well as foundries, steel mills and chemical plants 216 .
The use of plastic bags, which dot the landscape the most beautiful in so many poor countries, is prohibited for twenty years in the Tibet Autonomous Region 217 .
Since 2011, Lhasa has a processing plant wastewater, designed to process 50,000 tons of sewage per day. For its construction, it took account of the high altitude, atmospheric pressure and low temperatures, scarcity of oxygen in Lhasa 218 .
Uranium mining in Gansu (1980-2002)
In 2002, the Ministry of State for the nuclear industry has closed uranium mine TEWO, located in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , in the province of Gansu (not bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region), which had was opened in 1980. According to the association Free Tibet and the citizens of Centre for Nuclear Disarmament , the radioactive material was handled incorrectly, causing a high number of cancers and birth defects among neighboring populations. The medical Tibetan awarded nearly half of all deaths in the region to a variety of cancers related to radiation and diseases of the immune system. Livestock also suffered from an unusually high mortality rate. The environment has become a barren land 219 , 220 .
Research center on nuclear weapons in Qinghai (1962-1987)
Near the shores of Lake Kokonor (District Haiyan , Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ), in Qinghai Province, Deng Xiaoping oversaw the construction of a research center for nuclear weapons in the early 1960′s called the Ninth Academy 221 . This is where, between 1958 and 1964, were developed as the first Chinese atomic bomb and two years later the first Chinese hydrogen bomb, which were tested 46 nuclear explosions at the site of Lop Nor in Xinjiang 222 .
Today, this database is declassified and opened to the public. Closed in 1987, it had been transferred to local government in 1993. One can visit parts: research laboratory, control room, production room and power room telegraph transmission. A museum was established at the base of Xihai. Hotels and restaurants were built in the village 223 , 224 .
Nuclear waste storage (Qinghai and Gansu)
In the car loans late 1970s , a uranium enrichment plant was built near the lake Kokonor , daily factory that produced nearly 400 kg of uranium. In the book Nuclear industry contemporary written by Li Jue, director of the Ninth Academy, the Chinese recognized that until 1991 , the plant Haiyan was always their main center of nuclear military research. Nuclear waste have long been stored in the lake itself and in the 1970s many children were nomads with leukemia and birth. Lake Kokonor , the largest saltwater lake in Tibet, is contaminated by radioactivity.
According to the Tibetan government in exile, the Chinese news agency Xinhua acknowledged that nuclear waste were deposited in Qinghai Province. On 19 July 1995 , she reported the existence of a deposit of 20 m 2 for radioactive pollutants in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Haibei , near the shores of Lake Kokonor 225 .
In 1993, China began construction of a central nuclear waste storage in an arid region of the province of Gansu , reported a dispatch agency Reuters . This center was supposed to have an initial storage capacity of 60,000 m 2 of radioactive waste, to be later increased to 200 000 m 2 . At the time, no details had been made ​​on the mode of processing and storage of radioactive waste 226 .
According to the Tibetan government in exile, there are many sites heavily contaminated by radioactivity in Tibet. However, the effects of radioactive contaminants in water discharged from the Tibetan plateau will be felt far beyond because ten of the largest rivers of Asia have their source there. In addition, high-altitude winds that blow in Tibet can carry radioactivity at great distances 227 . , 228 .
Natural Resources

Main articles: Economy of Tibet and colonization of Tibet .

Decorated yaks
Tibet has many natural resources including oil 229 in gas [ref. necessary] in bauxite , in tin , in Arsenic in coal , in jade , in sapphire , in quartz , with salt 230 in chromium in copper in borax , in uranium , with lithium , in iron , in gold , in money , in lead , in zinc and cobalt . The potential of mineral resources in Tibet is estimated at $ 78.4 billion 231 . Decided by Beijing, the opening of access routes and the exploitation of mineral deposits were often made ​​without consideration for the environment. The results are alarming levels of pollution affecting hydrography, soils and atmosphere 232 . , 233
Tibet is also the source of many rivers: the Yangtze , the Yellow River , the Mekong , the Indus , the Brahmaputra , the Salween , the Irrawaddy , the Sutlej and two tributaries of the Ganges : the Ghaghara and Gandaki . The potential hydraulic and hydropower is huge. 30% of China’s water resources would lie in Tibet 231 .
Forest areas once green as Kongpo southeast of Tibet, have been turned into a moonscape 234 . In 1949 , forests covered 222 000 km 2 , almost half the size of France. In 1989 , half the forest area was shaved 235 . A study by the World Watch Institute from 1998, deforestation reach 85% 236 . In 2000, it was estimated that 80 to 90% of the forests that protected the soil of the mountains upstream of the Yangtze Kiang basin were destroyed 237 .

Sorting bin in the nature park Pota Tso
Deforestation causes serious problems of erosion and landslides, and represents one of the causes of increasing levels of silt and sediment release of rivers like the Yangtze or Yellow River , which represents 10% of the release of sediment into the world 238 Some experts cited in particular by Tibet Information Network, the effects are now over Tibet and result in devastating floods in mainland China , in India and Bangladesh 239 , 240 . According to a 2000 report by the Ministry of Information and International Relations of the Tibetan government in exile , and a report from the National Center for Atmospheric Research , an American research institute, and Chinese scientists, the Chinese government recognized the role of the massive deforestation in the floods of 1998 , there were between 3,600 and 10,000 dead , 223 million affected and millions of homeless after the floods of Yangtze River 241 , 242 , 237
The Chinese government has established protected nature reserves, such as Pota tso National Park to preserve flora and fauna. Only yak breeders may exercise freely their work. Sightseeing tours are allowed, but under the vigilance of cleaning services, solar panels are used to produce the energy required for some installations, the sorting bins are systematic, the smoking cabins (the medium is highly flammable ) and green toilets are arranged there.
In March 2011, a regulation (38 items) on the protection of wetlands came into force in the Tibet Autonomous Region. It shall include the ecological protection of wetlands, the establishment of archives on these resources and not destroyed. Tibet, which has the largest area of wetlands in China, and is among the first provinces subject to protection in wetland 243 .
Teams fight against poaching have been implemented, as the patrol wild Kekexili who fight against poaching of Tibetan antelope as endangered, and whose work has resulted in a film designed to raise awareness Local.
Culture

Main articles: Tibetan Culture , Culture in Contemporary Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibet since 1950 .

Traditional houses of Kham
Traditional Tibetan Medicine
The traditional Tibetan medicine is one of the oldest medicines in the world. It uses up to two thousand types of plants and fifty minerals. One of the key figures in its development was the doctor Yutok Yonten Gonpo ( viii th century ), who wrote the ” Four Tantras medical “, the seminal work of traditional Tibetan medicine, integrating elements of different medicines Persia , of India and China . This book was later amended and supplemented by subsequent generations, including the 13 th descendant of Yutok Yonten Gonpo, Yuthok Yonten Gonpo Sarma, who added 18 medical books. One of his books contains tables depicting the surrender to the initial state of a broken bone or anatomic images of internal organs.
It is usually practiced by lamas, as Xianggelila .
Religion
Bon
Main article: Bon .
According Tibetologist Norwegian Per Kvaerne , the Bön means three different religious phenomena.
Firstly it is a religion existing in Tibetan Buddhism and is supplanted by the latter to viii th century and ix th century. The second meaning relates to a religion that appears to Tibet in the x th century – xi th century, Buddhism at that time, after a period of decadence, was spreading from the India to become the dominant faith. Until now the Bön continued to exist as a minority religion. Finally the word Bon is often used to refer to popular belief, often poorly defined, which are not of Buddhist origin and are common among Buddhists and Bonpos 244 .
Tibetan Buddhism
Main article: Tibetan Buddhism .
Tibet is the showcase of traditional Tibetan Buddhism , a distinctive form of Vajrayana , which is also connected to the Shingon , the Buddhist tradition in Japan. The Tibetan Buddhism is practiced not only in Tibet but also in Mongolia , the Republic of Buryatia , the Republic of Tuva , the Republic of Kalmykia and in Manchu 245 , 246 , 247 , 248 .
One of the funeral rites practiced by most Tibetans is the burial of the Air , by which the body of the deceased is offered to the vultures 249 .
Islam
Main article: Islam in Tibet .
In Tibetan cities, there are small Muslim communities, such as Kachee ( Kache ), hcg diet whose origins date back to immigrants from three main regions: the Kashmir ( Kachee Yul in ancient Tibetan), the Ladakh and the countries of Central Asia Turkish . Islamic influence in Tibet also came from Persia 250 .
After 1959, a group of Tibetan Muslims had applied for Indian citizenship because of their historical roots in Kashmir and the Indian government declared all Indian citizens Tibetan Muslims that year 251 .
There is also a well-established Chinese Muslim community ( gya kachee ), whose origins date back to the people of Hui , an ethnic group of China.
Christianity
Main articles: Christianity in Tibet and Jesuit mission in Tibet .
Buddhist monasteries
See List of Buddhist temples in Tibet

Mandala sand Tibet.
Monasteries and convents, fortresses (or dzongs)
Main article: Dzong in Tibet .
While in Bhutan, monasteries, fortresses or dzongs met religious power and political power, their Tibetan counterparts, however, were primarily an administrative role, the religious function being devolved to the great monasteries, forts thousands of monks, including Sera, Drepung around Lhasa and Ganden, Tashilhunpo in Shigatse and 252 .
The Potala Palace , former winter residence of Dalai Lamas , is one example of the forefront of the fortress monasteries of Tibet 253 . It appears in the UNESCO World Heritage .

Dob-dob , Lhasa, 1938
Tibetan monasteries, according to Tibetologist Lydia Aran , maintained private armies that were deployed in case of conflict with government or with other monasteries or sometimes even within schools competing within the same monastery. The monks called combat dob-dob monks accounted for 15% of large Gelukpa monasteries in and around Lhasa 254 . According to Stephanie Roemer , troops of the great monastic best led tv complexes of Sera, Drepung and Ganden had guns and ammunition and were competing figure of armed force and eclipsing the Tibetan army 255 .
Vicissitudes over the centuries
See Buddhist monasteries in Tibet
According to Elisabeth Martens , in 1617, during the civil war between Buddhists and Buddhist Gelukpa Karmapa, Karmapa’s monks-soldiers, backed by the army of the king of Ü, Lhasa began to fire and sword, and razed the monastery of Drepung 256 .
According to Sanderson Beck , during the incursion of a British expeditionary force in 1903-1904 , he was ordained to the British not to plunder but they used in performances and paintings in the monasteries which they resisted 257 . According to Roland Barraux , rumors of looting have led to discussions until the British Parliament, but the British army did not go to such extremes 55 . According to the 14 th Dalai Lama , the British are famous in the memory of Tibetans for not looted or destroyed Tibetan monasteries, unlike the invasion led by Zhao Erfeng few years later, 258 , 259 .
In 1914, under the 13 th Dalai Lama , the monastery of Tengyeling was deprived of funding and transformed a school of medicine and Tibetan astrology (by Sanderson Beck), or demolished (by Heinrich Harrer ) for collusion with the Chinese and General Zhao Erfeng 260 . The traitors were banished and the remaining monks were divided among various monasteries 261 .
In 1947, during the government crackdown against supporters of the former regent Reting Rinpoche , the monastery of Sera was shelled by mortars of the Tibetan army and attacked, which cost the lives of about 200 monks. The buildings were completely looted by soldiers, so that for weeks valuables reappeared in the shops of Lhasa 262 , 263 .
Controversy over the number of destructions (1950-1960)
In their book On the margins of Tibet 264 , Åshild Kolas, Monika P. Thowsen indicate that there were, according to Tibetan archives, 5,542 monasteries in the Tibetan Plateau before 1958, including 3,897 outside the current borders of the autonomous region (or 1645 for it). They add, on the basis of Chinese records, that in Tibetan areas as part of Sichuan, Gansu, Yunnan and Qinghai, many monastic buildings were demolished, others were simply abandoned and left without maintenance, others were converted into schools, warehouses, even in homes.
There is no census of the monasteries and holy places Bankruptcy of Tibet have suffered destruction, noted that the author of a mapping project in Tibet: “If we say that more than 2,000 monasteries and holy places were destroyed by Red Guards [...], no one can provide a list or locate on a map ” 265 .
After the Chinese intervention in 1950-1951 , according to the Tibetan government in exile , more than 6,000 monasteries were destroyed [citation needed] 266 , including some on the occasion of the bombing of the Chinese army against the Tibetan resistance [citation needed ] 267 and others during the Cultural Revolution by Tibetan Red Guards. According to Laurent Deshayes , from the Great Leap Forward (1958), the central government strengthened its policies in Tibet: the Communists turn the monasteries into barracks or administrative buildings and more rarely in hospitals 268 .
In June 1959, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), an association whose training was funded by the CIA as an instrument of the Cold War, unbeknownst to most of its members 269 , mentions in particular the destruction monasteries as a basis for concluding a commitment to eradicate religious beliefs in violation of the 17-Point Agreement on the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet [citation needed] 270 .
In early 1980, the American journalist Fox Butterfield reports that Chinese officials informed him that before 1959 there were 2464 monasteries in Tibet, and after the Cultural Revolution , he remained in more than 10. They mentioned in particular that one of them, Ganden , the third largest and contained 10,000 monks, had simply disappeared 271 , 272 .
The Institute of Buddhist Monastery and Serthar Yachen Gar (2001)
According to the International Campaign for Tibet , an organization working for Tibetan independence 273 , the Institute of Buddhist Serthar (also called Gar Buddhist Institute of Larung or Larong Gar ), founded in 1980 by Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok in the region of prefecture Garze Tibetan Autonomous , near the city of xian Sertar (in Chinese Seda ), was razed in the summer of 2001 . The approximately 8,000 students were expelled and about 2,000 houses destroyed under the supervision of armed police and military teams. Due to the trauma caused to the nuns, some of them committed suicide 274 . According to Pierre-Yves Ginet, within months, Larung Gar was destroyed at 70% and the religious “excess” expelled 275 .
Restoration of religious architectural heritage
In twenty years (until 2011), the central government and the Tibet Autonomous Region have spent 700 million yuan, more than 100 million of dollars for conservation and restoration of over 1400 temples, monasteries and palaces 276 .
Wang Lixiong indicates that Tibetans are not grateful for this investment. They interpret this “gesture as an admission that the monasteries had been destroyed by the Chinese” 277
Tibetan art
Tibetan art is intrinsically linked to Tibetan Buddhism : this explains why works generally represent Buddhist deities in various forms ranging from gilded bronze statues and shrines to thangkas and mandalas from colored sand.
The arts Regong , born in what is now the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Huangnan , were registered in 2009 on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity 278 .
The sculpture of gilded bronze statuettes is called Sino-Tibetan art.
Architecture

The Potala Palace
The Tibetan religious architecture has undergone Oriental and Indian influences, and reflects the approach profoundly Buddhist . The Buddhist wheel, the two dragons, can be seen on almost every monastery in Tibet. Design chortens Tibetan may vary from rounded walls in car insurance comparison Kham to square shapes and four-sided walls in Ladakh .

Tower ten meters high, turned by the monks and Buddhist visitors to Zhongdian , Xianggelila .
The Tibetan architecture is characterized by frequent construction of homes and monasteries on high, sunny sites facing south, and by the combination of various materials: stone, wood, cement and earth. Construction techniques used to overcome the scarcity of fuels used for heating: flat roofs to preserve heat and multiple windows to let in sunlight. The walls are usually inclined ten degrees inward and supported by large pillars made of trunks of massive trees, as a precaution against earthquakes, common in this mountainous area.
With its 117 meters high and 360 meters in width, the Potala Palace is considered the most important example of Tibetan palace architecture. Formerly the residence of the Dalai Lama , it contains more than one thousand pieces spread over thirteen floors and houses the tombs of the Dalai Lamas and past statues of Buddha. It is divided into an outer White Palace, which housed the administrative districts, and interiors Red Districts, which housed the meeting hall of the Lamas, chapels, 10,000 shrines and a large library of Buddhist scriptures. There is a small Potala in Zhongdian , southeast of the Tibetan Plateau in Yunnan Province, in the autonomous region of Xianggelila .
Music
Main article: Tibetan Music .

Musicians in the streets of Ladakh in India ‘s northeast.
The Tibetan music reflects the cultural heritage of the Himalayan region, centered in Tibet but also in regions where there are ethnic Tibetans : in India , to Bhutan , to Nepal and abroad. It is above all religious, reflecting the profound influence of Tibetan Buddhism on the culture, although many shamanic elements persist.
Tibetan music in the form of songs in Tibetan or Sanskrit , is an integral part of religion. These songs complex, often recitations of sacred texts, are also practiced during the celebration of various festivals. The song yang, performed without time measurement, is accompanied by drums and low, sustained syllables. There are also styles specific to various schools of Tibetan Buddhism, such as classical music popular Gelugpa , and romantic music of the Nyingma , Sakya and Kagyu .
Another form of popular music is the classic Gar , who is running for the rites and ceremonies. Music Lu uses a type of songs that have glottal vibrations and acute. There is also the hero of epic songs of Tibet, as the epic of Gesar of Ling .
Festivals

The Monlam , the Great Prayer Festival.
Tibet has various festivals in general in honor of Buddha. Losar is the Tibetan New Year Festival and was followed by the Prayer Festival Monlam which takes place during the first Tibetan month, the second festival involves a lot Tibetans gathered to dance, participate in sporting events and sharing picnics.
Traditional Tibetan education

Before the organization of education is totally transformed by the Chinese in the year 1950 two hundred seventy-nine , but also by Tibetan exiles in India whose teaching attracts a significant number of young Tibetans into exile 280 , three modes of collective teaching coexisted in Tibet: teaching Buddhist monasteries provided in the official education organized by the Tibetan government and private education last 281 , 282 .
The teaching manual trades were performed most frequently by transmission from father to son, but also by internal training workshops in 283 .
Although there are no precise statistics on the number of schools and the number of students in Buddhist monasteries, it is certain that this form of education was largely predominant, but it did not take into load a part of Tibetan children, who were sent by their parents to become monks, 284 , 285 , 286 , a figure of less than 2% of school children is advanced by Chinese sources 287 . According to the Tibetan government in exile , before 1959 , there were 592,000 monks 288 , while the number of nuns were 27 000 289 , totaling nearly 10% of all Tibetans . These schools give to students, young Buddhist monks and nuns, a religious, philosophical and artistic, and also taught them to read and write the Tibetan language and the basics of traditional Tibetan medicine and Tibetan calendar 290 .
Official education, organized by the Tibetan government around three main centers, was designed primarily to train future leaders of the country, to that of doctors and specialists in astronomical calendar. Tse School, located at the top of the Potala Palace and founded by 7 th Dalai Lama , formed the cadres of the Tibet government . Graduates of this school who wanted to work in the public were to follow further education in a religious school. The secular officials were mainly trained in the school of Tse 291 . According to the Chinese government, future leaders were almost all from noble families 292 , while the medical studies were open to all 293 .
According to Chinese sources, there was one school of management training for lay people, located in Lhasa , which had about twenty students and two schools for religious, one in Lhasa and one in Xigaze . Teaching future managers included secular ethics, grammar and writing the language of Tibet , the composition of official documents and techniques for calculating and collecting taxes. The religious education of future leaders included religious ceremonies, Buddhist scriptures and objects, Tibetan grammar, composition of official documents and mathematics 294 , 295 .
The education of future specialists in medicine and Tibetan astronomical calendar was issued by several schools, including the Institute of Tibetan Medicine Chakpori founded in the xvii th century by the 5 th Dalai Lama and his regent Sangye Gyatso , which was destroyed in 1959 by the Chinese army 296 , and the Men-Tsee-Khang in Lhasa , founded in 1916 by the 13 th Dalai Lama , Thubten Gyatso 297 , 294 , 298 . This facility will be closed by the Communists, and Tibetan doctors as Tenzin Choedrak imprisoned.
Noble or wealthy families had frequent recourse to tutors who were responsible for educating their children at home. In the major cities (including Lhasa , Shigatse , Zedang and Gyangze ), private schools were created. These, among a dozen in the 1840s , have multiplied to reach the hundred in the Republic of China . Lhasa City were at least twenty private schools renowned as Dakang or Gyiri 295 , 298 , 299 . The British opened a clinic in the town of Gyantse after the signing of the treaties resulting from their military intervention of 1904 . It is in this same city in 1923 , the 13 th Dalai Lama established the first English school , which had to close in 1926 , according to Jerome Edou and Rene Vernadet because of opposition from the monasteries 300 , 301 . The attempt to achieve universal primary education desired by the 13 th Dalai Lama , Thubten Gyatso when he returned from exile in India after the fall of the Qing Dynasty of China in 1911 . He decided to institute a compulsory education of the Tibetan language for all children aged 7 to 15 years, but was met with opposition from the monasteries 294 . An English school was opened in Lhasa in 1944 , but this attempt was also short-lived, however, that some Tibetans send their children to Western schools in India 302 , 303 , 304 .
Modern Tibetan education

Main articles: Education in Tibet and Education in the Tibet Autonomous Region .
According to Ma Rong , a modern education system is beginning to be implemented, mainly from 1959. However, he was interrupted from 1966, because of the cultural revolution . It was not until 1976 that it is restored. In the quarter century following, the Tibet Autonomous Region to acquire a comprehensive educational system, from primary school to university 305 . According to Michael Harris Goodman , residents of Lhasa saw Plastic Bins that the Chinese primary schools newly opened (in 1950) were instruments of Tibetan anti-Communist propaganda 306 .

‘Free Tibet’ protest, London, March 10, 2012 (Video 4). Vic Stefanu, vstefanu@yahoo.com

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More than 200 pro-Tibet activists rally in Los Angeles to protest against China’s leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping’s visit, which comes as residents and rights groups report a clampdown inside Tibet. Duration: 01:13

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