4. november
Græsningsarealer omdannes til græsland i Tibet
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4638726
Lhasa, Nov. 3, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency
) -- Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region has made big progresses in effectively restraining the degeneration of grassland by launching projects of returning grazing land to grassland.
According to sources with the Department of Agriculture and animal Husbandry of Tibet, the region has converted 68.41 million mu (about 4.56 million hectares, 15 mu equal to one hectare) into grassland since it started the returning grazing land to grassland program in 2004.
The move has also helped local farmers and herdsmen increase income by joining production of the secondary and tertiary industries. Currently, the returning grazing land to grassland program has been carried out in 27 counties of seven prefectures or cites. T The region has taken such measures as grazing prohibition, enclosure feeding and reseeding the grassland.
They have turned 12.3 million mu grazing land into grassland this year.
The project areas involved 86,000 herdsman households in end of 2009, and had 13.44 million heads of domestic animals in stock, accounting for 56 percent of the total in the region.
Statistics indicate that the combined investment in the returning grazing land to grassland program amounted to 1.57 billion yuan from 2004 to 2009, including 1.15 billion yuan from the central government and 420 million yuan from local government. (Edited by Li Hualing and Zhang Yadong)
3. november
Kina forbereder ny 'invasion' af turister til Tibet
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/asia/china-unleashes-tourism-in-latest-invasion-of-tibet-2123563.html
By Clifford Coonan in Beijing
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Wealthy tourists will soon be able to gaze out at the Roof of the World as a smartly dressed waiter expertly pours a glass of imported wine in the intimate setting of the Decanter bar of Tibet's first luxury hotel.
For centuries an isolated, mystical enclave ruled by Tibetan Buddhist monks, Lhasa – the administrative centre of the Tibet Autonomous Region – has changed profoundly since Chinese troops entered in 1950 and imposed the dominant Han Chinese culture on the ancient territory.
The introduction in recent years of regular flights, as well as the building of a high-tech train service from central Qinghai province to Tibet – the first rail link between the area and the rest of China – has seen tourists arrive in droves to the city where, historically, neither foreigners nor Chinese dared enter.
The surge of tourists to the Himalayan region has seen visitor numbers jump during the first nine months of 2010 to 5.8 million, up 23 per cent on the same period a year earlier.
And newly wealthy Chinese want luxury accommodation. "The St Regis Lhasa Resort offers refined luxury and superlative service in a storied city," gushes the breathless blurb on the St Regis website. "Discover Potala Palace and Norbulingka, UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Jokhang Temple, all minutes from our resort."
A room for the night at Lhasa's newest place to stay will set you back about £200. The Intercontinental and Shangri-La hotel groups are also about to unveil high-end luxury hotels in coming months.
But the opening up of the region has not been seamless. In March 2008, violent protests focused on Han Chinese settlers in the region left 22 dead, according to government figures, although Tibetan rights groups say the figure was far higher. Officials blamed protest activity across the plateau on separatists loyal to the Dalai Lama.
There is a heavy police presence on the streets of Lhasa and hardline measures have been put in place to maintain religious and political stability.
Lhasa used to be one of the most remote and inaccessible places in the world, but Beijing has been keen to promote the city as a tourist destination.
"The opening of St Regis ends Tibet's history of no luxury hotels. High-end hotels will help boost Tibet's tourism," Wang Songping, deputy chief of the Tibetan Tourism Administration, told the Xinhua news agency.
Beijing says the People's Liberation Army rescued Tibetans from a feudal system run by Buddhist monks and insists the remote Himalayan territory has been part of Chinese territory for centuries.
It accuses the Dalai Lama, who left Tibet after a failed uprising in 1959 and has not returned since, of being a dangerous "splittist," agitating for independence. The Chinese government says it is bringing prosperity to a traditionally impoverished area. It has started a huge building programme and says it has done much to lift the enclave out of isolation.
Tibetan activists have warned that tourism and migration by Han Chinese could swamp Tibet's distinctive culture, with Tibetan people not receiving their fair share of new jobs and income.
But the hotel is less concerned with the politics and more interested in promoting its image as a go-to destination.
"Four meeting rooms surpass your expectations, while Iridium, the Spa, brings a uniquely Tibetan flavour to a soothing array of indulgent treatments," promises the brochure.
Overseas groups who demand Tibet's autonomy say the opening up of the region could lead to an influx of ethnic Han Chinese migrants who will eventually displace Tibetans in their own homeland.
For Chinese tourists, Tibet has a spiritual dimension which people feel is missing from the Han areas of China and the cities on the eastern seaboard. Chinese tourists don Tibetan cowboy hats and robes and seek to share in the spirituality that the mystical Tibetans are supposed to exude.
The hotel features 162 guest rooms and villas with plasma TV, broadband and spacious marble bathrooms.
"Our St Regis Butler will address your every request for an unforgettable stay," the hotel promises.
21. oktober
Tibetanske studerende protesterer mod kinesisk sprogpolitik. Øget kinesiske sikkerhedsforanstaltninger i tibetanske byer
Following large protests, Chinese authorities dispatch security personnel to Tibetan areas.
HONG KONG—Chinese authorities in the remote western province of Qinghai dispatched large numbers of security personnel to Tibetan areas following large-scale student protests over education policies this week.
Local sources said thousands of Tibetan high school and college students took part in the demonstrations on Monday and Tuesday in Tsolho (in Chinese, Hainan) and Rebkong (in Chinese, Tongren) amid fears they will be forced to adopt a Chinese-language-only curriculum.
An official who answered the phone at the Rebkong county education department said there were no demonstrations on Thursday.
"Things are calm now," she said, but declined to comment further. "You should ask my boss these questions," she said.
A monk at the Longwu temple who took part in the demonstrations said there were dozens of army vehicles and personnel still on the streets Wednesday, according to exiled Tibetan sources.
"There are large numbers of them, but we can't be sure of the exact number," said Dzoege, a researcher at the International Campaign for Tibet. "We only know that there were between 20 and 30 army trucks."
The protest began on Tuesday, sparked by students from the Tongren County No.1 Middle School. They shouted slogans such as "Racial equality! Free education!" as they marched.
Teachers protest monk participation
The monk said that when he and others from the Longwu monastery joined the march, some of the teachers at the scene objected, saying the issue was an educational one, not a political one.
An official who answered the phone at the Rebkong country education department said that all the top-level officials were out dealing with the incident.
Authorities on Wednesday moved to calm tensions as the protests spread.
A local governor addressed students and assured them that the Tibetan language would remain in the school curriculum even though an official document said the Chinese language would be the main language of instruction.
The education department official said the authorities had not backtracked on the plan to use Chinese in schools.
"No, we haven't [changed our language policy in response to the protest]," she said.
"Classes are still running normally," she said, adding that the high school students who protested were "unlikely" to be punished for taking part.
Calls to the Rebkong county police department went unanswered during office hours on Wednesday.
'Kicking up a fuss'
An employee who answered the phone at the Telecommunications Guesthouse in Rebkong's county seat said the march was not as large as 1,000 students.
Estimates of protest size given by Tibetan sources ranged from as low as 1,000 to as high as 5,000-8,000.
"There weren't very many people. They were all from a single school," she said. "Before, Tibetan was the main medium of instruction, and now it will only be an available subject, and Chinese will be the main language of instruction."
"That's why they are kicking up a fuss."
A local resident surnamed Lan said Chinese had been the main language of instruction in all the schools he had attended in the region.
"There is a school here which specializes in Chinese-medium teaching, and one which specializes in Tibetan-language instruction," Lan said.
"You can be taught in Tibetan or Chinese from year one, as if it's your native tongue."
"A lot of the Tibetans here are herders. Of course they can't understand Chinese," Lan added.
U.S.-based Chinese political analyst Wang Juntao said a number of misunderstandings had occurred between Tibetans and Han Chinese during the Tibetan unrest of 2008.
"We all know that the language you use to teach people in a given country or region is a clear sign of ethnic identity," Wang said.
"If all the teaching gets done in Mandarin, with Tibetan relegated to the status of special subject, then that's probably going a bit far," he said.
China "otherizing" ethnic groups
Dawa Tsering, spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile based in northern India, said the Chinese government appeared to be in the process of "otherizing" different ethnic groups in China.
"There has been a long-running dissatisfaction of this kind in Tibet," he said. "Now, some Tibetan students are standing up ... because previously they were teaching dialectical materialism and Marxism ... but they were doing it in Tibetan."
"The Chinese government can't tolerate this," he said. "There is a direct connection between [this protest] and cultural and religious freedoms."
The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, has accused Beijing of perpetrating "cultural genocide" in Tibet.
Beijing has run a high-profile "patriotic education" campaign among Tibetans since unrest spread across Tibetan regions from Lhasa in March 2008, requiring local people to denounce the Dalai Lama, whom the government rejects as a "splittist."
Original reporting in Cantonese by Bi Zimo, and in Mandarin by Tang Qiwei and Qiao Long. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
______________
Language protests spread among Tibetan students
(AP) – 22 October
BEIJING (AP) — Demonstrations have spread among Tibetan students angered by reports that Beijing plans to make Chinese the only language of instruction in schools, an activist group said Friday.
The protest marches, which began earlier this week in the town of Tongren, have spread to nearby areas in the western province of Qinghai, which is home to numerous minority ethnic groups, including Tibetans and Mongolians, who retain their own languages.
The London-based group Free Tibet said hundreds, possibly thousands, of students joined the demonstrations. No arrests or violence were reported.
Qiang Wei, the province's Communist Party chief, was quoted last month by the party newspaper praising the use of a "common language" in school. Students fear that means that the current bilingual system will be scrapped in favor of the use of Chinese alone, except in language classes.
A report on Qinghai's plans for educational reform over the next decade, was even more explicit, saying "the nations common language must become the language of instruction."
The use of the Tibetan language is tied up with the region's political struggles: Many Tibetans argue they have traditionally been self-governing and that Chinese policies are wrecking their traditional Buddhist culture. But the issue is complicated because while many Tibetans feel threatened by development and Han migration, some hope also that their children master Chinese in order to obtain better jobs.
Beijing defends its policies, saying they spur economic growth in the largely poor areas, but has used a heavy hand to enforce its rule. Traditionally Tibetan areas such as Tongren that lie outside the official Tibetan Autonomous Region have been under intense security following widespread anti-government rioting in the spring of 2008. They remain among China's most restive regions, with a heavy security presence keeping a close eye on residents.
On Tuesday, students, joined in some cases by Buddhist monks, went from school to school in Tongren carrying signs and chanting slogans calling for equality among ethnic groups and the right to learn in Tibetan.
Teachers at area schools had confirmed the protests and said classes resumed soon afterward.
However, calls Friday to more than a dozen government offices, police stations and schools in Tongren and surrounding towns were answered by people who either refused to discuss the matter or claimed the marches didn't happen — a likely sign that the local government has ordered a news blackout about them.
Free Tibet said the local governor and education department visited a teacher's college in Tongren on Wednesday and threatened to expel students who organize additional marches.
8. august
jordskred dræber mindst 80 i det østlige tibet
se også http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10905399
At least 80 people have been killed in landslides triggered by heavy rain in north-west China and 2,000 are missing, say reports on state-run media.
The landslides hit a mainly Tibetan area in Gansu province.
The landslides buried a number of houses and blocked a river which has swollen to flood a wide area, said officials in Zhouqu county.
More than 1,000 people have been killed this year in floods that have affected much of central and southern China.
Soldiers have been despatched to the hilly area to look for survivors, as Prime Minister Wen Jiabao headed to the area to oversee rescue operations.
About 19,000 people living downstream from the landslide blocking the river have been evacuated.
The landslides struck late on Saturday after torrential rains, the official Xinhua news agency said, and a small hydro-electric power station was destroyed.
8.august
113 meldes dræbt i springflod i ladakh
Flash floods kill 113 in Ladakh
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------
Fri Aug 6, 2010 10:20pm IST
http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-50673120100806
By Sheikh Mushtaq
SRINAGAR India (Reuters) - Overnight flash floods killed at least 113
people around the main town of India´s Himalayan region of Ladakh,
officials said on Friday, and soldiers have been dispatched for rescue
operations.
The region borders Pakistan, where the worst floods in 80 years have
swept through the country, killing over 1,600, devastating the lives of
12 million people and dealing a blow to the agrarian-based economy.
Indian officials said dozens of people were missing after the floods,
triggered by heavy rains, sent mudslides tumbling down on houses,
telephone towers and government buildings in Leh town -- in the state
of Jammu and Kashmir.
Witnesses said hundreds of houses, government buildings and the main
bus station were flattened. Sections of the main highway were washed
away, cutting off the Buddhist-dominated region.
"Flashfloods and mudslides caught people unawares during the night and
washed away their homes," said Nawang Rigzin Jora, Kashmir´s tourism
minister.
An army spokesman said more than 6,000 Indian soldiers were conducting
rescue and relief work in the region, which also shares borders with
China.
"So far several hundred have been rescued by the army, 270 civilian
causalities have been admitted in the army hospital," a defence
ministry statement said.
Many tourists -- who travel to the region for adventure sports such as
white water rafting -- were stranded.
Leh town, dotted with Buddhist monasteries, lies at an altitude of
3,505 metres (11,499 feet).
"Sheets of water poured in after the cloudburst last night, washing
away mud and stone structures that came in its way," a police spokesman
said by telephone from Leh.
(Additional reporting by Ashok Pahalwan; Editing by Rina Chandran and
Ron Popeski)
(For more news on Reuters India, click in.reuters.com)
25. juni
Den tibetanske miljøaktivist Karma Samdrup er blevet i dømt 15 års fængsel tilsyneladende helt uden fornuftig begrundelse
se kort film med Karma på
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e80dyGbYkE&feature=related
International Campaign for Tibet har udsendt følgende baggrundsrapport.
Fears for three environmentalist brothers as 'gaunt' Karma Samdrup on trial
after torture
ICT report, June 24, 2010
There are fears for the safety of a leading Tibetan environmentalist and
philanthropist, Karma Samdrup, his two brothers, two cousins, other
relatives and supporters in a major case in which prominent Tibetans have
been targeted and imprisoned despite no evidence of political activities.
The three brothers, who are now all in custody and facing charges, had been
regarded as model citizens and previously acclaimed in the Chinese state-run
media for their environmental and cultural work.
Karma Samdrup, a 42-year old businessman, well-known collector of Tibetan
art and founder of the award-winning Three Rivers Environmental Protection
Group, appeared in court yesterday in Xinjiang. He was detained following
unsuccessful efforts to secure the release of his two brothers, Chime
Namgyal and Rinchen Samdrup, who were imprisoned on August 7 2009 after
their efforts to conserve wildlife in their home area of Chamdo (Chinese:
Changdu) Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region clashed with the local
authorities, according to reports from Tibetans.
Karma Samdrup's wife and lawyer told the Associated Press (AP, June 22,
2010), that he had appeared in court in Yanqi County, Xinjiang, looking
"gaunt and shrunken" during Tuesday's opening session. They also said that
he told the court that during months of interrogation, officers beat him,
deprived him of sleep for days on end, and drugged him with a substance that
made his eyes and ears bleed.
In a remarkable blog written after her attendance at the trial and posted
online today, Karma Samdrup's wife Dolkar Tso [Chinese transliteration:
Zhengga Cuo] wrote: "[When speaking in court he] paused for a while, 'Today
my friends and relatives are here, and there is probably a lot I shouldn't
say.' The account we heard afterwards exceeded our worst imaginations, we
heard about hundreds of different cruel torture methods, maltreatment around
the clock, hitherto unheard of torture instruments and drugs, hard and soft
tactics, and even of fellow prisoners being grouped together to extract a
confession. If he did not reveal certain details he would be mentally
tormented. If he wanted to eat or go to the toilet he had to write an 'IOU',
an 'IOU' which has already amounted to 660,000 RMB ($ 96,864). The
'purchased' food would first be crushed by people using their feet, there
would be beatings for no reason, this was common and occurred too many times
to count. He said in a sad voice that he had already prepared for death and
he had written a letter to tell his relatives what to do. Two elderly
interpreters had red eyes and started crying bitterly." The blogpost,
entitled "Praying" is translated from the Chinese by the website High Peaks
Pure Earth, http://www.highpeakspureearth.com. Karma Samdrup's mother
'beaten unconscious' during detention of brothers
As concerns about the three brothers' situation increased in the context of
an intense security crackdown in Tibet, new information has reached ICT
about other Tibetans linked to the case. Their cousin, Sonam Choephel, has
been sentenced to one and a half years of re-education through labor (RTL)
for petitioning in December last year in Beijing against the detention of
Rinchen and Chime. Twenty villagers from Gonjo (Chinese: Gongjue) in Chamdo,
the brothers' home area, were detained in Chamdo, interrogated and tortured
for 40 days after they went to Beijing to petition against the brothers'
detention.
The whereabouts of another cousin, a monk called Rinchen Dorje, following
his detention by police in March, is unclear. Rinchen Dorje, a Tibetan
Buddhist monk who speaks Chinese, had acted as Karma Samdrup's interpreter
in 1998 when he was purchasing antiques in Xinjiang. He is believed to have
been detained in March this year and taken to Xinjiang initially. He was
then taken by the authorities to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) after an
alleged escape attempt, according to Tibetan sources in contact with people
in the area. When his relatives tried to find him in the TAR, they were
unable to locate him within the prison or the justice system there.
Karma Samdrup's mother, who is in her seventies, was beaten unconscious by
police led by an Party official from Chamdo prefecture called Chen Yue
during the raid in which Rinchen Samdrup and Chime Namgyal were being taken
into custody from the family home in August, 2009.
Rinchen Samdrup's trial 'postponed'
Rinchen Samdrup, 44, Karma Samdrup's older brother, was originally due to go
on trial on Thursday in Chamdo on a "state security" offence but the trial
was abruptly cancelled, according to Chinese lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who is
representing Karma Samdrup.
Rinchen Samdrup was detained from his home with his younger brother Chime
Namgyal, after they accused local officials in their home area of poaching
endangered species. There are fears that Rinchen Samdrup will receive a long
sentence. Since his detention in August, 2009, he has been detained in the
Chamdo Detention Center. According to Tibetan and Chinese sources familiar
with the case, when his family enquired about his whereabouts last month,
the court responded that his case had been already submitted to the courts
in Lhasa. When his Beijing-based lawyer, Xia Jun, then traveled to Lhasa
from Beijing to ask about the case, he was told by the Lhasa courts that
they had not received any details.
Two articles in People's Daily and Beijing Youth News profile Rinchen
Samdrup for winning awards for his environmental conservation work from the
Ford Motor Company Conservation and Environment Protection Grants
(China).(http://www.chinatibetnews.com/huanbao/2010-01/12/content_384895.htm
). Both of these articles were published even while Rinchen Samdrup was in
detention. An acclaimed book by the leading environmental journalist Liu
Jianqing profiled the work and life of both Karma Samdrup and Rinchen, the
most recent being Tianzhu, "Heavenly Beads", published by the TAR
government's own printing house in Lhasa last year. Karma and Rinchen's
environmental organization also won a million yuan (around $130,000) grant
as a "Model Project" from the One Foundation, a charity created by the
Chinese martial art movie star Jet Li.
There are also concerns for the welfare of Chime Namgyal, who has been
tortured while serving a 21-month re-education through labor sentence for
"harming national security" according to Tibetan sources in the area. Just
over a week ago, Chime Namgyal's health deteriorated dramatically and he was
sent to hospital. According to the same sources, he cannot walk or eat on
his own, and detention center staff feared he would die in custody.
The re-education through labor management committee from Chamdo Prefecture
alleged that Chime Namgyal had set up an "illegal" environmental
organization that "illegally collected three digital disks of information
and video footage about the environment, the natural resources and the
religion of Changdu prefecture Š provided pictures and material for the
illegal publication 'Forbidden Mountain, Prohibited Hunting', illegally
possessed reactionary propaganda materials from the Dalai clique abroad and
organized the local residents into irregular petitioning of the authoritiesŠ
therefore severely interfering with state power organizations at the local
level and effectively harming social stability." (ICT translation from the
Chinese RTL document).
Karma Samdrup, who appeared in court yesterday in Xinjiang, is being held on
what are regarded as trumped-up charges for excavating and robbing ancient
tombs - a charge initially brought and allowed to drop in 1998. The
environmentalist and philanthropist, also known as the "King of Heavenly
Beads" for his important collection of Tibetan cultural artifacts, was
arrested in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, in early January. He
was taken to Xinjiang because this is where the charges originated.
The lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang, has told foreign reporters based in Beijing that he
did not know why the charges had resurfaced after so long, saying: "He
wasn't really expecting it. This case was many years ago and at that time
the Xinjiang police had already made a decision recognizing Karma Samdrup
was not guilty and the grave robbers (who were)Šhave already been punished."
(Reuters, June 1). Although the trial is being held in Xinjiang, some
informed observers believe that it is the Tibet Autonomous Region
authorities driving the proceedings, due to local officials' interests being
challenged by the brothers' environmental work.
Pu Zhiqiang has also expressed serious concern about obstacles presented by
the authorities in Karma Samdrup's case, which Human Rights Watch has
categorized as repeated violations of China's own criminal procedure law. He
was denied the right to meet anyone, including his wife and his lawyers, for
more than six months after his arrest, and the court refused to allow Karma
Samdrup's lawyers to photocopy the 70-page prosecution file to prepare his
defense, insisting that they only copy excerpts (Human Rights Watch report,
June 10,
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/06/10/china-drop-charges-against-tibetan-env
ironmental-philanthropist).
In a letter to the court, lawyer Pu Zhiqiang wrote: "It should be said that
even though we overcame many hardships and have striven to 'complement' the
work of the court, ultimately because the case is complex, and because it is
from long ago and because the case file is confused, we encountered
bottlenecks in the practice of our profession and face extremely serious
difficulties." (Translation from the Chinese by ICT, reproduced in a
blogpost of June 3 at
http://woeser.middle-way.net/2010/06/blog-post_411.html).
In her blogpost today about the court proceedings, Karma Samdrup's wife
writes: "The lawyer also almost started crying. During the afternoon trial,
the submission of evidence and translations was an endless process, endless
but extraordinary. All of the evidence that was 'temporarily put aside', to
my understanding, contained many loopholes and contradictions. Even the
lawyers seemed to think that much was illegal in the procedures and they
raised their doubts. It was just a pity that the panel discarded them as
'unrelated to the respective issue' or said that 'this has already been
clarified'."
(http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2010/06/praying-blogpost-by-dolkar-tso-wi
fe-of.html).
The cases are in the context of a deepening crackdown in Tibet in which
almost many expressions of Tibetan identity or support for Tibetan culture
can be accused of being 'reactionary' or 'splittist'. For the first time
since the Cultural Revolution intellectuals and prominent figures in the
community are being targeted more systematically for their work or views.
The cases of the three brothers are different to previous Tibetan political
cases, which have involved some form of protest or dissent - there is no
evidence of any political activities or even of opposition to mines or
corporations by Karma Samdrup, Rinchen Samdrup or Chime Namgyal. (Also see
ICT report
http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/raging-storm-crackdow
n-tibetan-writers-and-artists-after-tibets-spring-2008-protests).
Kendt tibetansk forfatter Woeser fortæller om sit møde med Karma Samdrup
Remembering the First Time I met Karma Samdrup - By Woeser
A number of days ago, Human Rights Watch submitted a report to the Chinese government requesting to rescind the accusations against the philanthropist and environmentalist of the Tibetan people, Karma Samdrup and his brothers. It states: ?these people embody the characteristics the government says it wants in modern Tibetans ? economically successful, lending support to only approved cultural and environmental pursuits, and apolitical ? yet they, too, are being treated as criminals.? This made me remember when I first met Karma Samdrup. It was one day in May 1998; I had travelled from Lhasa to Chengdu for business and at the entrance of the Chenghua District Government, to my surprise, I saw a group of Tibetans quietly sitting on newspapers, bamboo or plastic mats, they looked exhausted and their clothes were tatty but one glance was sufficient to see their anger and grievance. I went over to speak to them; I wanted to know why they were there. Right at this moment, Karma appeared carrying two large boxes of bottled mineral water.
Originally, those Tibetans were trading with Chinese caterpillar fungus, most of them were Khampas from eastern Tibet but some also came from the Ngaba grasslands of Amdo. After the caterpillar fungus season the year before, they had brought more than 5000 kilos of caterpillar fungus to sell, which had been collected by over 7000 families to Chengdu. All of their merchandise was collected by some Pharmaceutical Company belonging to the Chenghua District Government. It had been agreed that payment would be made on a certain day. But when it came to that day, the boss of the Pharmaceutical Company had vanished into thin air and the 5000 kilos of caterpillar fungus had also disappeared without a trace. When the traders saw the altogether almost 40 million RMB coming to naught, they were burning with impatience because they had taken the fungus from the local villagers merely on the basis of goodwill and promise, as it is traditionally done. So the hard working villagers looked forward to promptly receiving the money to take back home. Some of them had to settle many urgent payments. For those traders who don?t do big business, their entire belongings are at stake. In addition, 15 million RMB was loaned from the bank and another 5 million RMB was taken from the poverty alleviation funds. Thus, they had no alternative but to stay in Tibetan places around the Chengdu Office, demanding payment every day. But after countless months had passed without any results, they could do nothing but carry out a quiet sit-down protest. It was said that the number of traders participating in the sit-down protest reached 60. Yet, can a sit-down protest solve the problem? Who can make up for a loss of 40 million RMB? I heard that a trader named Dorgey from Ngaba was in such extreme despair that he committed suicide.
So, was Karma also one of the people who had been tricked? No, he wasn?t. At the time, he was a little over 30; he was trading in "dzi" (heavenly beads) and had also just arrived in Chengdu and randomly run into this group of Tibetans carrying out a sit-down protest. Without any hesitation he put aside his business and took the initiative to help them. He firstly brought them water, medicine and food and secondly, he used his network to find an important person to speak for them. For example, after much effort, Karma found Phuntsog Wangyal who was living in Beijing. Although Phuntsog Wangyal had retired from his position as the Deputy Director of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission many years ago, he was still influential. Moreover, he was the very first Tibetan revolutionary, an eminent patriot. Of course he would lend a helping hand when the lives of so many common Tibetans were affected. He explained this situation to the then Premier of the State Council, Zhu Rongji. Thereupon, as I came to know much later, after a period of three years, provincial departments on all levels in Tibet, Sichuan and Qinghai provinces, as well as Chengdu, renumerated those Tibetans who had been cheated.
At the time, the noble Karma and I had both been in a rush, I had not been able to help him. It wasn?t until summer 2002 at a banquet in Lhasa that I met Karma again. I was astonished by his brilliant words saying that when one carries out environmental protection work in Tibet one should also consider the benefits of local Tibetans, otherwise one might as well not do it. It is said that Karma established the very first environmental non-government organisation in Tibet ? ?Three Rivers Environmental Protection Group?, which he also sponsors himself. After interviewing him a few times I wrote an article titled ?Karma, ?King of Heavenly Beads??, which was published in 2006 in the ?Southern Weekend? newspaper. I remember how in the very beginning he said to me: ?I have never been to hell, I don?t know how terrifying hell really is but I have suffered a lot; I have never been to heaven, I don?t know how magnificent heaven really is but I often feel happy.? What really is a shame is that today, Karma is commonly portrayed these days in the light of the first half of this sentence, which really is very unjust.
Beijing, June 17, 2010
23. juni
Radio udsendelse om Tibet på P1
http://www.dr.dk/P1/Horisontpaap1/udsendelser/2010/2010/06/21125554.htm
Tibet - drømmen om et land
Horisont på P1 22. juni 2010 kl. 10:03 på P1
Tibet - langt borte, højt oppe og med en ret lille befolkning. Alligevel udløser Tibet og tibetanernes forhold gang på gang strid og konflikt mellem Kina og Vesten. Tibet har i årtier været en del af Kina, men det tibetanske folk melder om undertrykkelse og taler om en kinesisk besættelse. De kinesiske myndigheder fokuserer derimod på, at de har medviret til en økonomisk og kulturel udvikling i det tibetanske højland.
En befrielse?
Det officielle Kinas version er, at Kina har befriet tibetanerne. Men i følge Mette Holm, journalist og mangeårig kender af Kina og Tibet, er tibetanernes situation langt mere vanskelig end kineserne giver udtryk for.
Et eksempel er, ifølge Mette Holm, at mange soldater kontrollerer det tibetanske område.
"Hvis det var så godt, som magthaverne siger, var det jo ikke nødvendigt at have flere hundrede tusinde soldater i Tibet", mener Mette Holm.
Ønsket om et frit Tibet
Tibetanerne kæmper for at løsrive sig fra Kina. Også i Danmark kæmpes der fra flere sider om at gøre Tibet til et selvstændigt land. Tibetansk-fødte Penpa Andersen, der i dag bor i Danmark, og Charlotte Mathiassen, der er formand for foreningen Frit Tibet, er blandt dem, der drømmer om tibetansk selvstændighed.
Vært: Charlotte Harder
18. jun
Jordskælvsramte tibetanere protesterer mod myndigheder
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/land-06032010112635.html
Residents of a quake-stricken county are angrily rejecting plans to move them from their land.
Local resident
An undated photo submitted by a local resident shows buildings in Gyegu town, Yushu county undergoing demolition following the April 14 earthquake.
HONG KONG—Scores of Tibetan residents of an earthquake-damaged western Chinese county are protesting local government plans to take possession of choice properties to reconstruct ravaged homes, schools, offices, and other sites, Tibetan sources say.
Some properties claimed by the authorities suffered no damage in the April earthquake, which left nearly 3,000 people dead, according to Tibetans in Yushu county, Qinghai province, as well as Tibetans in exile who said they have been in touch with relatives there.
“The local government has forced local residents out of their houses—they said they had to clean the area to build office buildings, schools, and parks, and they are planning to take away the sites for our homes and our fields,” one Yushu resident said.
“This has upset the local Tibetans, and they have argued the land has belonged to them for generations. So they have been going to the local government office in their hundreds over the last few days,” he said.
“Every day there are about 100 Tibetans protesting and appealing for the right to return to their land and fields, but the local authorities didn’t listen.”
Another Tibetan from Yushu said that one of his friends had seen "several hundreds" of Tibetans at the protest.
He said he was unsure whether Tibetans or monks had been taken away by police, but suggested that "people don’t want to talk about it out of fear."
The man said many local Tibetan families are unwilling to accept the government's offer of 80 square meter (860 square foot) homes as compensation for handing over their land.
“We Tibetans always have big families with many family members living together. Therefore, an 80 square meter unit is too small for them,” the Yushu resident said.
Officials dispatched
A photo provided by a local resident shows a monastery damaged by the April 14 earthquake in Gyegu town, Yushu county. Credit: Local resident
But an official at the Yushu county government office said in a telephone interview that more than 1,000 Tibetan protesters had been stationed in front of the building for days, demanding a resolution to the land dispute issue.
The woman, who did not give her name, said officials had been dispatched to talk to the protesters.
“[The petitioners] wanted to speak with some officials and they were able to do so. But not [Chinese Vice President] Xi Jinping. The incident is still unresolved. They say their land has been taken away by the government and they want it back—want their homes back. They have petitioned here every day, though there are less people today,” she said.
No Tibetans had been arrested, the official said.
Police blocked Tibetan protesters from approaching Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping when he visited the area on Wednesday, another resident confirmed.
‘The best sites’
An undated photo sent by a local resident shows that most of the buildings in Gyegu town were reduced to rubble following the earthquake. Credit: Local resident
“The Tibetans who are government employees are following government instructions, but the others have appealed to revoke these decisions. They also protested … and argued with the officials that whether they have lived 10 or 20 years in the area, they will not move from these sites.”
“Even during the Cultural Revolution, many Tibetans lost their loved ones but they insisted on staying on the land of their ancestors.”
Another Tibetan who now lives in New York, and who still has family members living in Yushu, said that the Chinese government had begun to construct small apartment units for relocation far from Yushu, which he described as ill-suited to the local Tibetan lifestyle.
“Local Tibetans are trying to stop the government from building these small apartment units. They prefer assistance from international charity organizations or would rather slowly build their own houses than live in these government-provided small dwellings.”
Praise for monks
The Yushu native said Tibetans from the area are largely self-sufficient and praised Tibetan monks for their quick efforts in providing relief materials to victims of the April 14 earthquake.
“Some victims didn’t get anything from the government even three or four weeks after the earthquake because the relief materials had to go through many checks and verifications. Tibetan monks hand-delivered relief supplies to each victim without delay.”
Kunga Tashi, the Chinese liaison officer in the office of Tibet in New York City expressed regret that Tibetan monks had been forced by the government to leave the disaster area soon after the earthquake.
“The religious beliefs of Tibetan monks maintain that good deeds should be done for ordinary people. But to expel them from the disaster area for an unclear reason has injured their souls and may lead to some kind of instability in the long run,” Kunga Tashi said.
Soon after the quake, China's powerful propaganda department called for curbs on reporting of "negative news" about the earthquake that struck Yushu.
In its April 25 directive to news organizations, the central propaganda department warned state media not to focus too much on the relief work carried out by Tibetans themselves in the worst-hit regions of the remote province.
"Talk of the earthquake in 'scientific terms;' do not criticize the earthquake forecasting agency; do not focus too much on the efforts by Buddhist monks to help the victims; and give extensive coverage to the appeals for donations organized by state-owned CCTV," the directive said.
Tibetan residents of Yushu said state-run media coverage of the rescue and clean-up operation was already far from reflecting the situation on the ground.
China's official Xinhua news agency says about 2,700 people died in the quake, while Tibetan estimates are much higher.
Original reporting by Choegyi for RFA’s Tibetan service, Tang Qiwei for RFA's Mandarin service, and RFA's Cantonese service. Tibetan service director: Jigme Ngapo. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Cantonese service director: Shiny Li. Translated from the Tibetan by Karma Dorjee, and from the Chinese by Jiayuan and Shiny Li. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han and Joshua Lipes.
Et jordskælv på 6,9 på Richterskalaen ramte i onsdags den afsides beliggende tibetanske Kyedudo (kinesisk: Yushu) region i Qinghai provinsen i det nordvestlige Kina. Ifølge de nyeste oplysninger er dødstallet indtil videre oppe på 2000, mens cirka 12.100 mennesker er sårede. 256 mennesker er meldt savnede og op imod 100.000 mennesker har mistet deres hjem. Langt de fleste af de berørte er tibetanere.
Der bor et sted mellem 60.000-70.000 indbyggere i området. ADRA Chinas personale vurderer, at cirka 85 % af husene er kollapset. Både huse, skoler og offentlige bygninger er styrtet sammen, og ifølge det kinesiske nyhedsbureau Xinhua, ligger mange mennesker stadig begravet i ruinerne fra sammenstyrtede bygninger i byen Jyekundu i nærheden af epicentret. De mange hjemløse ofre er uden tag over hovedet og temperaturen er på frysepunktet. I følge ADRA China er området ekstra udsat på grund af relativ stor befolkningstæthed.
ADRA China har indtil videre kørt to lastbiler ind i området med 1000 varme tæpper og 1000 madrasser, der er blevet uddelt til 500 hjemløse familier. Derudover er der blevet givet en generator, benzin, ilt og medicin til personalet. ADRA China planlægger at distribuere telte, mad, vintertøj og medicin til det jordskælvramte område.
”Der er hårdt brug for telte, tæpper, mad, redningsudstyr og varmt tøj i det jordskælvramte område…Der er brug for mange flere penge til at distribuere hjælpen ud til de mange ofre”, fortæller Sina, der arbejder for ADRA China.
ADRA China koordinerer sit arbejde i samarbejde med lokale offentlige institutioner og nødhjælpsorganisationer. ADRA arbejder bland andet sammen med en frivillig organisation fra Hunan provinsen om at uddele vand, mad og medicin.
ADRA Danmark har foreløbig afsat 25.000 kr. til indsatsen.
Du kan hjælpe de mange ofre i Tibet!
Via SMS: støt med 100 kr. ved at sende en sms med teksten KINA 100 til 1231
Via din bank eller netbank: indsæt dit bidrag på konto 9570 0008688222 - mærk indbetalingen "KINA"
Ny rapport fra det tibetanske center for menneskerettigheder om situationen i Tibet 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8477356.stm
The lost world of Tibet - se klip
The Lost World of Tibet (BBC documentary)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwBeO6cdGiw
A fascinating documentary by BBC showing color film footage of Tibet, particularly Lhasa, taken by British officials in Tibet during the 1930s and 1940s. It can be viewed in 5 parts on Youtube.
21.august
Læs interessant artikel om den kinesisk-indiske uenighed om vandressourcer
http://www.project-syndicate.org/contributor/1629
10. august
Ekstreme vejrforhold i Tibet
Læs mere på
http://www.scribd.com/doc/18369840/The-Extreme-Weather-in-Lhoka-Prefecture
26. maj