According to the 1990 census, there were 4.6 million Tibetans in China. The census was not done with the same thoroughness that the census was carried out in other parts of China. In many remote areas were rough estimates. Foreign visitors have estimated that there are probably around 6 million Tibetans in China, with about 3 million Tibetans living in the Tibet Autonomous Region in China and outdoor living 3 million Tibetans in Tibet Autonomous Region China. About 300,000 Tibetans live in exile outside China.
Most Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region live in cities or in southern Tibet, where the climate is less hostile and there is a series of valleys where barley and other crops are grown. Most highland inhabitants are pastoralists and farmers yaks and horses. Many Tibetans live along the Yarlung Zangpo and its tributaries, from Xigaze to Zetang where Tibetan Buddhism developed in the late eighth century. Outside the Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibetans living in Tibetan traditional r areas in Qinghai, western Sichuan, southern Gansu and Yunnan western provinces.
Tibetans also be found in Mongolia, India, Nepal, Bhutan. Russia and elsewhere. A number of different ethnic groups, including Bhutan, Ladakhis in northern India and Nepal Sherpas follow Tibetan Buddhism and are essentially Tibetans. By one count there are 130,000 Tibetans in India; 25,000 in Nepal; 2000 in Switzerland; 1500 in the United States and 600 in Canada.
About 10 percent of the world population lives in mountainous regions and about half are vulnerable to food shortages and chronic malnutrition. Mountain States also has a proportionally high number of armed conflicts. Of the 28 conflicts that erupted and continued in the 2000s, 26 of them were in the mountains.
The one-child policy in China does not apply in most of Tibet as is the case in many areas of minorities in China. Many Tibetan families have five or more children without apparent repercussions from the government. This was done in part to allay fears of Tibetans that the Chinese are planning to outdo Tibet by outnumbering them.
Websites and Resources
20111103-com Wiki Yarlung women.jpg
Good Websites and Sources on Tibetan people: Wikipedia article Wikipedia; Dharma-haven.org Dharma Refuge; Tibetan language website Omniglot omniglot.com; Tibetan Language.org tibetanlanguage.org; Learntibetan.net Tibetan Language Student; Wikipedia article Wikipedia; Dharma-haven.org Dharma Refuge; Gaugeus.com/ramblings translation of the Tibetan language; Tibetan Festivals Wikipedia article Wikipedia; Tibet Travel tibettrip.com; Tube Horseracing You Dance Festival; Losar Wikipedia article on Wikipedia; Women, marriage and polyandry of Tibet Research Center www.case.edu/affil; Tibetan women kotan.org Resources; Wikipedia article about polyandry in Tibet Wikipedia; Women of Tibet womenoftibet.org; Book: Women in Tibet Google Books; Tibetan Wedding in China's Sichuan Vista;
Links in this Website: TIBETAN PEOPLE Factsanddetails.com/China; Factsanddetails.com/China TIBETAN LIFE; Food, drink, drugs and CLOTHES IN TIBET Factsanddetails.com/China; TIBETAN MEDICINE HEALTH AND Factsanddetails.com/China; FUNERAL AND DEATH TIBETAN Factsanddetails.com/China; TIBETAN NOMADS Factsanddetails.com/China; Tibetan and Tibetan Minorities ALIEN Factsanddetails.com/China
Good web sources and sites on Tibet: Central Tibetan Administration (Tibetan government in exile) www.tibet.com; China website of the Government of Tibet Tibetan eng.tibet.cn/ Wikipedia Wikipedia phayul.com Resources; Open Directory dmoz.org/Regional/Asia/China/Tibet/; Snow Lion Publications (books on Tibet) snowlionpub.com; Photo Gallery Gallery Tibet Tibetan Nomad Nomad Terra Terra; Tibetan Cultural Sites: Conserving Tibetan Art and tibetanculture.org; Tibet Travel tibettrip.com; Tibetan Cultural Region Directory kotan.org; Tibetan Studies and Tibet Research: Tibetan Resources on the Web (Columbia University CV Starr East Asian Library) columbia.edu; Himalayan and Tibetan Himalayan Digital Library thlib.org; digitalhimalaya.com; Maps ciolek.com/WWWVL-TibetanStudies Tibetan Studies WWW Virtual Library; Research Center of Tibet case.edu; Tibetan Centre for Advanced Studies amnyemachen.org; Tibetan Studies Resources Blog tibetan-studies-resources.blogspot.com; News, Electronic Journals ciolek.com/WWWVLPages
TIBETAN LANGUAGE
20080228-min-Tibetan-char.jpg
Tibetan in Chinese characters The Tibetan language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the family of Sino-Tibetan languages, a classification which also includes Chinese. There are many dialects. Some are quite different from each other. Tibetans in some regions have difficulty understanding Tibetans from other regions who speak a different dialect.
Tibetan is monosyllabic, with five vowels, 26 consonants and no consonant clusters. Uses conjugated verbs and tenses, prepositions and complicated word order subject-object-verb. You have no items and has an entirely different set of nouns, adjectives and verbs that are reserved only for kings routing and high ranking monks. Tibetan is tonal but the tones are much less important in terms of conveying meaning of the word that is the case in China.
Written Tibetan is an adaptation of a North Indian script under the first historical king of Tibet, King Songstem Gampo in 630. It is said that the task is completed by a monk named Tonmu Sambhota. The North Indian script in turn is derived from Sanskrit. Written Tibet has 30 letters and it looks something like Sanskrit or handwriting of India. Unlike Japan or Korea, which has no Chinese characters therein. Tibetan, Uyghur, Zhuang, and Mongolia are the official languages of minorities appearing on Chinese banknotes.
Many Tibetans go by a name. Tibetans often change their name after big events, such visiting a lama or significant recovery from a serious illness.
Versus Chinese Tibetan Languages
Most Chinese can not speak Tibetan, but most Tibetans can speak at least a little Chinese, although the degrees of fluency vary greatly with most basic survival only speaks Chinese. Some young Tibetans speak mostly Chinese when they are away from home. From 1947-1987, the official language of Tibet was Chinese. In 1987 Tibet was named the official language.
It is rare to find a Chinese person, even one who has lived in Tibet for years, you can talk over Tibetan base or has bothered to study Tibetan. Chinese government officials seem particularly adverse to learning the language. Tibetan claims that when visiting government offices who have to speak Chinese or nobody will listen to them. The Tibetans, on the other hand, they have to know Chinese to stay ahead in a society dominated by China.
In many cities the signs in Chinese outnumber those in Tibetan. Many smaller signals have large Chinese characters and Tibetan script. Attempts to translate Tibetan Chinese often sadly lacking. In a city restaurant "Cool, cool" was given the name "Kill, Kill" and a beauty center became the "Center of Leprosy."
View Education.
Protests Over Qinghai efforts to curb Tibetan language
Bundesarchiv bv 20111103-1938.jpg
Tibetan woman in 1938. In October 2010, at least 1,000 ethnic Tibetan students in city Tongrem (Rebkong) in Qinghai Province curbs protested against the use of the Tibetan language. They marched through the streets, shouting slogans, but were left alone by police observors told Reuters. [AFP, Reuters, South China Morning Post, October 22, 2010]
The protests spread to other cities in northwest China, and did not attract university students but also high school students angry over plans to scrap the two language system and the Chinese is the only instruction school, said Free Tibet rights based in London. Thousands of high school students had protested in Qinghai Province Malho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of anger at being forced to study in Chinese. Nearly 2,000 students from four schools in the city of Chabcha Tsolho marched prefecture local government building, chanting "We want freedom for the Tibetan language," the group said. Later they were turned back by police and teachers said. Students also protested in the town of Dawu in Golog Tibetan prefecture. Police responded by preventing local residents take to the streets, he said.
Local government officials in areas denied any protests. "We have had protests here. The students are calm here," said a government official Tsolho Gonghe County, who identified himself only by his surname Li. Local officials in China face pressure from their superiors to maintain stability and typically deny reports of disturbances in their areas.
The protests were sparked by the educational reforms in Qinghai requiring all subjects taught in Mandarin and all textbooks to be printed in Chinese except for Tibetan language and English classes, said Free Tibet. "The use of Tibetan is being systematically erased as part of China's strategy to cement its occupation of Tibet," Free Tibet said earlier this week. The area was the scene of violent protests against China in March 2008 that began in Tibet's capital Lhasa and spread to nearby regions with large Tibetan populations such as Qinghai.
FESTIVALS FESTIVALS AND TIBETAN
20080228-large Prayer1 Festival.jpg
Prayer Festival Tibetans have their own calendar. It is different from the Gregorian calendar used in most of the world. The year 1958 in the Gregorian calendar, for example, 2094 was the year in Tibetan calendar, the year of the Fire-Sheep.
Bhutan The year is 360 days. Astrologers routinely leave out days, dates, months or even considered bad luck. To keep the calendar synchronized with the seasons months are added. Some years have the same month twice in a row.
A person who is 30 years in the West is 32 years old in places who practice Tibetan Buddhism. A Bhutanese man told National Geographic, "We have nine months a child spends in the womb and everyone considers himself a year on the same day, the New Year.
Pilgrimages, See Lamas, monks, monasteries, pilgrims, Religion
Tibetan New Year
Tibetan New Year is set according to the Tibetan calendar, and is usually a couple of weeks later than Chinese New Year. The most important in the Tibetan calendar, celebrated by Tibetans and Mongolians with people tying prayer flags, cook the flour and butter on the fires of evergreens smoking, lighting lamps, make offerings, praying day at shrines and monasteries, feasting on special meatballs, socialization, purifying fires lighting the fragrant smoke of juniper, sage and other herbs, gambling and consuming large quantities of chang. Celebrations often include horse racing, lama dancing and offerings to the gods.
Left Tibetan New Year is known in Tibet as Losar, it is a festive and sacred celebration three days Tibetans engaged in rituals to purify and renew the spirit and pay tribute to the Buddhist ideal of wisdom and compassion . The positive and negative actions taken during the holidays is believed to influence events in the coming year. Depending on a number of factors Tibetan New Year can fall as early as mid-January and as late as the end of March. Some years are removed for months Tibetan year due to unfavorable alignments of the planets and other factors. It usually takes place in mid to late February. Start the day of the new moon.
Lunar New Year last about a month. In some temples in the authorities of the province of Qinghai allow people to perform elaborate ceremonies wearing ornate, embroidered suits and deploy a giant image of Buddha on a hill. Preparing for the New Year begins with a month in advance when a particular type of barley is grown in small pots so that by the time the New Year rolls around three inches tall seedlings can be offered to the Buddha. On the eve of New Year, a dance is held magicians to keep away evil spirits unpleasant; people wear new clothes and grotesque masks are made; and the boys go wild singing and dancing to the music made by large drums and conch horns.
A traditional evening meal with wheat flour dumplings served. Some of these dumplings are stuffed with chilli. Some are filled with pebbles. Those who manage chillies are said to good speakers. Those who get pebbles are considered hard-hearted. At midnight, when everyone is in bed, qingke wine mixed with brown sugar and cheese served to usher in the new year with sweet dreams.
On the first day of the new year, the women are dressed in colorful Pulus and go to a well and bring back "auspicious water" for the family to wash with and animals to drink. This ritual is a guarantee of good weather for the next year. On the second day, people visit each other and greet each other with "Happy New Year" greetings. Closer fairy friends change, strips of white silk expressing respect. During this time children like to do a special dance with the boys from the girls lifting up on his shoulders.
Tibetans traditionally celebrate the coming of the new year, a month after the Chinese, with the New Year's Day usually falls in March, a month that has many political associations. Edward Wong wrote in the New York Times, "The month of March is a delicate relations between China and Tibet time. The Dalai Lama fled to India in March 1959, after the Chinese army crushed a Tibetan uprising in Lhasa the Tibetan capital during the initial Chinese occupation there. it was not a story of Tibetans protesting Chinese rule on the anniversary of the flight of the Dalai Lama, and one of those protests by monks in Lhasa in 2008, and suppression of it by the security forces, led to widespread uprising that engulfed much of the Tibetan plateau that spring. Since then, the Chinese government has increased the presence of security forces across the plateau of each month March and has banned foreign travel to many areas there during that month.
Tibetan New Year Religious Practices
20080228-new purdue.jpg year1
New Year banquet Some lamas go to a cave and mediate the entire period of 14 days from the new moon of the new year until the full moon. The caves are sometimes above the cliffs at a height of 16,000 feet and can be reached only after vertiginous trails and climb ladders and ropes of yak hair.
During the first 15 days of the new year many families Tibetan monks and nuns recite sacred texts commission to bring prosperity to their homes. During the same period, in monasteries, ancient Buddhist lamas chant invocations 10:00 a.m.-10: 00 pm.
Pilgrims often crawl under piles of sacred texts in an effort to absorb the wisdom of Scripture without reading them. The pilgrims climb ridges and peaks stringed prayer flags and tend fires made with herbs.
In Lhasa, pilgrims throw incense burner gift before the Jokhang, the most sacred temple in Tibet. Pilgrims prostrate after every two steps that follow a prescribed circle around the old city.
Dances of Tibetan New Year
left during the New Year's dance, dress like monks sorcerers in black hats and fancy costumes and dance and make offerings to get rid of negative forces like greed, aggression and ignorance. The dance ends with an exorcism --- stabbing an effigy of the mass of a demon, representing the dissipation of negativity from last year. Among the dramatic dance theater works are performed, often by laymen.
The performances are held in the courtyard of the temple and the temple itself serves as a dressing room. Musicians and monks sing and play horns, drums, cymbals and conches as the dancers spin around the courtyard and made stamps, steps and jumps known as "half-beam" that is expected to carry out smoothly and gracefully moves. Dancers prepare to dance for spiritual identification with the deity they portray. As they dance they have to execute the right moves, reciting mantras and focus your thoughts on the deity.
Ian Baker, wrote in National Geographic, "black-hat monks spinning on the soles of her leather boots yak -... As clashed cymbals and horns buzzing, masked dancers danced to dissipate the accumulated negativity of the past 12 months . Pressed against the walls of the courtyard pilgrims fur-lined robes and richly colored brocades witnessed this turbulent drama ... as the sun disappeared behind a ridge of rock, the ceremony concluded with a burning effigy threatening, freeing the days ahead from slavery to the past. "
Tibetan Festivals
Many festivals are held in the Himalayan winter, when people have too much time and not much else to do. People travel many miles, often on foot, to attend the festival, wearing their nicest clothes, creating such a festive and lively atmosphere that blends with the mystical spirit of the occasion. The are small ceremonies to bless the yaks and other animals.
In the days of throwing festival multicolor Tibetan paper money in the air so it floats like tap trading on the crowds. Tibetan Partying like to sing, drink barley beer and throwing white flour just one above the other. Festivals Sherpas have sketches with figures dressed as "drunk" Getting chased by "indecent women" and the dances performed by jumping and spinning monks wearing masks of fierce gods and yak butter lamps.
Monlam is a Buddhist prayer festival that starts around a week after the Tibetan New Year and last about a week. Also known as the Great Prayer Festival is usually a joyous occasion. It was banned by the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution.
Bhutanese, or Tshechus, festivals are held throughout the year. Are held outdoors in the courtyard of the great Dzongs and feature dancers in colorful silk costumes and grotesque masks hand carved wood. The festivals celebrate the legends, myths and history of Bhutanese in ancient rituals of dance and music.
These days, a large number of Chinese security forces appear in Tibetan festivals
View Dance Festival, Music and Dance, Tibetan Culture
20080228-welcome purdue.jpg group
Tibetan welcoming group
Nagqu Horse Festival
Festivals Horses are big events in areas of Tibet and Tibetan China. The Tibetan Festival in Yushu in Qinghai Province in July lasts for five days. The Summer Festival in Khampa Gyegu in Qinghai Province is one of the largest gathering of Tibetans, attracting Tibetans across western China. In recent years, the Chinese government has tried to promote it as a tourist event. The Festival of the Horse in Lithang in Sichuan Province in August is another great gathering of Tibetans. All these festivals features dancing, folk performances, outdoor markets and horse races
Mark Jenkins wrote in National Geographic, "From the monastery, Sue and I went to the city of Nagqu, five hours drive north of Lhasa, to attend the annual horse festival. We want to see the legendary horses that gave their name to the Tea Horse Road. the week-long event held in the open plains, but ten years ago a concrete stadium was built Chinese officials so they would have a place to sit. When we arrived the next morning, Tibetans pack the stands . women with high cheekbones, high heels, and long heavy braids with silver and amber; men felt cowboy hats and coats long sleeve called chubas; children without socks cheap sport shoes street vendors sell spicy potatoes boiled and cans of Budweiser. Speakers blaring announce every event in Tibetan and Chinese. it is an atmosphere of rodeo, except the Chinese police stationed every ten meters along the stands, marching in squads all over the field, and civil stalking. "[Source: Mark Jenkins, National Geographic, May 2010]
Down on the field, horse and rider seem to defy gravity. A contestant gallops almost out of control, hanging like an acrobat on the side of starting a white silk handkerchief of land. Propel lumps of clay into strong blue sky. Holding the scarf up, wheels Tibetan cowboy his horse breeding for the roar of the crowd. "[Ibid]
"The Nagqu Horse Festival is one of the few events that celebrate the survivors of Tibet equestrian heritage. Through centuries of selective breeding, Tibetans created a premium horse drawn Nangchen. Standing only 13.5 hands high (about 4.5 feet'smaller most races of America), thin limbs and handsome face, enlarged lungs adapted to life at 15,000 feet, the Tibetan plateau lack of oxygen, Nangchen horses were bred to inexhaustible and surefooted on snow covered steps. These horses were coveted by the Chinese centuries ago. "[Ibid]
Most Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region live in cities or in southern Tibet, where the climate is less hostile and there is a series of valleys where barley and other crops are grown. Most highland inhabitants are pastoralists and farmers yaks and horses. Many Tibetans live along the Yarlung Zangpo and its tributaries, from Xigaze to Zetang where Tibetan Buddhism developed in the late eighth century. Outside the Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibetans living in Tibetan traditional r areas in Qinghai, western Sichuan, southern Gansu and Yunnan western provinces.
Tibetans also be found in Mongolia, India, Nepal, Bhutan. Russia and elsewhere. A number of different ethnic groups, including Bhutan, Ladakhis in northern India and Nepal Sherpas follow Tibetan Buddhism and are essentially Tibetans. By one count there are 130,000 Tibetans in India; 25,000 in Nepal; 2000 in Switzerland; 1500 in the United States and 600 in Canada.
About 10 percent of the world population lives in mountainous regions and about half are vulnerable to food shortages and chronic malnutrition. Mountain States also has a proportionally high number of armed conflicts. Of the 28 conflicts that erupted and continued in the 2000s, 26 of them were in the mountains.
The one-child policy in China does not apply in most of Tibet as is the case in many areas of minorities in China. Many Tibetan families have five or more children without apparent repercussions from the government. This was done in part to allay fears of Tibetans that the Chinese are planning to outdo Tibet by outnumbering them.
Websites and Resources
20111103-com Wiki Yarlung women.jpg
Good Websites and Sources on Tibetan people: Wikipedia article Wikipedia; Dharma-haven.org Dharma Refuge; Tibetan language website Omniglot omniglot.com; Tibetan Language.org tibetanlanguage.org; Learntibetan.net Tibetan Language Student; Wikipedia article Wikipedia; Dharma-haven.org Dharma Refuge; Gaugeus.com/ramblings translation of the Tibetan language; Tibetan Festivals Wikipedia article Wikipedia; Tibet Travel tibettrip.com; Tube Horseracing You Dance Festival; Losar Wikipedia article on Wikipedia; Women, marriage and polyandry of Tibet Research Center www.case.edu/affil; Tibetan women kotan.org Resources; Wikipedia article about polyandry in Tibet Wikipedia; Women of Tibet womenoftibet.org; Book: Women in Tibet Google Books; Tibetan Wedding in China's Sichuan Vista;
Links in this Website: TIBETAN PEOPLE Factsanddetails.com/China; Factsanddetails.com/China TIBETAN LIFE; Food, drink, drugs and CLOTHES IN TIBET Factsanddetails.com/China; TIBETAN MEDICINE HEALTH AND Factsanddetails.com/China; FUNERAL AND DEATH TIBETAN Factsanddetails.com/China; TIBETAN NOMADS Factsanddetails.com/China; Tibetan and Tibetan Minorities ALIEN Factsanddetails.com/China
Good web sources and sites on Tibet: Central Tibetan Administration (Tibetan government in exile) www.tibet.com; China website of the Government of Tibet Tibetan eng.tibet.cn/ Wikipedia Wikipedia phayul.com Resources; Open Directory dmoz.org/Regional/Asia/China/Tibet/; Snow Lion Publications (books on Tibet) snowlionpub.com; Photo Gallery Gallery Tibet Tibetan Nomad Nomad Terra Terra; Tibetan Cultural Sites: Conserving Tibetan Art and tibetanculture.org; Tibet Travel tibettrip.com; Tibetan Cultural Region Directory kotan.org; Tibetan Studies and Tibet Research: Tibetan Resources on the Web (Columbia University CV Starr East Asian Library) columbia.edu; Himalayan and Tibetan Himalayan Digital Library thlib.org; digitalhimalaya.com; Maps ciolek.com/WWWVL-TibetanStudies Tibetan Studies WWW Virtual Library; Research Center of Tibet case.edu; Tibetan Centre for Advanced Studies amnyemachen.org; Tibetan Studies Resources Blog tibetan-studies-resources.blogspot.com; News, Electronic Journals ciolek.com/WWWVLPages
TIBETAN LANGUAGE
20080228-min-Tibetan-char.jpg
Tibetan in Chinese characters The Tibetan language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the family of Sino-Tibetan languages, a classification which also includes Chinese. There are many dialects. Some are quite different from each other. Tibetans in some regions have difficulty understanding Tibetans from other regions who speak a different dialect.
Tibetan is monosyllabic, with five vowels, 26 consonants and no consonant clusters. Uses conjugated verbs and tenses, prepositions and complicated word order subject-object-verb. You have no items and has an entirely different set of nouns, adjectives and verbs that are reserved only for kings routing and high ranking monks. Tibetan is tonal but the tones are much less important in terms of conveying meaning of the word that is the case in China.
Written Tibetan is an adaptation of a North Indian script under the first historical king of Tibet, King Songstem Gampo in 630. It is said that the task is completed by a monk named Tonmu Sambhota. The North Indian script in turn is derived from Sanskrit. Written Tibet has 30 letters and it looks something like Sanskrit or handwriting of India. Unlike Japan or Korea, which has no Chinese characters therein. Tibetan, Uyghur, Zhuang, and Mongolia are the official languages of minorities appearing on Chinese banknotes.
Many Tibetans go by a name. Tibetans often change their name after big events, such visiting a lama or significant recovery from a serious illness.
Versus Chinese Tibetan Languages
Most Chinese can not speak Tibetan, but most Tibetans can speak at least a little Chinese, although the degrees of fluency vary greatly with most basic survival only speaks Chinese. Some young Tibetans speak mostly Chinese when they are away from home. From 1947-1987, the official language of Tibet was Chinese. In 1987 Tibet was named the official language.
It is rare to find a Chinese person, even one who has lived in Tibet for years, you can talk over Tibetan base or has bothered to study Tibetan. Chinese government officials seem particularly adverse to learning the language. Tibetan claims that when visiting government offices who have to speak Chinese or nobody will listen to them. The Tibetans, on the other hand, they have to know Chinese to stay ahead in a society dominated by China.
In many cities the signs in Chinese outnumber those in Tibetan. Many smaller signals have large Chinese characters and Tibetan script. Attempts to translate Tibetan Chinese often sadly lacking. In a city restaurant "Cool, cool" was given the name "Kill, Kill" and a beauty center became the "Center of Leprosy."
View Education.
Protests Over Qinghai efforts to curb Tibetan language
Bundesarchiv bv 20111103-1938.jpg
Tibetan woman in 1938. In October 2010, at least 1,000 ethnic Tibetan students in city Tongrem (Rebkong) in Qinghai Province curbs protested against the use of the Tibetan language. They marched through the streets, shouting slogans, but were left alone by police observors told Reuters. [AFP, Reuters, South China Morning Post, October 22, 2010]
The protests spread to other cities in northwest China, and did not attract university students but also high school students angry over plans to scrap the two language system and the Chinese is the only instruction school, said Free Tibet rights based in London. Thousands of high school students had protested in Qinghai Province Malho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of anger at being forced to study in Chinese. Nearly 2,000 students from four schools in the city of Chabcha Tsolho marched prefecture local government building, chanting "We want freedom for the Tibetan language," the group said. Later they were turned back by police and teachers said. Students also protested in the town of Dawu in Golog Tibetan prefecture. Police responded by preventing local residents take to the streets, he said.
Local government officials in areas denied any protests. "We have had protests here. The students are calm here," said a government official Tsolho Gonghe County, who identified himself only by his surname Li. Local officials in China face pressure from their superiors to maintain stability and typically deny reports of disturbances in their areas.
The protests were sparked by the educational reforms in Qinghai requiring all subjects taught in Mandarin and all textbooks to be printed in Chinese except for Tibetan language and English classes, said Free Tibet. "The use of Tibetan is being systematically erased as part of China's strategy to cement its occupation of Tibet," Free Tibet said earlier this week. The area was the scene of violent protests against China in March 2008 that began in Tibet's capital Lhasa and spread to nearby regions with large Tibetan populations such as Qinghai.
FESTIVALS FESTIVALS AND TIBETAN
20080228-large Prayer1 Festival.jpg
Prayer Festival Tibetans have their own calendar. It is different from the Gregorian calendar used in most of the world. The year 1958 in the Gregorian calendar, for example, 2094 was the year in Tibetan calendar, the year of the Fire-Sheep.
Bhutan The year is 360 days. Astrologers routinely leave out days, dates, months or even considered bad luck. To keep the calendar synchronized with the seasons months are added. Some years have the same month twice in a row.
A person who is 30 years in the West is 32 years old in places who practice Tibetan Buddhism. A Bhutanese man told National Geographic, "We have nine months a child spends in the womb and everyone considers himself a year on the same day, the New Year.
Pilgrimages, See Lamas, monks, monasteries, pilgrims, Religion
Tibetan New Year
Tibetan New Year is set according to the Tibetan calendar, and is usually a couple of weeks later than Chinese New Year. The most important in the Tibetan calendar, celebrated by Tibetans and Mongolians with people tying prayer flags, cook the flour and butter on the fires of evergreens smoking, lighting lamps, make offerings, praying day at shrines and monasteries, feasting on special meatballs, socialization, purifying fires lighting the fragrant smoke of juniper, sage and other herbs, gambling and consuming large quantities of chang. Celebrations often include horse racing, lama dancing and offerings to the gods.
Left Tibetan New Year is known in Tibet as Losar, it is a festive and sacred celebration three days Tibetans engaged in rituals to purify and renew the spirit and pay tribute to the Buddhist ideal of wisdom and compassion . The positive and negative actions taken during the holidays is believed to influence events in the coming year. Depending on a number of factors Tibetan New Year can fall as early as mid-January and as late as the end of March. Some years are removed for months Tibetan year due to unfavorable alignments of the planets and other factors. It usually takes place in mid to late February. Start the day of the new moon.
Lunar New Year last about a month. In some temples in the authorities of the province of Qinghai allow people to perform elaborate ceremonies wearing ornate, embroidered suits and deploy a giant image of Buddha on a hill. Preparing for the New Year begins with a month in advance when a particular type of barley is grown in small pots so that by the time the New Year rolls around three inches tall seedlings can be offered to the Buddha. On the eve of New Year, a dance is held magicians to keep away evil spirits unpleasant; people wear new clothes and grotesque masks are made; and the boys go wild singing and dancing to the music made by large drums and conch horns.
A traditional evening meal with wheat flour dumplings served. Some of these dumplings are stuffed with chilli. Some are filled with pebbles. Those who manage chillies are said to good speakers. Those who get pebbles are considered hard-hearted. At midnight, when everyone is in bed, qingke wine mixed with brown sugar and cheese served to usher in the new year with sweet dreams.
On the first day of the new year, the women are dressed in colorful Pulus and go to a well and bring back "auspicious water" for the family to wash with and animals to drink. This ritual is a guarantee of good weather for the next year. On the second day, people visit each other and greet each other with "Happy New Year" greetings. Closer fairy friends change, strips of white silk expressing respect. During this time children like to do a special dance with the boys from the girls lifting up on his shoulders.
Tibetans traditionally celebrate the coming of the new year, a month after the Chinese, with the New Year's Day usually falls in March, a month that has many political associations. Edward Wong wrote in the New York Times, "The month of March is a delicate relations between China and Tibet time. The Dalai Lama fled to India in March 1959, after the Chinese army crushed a Tibetan uprising in Lhasa the Tibetan capital during the initial Chinese occupation there. it was not a story of Tibetans protesting Chinese rule on the anniversary of the flight of the Dalai Lama, and one of those protests by monks in Lhasa in 2008, and suppression of it by the security forces, led to widespread uprising that engulfed much of the Tibetan plateau that spring. Since then, the Chinese government has increased the presence of security forces across the plateau of each month March and has banned foreign travel to many areas there during that month.
Tibetan New Year Religious Practices
20080228-new purdue.jpg year1
New Year banquet Some lamas go to a cave and mediate the entire period of 14 days from the new moon of the new year until the full moon. The caves are sometimes above the cliffs at a height of 16,000 feet and can be reached only after vertiginous trails and climb ladders and ropes of yak hair.
During the first 15 days of the new year many families Tibetan monks and nuns recite sacred texts commission to bring prosperity to their homes. During the same period, in monasteries, ancient Buddhist lamas chant invocations 10:00 a.m.-10: 00 pm.
Pilgrims often crawl under piles of sacred texts in an effort to absorb the wisdom of Scripture without reading them. The pilgrims climb ridges and peaks stringed prayer flags and tend fires made with herbs.
In Lhasa, pilgrims throw incense burner gift before the Jokhang, the most sacred temple in Tibet. Pilgrims prostrate after every two steps that follow a prescribed circle around the old city.
Dances of Tibetan New Year
left during the New Year's dance, dress like monks sorcerers in black hats and fancy costumes and dance and make offerings to get rid of negative forces like greed, aggression and ignorance. The dance ends with an exorcism --- stabbing an effigy of the mass of a demon, representing the dissipation of negativity from last year. Among the dramatic dance theater works are performed, often by laymen.
The performances are held in the courtyard of the temple and the temple itself serves as a dressing room. Musicians and monks sing and play horns, drums, cymbals and conches as the dancers spin around the courtyard and made stamps, steps and jumps known as "half-beam" that is expected to carry out smoothly and gracefully moves. Dancers prepare to dance for spiritual identification with the deity they portray. As they dance they have to execute the right moves, reciting mantras and focus your thoughts on the deity.
Ian Baker, wrote in National Geographic, "black-hat monks spinning on the soles of her leather boots yak -... As clashed cymbals and horns buzzing, masked dancers danced to dissipate the accumulated negativity of the past 12 months . Pressed against the walls of the courtyard pilgrims fur-lined robes and richly colored brocades witnessed this turbulent drama ... as the sun disappeared behind a ridge of rock, the ceremony concluded with a burning effigy threatening, freeing the days ahead from slavery to the past. "
Tibetan Festivals
Many festivals are held in the Himalayan winter, when people have too much time and not much else to do. People travel many miles, often on foot, to attend the festival, wearing their nicest clothes, creating such a festive and lively atmosphere that blends with the mystical spirit of the occasion. The are small ceremonies to bless the yaks and other animals.
In the days of throwing festival multicolor Tibetan paper money in the air so it floats like tap trading on the crowds. Tibetan Partying like to sing, drink barley beer and throwing white flour just one above the other. Festivals Sherpas have sketches with figures dressed as "drunk" Getting chased by "indecent women" and the dances performed by jumping and spinning monks wearing masks of fierce gods and yak butter lamps.
Monlam is a Buddhist prayer festival that starts around a week after the Tibetan New Year and last about a week. Also known as the Great Prayer Festival is usually a joyous occasion. It was banned by the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution.
Bhutanese, or Tshechus, festivals are held throughout the year. Are held outdoors in the courtyard of the great Dzongs and feature dancers in colorful silk costumes and grotesque masks hand carved wood. The festivals celebrate the legends, myths and history of Bhutanese in ancient rituals of dance and music.
These days, a large number of Chinese security forces appear in Tibetan festivals
View Dance Festival, Music and Dance, Tibetan Culture
20080228-welcome purdue.jpg group
Tibetan welcoming group
Nagqu Horse Festival
Festivals Horses are big events in areas of Tibet and Tibetan China. The Tibetan Festival in Yushu in Qinghai Province in July lasts for five days. The Summer Festival in Khampa Gyegu in Qinghai Province is one of the largest gathering of Tibetans, attracting Tibetans across western China. In recent years, the Chinese government has tried to promote it as a tourist event. The Festival of the Horse in Lithang in Sichuan Province in August is another great gathering of Tibetans. All these festivals features dancing, folk performances, outdoor markets and horse races
Mark Jenkins wrote in National Geographic, "From the monastery, Sue and I went to the city of Nagqu, five hours drive north of Lhasa, to attend the annual horse festival. We want to see the legendary horses that gave their name to the Tea Horse Road. the week-long event held in the open plains, but ten years ago a concrete stadium was built Chinese officials so they would have a place to sit. When we arrived the next morning, Tibetans pack the stands . women with high cheekbones, high heels, and long heavy braids with silver and amber; men felt cowboy hats and coats long sleeve called chubas; children without socks cheap sport shoes street vendors sell spicy potatoes boiled and cans of Budweiser. Speakers blaring announce every event in Tibetan and Chinese. it is an atmosphere of rodeo, except the Chinese police stationed every ten meters along the stands, marching in squads all over the field, and civil stalking. "[Source: Mark Jenkins, National Geographic, May 2010]
Down on the field, horse and rider seem to defy gravity. A contestant gallops almost out of control, hanging like an acrobat on the side of starting a white silk handkerchief of land. Propel lumps of clay into strong blue sky. Holding the scarf up, wheels Tibetan cowboy his horse breeding for the roar of the crowd. "[Ibid]
"The Nagqu Horse Festival is one of the few events that celebrate the survivors of Tibet equestrian heritage. Through centuries of selective breeding, Tibetans created a premium horse drawn Nangchen. Standing only 13.5 hands high (about 4.5 feet'smaller most races of America), thin limbs and handsome face, enlarged lungs adapted to life at 15,000 feet, the Tibetan plateau lack of oxygen, Nangchen horses were bred to inexhaustible and surefooted on snow covered steps. These horses were coveted by the Chinese centuries ago. "[Ibid]
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