See also: Tibet (homonymy)

One names Tibet the Asian surface inhabited by the people of the Tibetans. This linguistic zone Tibetan and also " large Tibet historique" asserted by the " gouvernement" Tibetan in exile is composed of three areas: the U-Tsang (integrated today into the Chinese province of the Xizang, or Autonomous region of Tibet), the Amdo (mainly integrated today into the Chinese province of the Qinghai) and the Kham (that of the west integrated into the Autonomous region of Tibet, that of the east integrated into the Chinese province of the Sichuan). The number of Tibetans in the whole of these areas is of: 5,240,000, according to the office of the statistics of China. The Gouvernement Tibetan in exile with Dharamsala (India) gives an estimate close to this figure of 6 million Tibetans currently living to Tibet. It should be added that approximately: 150,000 Tibetans fled Tibet and currently live in exile, mainly in India.

The surface of Tibet varies from 1,221,600 km2 for the administrative area, to 2,500,000 km2 for Large Tibet asserted by the government Tibetan in exile. The population of the Autonomous region counts: 2,540,000 Tibetans to which are added: 160,000 Chinese Han. The historical capital, centers which, traditionally, concentrates the religious authority and temporal of Tibet, is Lhassa.

General information

It was composed of three areas:

• the dBus-gTsang or U-Tsang (delivery in central Tibetan), in Chinese “Wei-Zang 卫藏”, corresponds to the Autonomous region of Tibet current,
• the A-mdo, in Chinese Anduo 安多 in north, forming part today of the Chinese provinces of the Qinghai, of the Gansu, and of the north of the Sichuan (district of rNga-Ba 阿坝),
• the Kham S, in Chinese Kang 康, in the east and the south-east, which forms part of the part today is autonomous region and of two Chinese provinces: the Yunnan and the Sichuan (district of dKar-mdzes 甘孜).

The Tibetans speak the Tibetan, a language of the family Tibéto-Burmese, and are mainly Bouddhiste S, more precisely Buddhism vajrayâna.

The economy of Tibet is developed little. The main activities are the breeding of the Mouton, the Chèvre and the Yack, the culture of cereals (in the valleys of the South and South-east) and the exploitation of wood (in the South). The Tourisme today possible, although is still framed, and represents a big part of the economy.

History

Tibet has a history as rich as long. The events of these 100 last years gave a double interpretation to its history (field of the Historiographie). Added to the interest of all for this thousand-year-old and mysterious culture, its history raises much passion.

See also: History of Tibet

After the invasion and control by the Mongolian capacity of China at the 12th century and the foundation of the Dynasty Yuan by Kubilai Khan, the political relations between the chiefs of the schools of the Buddhism Tibetan and the Emperor of China, Mongol at the time, began. Kubilai Khan interacts with Sakya which will preserve their political role. Of 1643 with 1949, Tibet was controlled by the Dalaï Lama and the Gouvernement Tibetan, sometimes as a Head of State, sometimes as vassal of the Emperor of China and is like 1st large LAMA or sharing the capacity with the Panchen LAMA.

In second half of and with the beginning of, a competition develops between the Russia and the Great Britain, Great Britain seeking to control Tibet from the India, and Russia seeking of to prevent it to maintain its influence in Central Asia. By their military forwarding led by the colonel Francis Younghusband, who crushes in blood in 1904 defense Tibetan, the British end up asserting themselves on Tibet, and allot commercial and diplomatic privileges to it.

In 1908, China, benefitting from the departure of the British troops, takes again temporarily the control of Tibet, until the revolution of 1911 which marks the collapse of the Empire Qing and the installation of the République of China. The Chinese troops and official authorities are expelled of Tibet in 1912 and, in 1913, the 13th Dalaï Lama, Thubten Gyatso, publishes a proclamation reaffirming the independence of Tibet. This one is supported little by the international community.

In 1949, the popular Armée with release enters in Tibet and meets little resistance on behalf of an army Tibetan weak and badly equipped.

In 1956 began with Litang in the Kham a revolt from the Tibetans against the Chinese occupant, who extended to the other sectors from the Kham, then in 1957 and 1958 in the sectors from the Amdo, then in 1958 and 1959, in the U-Tsang, the Autonomous region of Tibet, before extending to the unit from the territory. In 1959, the insurrection bursts with Lhassa, the Dalaï Lama flees Tibet to take refuge in India. It will be followed of approximately: 100000 Tibetans. This revolt was severely repressed by the Chinese authorities. The number of victims Tibetans, important ground for dispute between China and the government Tibetan in exile, is generally estimated at several tens of thousands of people.

According to Amnesty International, since 1987, more than 214 attempts of peaceful demonstrations for independence were repressed and the stopped demonstrators dispatched in camps of work. All were condemned to sorrows going from 3 to 20 years of prison.

In 1989, a demonstration Tibetans finishes in a blood bath.

The Chinese authorities installed surveillance cameras with Lhassa to control the possible demonstrations. Many international associations denounce a repression of the religion in Tibet, as illustrate it for example the setting under house arrest of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, in 1995, just after its recognition like 11th Panchen LAMA by the the 14th Dalaï Lama, or the destruction in 2001 of the institute Buddhist of Serthar founded by Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, also put under house arrest and missing in doubtful circumstances, or the judgment with a custodial sentence with life of Tenzin Delek Rinpoché in 2005. The majority of the large Masters of the Bouddhisme Tibetan were constrained with the exile, like illustrated the escape of Rigdzin Namkha Gyatso Rinpoché in 1998, and that the day before the year 2000 of the 17th Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje.

Relationship between the Popular republic of China and the Tibetans

According to the Government Tibetan in exile, more: 1.2 million Tibetans would have died directly or indirectly consequently of the occupation of Tibet by Popular republic of China between 1949 and 1979.

The Tibetans in exile, in particular in India and with the Nepal, denounce a risk of disappearance of their culture. Thus, during the Cultural revolution Chinese, in Tibet, the Institute Chakpori of medicine Tibetan was completely destroyed by the Chinese army. In 1961, the 14th Dalaï Lama refonda with Dharamsala the Institute of medicine and astrology Tibetan. The Institut Chakpori of medicine Tibetan was refondé with Darjeeling also in India.

In Tibet, many Chinese han, the majority ethnos group of China, comes to settle, whereas at the same time, the Tibetans (Chinese Zang) find work with difficulty and the Monasteries are severely controlled. Under pretext of fight against the independantism, the Tibetans are firmly controlled by the central capacity. The Monasteries in Tibet often more serve a tourist interest spiritual. In Beijing, a lamaïque temple Tibetan, the Temple of Yonghe, lamasery in activity today, is one of principal tourist attractions, and a subway station bears even its name.

The relations between China and Tibet are old and go back to the 12th century, thus the majority of the Chinese imperial buildings comprise since several hundred years the four principal writings which are the Sinogramme S, the Mandchou, the Mongolian and the Tibetan.

In all China, the monks underwent prohibitions and repressions since the takeover of the Communist party, especially during the Cultural revolution. Contrary, before the takeover of the Communists, the Servage legal and was applied to Tibet. The Communists used this argument to justify their intervention in Tibet.

The division of the surface of settlement Tibetan in several provinces and autonomous regions poses also problem. The Chinese authorities affirm that they respect the cultural difference Tibetan (for example in softener for the minorities the severe demographic control imposed to Hans), that the religious liberty is again ensured and that the economic development of Tibet made it possible to disenclose the country (in particular thanks to the construction of railways, which will use to leave the mining resources Tibet). The Autonomous region of Tibet is under the monitoring of the central capacity and the presence of the army and the police force would be felt there more than in other parts of China.

Direct rail link Peking-Lhassa

July 1st, 2006 in railroad, Hu Jintao inaugurates the first train for Lhassa in Tibet at the station of Golmud, in the province of the Qinghai. This new rail link (the Railway line Qing-Zang), which is in the prolongation of the railway line coming from Beijing would have, say the Chinese authorities, to support economic integration, economic development and tourist of Tibet, and according to Bruno Philip, to accelerate the sinicization of Tibet.

The defenders of the Tibetan cause fear that this railway new line contributes to accelerate Chinese immigration in Tibet like more quickly emptying it of its already overexploited natural resources. The Gouvernement Tibetan in exile estimates in particular that “the railroad will facilitate the Chinese control of Tibet and will involve the arrival of many Chinese migrants”.

At the time of the opening of the way of railroad, the Dalaï Lama required of the Tibetans to wait to evaluate the benefit or the harmful effects which could bring this new line of railroad. Dalaï Lama favorably accommodated the railway “in the condition which it profits in the majority from the Tibetans”. But, at the end of January 2007, Dalaï Lama affirmed that Beijing used the new rail link to flood Tibet of beggars, prostitutes and unemployed person, endangering the survival of the culture and the traditions Tibetans.

However the arid side of the plate of Tibet offers only very little prospect for employment and the extreme conditions related to the altitude of the plate involve difficult living conditions.

Rights of the person to Tibet

Just after the entry of the troops of communist China in Tibet, the practice of the Serfdom, still into force under the Dalaï Lama, and to which the Peuple Tibetan was subjected, is removed by the authorities of Beijing. On the other hand, the religious liberty, certain facets of the culture Tibetan and the political dispute are repressed.

The International commission of the lawyers qualified in a report/ratio of 1959 the massacres perpetrated in Tibet by the Chinese authorities of genocide, the whole of the events related to the occupation having resulted in the death of more than 1,2 million Tibetans between 1949 and 1979 according to the Gouvernement Tibetan in exile and the associations of the Tibetans in exile fighting for the freedom of Tibet and the respect of the Human rights for the Tibetans.

Reuters reports that the Chinese authorities are currently continued by the Spanish court of justice for Génocide against the people Tibetan.

In addition, in addition to torture in the prisons and the fact that this one would not save the minors, ONG also give a report on special methods applied to the women Tibetans. Whereas the other minorities do not form part of the policy of birth control in China, the women Tibetans there are included and would be sterilized and obliged to fall through beyond the first child, according to the Commission of the human rights, ratio of 1999.

The photographs of the Dalaï Lama are prohibited, under penalty of prison, but not those of the Panchen LAMA, which was replaced and which is now Chinese culture. The demonstrations for the independence of Tibet are violently repressed: two Buddhist nuns who had claimed the release of Tibet were locked up in the prison of Drapchi, in Lhassa in 1990 or.

According to the Chinese authorities, the Tibetans would not be subjected to particular discriminations because they have the same rights as the unit of the citizens of the Popular republic of China, with the same duties and the same restrictions.

According to the Chinese authorities, since the beginning of the Years 1990, the situation of the human rights improved and the standard of living of the Tibetans increased considerably.

According to Government Tibetan in exile and Dalaï Lama, even if they recognize that the situation of China improves, they affirm that the situation in Tibet does nothing but worsen, in particular for the Human rights which are ridiculed, and for the environment which is degraded seriously. In the prisons tortures are systematic for the political prisoners Tibetans, who are more than 100. The religious liberty is far from being respected, like illustrates it the leakage the seat of the year 2000 of the 17th Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje. The Tibetans undergo a discrimination in particular for employment, of many advantages being given to the Chinese.

However, the Chinese government with set up of natural reserves protected in order to preserve fauna and flora. Only the stockbreeders of Yak can exert their work freely there. Tourist tours are authorized there, but kept under the vigilance of services of cleanliness, of the solar panels are used to produce energy necessary to certain installations, of the cabins smokers (the environment is highly flammable there) and of the green toilets are amménagées there.

Geography

See also: Geography of Tibet

Extending from is in west on a distance of approximately 2400 km, and north in the south on approximately 1,000 km, the plate of Tibet is located between longitudes 78°24' and 104°47' Is and the latitudes 26°2' and 40°3' Northern in the middle of the continent of Asia. It is a gigantic country of approximately 2,5 million km ² (that is to say 5 times France) with an average altitude of 4,200 m, which gathers more the high mountains of the world.

The Western name Tibet , related with the Mongolian name Töbüt is not related to the indigenous name bod . In Chinese, the old name of Tibet is Tufan 吐蕃 (incorrectly marked Tubo by much of Chinese), but the current name of the area Xizang 西藏 means " literally; the house of the treasures of the ouest" , gTsang Western, referring to this area of Tibet.

The place names such as gZhi-ka-rtse were changed into Xigaze since the promulgation of the unified system of romanisation by RPC: the Pinyin. Also, the same place in Tibet can have many “orthographies”: the name in Chinese characters, whose transcription can be in pinyin or Lagging-Gilles (Anglo-Saxon) and the name in Tibetan, who can also be transliterated various ways. The best solution is to use the Translittération Wylie of the orthography Tibetan, according to the use of the tibetologists as well Western as Chinese, although this one gives an account of the orthography and not of the pronunciation.

Environment

The ecological balance of the plate Tibetan is very fragile because of the climate and the altitude which slow down the biological renewal. One finds there an important biodiversity of fauna and flora comparable with that of the Amazon forest. Part of Tibet is still regarded today as one of the last virgin ecological zones of our planet; it is about the North-West of Chang Tang or Plateau Tibetan, in the south of the Désert of Taklamakan in the Xinjiang. Michel Peissel partially explored it with its team. The areas Tibetans extend from the high steppe frozen to the deserts of the high plateaus, with the tropical forests, and the Alpine meadows. Tibet is also the source of the whole of the large rivers of Asia, including/understanding the Gange, the Salween, the Huang He (or Jaune river), the Mekong, the Brahmapoutra, the Yangzi Jiang (or Yangtzé), the Sutlej and the Indus; they are fed by an average precipitation of 100 mm in the north of the country until more than 1,000 mm in south-east.

The perenniality of the environment of Tibet is endangered by the exploitation of mines, in particular of Uranium to Têwo (autonomous Préfecture Tibetan of Gannan, province of Gansu) open in 1980 by the State Department of nuclear industry like the most important source of uranium. The radioactive material of the mine was incorrectly handled, inducing a high incidence of cancers and congenital malformations at the neighbouring populations. Before the mine is not open in 1980, the sector was populated of a large variety of fish, birds, plants and animal species, but since became an unproductive land. The cattle also suffers from an exceptionally high death rate. The local doctors report that about half of the deaths in the sector are due to cancers, dissimulated because " secrecies of État". No precautionary measure is taken to protect the human life and animal.

Near banks of the lake Kokonor, in the county of Haiyan, within the autonomous prefecture of Haibei, Deng Xiao Ping supervised the construction of a research center of nuclear weapons on the plate Tibetan at the beginning of the Années 1960 called the Ninth Academy. It is there, between 1958 and 1964 which was developed the first Chinese atomic bomb and 2 years later the first Chinese bomb with hydrogen. At the end of the Years 1970, a factory of uranium enrichment was built on the site of the lake Kokonor which produced daily nearly 400 kg. In the book “contemporary Nuclear industry” writes by Li Jue, director of the Ninth Academy, the Chinese recognized that until in 1991, the factory of Haiyan was always their principal nuclear milliary research center. Their nuclear waste would have been stored a long time in the lake itself and in years 1970 of many children of the nomads leukemias and malformations were reached. The lake Kokonor, more the big lake of salt water of Tibet is contaminated by the radioactivity.

China began construction from its first center of storage of nuclear waste in Tibet in 1993, in an arid area of the province of Gansu, brought back a dispatch of the November 11th the Reuter agency. China then envisaged the construction of three other centers of storages to promote its development in nuclear energy. The first center of Gansu will have the first storage capacity of 60,000 m2 radioactive waste, which will be increased to 200,000 m2. At the time, no precision had been brought on the mode of treatment and storage of the radioactive waste. The Chinese news agency Xinhua recognized that nuclear waste was deposited in Tibet. July 19th, 1995, it brought back to the existence of a discharge of 20 m2 for the radioactive pollutants in the autonomous prefecture Tibetan of Haibei, close to banks of the lake Kokonor.

There exist several sites strongly contaminated by the radioactivity in Tibet. However, the effects of the radioactive pollutants poured in the water of the plate Tibetan will be felt well beyond because 10 of the largest rivers of Asia take source there. Moreover, the winds of high-altitude which blow in Tibet can transport the radioactivity at long distances.

Natural resources

Tibet has many natural resources in particular out of ores (considerable gold reserves), of oil, gas, of bauxite, copper, tin and lithium. Decided by Beijing, the opening of the access roads and the exploitation of the mining layers were often carried out without consideration for the environment. The result: alarming levels of pollution which affect hydrography, the atmosphere and the grounds.

Formerly green forest zones like the Kongpo in the south-east of Tibet, were transformed into a lunar landscape. In 1949, the forests recovered 221,800 km2, that is to say about half of the surface of France. In 1985, half of the surface of the forest was shaven. According to a recent study of the World Watch Institute, deforestation would reach 85% now.

The deforestation causes severe problems of erosion and landslides, while the level of vase in rivers such as the Yangzi Jiang (Yang-tseu-kiang) reached levels without equivalent in the world. The effects exceed Tibet now and result in floods devastators into China, India and Bangladesh. The Chinese government recognized the role of this massive deforestation in the catastrophic floods of these last années : in 1998, more: 10000 died, 250 million disaster victims, and million homeless people following the risings of Yangzi jiang.

Climate

The climate of Tibet is very continental, cold and dry. Paradoxically, the annual average temperature is higher than that of the atmosphere at an equivalent altitude (radiation of the ground). This effect causes important North-South gradients of pressure, and takes an active part in the phenomenon of monsoon. The changes of temperatures are rather abrupt on the plate of Tibet, By a time sunny and hot, the temperature can fall abruptly, so from the clouds come to cover the sky.

Geology

The plate Tibetan results from the collision since 50 million years between the plates Indian and Eurasian. It is by far highest (more than 5,000 m) and the vastest plate in the world (more than five million km ²). It is bordered by various assembly lines (Tien Shan with the NW, Qilian Shan with, the Himalayas in the South. Its exceptional size results directly from the collision of India and Eurasia, at a fast speed (15 cm/an before the collision, 5 cm/an currently). The deformations associated with this collision are found in most of Asia, until in Siberia. The very weak relief of the plate, in spite of high-altitude is related to the limits rheological of the continental Croûte: the collision causes its thickening (60 to 90 km thickness, that is to say more of the double of a normal crust. The continental Croûte contains Isotope S Radioactif S of the Thorium, Uranium and Potassium which produce heat. This stronger concentration of radioactive isotopes causes a warming of the croûte : it becomes “soft”, and does not allow any more to support a more important thickening. One observes an extensive deformation then (normal faults with the center even of the compression zone) and the propagation of the deformation horizontally. The ground temblements are frequent on the plate of the tibet. The houses are built around large pillars made of whole tree trunks, in order to compensate for its tremors.

Demography

The ethnos group Tibetan is historically the main component of the population of Tibet. The ethnicities Monba, Lhoba, Mongolian and today (Chinese Moslems) there are also present. According to the tradition, the first ancestors of the people Tibetan, represented by the six red bands of the flag Tibetan, are them, Mu, Dong, Tong, Dru and Ra.

The question of the proportion of the Chinese Han in the population of Tibet is politically very sensitive. The government Tibetan in exile affirms that the Popular republic of China practices a policy which supports immigration han with an aim of making the Tibetans minority in their own country, which deny vigorously the Chinese authorities.

Vision of the community Tibetan in exile

Between the Years 1960 and 1980, many prisoners (more than one million, according to Harry Wu) were sent in camps of work (Laogai) of the province Tibetan of the Amdo (Qinghai), where they found employment after their release. Since the years 1980, the implementation of economic liberalization and a greater mobility inside China brought surge Han an Chinese to Tibet. Their real number remains however disputed. The Gouvernement Tibetan in exile gives the figure of 7,5 million not-Tibetans in large Tibet, for 6 million Tibetans. According to him, it is the consequence of an active policy of demographic immersion of the people Tibetan which reduce the chances of political independence of Tibet, in violation of the Geneva Convention of 1946 which prohibits with the occupying powers the installation of colonists in the territories that they control.

The government Tibetan in exile disputes the statistics provided by the Chinese government because they take account neither of the members of the popular Armée with release in garrison in Tibet, nor of the important floating population of not recorded migrants. The Railway line Qing-Zang connecting Xining to Lhasa is also a major subject of concern, insofar as it facilitates the surge of new immigrants.

The government Tibetan in exile quotes an article of the Quotidien of the People published in 1959 to affirm that the population Tibetan lowered to a significant degree since 1959. According to this article, the figures of the National office of statistics of the RPC show that the population of the autonomous region of Tibet was then of: 1273969 people. In the sectors Tibetans of the Kham, one counted: 3381064 Tibetans. In Qinghai and in the other sectors Tibetans incorporated in the Gansu, one counted: 1675534 Tibetans. The sum of all these figures led to a population Tibetan of: 6330567 in 1959. In 2000, the full number of Tibetans in the whole of these areas was of approximately: 5400000 according to the National office of statistics. These figures would imply that between the 1959 and 2000 population Tibetan decreased of approximately a million people, that is to say a decline of 15%. During the same period, the Chinese population doubled, and the world population has triplet. This analysis provides an additional argument concerning the estimate of the number of dead Tibetans during the period going from 1959 to 1979. It suggests the existence of a demographic deficit of the population Tibetan whose causes and the temporal evolution remain to be specified.

These figures being more twice the higher than those of 1953 and 1964 (of Chinese origin), respectively 2,77 and 2,50 million Tibetans, it is possible that they include inhabitants not Tibetans. It does not remain about it less than the figures of Chinese source reveal a reduction in the population between 1953 and 1964, clearly visible on the graph presented to the following chapter; its causes remain however to be determined precisely.

Vision of the Popular republic of China

The Popular republic of China does not regard herself as an occupying power and demented person with force the allegations of demographic immersion. She does not recognize either the existence of “Large Tibet” asserted by the government Tibetan in exile. According to it, this idea was forged by foreign imperialists within the framework of a plot intended to divide China (the Japanese Empire had created a Manzhouguo in the area Mandchourie during the Second world war. The Mongolia, which gained its independence thanks to the support of the Soviet Union on which it was aligned thereafter, constitutes for China a precedent which marked the spirits). It is based on the fact that the territories of population Tibetan which do not belong to the autonomous region were not controlled by the government Tibetan before 1959, but managed since centuries by the neighbouring provinces. According to the RPC, the number of Tibetans in the autonomous region was of 2,4 million at the time of the census carried out in 2000, for: 190000 not-Tibetans, and the number of Tibetans in the whole of the autonomous entities Tibetans (slightly smaller than Large Tibet asserted by the Tibetans in exile) was of 5 million, for 2,3 million not-Tibetans. In the autonomous region itself, most of Han are with Lhassa. The policies of demographic control such as the Politique of the single child apply only to the Han Chinese, and not to the minorities like the Tibetans.

Jampa Phuntsok, a Tibetan of origin of Chamdo, chairs Autonomous region of Tibet, also affirmed that the central government did not have any policy of migration towards Tibet because of the difficult conditions related to altitude, that the 6% of Han in the RAT set up a very fluid group come mainly for the businesses or work, and that there is no problem of immigration.

With regard to the population of ethnos group Tibetan itself, the Chinese government affirms that, according to the first national census carried out in 1954, there was: 2770000 Tibetans in China, of which: 1270000 in the autonomous region, whereas, according to the fourth census carried out in 1990, there was: 4590000 Tibetans in China, of which: 2090000 in the autonomous region. According to him, these figures would constitute the proof that the population Tibetan doubled since 1951, and that the allegations of the Tibetans in exile would be only lie.

The table below gives the figures of population, according to the census carried out in all China in 2000, for all the autonomous entities Tibetans like for the jurisdictions of Xining and Haidong. The presence of these two last jurisdictions in the table makes it possible to present the whole of the figures of the province of Qinghai, and also corresponds to the vision of the government Tibetan in exile which asserts them like integral part of “Large Tibet”. The figures presented do not take into account the members of the popular Armée with release in active service.

Culture

See also: Culture Tibetan

Medicine traditional Tibetan

The Médecine traditional Tibetan is one of oldest medicines in the world. She uses up to two thousand types of plants and fifty minerals. One of the key personalities in its development was the doctor Yutok Yonten Gonpo 8th century famous, which produced the Four will tantras medical integrating the material of the medical traditions of Perse, India and of China. Will tantras include/understand a total of 156 chapters in the form of Tangka S, which speaks about antiquated medicine Tibetan and the gasolines about medicines in the other places. She is generally practiced by spangled, as with Xianggelila.

The descendant of Yutok Yonten Gonpo, Yuthok Sarma Yonten Gonpo, consolidated of advantage the tradition by adding 18 medical work. One of its books includes tables painting to give it at the initial state of a broken bone. Moreover, it compiled a series of anatomical images of internal bodies.

Religion

Buddhism Tibetan

See also: Buddhism Tibetan

The religion is extremely important for the Tibetans. Tibet is the traditional ECRIN of the Bouddhisme Tibetan, a distinctive form of Vajrayana, which is also connected to the Shingon, the Buddhist tradition in Japan. The Bouddhisme Tibetan is not only practiced in Tibet, but also at the Mongolian in Mongolia, and in the Republic of Bouriatie, the Republic of Touva and the Republic of Kalmoukie, in more at the Mandchous. Tibet is also the place of an original spiritual tradition called Bön.

One of the funerary rites the most practiced by the Tibetans present of the single characteristics: it is that of the burial of the Air , by which the body of late is offered to the vultures.

Islam

In the Tibetans cities, there are also small Muslim communities, like Kachee (Kache), whose origins go back to the immigrants of three principal areas: the Cashmere (Kachee Yul in old Tibetan), Ladakh and the countries Turkish of Central Asia. The Islamic influence in Tibet also came from Persia. After 1959, a group of Moslems Tibetans required Indian nationality because of their historical roots of the Cashmere and the Indian government declared all the Moslems Tibetans Indian citizens this year there. There exists also a well established Chinese Muslim community (gya kachee), whose origins go back to the people Hui, an ethnicity of China.

Buddhist monasteries in Tibet

The Palate of Potala, the old residence of the Dalai Lama S is a site of the world heritage, as is the Norbulingka, the old residence of summer of the Dalai Lama S.

During the Chinese invasion of 1949, and the Cultural revolution of 1960, sites most historically significant of Tibet were vandalisés or were destroyed completely.

See also: Contenu=Voir [[Liste_de_temples_bouddhistes#Tibet]], [[List of Buddhist temples of Tibet]]

Art Tibetan

The artistic representations Tibetans are intrinsically related to the Bouddhisme Tibetan and usually represent divinities or Bouddha S of the various shapes active of bronze statues and sanctuaries, with very coloured Thangka S and Mandala S of coloured sands.

Structure

The religious architecture Tibetan was subject to Eastern and Indian influences, and reflects deeply the approach Bouddhiste. The Buddhist wheel, with two dragons, can be seen on almost each monastery of Tibet. The design of the Chörten S Tibetan can vary, of the walls rounded in the Kham with forms squares and walls at four sides with the Ladakh.

Architecture Tibetan is characterized by frequent construction of the houses and the monasteries on sites high and shone upon vis-a-vis the south, and by the use as materials of a mixture of stone, wood, cement and ground. The techniques of construction make it possible to mitigate the scarcity of fuels used for the heating: flat roofs to preserve multiple heat, and windows to let enter the sunlight. The walls are usually tilted of ten degrees towards the interior and supported by large pillars makes tree trunks massive, as precaution against the earthquakes, frequent in this mountainous sector.

With 117 meters height and 360 meters of width, the Palais of Potala is regarded as the most important example of architecture Tibetan. In the past residence of the Dalaï Lama, it contains more than one thousand of parts in thirteen stages, and shelters portraits of the last Dalaï Lama S and statues of the Buddha. It is divided into an external White Palate, which shelters the administrative districts, and of the interior Red Districts, which shelter the meeting room of Lamas, vaults: 10000 sanctuaries and an important library containing the Buddhist writings. There exists a Petit potala, with Zhongdian, the South East of the plate of Tibet, in the province of Yunnan, the autonomous region of Xianggelila.

Music

The music of Tibet reflects the cultural heritage of the Himalayan area, centered on Tibet but also on the areas where one finds ethnicities Tibetans: in India, with the Bhutan, the Nepal like abroad. The music Tibetan is before any nun, reflecting the major influence of the Bouddhisme Tibetan on the culture.

The music Tibetan often implies songs in language Tibetan E or Sanscrit, like integral part of the religion. These complex songs, often of the recitations of crowned texts, are also practiced at the time of the celebration of various festivals. The song yang, carried out without moment of measurement, is accompanied by resonance of drums and on a bottom grade, constant syllables. There exist also styles specific to various schools of Buddhism Tibetan, like the popular classical music of the Gelugpa, and the romantic music of the Nyingmapa, Sakyapa and Kagyupa.

Another form of popular music is the traditional style Gar, which is carried out for the rites and the ceremonies. The music Lu is a type of songs which present vibrations glottales and acute. There are also the songs epic hero of Tibet, like the epopee of Gesar de Ling.

Festivals

Tibet has various festivals which are usually carried out in honor with the Buddha. Losar is the Festival of New year Tibetan and the Festival of prayer of Monlam follows it in the first month of the calendar Tibetan which implies many Tibetans dancing and taking part in the events of sports and to share the picnics.

Education traditional Tibetan

Before the organization of teaching is completely transformed by the Chinese in the Années 1950, but also by the Tibetans in exile in India whose teaching attracts each year a big number of young Tibetans towards the exile, three modes of collective teaching coexisted in Tibet: Buddhist teaching ensured in the monasteries, the official teaching organized by the Government Tibetan, and private education. The teaching of the manual trades was generally carried out by transmission of wire father, but also by internal formation within the workshops.

Although one does not have precise statistics on the number of schools and the number of pupils within the Buddhist monasteries, it is however certain that this form of teaching was largely dominating, but that it dealt with only part of the children Tibetans, those which were sent there by their parents to become monks; the figure of less than 2% children provided education for advanced by Chinese sources appears nevertheless caricatural. According to the Government Tibetan in exile, before 1959, one counted: 592000 monks, while the number of nuns were of: 27000, is on the whole nearly 10% of the whole of the Tibetans. These schools gave the pupils, with the young monks or Buddhist nuns, a religious, philosophical and artistic formation, and also taught to them the reading and the writing of the language Tibetan, as well as the bases of the Médecine traditional Tibetan and the Calendrier Tibetan.

The official teaching, organized by the Government Tibetan around 3 principal centers, was intended primarily for the formation of the future executives of the country, with that of the doctors and the specialists in the astronomical calendar. The school of Tse, located at the top of the Palate of Potala and founded by the 7 {{E}} Dalaï Lama, formed the executives of the Gouvernement of Tibet. The graduates of this school who wished to work in the public office were to undergo a more thorough teaching in a religious school. The laic civils servant were mainly trained at the school of Tse. According to the Chinese government, the future executives all were practically resulting noble families, whereas the medical studies were opened with all.

According to Chinese sources, there existed only one school of management training intended for laic, located with Lhassa, which counted a score of pupils, and two schools intended for the monks, one in Lhassa, and the other with Xigaze. The teaching of the future laic executives comprised ethics, the grammar and the writing of the language Tibetan E, the composition of the official documents and the techniques of calculation and covering of the taxes. The teaching of the future religious executives comprised the Buddhist religious ceremonies, writings and objects, grammar Tibetan, the composition of the official documents and mathematics.

The teaching intended for the future specialists in medicine and the astronomical calendar Tibetans was delivered by several schools, in particular the Institut Chakpori of medicine Tibetan founded at the 17th century by the 5 {{E}} Dalaï Lama and her regent Sangyé Gyatso, who was destroyed in 1959 by the Chinese army, like with the Men-Tsee-Khang of Lhassa, founded in 1916 by the 13th Dalaï LAMA, Thubten Gyatso. This establishment will be closed under the Chinese occupation, and the doctors Tibetans like Tenzin Choedrak imprisoned.

The noble or easy families frequently had recourse to Précepteur S which were in charge of the education of their children in residence. In the most important cities (in particular Lhassa, Shigatse, Zedang and Gyangzê), private schools were created. Those, with the number of ten in the Years 1840, multiplied to reach the hundred under the République of China. The town of Lhassa counted at least a score of re-elected private schools, like Dakang or Gyiri . The British opened a dispensary in the town of Gyantse after the signature of the consecutive treaties to their military intervention of 1904. It is in this same city as in 1923, the 13 {{E}} Dalaï Lama established the first English school, which had to close in 1926 because of the opposition of the monasteries. The attempt to generalize primary school education wanted by the 13th Dalaï LAMA, Thubten Gyatso date of its return of exile in India, after the fall of the Chinese dynasty Qing in 1911. It decided to institute an obligatory teaching of the language Tibetan for all the older children from 7 to 15 years, but ran up against the opposition of the monasteries.

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