Tibet at a Glance

Posted Mon, 01/05/2009 - 15:40 by superuser

When Tibetans refer to 'Tibet' they are talking about the entity comprising the three provinces of U-Tsang, Kham and Amdo. The two Tibetan provinces of Kham and Amdo are now largely incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Sichuan (upper/right regions in brown on the map). Tibet's traditional territory now accounts for one quarter of the landmass of the People's Republic of China.

When the Chinese talk about 'Tibet', they are referring only to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), an administrative region created by the Chinese occupiers in 1965. The TAR (lower/left regions) comprises less than half the total Tibetan lands and contains only a third of the total Tibetan population.

Tibetan territory map

Tibet's traditional three provinces are shown along with other regional names. Following centuries of isolation, many Tibetans may think of themselves as Khampas or Amdowas before they refer to themselves as Tibetans (not unlike, say, people from Texas). However they will invariably consider themselves Tibetans and not Chinese, in spite of half a century of intensive Chinese efforts to erase the notion of a separate Tibetan identity.

Facts About Tibet:

Land Size: The total size of Tibet (all three traditional provinces) is 2.5 million square kilometres (or 965,000 square miles). The TAR, consisting of U-Tsang and a small portion of Kham, is 1.2 million square kilometres in size. More than half the landmass of Tibet lies outside of the TAR.

Population:

There are around 6 million Tibetans; 2.7 million live in the TAR and the remainder in the Tibetan areas outside the TAR. There is also an undetermined number of Chinese in the Tibetan areas with the Tibetan Government in Exile estimating that the Chinese now outnumber Tibetans in Tibet. Additionally, approximately 120,000 Tibetans live in exile.

Legal Status:

Occupied by China.

Government:

The Communist Party of China rules occupied Tibet. However Tibetans, both inside Tibet and in exile, recognise the Tibetan Government in Exile based in Dharamsala, India as their legitimate government.

Head of State:

Tibetans recognise His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama as the leader of Tibet. The Dalai Lama has lived in Dharamsala, India since 1959. The Head of State under China'a occupation is the Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Administration:

Under Chinese rule, the Tibetan landmass has been divided into the following administrative units:a) Tibet Autonomous Region, b) Haibei [Tibetan: Tsochang] Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Hainan [Tsolho] Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Huangan [Malho] Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Guoluo [Golog] Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yushu [Jyekundo] Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Haixi [Tsonub] Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province, c) Tianzu [Pari] Tibetan Autonomous County and Gannan [Gannan] Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province, d) Aba [Ngaba] Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Ganzi [Kardze] Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Mili [Mili] Tibetan Autonomous County in Sichuan Province, e) Diqing [Dechen] Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province.

Language:

Tibetan. The official language in Tibet following the occupation is Chinese.

Religion:

The majority of Tibetans practice Tibetan Buddhism. Other religions: Bon, Islam, Christianity.

Economy:

Tibetans work predominantly in the agriculture and animal husbandry sectors. Chinese are predominantly in government, commerce and the service sectors.

Major Rivers:

Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra in India), Machu (Yellow River in China), Drichu (Yangtse in China), Senge Khabab (Indus in India), Phungchu (Arun in India), Gyalmo Ngulchu (Salween in Burma) and Zachu (Mekong in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos).

Bordering Countries:

India, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, East Turkestan (north of Tibet, not shown; also occupied by China), China

Average Altitude:

4,000 metres or 13,000 feet above sea level

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Facts about Tibet

Tibet lies at the centre of Asia, with an area of 2.5 million square kilometres (approximately 1 million square miles).

Despite over 50 years of Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Tibetan people refuse to be conquered and subjugated by China.

The Tibetan Plateau is the highest and biggest plateau in the world, so Tibet is referred to as “the roof of the world”.

For Tibetans, the term Tibet means the 3 provinces of U'Tsang, Kham and Amdo, the area traditionally known as Tibet before China's invasion.

The English word Tibet is derived from the Arabic word Tubbat. This word is in turn derived via Persian from the Turkic word Tobad, meaning ‘the heights’.

Tibet was occupied by China in 1949, and the Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959.

Hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have died as a direct result of Chinese occupation since 1949.

There are six million Tibetans in Tibet and roughly 150,000 Tibetans in exile in India and other countries.

Tibetans consider the Dalai Lama to be the temporal as well as spiritual leader of Tibet.

Thousands of Tibetans cross the mighty Himalaya on foot every year into exile, risking death, injuries and arrest.

Most Tibetans are Buddhist, but there are Muslims, Christians and practitioners of Bon, the indigenous religion of Tibet.

In 1948 Tibetan government representatives traveled to the US, UK and France on Tibetan government issued passports.

The exiled Tibetan people elected their first Prime Minister in 2000

In 2008, Tibetans took part in more than 130 separate peaceful protests against the Chinese government across the Tibetan Plateau.

Displaying a photograph of the Dalai Lama in Tibet can result in arrest.

In 1995 the Chinese government abducted the 6 year old Panchen Lama, one of Tibet's most important spiritual leaders. He is still missing.

The longest epic poem in the world is the story of a legendary Tibetan king, Gesar of Ling.

The Tibetan Plateau is the Earth's "Third Pole," providing life-sustaining waters for and regulating weather across south and east Asia.

March 10 is Tibetan National Uprising day. It marks the massive uprising in Tibet in 1959 that led to the escape of the Dalai Lama into exile.

Yak is a Tibetan term for the male of the species. Its female counterpart is called Dri.

Tibetans are denied many of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the right to self- determination, freedom of speech and religion.

Untll 1949 Tibet had its own government that managed its own domestic and foreign affairs; Tibet had its own national flag and its own currency.

According to Amnesty International more than 1,000 Tibetans were unaccounted for after the protests of 2008.

In the Tibetan Lunar Calendar, the year 2009 corresponds to the year 2136, the Year of the Earth Ox.

Prior to the uprisings of 2008, the last major protests by Tibetans against China's occupation of Tibet took place in 1989, when martial law was declared.