Caveat emptor: I am going to write a survey of Tibet travel starting from today; I am a Hong Kong-born Han Chinese.
It can hardly be secret that travellers from the English speaking countries (and, perhaps, the West) share the view that the Chinese are the invaders of the spiritual land and the Tibetan people are the victims. I have no intention to join the heated political debate, unless and until I can form my own view, instead of relying on the ten-page "history" section of Lonely Planet: Tibet.
The survey will start with practical information for independent travellers to Tibet.
Audi alteram partem – it is hoped, and indeed believed, that the readers of Letters from China would welcome a Chinese perspective and find the information provided useful.
It is time to consult my Oxford English Reference Dictionary (2002):
"Tibet (Chinese Xizang) a mountainous country in Asia on the northern side of the Himalayas, since 1965 forming an autonomous region in the west of China; pop. (1990) 2,196,000; official languages, Tibetan and Chinese; capital, Lhasa. Ruled by Buddhist lamas since the 7th century, Tibet was conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century and the Manchus in the 18th. China extended its authority over Tibet in 1951 but only gained full control after crushing a revolt in 1959, during which the country's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, escaped into India; he remains in exile and sporadic unrest has continued. Tibet is sometimes called 'the roof of the world'; most of the territory forms a high plateau with an average elevation of over 4,000 m (12,500 ft) and it is the source of some of Asia's largest rivers, including the Yangtze, Salween, and Mekong."
I may add: Xi means "west" and "Zang" means the Tibetan ethnic group in Chinese language.
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