"Tibet" can be a rather tricky concept which may not be as straightforward as it might appear at first sight. It is commonly used interchangeably with Tibet Autonomous Region, an administrative region directly under the Central Government in Beijing.
But the Tibetan culture exceeds the dotted line of the map of the autonomous region. In fact, Qinghai, western Sichuan, and north-western Yunnan, all bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region, and part of Gansu, are very Tibetan. The Chinese government establishes Tibetan autonomous prefectures or counties in these provinces.
It may be the greatest news to the readers who share my extraordinary diligence (or, to put it in other way, the psychological problem of inexplicable anxiety) – always think of the worst case like "what if the Tibet Tourism Bureau suddenly changes its policy and refuses to issue permits to Lhasa to foreign travellers after I fly to Chengdu? I will have been imprisoned in the economy class for sixteen hours!"
The provinces abovementioned, perhaps particularly Yunnan, generally welcome travellers. For independent travellers who want to avoid all bureaucratic hurdles of visiting "Tibet", real or perceived, Deqen neighbouring Lijiang in northern Yunnan may be the true Tibetan heaven.
Yunnan-related Links:
Deqen Tourist Office
Deqen Government
In addition to Deqen in Yunnan, I have also collected the government websites of Tibetan regions outside the Tibet Autonomous Region:
Qinghai-related Links:
Huangnan Government
Haixi Government
Sichuan-related Links:
Aba Government
Muli County in Liangshan, see Liangshan Government
Gansu-related Link:
Gannan Government
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