Posted by: Bhuchung Tsering on: January 16, 2009
The Asia Soceity in New York City is having a day-long conference today (January 16) on “Meltdown: The Impact of Climate Change on the Tibetan Plateau.” This is but the latest indication about the significance of the environment in Tibet to the region and the world. The conference features “IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri, distinguished glaciologists Lonnie Thompson and Yao Tandong, environmental experts from China, the UK, the US, Australia and the Tibetan Autonomous Region, as well as mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears.” It seems there are some Tibetan speakers, too.
Posted by: Bhuchung Tsering on: January 12, 2009
It is clear that the Chinese authorities are increasing their use of Tibetan personalities and institutions to justify and defend their misguided policies on Tibet. The following is the text of remarks that I made on May 15, 1999 at the “Exposing Communist Chinese Government Influence in America” Conference in Orlando, Florida. Those were the days when there was somethign called Splendid China, a theme park connected to the Chinese Government that was used as a vehicle for Chinese publicity.The park, which opened in 1993 eventually had to close its doors in 2003.
Posted by: Bhuchung Tsering on: January 7, 2009
Like the ancient Romans the Tibetans, too, have a broader cultural world that goes beyond the political Tibet of today. While we know of the communities in the south-western borders of Tibet (the following article, which I wrote in 2007) is about one such communities, called the Sherpas), there has been less attention on the communities to the south-east and east, who include the Jang (Naxi) people, the Muso and even what is being called the Xixia by Chinese and Minyak by Tibetans. I am told there are some Western scholars who study the Minyak people.
Posted by: Bhuchung Tsering on: December 29, 2008
In terms of social changes in the Tibetan community, dietary preference is something that is slowly making its mark. Many people feel Tibetans being Buddhist and mostly non-vegetarian is something contradictory. Tibetans have a historical-geographical justification for prefering meat. Anyway, among the attempts made was the transformation of the cafeteria for officials of the Tibetan [...]
Posted by: Bhuchung Tsering on: December 26, 2008
Here is something that I wrote in 1999 concerning developments in Tibet in the past and the ongoing development among Tibetans in the West. The points raised in these items are relevant even today, I would think.
Posted by: Bhuchung Tsering on: December 24, 2008
Tibetan scholar Gedun Choephel was an iconoclast pure and simple. Here is a column I wrote about him which sort of corroborates this.
Posted by: Bhuchung Tsering on: December 23, 2008
This article was published in the magazine brought out by the Smithsonian Institution for the 2000 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., which featured Tibetan culture.
Posted by: Bhuchung Tsering on: December 23, 2008
I tried to look at how the young Tibetans perceive their spiritual heritage. Here, I am of course devoting myself to Buddhism, the predominant religion of Tibet.
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