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81-630: The China Tibetology Research Center was founded in Beijing on May 20, 1986. It focuses on the study of Tibetan culture , the history, current situation and future of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Tibetan areas of Gansu , Qinghai , Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, and is "dedicated to the protection and development of Tibetan culture, contacting scholars in domestic Tibetan institutions, promoting academic exchanges and cooperation, and prospering

162-424: A male Earth- Dragon year is followed by a female Earth- Snake year, then by a male Iron- Horse year. The sex may be omitted, as it can be inferred from the animal. The element-animal designations recur in cycles of 60 years, starting with a (female) Fire- Rabbit year. These big cycles are numbered. The first cycle started in 1027. Therefore, 2005 roughly corresponds to the (female) Wood- Rooster year of

243-473: A blouse, and a colorfully striped, woven wool apron, called pangden signals that she is married. Men and women both wear long sleeves even in summer months. In his 1955 book, Tibetan Marches , André Migot describes Tibetan clothing as follows: Except for the lamas and for certain laymen who shave their heads, the Tibetans wear their hair either long or in a braid wound around their heads and embellished with

324-445: A complicated pattern of lesser braids which make the whole thing look like some sort of crown. They often wear a huge conical felt hat, whose shape varies according to the district they come from; sometimes its peak supports a kind of mortarboard from which dangles a thick woolen fringe. In order to prevent their hats being blown away, they attach them to their heads with the long braid I have just described, and which has to be unwound for

405-459: A distinct culture due to its geographic and climatic conditions. While influenced by neighboring cultures from China , India , and Nepal , the Himalayan region 's remoteness and inaccessibility have preserved distinct local influences, and stimulated the development of its distinct culture. Tibetan Buddhism has exerted a particularly strong influence on Tibetan culture since its introduction in

486-490: A father a few weeks before, and the people of the village had made presents of "flour- ibex " to him and his wife. He gave me one of those figures, which are made of flour and butter, and told me that it was a custom in Tibet and Ladakh, to make presents of "flour-ibex" on the occasion of the birth of a child. This is quite interesting information. I had often wondered why there were so many rock carvings of ibex at places connected with

567-485: A few areas in Tibet are low enough to grow such crops as rice, oranges, lemon and bananas. The most important crop in Tibet is barley . Flour milled from roasted barley, called tsampa , is the staple food of Tibet. It is eaten mostly mixed with the national beverage, the butter tea . Butter tea perfectly fits the needs of the human body in these high altitudes as it contains butter (protein and fat), milk (protein, fat and calcium), salt and tea. Tibetan cuisine contains

648-800: A huge body of work - some of which has been translated into Western languages. Tibetan literature has a historical span of over 1300 years. Perhaps the best known category of Tibetan literature outside of Tibet are the epic stories - particularly the famous Epic of King Gesar . Tibetan architecture contains Chinese and Indian influences, and reflects a deeply Buddhist approach. The prayer wheel , along with two deer or dragons, can be seen on nearly every gompa in Tibet . The design of stupas ( chörten s) can vary, from roundish walls in Kham to squarish, four-sided walls in Ladakh . The most unusual feature of Tibetan architecture

729-550: A land area distributed in multiple province-level administrative divisions in present-day China, most of it in Tibet Autonomous Region and Sichuan , with smaller portions located within Qinghai and Yunnan . Densely forested with grass plains, its convergence of six valleys and four rivers supported independent Kham polities of Tibetan warrior kingdoms together with Tibetan Buddhist monastic centers. The early trading route between Central Tibet and China traveled through Kham, and Kham

810-554: A power struggle in the mid-9th century, Tibet separated into independent kingdoms. Kham was not controlled by a single king and remained a patchwork of kingdoms, tribes, and chiefdoms whose bases of authority were constantly shifting. A dual system of secular and Buddhist polities continued. In 1270, the Sakya school's lama Tonstul, a student of Sakya Pandita , established a monastery in Kham while both Kagyu and Sakya monasteries were located in

891-412: A range of styles and lavishly decorated with wooden ornamentation. The interiors of houses are usually paneled with wood and the cabinetry is ornately decorated. Although various materials are used in the well-built houses, it is the skilful carpentry that is striking. This skill is passed down from father to son and there appear to be plenty of carpenters. However a threat to traditional Tibetan carpentry

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972-467: A wide variety of dishes. The most famous are Momos (Tibetan dumplings). Balep is Tibetan bread eaten for breakfast and lunch. There many other types of balep bread and fried pies. Thukpa is noodle soup. It consists of noodles of various shapes, vegetables, and meat in broth. Tibetan cuisine is traditionally served with bamboo chopsticks , in contrast to other Himalayan cuisines which are eaten by hand. Small soup bowls are also used by Tibetans, and

1053-498: Is also closely related to Tibetan. Tibetan art is deeply religious in nature, a form of religious art . It spreads over a wide range of paintings, frescos, statues, ritual objects, coins, ornaments and furniture. Tibetan rug making is an ancient art and craft in the tradition of Tibetan people . These rugs are primarily made from Tibetan highland sheep 's virgin wool. The Tibetan uses rugs for almost any domestic use from flooring to wall hanging to horse saddles. Traditionally

1134-451: Is called the ampa , and in it are stowed a wide range of implements — an eating bowl, a bag of tsampa , and many other small necessities. Many chubas are made of wool, either the plain gray wool they spin in Sikang or the splendid, warm, soft stuff from Lhasa, dyed a rich dark red. The nomads, on the other hand, generally wear a sheepskin chuba , hand-sewn and crudely tanned in butter, with

1215-690: Is credited with commissioning Buddhist structures while traveling through Kham in 640–641, from her home in China to Central Tibet. During the Imperial era, both Nyingma school and Bon monasteries were located, especially in Nyarong Valley , among pastoral and agricultural-based polities ruled by local chieftains, polities which included merchant as well as Mongol and Chinese populations. Notable Tibetan Buddhist art from this era, dating from 804 or 816, includes carved stone statues of Buddha Vairocana . Following

1296-412: Is dated. Modern Kangding city is now rebuilt, eliminating the earlier fire-prone wooden architecture]. Horizontal timber beams support the roof and these in turn are supported by wooden columns. Although the area has been heavily logged, wood is imported and used abundantly for housing. The Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Kham, surrounded by forests, is known for its beautiful wooden houses built in

1377-571: Is especially popular in the karaoke bars of the urban center of Tibet, Lhasa . Another form of popular music is the classical gar style, which is performed at rituals and ceremonies. Lu are a type of songs that feature glottal vibrations and high pitches which are typically sung by nomads. There are also epic bards who sing of Tibet's national hero, Gesar. Tibetans are well represented in Chinese popular culture. Tibetan singers are particularly known for their strong vocal abilities, which many attribute to

1458-474: Is said to be the inspiration for Shangri-La in James Hilton's novel. Settled as Tibet's eastern frontier in the 7th century, King Songtsen Gampo built temples along its eastern border. In 1939, an eastern area of Kham was officially established as Xikang Province of China. Kham has a rugged terrain characterized by mountain ridges and gorges running from northwest to southeast, and collectively known as

1539-768: Is spoken in Central Tibet and also in Exile by most Tibetans. In Kham the Khams Tibetan dialect is spoken and in Amdo the Amdo Tibetan dialect. The Tibetan dialects are subject to the Tibetic languages which are part of the Tibeto-Burman languages . Modern Tibetan derives from Classical Tibetan , which is the written norm, and from Old Tibetan . The official language of Bhutan , Dzongkha ,

1620-402: Is that many of the houses and monasteries are built on elevated, sunny sites facing the south, and are often made of a mixture of rocks, wood, cement and earth. Little fuel is available for heat or lighting, so flat roofs are built to conserve heat, and multiple windows are constructed to let in sunlight. Walls are usually sloped inwards at 10 degrees as a precaution against frequent earthquakes in

1701-590: Is the lunisolar calendar , that is, the Tibetan year is composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months , each beginning and ending with a new moon . A thirteenth month is added approximately every three years, so that an average Tibetan year is equal to the solar year . The name of the months are ༼ མཆུ་ཟླ་བ།༽ January, ༼ དབོ་ཟླ་བ།༽ February, ༼ ནག་པ་ཟླ་བ།༽་ March, ༼ ས་ག་ཟླ་བ།་༽ April, ༼ སྣྲོན་ཟླ་བ།༽ May, ༼ ཆུ་སྟོད་ཟླ་བ།༽ June, ༼ གྲོ་བཞིན་ཟླ་བ།༽ July, ༼ ཁྲུམས་སྟདོ།༽ August, ༼ དབྱུ་གུ་ཟླ་བ།༽ September, ༼ སྨིན་དྲུག་ཟླ་བ།༽ October, ༼ གོ་ཟླ་བ།༽ November and ༼ རྒྱལ་ཟླ་བ།༽ December. |-, but

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1782-400: Is the growing use of concrete structures. Some consider the increased use of concrete as a deliberate infiltration of the Chinese influence into Tibet. In Gaba Township , where there are few Han Chinese , almost all the structures are traditional. The events that took place in Tibet in the twentieth century exacted a heavy toll on Tibetan monastic architecture. Under the 13th Dalai Lama ,

1863-778: The 2nd Dalai Lama once housed 500 monks but was completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution . Ramoche Temple is an important temple in Lhasa. The original building complex was strongly influenced by Tang dynasty architectural style as it was first built by Han Chinese architects in the middle of the 7th century. Princess Wencheng took charge of this project and ordered the temple be erected facing east to show her homesickness. See List of Tibetan monasteries . Tibetans tend to be conservative in their dress, and though some have taken to wearing Western clothes, traditional styles still abound. Women wear dark-colored wrap dresses over

1944-805: The Chinese Civil War . The Kuomintang formulated a plan where three Khampa divisions would be assisted by the Panchen Lama to oppose the Communists. Kuomintang intelligence reported that some Tibetan tusi chiefs and the Khampa Su Yonghe controlled 80,000 troops in Sichuan, Qinghai, and Tibet. They hoped to use them against the Communist army. The Chinese Kuomintang (Nationalists) also enlisted Khampas to join their military. The Chinese Kuomintang also sought

2025-576: The Hengduan Mountains . Numerous rivers, including the Mekong , Yangtze , Yalong River , and the Salween River flow through Kham. Under the modern administrative division of China, Kham includes a total of 50 contemporary counties , which have been incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan (16 counties), Yunnan (three counties), and Qinghai (6 counties) as well as the eastern portion of

2106-573: The Hor States , Litang , Degé , the Chakla and Batang , becoming the paramount power in the region. China sent troops in against Namgyal which were defeated in 1849, and additional troops were not dispatched. Chinese military posts were present along the trading route, but "did not have any authority over the native chiefs". By 1862, Namgyal blocked trade routes from China to Central Tibet, and sent troops into China. Local chieftains had appealed to both

2187-535: The Kumbum Monastery continue to be affected by Chinese politics. Simbiling Monastery was completely flattened in 1967, although it has to some degree been restored. Tashi Lhunpo Monastery shows the influence of Mongol architecture. Tradruk Temple is one of the oldest in Tibet, said to have been first built in the 7th century during the reign of Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire (605?-650). Jokhang

2268-599: The Tibetan Empire sent troops east from Lhasa to the reaches of the Tibetan Plateau , where they interacted with local cultures and languages to establish eastern Tibet, or Do Kham ('Do', the convergence of rivers and valleys; 'Kham', frontier). Kham was traditionally referred to as Chushi Gangdruk , i.e. 'The Four Rivers and Six Ranges' and 'The Four Great Valleys'. Responsible for introducing Buddhism to Tibet, King Songtsen Gampo (reign 629–649) built twelve 'border-taming' temples in Kham, and his 4th wife Wencheng Gongzhu

2349-464: The 17th cycle, and 2008 corresponds to a (male) Earth- Rat year of the same cycle. The days of the week are named for celestial bodies . Nyima "Sun", Dawa "Moon" and Lhakpa "Mercury" are common personal names for people born on Sunday, Monday or Wednesday respectively. A gift traditionally given at the time of a new birth is that of an ibex figurine, as described below by August Hermann Francke. "Our Christian evangelist at Khalatse had become

2430-1018: The Beijing International Seminar for Tibetan Studies. Since the year 2000, the Center has hosted about 230 scholars, diplomats and journalists from 40 countries. The 7th Beijing International Symposium on Tibetan Studies, co-organized by the China Association for the Protection and Development of Tibetan Culture, the China Tibetology Research Center, and the Tibet Autonomous Region Academy of Social Sciences, opened on August 14, 2023, in Beijing. The event, themed "Prosperous Development of Tibetan Studies and an Open Tibet," brought together 320 scholars from China and abroad. Tibetan culture Tibet developed

2511-532: The British Military Expedition to Lhasa and subsequent retreat [and consequent power vacuum within Tibet] were primarily responsible". In 1932, an agreement signed between Chinese warlord Liu Wenhui and Tibetan forces formalized the partition of Kham into two regions: Eastern Kham, which was administered by Chinese forces, and Western Kham, which was administered by Tibet. Eastern Kham subsequently became

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2592-784: The Buddha. It is divided into the outer White Palace, which serves as the administrative quarters, and the inner Red Quarters, which houses the assembly hall of the Lamas, chapels, 10,000 shrines and a vast library of Buddhist scriptures. Tibetans have a unique culture, and diversity only otherwise seen in ethnicity groups regions such as Xinjiang. Traditional Kham architecture is seen in most dwellings in Kangding . Kham houses tend to be spacious and fit in well with their environment. Their floors and ceilings are wooden, as houses are throughout in Kangding. [This article

2673-780: The Center also manages the China Tibetology Publishing House , the Kanjur and Tanjur Collation Bureau, the Beijing Tibetan Medical Center, the China Tibetology press and the Center's Library. International collaboration and academic exchange are key activities of the Chinese Tibetology Research Center. The Center has successfully held three international seminars for Tibetan studies. In 2001, about 220 scholars from 14 countries attended

2754-605: The Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism. Mustard seed is cultivated in Tibet, and therefore features strongly in its cuisine. Yak yogurt , butter and cheese are frequently eaten, and well-prepared yogurt is considered something of a prestige item. In larger Tibetan towns and cities many restaurants nowadays serve Sichuan-style Chinese food . Western imports and fusion dishes, such as fried yak and chips, are also popular. Nevertheless, many small restaurants serving traditional Tibetan dishes persist in both cities and

2835-579: The Governor of Xining , where he earned the nickname of "the Butcher of Kham". In 1905 or 1908 Zhao began executing monks and destroying many monasteries in Kham and Amdo , implementing an early "sinicization" of the region: He abolished the powers of the Tibetan local leaders and appointed Chinese magistrates in their places. He introduced new laws that limited the number of lamas and deprived monasteries of their temporal power and inaugurated schemes for having

2916-502: The Himalayas , an adaptation of Shakespeare 's Hamlet , set in ancient Tibet and featuring an all-Tibetan cast. Tibetan music has influenced certain styles of Western music, such as new-age . Philip Glass , Henry Eichheim and other composers are known for Tibetan elements in their music. The first Western fusion with Tibetan music was Tibetan Bells in 1971. The soundtrack to Kundun , by Glass, has also popularized Tibetan music in

2997-742: The Hor States. In 1717, the Mongol Dzungar Khanate invaded Tibet and other Asian regions. The Qing Chinese army likewise invaded and defeated the Dzungars. This led to the redrawing of the Sino-Tibetan boundary of 1677, which had followed the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The frontier line changed in either 1725 or 1726 to follow the Dri River (Jinsha River, Upper Yangtze ), while the Kham region on

3078-705: The Khampas help in defending Sichuan from Japan during World War 2, since the temporary capital was located there. A Khampa member of the Mongolian Tibetan Academy was Han Jiaxiang. 300 "Khampa bandits" were enlisted into the Kuomintang Consolatory Commission military in Sichuan, where they were part of the effort of the central government of China to penetrated and destabilize the local Han warlords such as Liu Wenhui. The Chinese government sought to exercise full control over frontier areas against

3159-707: The Khampas, whose relationship with the Dalai Lama's government in Lhasa were deteriorating badly. The Khampa revolutionary leader Pandatsang Rapga founded the Tibet Improvement Party to overthrow the Tibetan government and establish a Tibetan Republic as part of China. In addition to using the Khampa's against the Tibetan Government in Lhasa, the Chinese Kuomintang also used them against the Communists during

3240-633: The Lhasa and the Qing Manchu governments for help against Namgyal. The Tibetan authorities sent an army in 1863, and defeated Namgyal then killed him at his Nyarong fort by 1865. Central Tibet reasserted its authority over the northern parts of Kham and established the Office of the Tibetan High Commissioner to govern. Tibet also reclaimed Nyarong, Degé and the Hor States north of Nyarong. China recalled their forces. It appears to have been accepted by

3321-577: The Manchu Tongzhi Emperor . Then in 1896, the Qing Governor of Sichuan attempted to gain control of Nyarong valley during a military attack. After his defeat, the Qing agreed to the withdrawal of Chinese forces and the "territory was returned to the direct rule of Lhasa". From 1904 to 1911, China decided to reassert its control over the previously re-ceded section of Kham, and to push further into

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3402-534: The Qing, the Beijing-appointed amban Zhong Ying invaded Lhasa with the Chinese army in February 1910 in order to gain control of Tibet and establish direct Chinese rule. The 13th Dalai Lama escaped to British India , and returned before China surrendered via a letter from the amban to the Dalai Lama in the summer of 1912. On 13 February 1913, the Dalai Lama declared Tibet an independent nation, and announced

3483-600: The Tengyeling monastery was demolished in 1914 for seeking to come to terms with the Chinese. Under Regent Taktra, the Sera monastery was bombarded with howitzers and ransacked by the Tibetan army in 1947 for siding with former regent Reting. It is important to see that Sera monastery was by no means destroyed but only looted partially. The major destruction happened during the Cultural Revolution . China's Cultural Revolution resulted in

3564-510: The Tibet Autonomous Region (25 counties). The people of Kham, the Khampas, are reputed warriors renowned for their marksmanship and horsemanship. References state many Khampas in the Hor States include mention of their Mongolian heritage. There are significant differences in traditions and beliefs—even physical appearance—between the peoples of Kham and Lhasa. Most of Kham's residents speak Khams Tibetan while at least one-third of

3645-529: The Tibetan-inhabited area which covers half a million square miles. Some of these dialects are tonal like the Chinese language , while others remain atonal. Historically Tibet was divided into three cultural provinces called U-Tsang , Kham and Amdo . Each one of these three provinces has developed its own distinct dialect of Tibetan. Most widely spoken is the Lhasa dialect, also called Standard Tibetan , which

3726-564: The West. Kham Kham ( Tibetan : ཁམས་ , Wylie : khams ; Chinese : 康 ; pinyin : Kāng ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Domey also known as Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Dotoe ( Tibetan : མདོ་སྟོད་ ). The original residents of Kham are called Khampas ( Tibetan : ཁམས་པ་ , Wylie : khams pa ), and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kham covers

3807-480: The actual area of control of China's Xikang province. The border between eastern and western Kham is the Upper Yangtze – Dri Chu in Tibetan and Jinsha Jiang respectively, in Chinese. Tenpay Gyaltsan, a Khampa who was 5 years old, was selected as the fifth Jamyang Hutuktu in 1921. The Kham Pandatsang family led the 1934 Khamba rebellion against the Tibetan government in Lhasa. The Kuomintang reached out to

3888-635: The best rugs are from Gyantse , a city which is known for its rugs. The process of making Tibetan rugs is unique in the sense that almost everything is done by hand. But with the introduction of modern technology, a few aspects of the rug making processes have been taken over by machine primarily because of cost, the disappearance of knowledge etc. Moreover, some new finishing touches are also made possible by machine. Tibetan rugs are big business in not only Tibet, but also Nepal, where Tibetan immigrants brought with them their knowledge of rug making. Currently in Nepal

3969-680: The cause of Tibetan studies." CTRC is administered by a Director General's Council composed of the Director General and the Deputy Director General. The Academic Council is an academic advisory and deliberation body. The operational departments carry out academic research and other work mainly through undertaking projects. The Center hosts the National Beijing Seminar on Tibetology, the Everest Forum on Tibetology, as well as

4050-404: The countryside. Jasmine tea and yak butter tea are drunk. Alcoholic beverages include: Tibetans traditionally venerate their elders within their families. Tibetans used to practice polyandry widely. In his memoirs about his life in Tibet in the 1940s, Austrian writer Heinrich Harrer reports encountering nomads practising polyandry: "We were astonished to find polyandry practised among

4131-404: The deterioration or loss of Buddhist monasteries, both by intentional destruction and through lack of protection and maintenance. Starting in the 1980s, Tibetans have begun to restore those monasteries that survived. This has become an international effort. Experts are teaching the Tibetans how to restore the building and save the remaining monasteries on the eastern plateau. Monasteries such as

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4212-622: The eastern bank became Qing domain. There, hereditary chieftains were bestowed honorific titles of tusi , and obligated to fight alongside the Qing army in other Kham battles between chieftains. Earlier in 1724, an area of Qinghai (Kokonor) was established within Do Kham. The eastern Kham Qing domain was later incorporated into neighboring Chinese provinces. In 1837, a minor chieftain Gompo Namgyal , of Nyarong in eastern Kham, began expanding his control regionally and launched offensives against

4293-552: The end of the historic "priest-patron" relationship between Tibet and China. The amban and Chinese army were expelled, while other Chinese populations were given three years to depart. By late 1913, Kham and Amdo remained largely occupied by China. Tibet proposed re-establishing the border between Tibet and China at the Dri River during the Simla Conference with Britain and China, while Britain countered with another proposal which

4374-457: The fleece on the inside. The town-dwelling Tibetans, prosperous merchants for the most part, supplement this garment with cotton or woolen drawers and a cotton or silk undershirt with long sleeves, but the nomads normally wear nothing at all underneath it, though in winter they sometimes put on sheepskin drawers. The Tibetans hardly ever do their chubas up over their chests. The right shoulder and arm are almost always left free, and when they are on

4455-425: The fourth month which is called the saka dawa, celebrating the birth and enlightenment of Buddha. The Tibetan New Year celebration is Losar . Each year is associated with an animal and an element . The animals alternate in the following order: The elements alternate in the following order: Each element is associated with two consecutive years, first in its male aspect, then in its female aspect. For example,

4536-412: The high altitudes of the Tibetan Plateau. Tseten Dolma (才旦卓玛) rose to fame in the 1960s for her music-and-dance suite "The Earth is Red". Kelsang Metok (格桑梅朵) is a popular singer who combines traditional Tibetan songs with elements of Chinese and Western pop. Purba Rgyal (Pubajia or 蒲巴甲) was the 2006 winner of Haonaner, the Chinese version of American Idol . In 2006, he starred in Sherwood Hu 's Prince of

4617-548: The image will not fade, the painting is framed in colorful silk brocades, and stored rolled up. The word thangka means "something to roll" and refers to the fact that thangkas can easily be rolled up for transportation. Besides thangkas, Tibetan Buddhist wall paintings can be found on temple walls as frescos and furniture and many other items have ornamental painting. There is a rich ancient tradition of lay Tibetan literature which includes epics, poetry, short stories, dance scripts and mime, plays and so on which has expanded into

4698-468: The land cultivated by Chinese immigrants. Zhao's methods in eastern Tibet uncannily prefigured the Communist policies nearly half a century later. They were aimed at the extermination of the Tibetan clergy, the assimilation of territory and repopulation of the Tibetan plateaus with poor peasants from Sichuan. Like the later Chinese conquerors, Zhao's men looted and destroyed Tibetan monasteries, melted down religious images and tore up sacred texts to use to line

4779-484: The loose-fitting leg of the boot, which may be red or black or green, has a sort of woolen garter around the top of it which is fastened to the leg above the knee with another, very brightly colored strip of woolen material. A chab chab is a piece of jewellery which wealthy Tibetan ladies attached to their clothes beneath the right shoulder. The Cuisine of Tibet is quite distinct from that of its neighbours. Tibetan crops must be able to grow at high altitudes, although

4860-416: The making of butter, cheese, barley-beer, pottery, watermills and the national beverage, butter tea . Tibet's specific geographic and climatic conditions have encouraged reliance on pastoralism , as well as the development of a different cuisine from surrounding regions, which fits the needs of the human body in these high altitudes. The Tibetan language is spoken in a variety of dialects in all parts of

4941-486: The march or at work the whole top part of the robe is allowed to slip down so that it is supported only by the belt. This leaves them naked above the waist and clad in a very odd-looking sort of skirt below it. They hardly feel the cold at all and in the depth of winter, heedless of frost or snow or wind, they trudge imperturbably along with their bosoms bared to the icy blast. Their feet, too, are bare inside their great high boots. These have soft soles of raw, untanned leather;

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5022-431: The mountainous area. Standing at 117 meters in height and 360 meters in width, the Potala Palace , designated as a World Heritage Site in 1994 and extended to include the Norbulingka area in 2001, is considered a most important example of Tibetan architecture. Formerly the residence of the Dalai Lamas, it contains over a thousand rooms within thirteen stories, and houses portraits of the past Dalai Lamas and statues of

5103-433: The nomads." "When several brothers share the same wife, the eldest is always the master in the household and the others have rights only when he is away or amusing himself elsewhere." Harrer also mentions the practice of polygyny in one particular case: a man marrying "several daughters of a house in which there is no son and heir." "The arrangement prevents the family fortune from being dispersed." The Tibetan calendar

5184-403: The northern plains, including Gonjo and Lingtsang, which accompanied the earlier Nyingma and Bon monasteries of Kham. In 1639, Güshri Khan , a supporter of the Dalai Lama, invaded with Mongolian troops and defeated the powerful King of Beri in Kham. In 1655, Ngawang Phuntsok, a student of the Dalai Lama, founded Gonsar Monastery, the first of the 13 Gelug monasteries in the Hor States , with

5265-531: The pre-Buddhist religion of Ladakh. Now it appears probable that they are thank offerings after the birth of children. As I have tried to show in my previous article, people used to go to the pre-Buddhist places of worship, in particular, to pray to be blessed with children." The music of Tibet reflects the cultural heritage of the trans-Himalayan region, centered in Tibet but also known wherever ethnic Tibetan groups are found in India , Bhutan , Nepal and further abroad. The religious music of Tibet reflects

5346-420: The profound influence of Tibetan Buddhism on the culture. Tibetan music often involves chanting in Tibetan or Sanskrit as an integral part of the religion. These chants are complex, often recitations of sacred texts or in celebration of various festivals . Yang chanting, performed without metrical timing, is accompanied by resonant drums and low, sustained syllables. Other styles include those unique to

5427-457: The purpose. In their left ear they wear a heavy silver ring decorated with a huge ornament of either coral or turquoise. Their costume is not elaborate. It normally consists only of a chuba , a long capacious robe with wide, elongated sleeves which hang almost to the ground. This is caught up at the waist by a woolen girdle, so that its skirts reach only to the knees and its upper folds form an enormous circular pocket round its wearer's chest. This

5508-472: The region soon after the invasion of Tibet by the British army under Francis Younghusband in 1904. The British invasion alarmed the Qing rulers in China, and they sent Fengquan (鳳全) to Kham to initiate land reforms and reduce the numbers of monks. An anti-foreigner and anti-Qing uprising in Batang led to Fengquan's death, while Chinese fields were burned. The Qing then undertook punitive campaigns in Kham under Manchu army commander Zhao Erfeng , also

5589-519: The residents are speakers of Qiangic languages , a family of twelve distinct but interrelated languages that are not closely related to Khams Tibetan. As a frontier region, Kham integrated and "Tibetanized" early Mongolian and Chinese populations. After Güshri Khan's invasion of Kham in 1639, Mongolian people and Amdo's tribal people resettled to the region. The Khampas are known for their great height. Khampa males are on average 180 cm (5 ft 11 in). The Pugyal Dynasty (or Yarlung) of

5670-451: The rich are known to have used bowls of gold and silver. Since only a few crops grow at such high altitudes, many features of Tibetan cuisine are imported, such as tea, rice and others. Meat dishes are likely to be yak , goat , or mutton , often dried, or cooked into a spicy stew with potatoes . Tibetans would never eat dogs and fish only in special cases as dogs are regarded as domestic animals and also guard dogs, and fishes are one of

5751-476: The rug business is one of the largest industries in the country and there are many rug exporters. Thangkas , a syncrestistic art of Chinese hanging scrolls with Nepalese and Kashmiri painting, first survive from the eleventh century. Rectangular and intricately painted on cotton or linen, they are usually traditional compositions depicting deities, famous monks, and other religious, astrological, and theological subjects, and sometimes mandalas . To ensure that

5832-665: The selection of the Everest Prize for China's Tibetology, the Coordination Meeting for Tibetan Studies, and other activities. The Center also edits and publishes the China Tibetology Yearbook and the China Tibetology ( Chinese : 《中国藏学》 ) magazine, and runs the China Tibetology website. Five research institutes comprise the scholarly core of the Chinese Tibetology Research Center. They are: Additionally,

5913-601: The seventh century. Buddhist missionaries who came mainly from India, Nepal and China introduced arts and customs from India and China. Art, literature, and music all contain elements of the prevailing Buddhist beliefs, and Buddhism itself has adopted a unique form in Tibet, influenced by the Bön tradition and other local beliefs . Several works on astronomy , astrology and medicine were translated from Sanskrit and Classical Chinese . The general appliances of civilization have come from China, among many things and skill imported were

5994-479: The site and laid the foundation for an establishment of a seat there by making offerings to the local protectors, dharmapalas and genius loci . In 1189 he revisited the site and founded his main seat there. The monastery grew to hold 1000 monks. Tsozong Gongba Monastery is a small shrine built around the fourteenth century Palcho Monastery was founded in 1418 and known for its kumbum which has 108 chapels on its four floors. Chokorgyel Monastery , founded in 1509

6075-509: The soles of their boots and, as the Communists were also to do later, Zhao Erfeng worked out a comprehensive scheme for the redevelopment of Tibet that covered military training reclamation work, secular education, trade and administration. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Zhao was stripped of his post and executed by the revolutionary commander Yin Changheng . A year before the collapse of

6156-612: The support of the kingdom of Degé . By 1677, many Gelug monasteries had been built when the 5th Dalai Lama finalized Kham's Sino-Tibetan border location between China and a Tibet then reunified in the Khoshut Khanate , resulting in Kham being ascribed to Tibet's authority. The major independent polities included the Chakla , Degé , the Lingtsang , Nangchen and the Lhatok . Other important polities included Chamdo , Batang , Mili , and

6237-512: The various schools of Tibetan Buddhism, such as the classical music of the popular Gelug school and the romantic music of the Nyingma , Sakya and Kagyu schools. Secular Tibetan music has been promoted by organizations like the 14th Dalai Lama 's Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts . This organization specialized in the lhamo , an operatic style, before branching out into other styles, including dance music like toeshey and nangma . Nangma

6318-466: The warlords. The Consoltary Commission forces were used to battle the Communist Red Army but were defeated when their religious leader was captured by Communist forces. The Republic of China government also used Khampa traders to operate secret transports between different places. Kesang Tsering was sent by the Chinese to Batang to take control of Xikang , where he formed a local government. He

6399-515: Was also originally built under Songsten Gampo. Jokhang Temple is the most splendid surviving building of the Tubo period in Tibet and also the earliest civil structural building in Tibet. It integrated the architectural styles of Tibet, Tang dynasty of China, Nepal, and India, and has become a model of Tibetan religious architecture for thousands of years. Tsurphu Monastery was founded by Düsum Khyenpa, 1st Karmapa Lama (1110–1193) in 1159, after he visited

6480-566: Was initialed but not ratified. In 1917, the Tibetan army defeated China in battles at Chamdo , west of the Dri River, which were halted after Britain refused to sell Tibet additional armements. The official position of the British Government was it would not intervene between China and Tibet and would only recognize the de facto government of China within Tibet at this time. In his history of Tibet, Bell wrote that "the Tibetans were abandoned to Chinese aggression, an aggression for which

6561-575: Was spread there for the purpose of propagating the Three People's Principle to the Khampa. In 1950, following the defeat of the Kuomintang rulers of China by communist forces in the Chinese Civil War , the People's Liberation Army invaded western Kham. Western Kham was then set up as a separate Qamdo Territory , then merged into Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965. Meanwhile, Xikang , comprising eastern Kham,

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