Tibet

The Place

Tibet's lofty perch high above the hurly-burly of the lowlands shaped its other-worldly attitude. At an average elevation of 13,000ft above sea level on a vast and arid high desert plateau hemmed in by the two mountain ranges of the world's highest peaks, the sobriquet 'Rooftop of the World' alludes not only to its extreme altitude but also to its isolation.

In 1950, Communist China seized control of control of Tibet's external and international affairs. Although the Dalai Lama still ruled over domestic and religious affairs, in March 1959, relations in Lhasa between China and Tibet soured and the Dalai Lama fled to India, to be followed by some 80,000 Tibetans. A popular Tibetan uprising against the Chinese was crushed and since then the Chinese central government has full control over Tibet. The Dalai Lama has remained in India and continues to head the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, based in Dharamsala, India, with hopes of returning to Tibet one day.

Three provinces, U'Tsang, Amdo and Kham make up the country known by Tibetans as Tibet. For the Chinese, Amdo has become the Qinghai province, Kham has been absorbed into Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces, and U'Tsang is known as the Tibet Autonomous Region. The traditional economy of Tibet was based on agriculture and pastoralism but today this is not carried out with the same freedom as before, nor do traders have the same facility to roam the country as they once did.