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#tibet

Kate Saunders, International Campaign for Tibet
A vibrant literary and cultural resurgence has swept Tibet since Spring 2008 when supporters of the Dalai Lama went into open protests against Chinese government policy across the plateau.
A new generation of Tibetan intellectuals, often fluent in Chinese and familiar with digital technology, are daring to refute China's official narrative. Their critiques, expressed particularly in the written word, are among the most wide-ranging indictments of Chinese policy in Tibet for 50 years.

First he dropped off the map for 13-months, only to emerge in March from the Chinese gulag after an international outcry.   

Now the human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng vanished again, after a visit to Urumqi, the capital of the East Turkestan/Xinjiang region of western China, where he had been visiting his father-in-law.

Dechen Pemba of High Peaks Pure Earth

In an article titled "China's Continued Crackdown in Tibet" published in the British magazine "The Economist", it says: "In Tibet, March is the cruellest month, and it is also the traditional season for doomed protests against Chinese rule. This year the authorities are unusually edgy. They have mounted a pre-emptive clampdown of a severity rarely seen in recent years [...] Helmeted troops bearing rifles patrol Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. Snipers lurk on rooftops near the Jokhang temple, Tibet's holiest shrine and often a focus for protests."

This passage just as much applies to March this year, which is closely associated with the penetrating clamour of the authorities' propaganda. Since March 10, 2010, apart from armoured vehicles and armed patrol cars as well as those brand new military and police cars whose names we don't know, there have also been propaganda cars decked with coloured banners and Five-Starred Red Flags passing through the Lingkhor road and main roads of Lhasa. 

China is increasingly rattled about unrest in Kyrgyzstan, fearing that it will stir up protests in its restive Muslim region of Xinjiang or East Turkestan.
Beijing said it was was "deeply concerned" about the situation and a declared that: "China ... hopes the country will restore peace soon and maintain stability."

"China hopes that relevant issues will be settled in a lawful way," a spokesman said, signalling Beijing's deep anxiety that local anger at its repressive measures will turn bloody once again.

A concerted new attack has been made on Yahoo email accounts of journalists and activists whose work relates to China. The attack has focused on Uighur activists in particular and compromised accounts include those of the World Uyghur Congress, an exile group that China accuses of inciting separatism in the frontier region of Xinjiang which Uighurs call East Turkestan. "I suspect a lot of information in my Yahoo account was downloaded," the group's spokesman, Dilxat Raxit said. An email account, he set up in Sweden, has been blocked for a month.

Foreign Correspondent of Australia has put together a vivid documentary entitled The Uighur Dilemma Its a tragic story of the destruction of the ancient and amazing old city of Kashgar. The Uighur Dilemma tries to give both sides of the story - Chinese and Uighur - a fair shake. Watch it and decide for yourself. The first segment serves as an introduction to the Uighurs' story. It does a good job of explaining the situation, and has some magnificent footage to go with it. Many groups are fighting for the preservation of old town Kashgar. One such group is fighting for Kashgar to be classified as a UN World Heritage site, which would provide non-Chinese oversight of the construction, preservation and limited demolition of old town Kashgar. The Uighurs are an Turkic ethnic group primarily living in the Chinese province of Xinjiang or East Turkestan as they know it. The region has seen upheavals and violence (most recently in July 2009). In the Uighur city of Kashgar the Chinese authorities have started a building development by destroying parts of the old city. While the authorities view this as earthquake prevention, some Uighurs are convinced it is the latest attempt by the Chinese authorities to control the Uighur population. In July 2009 violent clashes broke out in the region's capital Urumqi between the Uighurs and the Han Chinese immigrants. Over 200 people are reported to have been killed and over a thousand arrested. HT Uyghur Blog

China's Western province of East Turkestan went through the worst ethnic violence in decades on July 5, 2009 leading to a complete communications crackdown which is only now being lifted. The conflict left more than 150 people dead (see video) . Hundreds of paramilitary police with shields, rifles and clubs are taking over the Urumqi capital, after riots. Yesterday a local resident named Xiao Yong found he could now send and receive emails as usual without restrictions after surfing 32 websites.

By Woeser,
Lhasa in February, with the arrival of Losar (Tibetan New Year), the city is slowly being swept away by sandstorms. In the past, the storms would never start this early, is global warming the only reason behind this? The Lhasa river valley used to be surrounded by a group of mountains called the "eight lotus petals" but today as it has been completely destroyed by mining machines, as soon as the wind starts to blow, sand and dust spreads everywhere. Also, on top of Lhasa valley, in the past it used to be the homeland of Tsangpo Songtsen Gompo but today even the local Medro Gongkar county government simply sold its own land to one of China Gold Group's mining companies. The officials lined their own pockets but contaminated water has polluted farmland and even killed livestock or given the farmers strange diseases.

• First the US calls out China for its cruel repression of the Uighur population
• Now Chinese scientists explode the myth that ancient mummies are "Chinese."