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These images are from a photo essay that I did on the monks of the Kirti Monastery in Dharamshala for the Associated Press. A large number of Tibetans in Tibet who have immolated themselves since 2009 protesting Chinese rule were monks from the parent Kirti Monastery in Tibet. The past year has seen an escalation in … Continue reading
A huge number of books has been published on Tibet, ranging across travel memoir, history, biography, polemics and philosophy. Some, without doubt, are more readable than others. The following is very much a personal selection, favouring books that I have enjoyed because of their profundity, their clarity in telling a complex story, or the moving … Continue reading
“I felt so fortunate that this story fell into my lap. As a writer, how often does that happen?” says Thomas K. Shor. In Sikkim, Shor was introduced to an elderly Bhutanese woman whose story would, he was told, make him question his sense of reality. In 1962 she had left her land and everything … Continue reading
A movement that outsmarts Chinese authorities by promoting Tibetan culture has crossed the Himalayas and is gathering strength in India Many people visit Dharamshala to get an experience of Tibetan culture, which has been under severe strain since the Chinese occupation of Tibet in the 1950s. For decades, exiled Tibetans have gone to great lengths … Continue reading
8-12 March: Photo exhibition Glimpses of Tibet, 1914-2010. Photographs by Dundul Namgyal Tsarong, Alexandra David-Neel, Lobsang Samten Taklha, and recent visitors to Tibet. The exhibition covers three periods: 1914-57, the delegation to Tibet in 1979 led by Lobsang Samten Taklha, the elder brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Tibet from 2000 to 2010. … Continue reading
Losar or the New Year festival was a quieter affair than usual in Dharamshala in 2012. Missing was the general exuberance. If there was any celebration, it was not public. Tibetans, urged by their Prime Minister, welcomed this Water Dragon year with prayers for those who have died in Tibet since March 2011 protesting Chinese … Continue reading
In the epilogue to Culture on the Edge, Phil Borges turns his lens inward. ‘I didn’t want to point an accusing finger. After a year and a half traveling across the Tibetan plateau and seeing the issues the Tibetans face, my finger ultimately came around to point at me.’ He is talking about climate change, … Continue reading
HISTORY DEMYSTIFIED The book starts with a dramatic moment. In the eighth century a brand new Tibetan empire burst out of the plateau, taking everyone by surprise when it captured the Chinese capital in 763. The Tibetans have never forgotten, and it’s unlikely the Chinese have either. The story of Tibet had actually begun a … Continue reading
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