TIBET AT A GLANCE

Facts and comment about the situation in Tibet

Tibet is a large landlocked country to the north of India, Nepal and Bhutan with which it shares borders and to the west of China and the east of Kashmir.

AVERAGE ALTITUDE
4,000 Metres above sea level - Tibet is largely a high plateau punctured by mountains and cut through by river valleys

POPULATION
6.1 Million Tibetans
7.5 Million Chinese

This situation presents one of Tibets main problems because there is a constant tide of forced immigration to Tibet from China which is turning Tibetan towns and cities into Chinese enclaves.

In the fifty years of Chinese occupation up to 1.2 million Tibetans have lost their lives at the hands of the Chinese authorities.

RELIGION
99% Buddhist

The atheist Communist Party of China has conducted a brutal repression of Tibetan religious freedom and maintains a near paranoia about His Holiness the Dalai Lama banning the use of his name and display of photos of him throughout Tibet.

Whatever one's personal beliefs such repression is an irrational and ruthless destruction of both individual and cultural expression.

H, H. the Dalai Lama has expressed the desire to reform Tibet in ways far more democratic than anything existing anywhere within China. One need only witness the lessening of freedom of expression in Hong Kong under Chinese rule to understand that China's claims to be liberating Tibet from oppression are hollow cover for a colonialist imposition of foreign rule which is harshly repressive. RELIGIOUS LEADER
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

LANGUAGE
Tibetan
The defacto official language is now Chinese.

Here-in lies another major problem for the maintenance of Tibetan culture which is similar to that facing many indigenous people. The Chinese force Tibetans to learn Chinese in order to get on in life and thus gain control over the younger Tibetans and alienate them from their own heritage and culture.

And of course Tibetan refugees outside Tibet are forced to learn foreign languages in order to survive in their adopted countries.

STAPLE FOOD Tsampa (roasted barley flour)
Salted butter Tea.

AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY
40 Years - not a great advertisement for the impact of Chinese rule.

HIGHEST MOUNTAIN Chomo Lhamo (Mt. Everest)

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE
-5 degrees celcius.

AVERAGE RAINFALL
Varies widely

In the West 1in - 25in Per year
In the East 20in - 80in Per year

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

• Deforestation,
• Poaching of large animals,
  
• Dumping of Nuclear Waste,
  
• Mining.
  

POLITICAL PRISONERS
Over 700, (236 under the age of 10 years old).

The 236 under 10 years of age includes the Panchen Lama who was abducted along with his family soon after being acknowledged by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He and his family have not been seen for over two years.