Comments on ‘Dictionary on Tibetan History and Culture'

WiththeworldbecomingincreasinqlyknowledgeableaboutTibet,astheveilisliftedfromitsface,a"Tibetanculturalcraze"hasemerged.ItisagainstthisbackqroundthattheDictionaryonTibetanHistoryandCulturewaspublishedbytheTibetPeople'sPublishinqHouseandtheZhejiangPeople'sPublishingHouseinJune1998.WithWanqRaoandChenQinqyinqasthemainauthors,thedictionaryrunsto700,000words.ThedictionaryreflectsthehistoryandstatusofTibetanstudiesinChina.Thedictionaryspansatimerangingfromtheancienttomodernperiodsandcoversva…     

Thoughts on History

The Yarlung River Valley inShannan was the birthplace ofthe Tibetan race. When theTubo Kingdom was founded,Songtsam Gambo moved its capital topresent-day Lhasa. With Lang Darmamaking efforts to suppress Buddhism,the regime fell and in the ensuing 400years, the region suffered heavily fromdisintegration. This lasted until two menemerged to establish the brilliance of theXigaze area.Sapan and Godan Meet inLiangzhou     

Driving on Roads

On August 18, 2004, we took the motor vehicle belonging to Dorje and carried out a series of interviews in the Nyingchi area.     

Azalea on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

PeopleinChinaareveryfamiliarwiththeazaleafoundeverywhereinsouthChina.Experts.however,believetheazaleatherearenomatchforthosefoundamongtherocksandforestsontheQinghaiTbetPlateau.WhenspringcomestothecoIdpartoftheworld,azaleablossomsingrovesintheteethofthesti…     

Digests of Papers on Tibetan Studies

TibetologistsarestudyingTibetwithgreatinterest.Manypapershavebeenproducedandthefollowingarehighlightsofsomeofthem.FactorsBehindGelug'sFallInTibetanSludies(issueNO.l,2000),XuDecunwrotethatinrecenttimesTibetansocietywasfilledwithshaIPeningcontradictionsastheTibetanfeudalserfownersystemdeclined.ReformofTibetanBuddhismturnedouttobeamust,andmanymonksleftBuddhahallsandshowedinterestintheoutsideworld.Ontheotherhand,theyfailedtodomoreforthedevelopmentofBuddhism,resultinginthedeclineoftheGelug…     

New Chapter on Education in Tibet

EDITOR'SNOTE:Thisyearmarksthe40thanniversaryoftheDemocraticReforminTibet.Anepoch-makingevent,thereformabolishedf6udalserfdomintheregionandputanendtothetemporalandreligiousadministraion.Onemillionserfswonemancipationduringthereform.ThenewsituationusheredinaperiodofboomingeducationinTibet.WhenthePreparatoryCommitteefortheFoundingoftheTibetAutonomousRegionwassetupassignedtoworkintheCulturalOffice.OurdirectorwasSengeBedainwiththePanchenKampusAssembly.TheCentralGovernmenthadadvisedthat…     

Argalis on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The argali are listed by the State as animals subject tosecond-class protection,and no killing is allowed. The international communitylists argali on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as animals that must not be hunted.     

Highlights of Across-Straits Seminar on Tibetan Studies

AseminaronTibetanstudieswasheldfromAugust16-23intheancientcapitalof-Xi'an.Participantsincluded65TibetologistsfrombothsidesoftheTaiwanStraits.Theyincluded38fromthemainlandwhoproduced25treatises,and27fromTaiwanwhoproduced11treatises.Thesetreatisescoverincontentpolitics,history,religion,culture,economicsandfolklore.Followingarehighlightsofthesetreatises.TBEATISES0ONTIBETANRELIGION.NinetreatisesareonTibetanreligion.Majoronesincludethefollowing:TheSourceofBonism,authoredbyCedainwith…     

Markham on the Road to Prosperity

Last summer,I paid a visit to Markham.While interviewing locals in towns and villages,I was profoundly impressed by the prosperous countryside where green peppers,abundant garlic and lush vegetables are growing in the fields.This splendid picture clearly demonstrates the economic strength the region.     

Feelings on the Return to Tibet

Upon the invita-tion of the ChinaNational Centerfor TibetanStudies,I attended theInternational Symposiumon Tibetology held in Bei-jing in July 2001.Of the100-odd participants,mostwere Chinese Tibetan studyworkers.Foreign scholarsnumbered only some 20,and they came from the     

The Influence of Tibetan Buddhism on Contemporary Mongolian Eco-literature——Case Studies on Xue-boGuo's Novels

Tibetan Buddhism,one of the important sects of Buddhism,is believed by a lot of researchers to have disseminated into Tibet from India,Nepal and its adjacent Han nationality congregating areas in around 7th century.The subsequent spread of Buddhism in Tibet experienced two periods of fast diffusion,during which the original Buddhist doctrine merged with Tibetan traditional culture,and a new form of religion with typical Tibetan characteristics came into being.     

Comparative Study on Tibetan-style gLing-kas and Han-style Gardens

In our contemporary world, ecology-oriented re- search is especially prevalent among scholars. Horti- cultural research attracts more and more attention. This shows that people become concerned about their life style and begin to focus on the relation between man and nature. China has achieved impressive results     

Zhaxi Bendian and His “Soul on Piano Strings”

ZhaxiBendian,aTibetanwriter,publishedhisSoulontheStringsofMusicalInstrumentsintheautumnof1999totheappreciationofthebroadmassesofreaders.Thiswritermanagedtointerviewhiminthepastyear.ZhaxiBendianwasbornintoafarmingfamilyinRambaVillage,RenboCounty,Xigaze.Heisthesecondofthesixchildren.Upongraduationfromtheprimaryschool,ZhaxiBendianfurtheredhisstudyinRenboCountyalthoughthefamilyledapoorlife.ZhaxiBendianstudiedveryhard,buthisstudywassuspendedduringthechaotic"culturalrevolution".Whensomeurban…     

Journals on Tibetan Studies Published in the post-1951 Period

BeforethepeacefulliberationofTibetin1951,therewereonlyabout80kindsofjournalsonTibetanstudies.Affer1952,theCentralGovernmentgavespecialsupporttothepreservationandpromotionofethniclanguages.Newspapers.magazinesandpublishinghousesmushroomedinXinjiang,InnerMongolia,Yunnan,Guangxi,Guizhou.Tibet,Qinghai,Gansu,Yanbianandotherplaceswhereethnicgroupswherelivingincompactcommunities.Inthissituation,journalsonTibetanstudiesdevelopedintwoStages:FirstStage:1950-1980.Duringthisperiod,allthenewspapers…     

Telecom Business on the Rise IN NYINGCHI PREFECTURE

Over the past few decades, Nyingchi has gainedmuch ground in the development of its telecommunications business.POSTAL ADMINISTRATION GROWS IN STRENGTHYUAN JUNNYINGCHI SPECIALThe Nyingchi Prefectural Postal Administration hasunder it 10 county-level post offices and 10 branchoffices. Staffed with 119 people, they have fixed assetsamounting to 37 million Yuan.Over the past 14 years, the prefecture has established17 new post offices, built three new postal routes, purcha…     

Tibetans on Changes in Tibet （Ⅰ）

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region, which practices ethnic regional autonomy.During this 40-year period, what changes have taken place in Tibet and to the life of Tibetans？Dainzin Lhunzhub, with the China National Center for Tibetan Studies, once interviewed some 100 residents of the Xoi Neighborhood Committee of Lhasa. Beginning with this issue,we will publish highlights of the interview.     

Journals on Tibetan Studies Published in the Post-1951 Period

MagazinesintheTibetAutonomousRegion(1)ScienceandTechnologyinTibetThisjournal,sponsoredbytheTibetAutonomousRegionalCommissionofScienceandTechnology,waslaunchedin1976.The16-mojournalispublishedinChinese.Itcarriesnewdevelopmentsinvariousfields,plusresearchfruitinthefieldsoftourism,economy,andnaturalresourcesutilization.(2)AgrotechnologyinTibetThisjournal,sponsoredbytheFarmingAssociationandAgriculturalResearchInstituteoftheTibetAutonomousRegion,waslaunchedin1977.Thequarterly,publishedin1…     

Systemic Functional Linguistics’ Influence on the Communicative Approach

As the founder of systemic functional linguistics,Halliday once said the driving force of producing his linguistictheories is of education.Therefore,his theories have a great influ-ence on foreign language teaching and inspire the creation ofsome new teaching theories and methods.And this paper focuseson the influence produced by systemic functional linguistics up-on the communicative approach.     

My View on Wang Xuance's Trip to The Mala Mountain Mouth

Chapter8oftheRecordsonSpringsinTibet,tobepublishedbytheSciencePublishingHousesoon,containsarecordinHanChilneseonaspringinTibet.Butthereadershavealwaysbeenpuzzledbyitswhereabouts.TheNewArchaeologicalFindsontheAncientTubo-NepalRoad,carriedinChina'sTibet(issueNo.1,1999),shedlightonthisquestion.ThePearlsFromtheGardenofDharma,writtenbyeminentmonksduringtheearlydaysoftheTangDynasty(618-907),quotedWangXuance'sTripstoTianzuassayingthattherewasa"gurglingspringintheTuboKingdom."AccordingtoW…