New Books

The Annotation of Tubo History, the Old and New Tang Book The author Luo Guangwu is born in 1048 and his important works are General Local History of Tibet, The Concise Local History of Tibet, and Seven Years in Tibet. In the twenty-four historical books composed by different dynasties in ancient China, there are two books on Tang＇s history, both of which were worked out by the official government, i.e.     

Dorde Qoiba——Traditional Activity of The Samye Monastery

The Samye Monastery in Shannan holds rituals to worship sutras on the 15th day of each 5th month. Worshipping sutras is called ＂Dorde Qoiba＂ in Tibetan, and the tradition was said to have been created by Muni Tsampo of the Tubo period.     

Ceremony Held for Pictorial "Ngapoi Ngawang Jigmei"

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigmei, 96 this year,speaking at the ceremony. He said he hasbeen living in the world for close to onecentury and eyewitnessed historic changesof Tibet, seeing how the Tibetans emergedfrom dire poverty to a thriving society. Heexpressed his confidence in seeing nationalunity and prosperity and furtherdevelopment of Tibet.To mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region, apictorial titled Ngapoi Ngawang Jigmei was printed. A ceremony was held in th…     

“THE MOST FASCINATING TOUR OF A LIFETIME”——A Trip to Tibet by Mr.& Mrs.Naisbitt

<正>From September 6~(th) to 11~(th),2009,80-year-old John Naisbitt,a famous futurist and the author of books respectively entitled Megatrends,Asia's Megatrends and China's Megatrends,together with his wife Doris who was also his co-author on the"Roof of the World",visited the holy city of Lhasa.Thus was a long-time dream finally realized. Though this was their first trip to Tibet,they have had a profound attraction to Tibet.     

Acrobatics and Other Traditional Folk Events in Tibet

One reason Tibetan culture is rich is that it teems with traditional art forms. Here is an outline of a few of them.Climbing Up PolesBeginning during the Tubo period, this item remains very popular with Tibetans today. Frescoes in the Samye Monastery show there are a dozen ways to climb poles. Generally, a long pole is planted and fastened with four ropes. The performers display their skills at the upper end of the pole, such as "standing upside down,"and "somersault". Frescoes found in th…     

Old Ferryboats in Tibet

According to Tibetan historical documents, as early as the Tubo period, sailing activites were recorded on the Yarlung Zangbo River and Lhasa River. According to Biography of Padmasambhnva, he onec crossed the Yarlung Zangbo by a wooden bout with a horse＇s head to reach Samye Monastery murals in the Samye Monastery, Potala Palace and Norbu Lingka record this.     

A CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS TO A PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION AND EXHIBITION ON THE THEME OF THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PEACEFUL LIBERATION OF TIBET

<正>As part of the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet,China's Tibet magazine and the Federation of Literature and Art of Tibet Autonomous Region is going to hold a photographic competition with the theme"Witness to Tibet Over 60 Years".Photographers from home and abroad are welcome to contribute images on this theme.All prize-winning and top-ranked works will be exhibited in Beijing and Lhasa in May 2011 by the organizers.     

Langmar Hall in Yerpa Village

Langmar Hall is a ＂Tibetan KTV＂. As in other cities like Lhasa, it is a very crowded place and also a big draw card for tourists. Different from KTVs in the mainland, Langmar Hall does not charge admission. It makes money from beer consumption, so the waitresses are happy to open beers for customers. They often stand beside you, raise your glass and propose a toast to you. Friends from the mainland are not aware of this trick, and believe it is required etiquette, so they are happy to drink as much as they can. People in Lhasa make fun of this and say that the     

BRINGING THE WISHES OF PEOPLE IN TIBET TO BEIJING——Record on Members of National Committee of CPPCC from TAR in the 5th Session of 12th CPPCC National Committee

<正>Spring has come once again,and as the flowers begin to bud,Beijing welcomes members of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference(CPPCC)from the Tibet Autonomous Region(TAR)to participate in the 5th session of 12th CPPCC National Committee.These CPPCC members bring the proposals they have worked out based on their comprehensive investigations collected before their arrival in Beijing.The proposals are a compilation of the wishes and voices from the various different sectors of Tibet,and they aim to propel the initiative to develop the Tibet Autonomous     

Restituting Church Buildings and Negotiating Church Factions： Missionary Mapmakers and the Making of Local Networks （1712-1716）

At the turn of the 18th century, the Kangxi emperor initiated a large project to map the vast territories of the Qing. The land surveys that ensued were executed by teams of Qing officials and European missionaries, most of them French Jesuits first sent to China in 1685 and actively supported by the French crown. Early 18th century Jesuit publications foster a much-heralded claim that these missionary-mapmakers drew on their status of imperial envoys during the surveys to locally advance the position of the Catholic church. This article strives to explore the format/on of such local networks by these missionaries as they passed through the cities and towns of the Chinese provinces. On the basis of archival material, details emerge of contacts with local Qing administrators and Chinese Christians, and of attempts to purchase and recover local churches. This is then discussed against the background of the Rites Controversy, in an attempt to evaluate how such local networks relate to the rivalry between missionaries of different orders. The article emphasizes that there was （and perhaps is） no such thing as ＂pure science＂ by underscoring that important technical achievements such as the Qing mapping project are often shaped by complex networks and historical contingencies.     

NEW BOOKS

FOOTSTEPS IN THE SNOWLANDAuthored by Wei Ke, who worked in Tibet from 1950 to1 970, this is the 19th volume of the Selected Tibetan Historical Data. Stories he experienced in the book are interestingand give readers knowledge. Running to 270,000 words, the32-mo book has been published by the Ethnic MinoritiesPublishing House. It is priced at 15 Yuan per copy.LIFE OF THE TIBETAN FARMERSAuthored by Xu Ping and Zheng Dui, the book is animprovement of the former book title…     

Jin Chengyu ed., Hekeben Zhongguo guyishu congkan （A Series of Ancient Chinese Books Missing from China but Preserved and Printed in Japan）

China has long boasted a time-honored tradition of reverence for books, but this tradition has been subject to periodic countercurrents that have occasionally led to the widespread, deliberate destruction of books by political authorities. The two most notorious historical examples of this phenomenon are the massive book-burning carried out by the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty,     

The 11th Panchen Erdeni Visits Rural Families

Editor‘s Note: In the fall of 2004, this reporter paid a visit to the Tashilhungpo Monastery where the 11th Panchen Erdeni studies Buddhism and saw how he studied, debated with others on Buddhist doctrines and gave blessing touches to worshippers. The ll th Panchen Erdeni often visited farmers and scenic spots in the area. We are going to cover his life in different issues.     

吐蕃王朝扩张政策之分析(英文)

The questions related to Tubo’s establishment,development,prosperity and decline always drew attention from academic circles.We need to analyze and study many aspects to find the essence of these questions.Undoubtedly,this is a very important approach to the study ofTubo’s expansionist policies. Many factors influenced the rise and fall of the Tubo Kingdom,including its economic development,the composition and structure of its political forces on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,the political forces in regions adjacent to Tubo,its social,economic and political situation as well as its internal and external policies.Academic circles have closely examined its expansionist activities.Professor Lin Guanqun,a scholar from Taiwan     

Chessboard OF GO GAMES

Tibetan Go has an age-old history, and there are many books devoted to its skills. A studyof these books show that many in Tibet favor the Mimang Go board, a high-grade chessboard that was admired by the government officials, noblemen and men of letters inancient Tibet. But such a chessboard only occurred in literature, until one was unearthedlast year from the Ruins of Qambamiqugling Palace (where Songtsan Gambo was born) to the northof Gyimashiang Village, Mezhoigungka County.NAMES. …     

THE TRUE COLORS OF DALAI LAMA

The International Shugden Community organized a protest for religious freedom in Italy on June 14th and 15th at the Modigliani forum. I was fortunate to attend this protest organized by the International Shugden Community and 500 other supporters from 15 to 20 countries to ask the Dalai Lama to stop lying and allow religious freedom to all.     

REFERENCE MATERIALS

Potala PalaceConstruction of the Potala Palace began in the mid-7th century for the Tubo King Songtsan Gambo to greet his Han wife, Princess Wencheng. It comprised 999 rooms then, plus one built atop the Red Hill, which, said to have 1,000 rooms, was later destroyed by thunderbolts and wars. What we see today is a structure built during the 17th century.In the mid-17th century, the White House was added to the Potala Palace, which spread along the Red Hill in Lhasa.The palace is a structure of clay, wood and stone. The palace was the residence of the Dalai Lama of various generations. Beginning with the period of the 5th Dalai Lama, major religious and political ceremonies were held there.The palace covers a total area of 360,000 square meters, with major building rising 117 meters high in 13 floors, and extends some 360 meters from east to west.From 1989 to 1994, the State earmarked some 55 million Yuan and large quantities of gold and silver to repair the palace.In December 1994, the palace found its w     

The “Floating Population” in Lhasa City

Lhasa,to some extent,is regarded as a holiday city.It is hard to meet people when they are in a rush. Whenever a pilgrimage procession passes by,you can always see the pilgrims holding their praying wheels, followed by dogs,while they walk peacefully along the path of the pilgrimage.On the edges of streets and laneways,tea bars are teeming with people playing cards or chatting.Once they sit down,they might easily let half a day slip by.     

吐蕃第一窟－－拉萨市药王山札那路浦石窟的几个问题

In this article, through the studies on the statues of brag-lha-klu-phug in Lhasa, combining with Chinese and Tibetan documents, the author makes a further exploration into its date, artistic styly and the relations with the Buddhist art of the neighbourhood. Apart from the influence of the art of grottos in Hexi Area, the traditional cultural relations between Tubo and Nepal, India also should be considered. The styles of statues, the Grotto of Tubo dynasty is closer to that of the Buddhist art of Nepal.