Tashi delek - བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས

A new year begins in Tibet

Song, dance, and fireworks as Tibetans celebrate Losar. Wang Yan reports.

Their homes smelling of fresh paint, Tibetan families dressed in their newest best, welcomed their New Year, or Losar, with food, wine, dancing, singing - and fireworks. The biggest festival of the year for Tibetans, which began on Saturday, will last for about two weeks.

Like most of his fellow Tibetans in Lhasa, Tenzin Dawa and his family are up at the crack of dawn on the first day of the new year.

Tibetans swamp markets ahead of new year

LHASA -- Business was booming on Friday at Barkhor Bazaar, one of the most famous markets in Tibet, as hordes of shoppers geared up to celebrate the Tibetan Losar new year.

Despite March traditionally being a slow month for traders in Lhasa, capital of the autonomous region, stalls have been swamped ahead of celebrations to welcome the Year of the Iron Rabbit, which starts on Saturday.

A Tibetan girl tries on a traditional dress in Lhasa on Friday ahead of the region's new year celebrations.

VIDEO - Beating the ghost

The "Beating the Ghost" ceremony, or "Da Gui" in Chinese, an important Tibetan Buddhist ritual, was held at the Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing on March 4, 2011.

The ceremony is held annually on the eve of the Tibetan New Year, which begins March 5 this year. It is believed to expel evil spirits, shake off trouble and pacify the world.

SLIDESHOW - Tibetan New Year 2011

Tibetan New Year prep - VIDEO

The Tibetan New Year falls on March 5 this year. While Tibetan people are doing their last minute new-year shopping, China Daily's multimedia reporter Feng Xin is in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet autonomous region. She takes you to explore some New Year goods you've never seen.

See Kaixin's - CHINA & TIBET

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Tashi delek - བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས

The Beijing-to-Lhasa train journey is the world's highest railway ride and an adventure in itself

For those wanting to slow their busy minds before arriving in Tibet, the 48-hour train journey from Beijing is a zen-like way of doing this. The Qinghai-Tibet railway, which runs between Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, and Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet autonomous region, makes up the major part of the journey and authorities have been planning this project for a century. But it was only in 1984 that the first section of track - an 814-km stretch from Xining to Golmud - both in Qinghai province, was completed.

The most amazing engineering feat occurred in 2001 when construction began on the 1,142-km railway between Golmud and Lhasa. The 30 billion yuan ($4.7 billion, 3.47 billion euros) high-altitude railway project employed about 100,000 engineers and construction workers for four years, and many staff had to use bottled oxygen and endure temperatures of minus 45 degrees. It is truly one of the engineering wonders of the world.

The railway climbs from 2,829 meters above sea level at Golmud to 3,641 meters at Lhasa and it is crowned the highest railway in the world. More than 550 km of track is laid on permanently frozen earth and its highest point reaches 5,072 meters above sea level.

Before the Qinghai-Tibet railway was built, travelers had to take a train as far as Golmud followed by a grueling 48-hour bus journey to Lhasa. Now there are direct trains from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an. The Qinghai-Tibet railway is also reported to extend 300 km west of Lhasa to Shigatse and then all the way to Nepal.

In Beijing, the T27 train leaves at 9.30 pm daily and arrives in Lhasa at 8.58 pm on the third day. It has 15 coaches and can hold 867 passengers at one time. There are three classes of tickets: soft sleeper at 1,189 yuan, hard sleeper at 766 yuan and hard seat at 363 yuan.

In addition to a train ticket, foreigners need a special travel permit to enter the Tibet autonomous region, applications for which can be made at the local branches of China Tibet Tourism Bureau. A travel agent can normally handle this procedure.

And once on board, travelers from all over the world can enjoy the trip of a lifetime.

"It doesn't take long to discover that this train, in soft-sleeper class anyway, is a United Nations on rails. All of us, it transpires, are making this journey for the first time," Louise Southerden, a travel reporter from The Sydney Morning Herald writes.

As the train trundles along, picturesque scenes of North and West China drift by. On the second day when the train leaves Xining at dusk, it rides onto the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, an enormous highland 3,500 km across, with an average altitude of 5,000 meters.

Previously running at a speed of 160 km/h on the plain, the train now slows to 120 km/h. Owing to the lack of oxygen at that altitude, oxygen-enriched air is pumped through all the carriages. Personal oxygen masks are also available.

While smoking is not allowed as the oxygen-enriched air is highly flammable, there is no lack of gourmet choices. Classic Chinese cuisines such as stewed beef, fish filets in hot chili oil, stir fried shrimps with gingko nuts and Mapo tofu are served in the restaurant car.

Passengers are told they should bring medication if prone to altitude sickness. But the views of the plateau more than compensate for any discomfort. Instead of farms, mines and the high-rises seen on the first day of your trip, whizzing by are flat plains and the snow-topped Kunlun Mountains.

As the train enters the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau special sights can be seen. "There are prayer flags strung across glacial, fast-flowing rivers and streaming colorfully down steep hillsides; people dressed in chubas harvesting barley, or resting beside yaks harnessed to primitive ploughs; and stone walls around old stone houses," Southerden recalls of her trip.

As soon as you catch sight of hordes of Tibetan antelope and yak, you are entering the area of Hoh Xil Nature Reserve, also known as the last fairyland of wild life in China.

There are a total of more than 230 species of wild animals here, among which the Tibetan antelope is a unique species of China. Animals' migration habits are not disrupted as this stretch of the railway is built on a bridge of three to four meters high.

At present, there is a daily train from Beijing to Lhasa run by China Railways. The train from Beijing to Tibet takes about 44 hours to cover 3753 kilometers, of which 1110 km are over Qinghai-Tibet railway. It departs from the Beijing West Railway Station at 20:09 and arrives at Lhasa Railway Station at 16:00 on the third day after nearly 44 hours. Its operational speed is 120 km/h, 100 km/h over sections laid on permafrost. The Beijing to Lhasa railway route began on July 1st, 2006 and presently costs around RMB1300 for a first-class sleeper berth, around RMB800 for a second-class sleeper berth and half that for a soft seat.

The train to Lhasa from Beijing is equipped with advanced facilities that are tailor-made according to the special elevation, temperature and other specific situations along the world's highest railway, Qinghai-Tibet Railway, such as air-conditioning, supercharging system, oxygen supply, altitude display, etc. Moreover, the totally-closed train is installed with sightseeing windows covered by anti-ultraviolet film so as to  protect passengers from ultraviolet radiation. To be honest, a Beijing-Lhasa train tour is really worth a shot for the unique and wonderful scenery along the Qinghai-Tibet railway alone. 

Beijing to Lhasa Train Cost
Actually, in China, the train fare does not include meals,  so you need to pay the food in the train, a normal breakfast will cost you about 10RMB and a lunch or dinner 20-30RMB. Drinking water is free but if you want to have a cup of coffee or milk, you need to prepare in advance. Except the cost on food, another big expense on the Beijing to Lhasa train trip is that you have to pay the service charge to the travel agency who help you purchase the train tickets. The cost ranges from 100RMB to 500RMB in different seasons. In a word, the total cost of Beijing Tibet Train Journey is about 1500RMB.

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Tashi delek (also written zhaxi dele, tashi deleg, tashi deley, or trashi delek; Tibetan: བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས; Wylie: bkra shis bde legs; Lhasa dialect IPA: ʈáɕiʔ dèleʔ is a Tibetan greeting.
 
Tashi means auspicious and Delek (or Deleg, Deleh) means fine or well. It is difficult and perhaps impossible to translate properly into English. Different authors render it as "Blessings and good luck" or "May all auspicious signs come to this environment".
 
The correct usage of the phrase "Tashi Delek" can be a point of contention between Tibetans in and outside of China. Tibetans outside of China use it in approximately the same way as the English "Good day", whereas Tibetans in China use it only for New Year's greetings. Each claims the other side's use has been corrupted. However, Tibetans all over the Tibetan Plateau respond positively to tourists using it year round and also might greet Westerners with 'Tashi Delek'.
 
The phrase "Tashi delek" is also used in the Chinese language with the Chinese transcription Zhaxi Dele (扎西德勒). Most Chinese only know the Chinese transcription of the phrase, not its Roman alphabet transcription.[citation needed] There is a song called Zhaxi Dele with lyrics by Rongzhong Erjia (容中尔甲), a Tibetan, and music by Chang Yingzhong (昌英中), a Han Chinese. (Wikipedia)
 


'Tashi Delei' at Shanghai Expo

Dancers from Tibet perform wearing their traditional costumes during the opening ceremony of Tibet Culture Week at the Shanghai World Expo on Sept 1. Tibet Culture Week began from Sept 1, concluded on Sunday. During the five days, traditional Tibetan medicines, calligraphy and Tangkha paintings were exhibited, which showcased typical Tibetan culture. More than 400 Tibetan artists have performed at the Expo during week.

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Tibetan culture is often portrayed as under the threat of extinction, whether from modernity or Han influence. Can the region's traditional culture be preserved? What efforts is the government making? Global Times reporter Chen Chenchen travelled to Tibet to talk to experts on these issues.

Tibetan culture rooted deep in local hearts

Some people abroad are still obsessed with the idea that Tibetans are trapped in a pitch dark society and their religious life has been squeezed by Han culture.

I've seen the tears of Tibetans who returned home after a long time away, and their pleasant surprise at the unbelievable developments back in their hometown. I've also heard stories that in the wake of the March 14 riots in Lhasa in 2008, a 40-year-old Tibetan businessman took care of several Han Chinese at home, giving them food and water every day.

Progress is happening in Tibet.

Traditional culture, usually seen as a victim of economic development, inevitably undergoes changes. Previously, parents wanted to send their most brilliant son to the monastery. But now, most Tibetans want their kids to go to college.

The other day an old lady went to the office of college admissions, intercepted the director, and insisted that her grandson should be enrolled despite his failure to achieve the minimum passing score. Such things take place every year. Even the elderly are accepting modern civilization. This is not a sad process, as some claim.

Meanwhile, Tibetan culture, with Buddhism at its core, isn't a fragile crust that can be easily peeled off. I honestly believe that Tibetan religion will constantly exist and grow with the society.

What we need to do is to avoid conflicts between religion and modernity.

I've visited dozens of religious countries, where traditions invariably clash with modernity. It's not that traditions are attacked or suppressed. It is just an irreversible trend. In this regard, Tibet is doing well.

Every culture has its pluses and minuses. Those pluses will not fade. There is a saying that in Tibet, people can sing and dance as soon as they're able to speak and walk.

Even an average waitress at the cafeteria of the office building where I work can sing age-old folk songs from the plateau. The culture is entrenched in ordinary people's everyday life. It may mix with some other cultures, but its core is powerful and shouldn't be underestimated.

The article was compiled by Global Times reporter Chen Chenchen, based on an interview with Wang Wenpei, deputy standing director of the United Front Work Department of the Tibet Autonomous Region's CPC Committee.

Preserving the words of Tibet's Homers

The Gesar saga, the last living epic of humankind, and the lengthiest, carries inside it Tibet's history, economy, religion and social rituals. Just like the Greeks have the Iliad and Odyssey, originally oral sagas and later recorded in writing, the Tibetans have Gesar. The epic is a living fossil of Tibetan oral literature. This intangible culture is preserved in the minds of ballad singers, and handed down through ears and mouths.

The epic has been enriched in this process. But meanwhile, parts and versions of the epic keep withering away as old ballad singers die. We urgently need to save Gesar.

Previously in Tibet, the saga was largely seen as a vulgar affair. The art of saga telling was prohibited, as were folklorists' attempts to collect it. It was considered a method used by ballad singers to earn a living, rather than a proper type of art.

As a grass-roots art, the vigor of Gesar still remains. As scholars, we try our best to find ballad singers who know the saga. Over the past few years, we've found more than a few folk artists who know the saga in Nagqu, Qamdo and Ngari. We've met a few young singers, who often begin to show their talent between the age of eight and 15. But there is a problem with passing these skills down, since some old ballad singers find it very difficult to get a successor.

The Chinese government also recognizes the urgency of protecting ethnic culture. Since the 1980s, the government has organized large-scale rescue projects and put in huge manpower and material resources. This is why, as a Tibetan, I deny the allegations of so-called cultural nihilism in Tibet under the domination of the central government. The central policy actually provides a rare chance for us to honestly record the epic and maintain the art.

It is predicted that by the 2020s, this long epic can be comprehensively rescued and preserved. So far we've recorded about 130 versions of the epic by ballad singers, and more than 50 of them have been published. Our records add up to nearly 5,000 hours. The nature of the saga as an oral epic makes it fragile. It is in danger of being lost. We do need modern technology to protect it in an effective way.

The article was compiled by Chen Chenchen, based on an interview with Tsering Phüntso, deputy director and researcher of the Institute of Ethnic Studies at Tibet Autonomous Region Academy of Social Sciences.

Younger generation detached from tradition

Strolling around Barkhor Street, an old market in Lhasa near the Jokhang Temple, we ran into Kasan and his younger brother. The two brothers, sons of a Tibetan and a Hui, run a handicraft shop here.

The young men are in their early 20s. The shop was inherited from their parents. Their family earns a living by burnishing and selling jade. They wear jeans, play on their iPads, enjoy motorbike racing and go to night clubs. Although they live next to the Jokhang Temple, they barely go to pray or join religious rituals as their parents always do.

Back in coastal China, people are fiercely debating over the decline of traditional values and civilization. One of the frequently seen arguments is that the past three decades of reform and opening-up have led to a gulf in people's hearts.

However, the new quest for spiritual values is possible only after people achieve a certain standard of living.

In the 1980s and 90s, the "sleepless city" of Shenzhen was well-known for its materialism. But more than a few people there felt empty and lost. At that time, these feelings of ennui and nihilism were barely noted elsewhere. It seems that the decline in traditional values and consequent spiritual emptiness are inevitable growing pains of modernity.

I don't know to what extent the two brothers are representative, though the younger brother said that few of his friends hold the older generation's beliefs. He said that their parents largely tolerated this, and allowed them to choose freely.

The Kasan brothers and their friends spend most of their time learning and doing business.

When winter approaches, they shut down their shop and travel elsewhere. They adopt a very pragmatic attitude to life. They do not feel any pain or pity at their lack of belief and they are happy at making their own choices.

Chasing a better life is a natural need, and for those in less developed regions, this first means the lifting of living standards. Traditions inevitably fall or transform in this process. For the younger generation, who are determined to bring about changes in their own life, maintaining traditions is a remote dream. For them, being able to make free choices can be seen as a progress.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times.

The warrior song of King Gesar

By Douglas J. Penick

In the tradition of the Arthurian legends and Homer's Iliad, this is an epic tale of the legendary Tibetan warrior king, Gesar of Ling. The saga of Gesar's life - from the harsh circumstances of his youth to his climactic days of battle against the enemies of the four directions - is an interweaving of scenes ranging from the gritty and human to the mystical and wondrous. Some of Central Asia's most inspiring and sacred teachings have to do with courage: the bravery to face and conquer the inner and outer obstacles that prevent us from finding true freedom. The Gesar cycle has been recreated and amended by visionary bards in Central Asia for centuries. In this modern rendition, Douglas Penick brings us the unbroken heritage of spiritual warriorship embodied by the life of the enlightened warrior-sage Gesar, King of Ling. Gesar's unique teaching lies in showing us ways to use the very energy of drama and adventure to attain lasting peace.

Gesar: the wondrous adventures of King Gesar

By Zara Wallace

Describes the birth and epic adventures of the legendary Gesar, mighty king and protector of Tibet

The Gesar saga

The legend of the tibetan king kesar (or gesar) is the most widely known hero-myth of central asia, this is a version from khalatse of lower ladakh, with an English summary and notes, a history and essay on the place of the saga in the life and literature of central asia, six articles on the saga, with a vocabulary, list of personal names and other proper nouns in the saga.

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Dalai Lama – Not so Zen by Maxime Vivas

PARIS, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) — A French writer’s book put on sale recently has disclosed another side, including opportunism and tricks, of the Dalai Lama deified by some Western politicians and armchair pundits.

Maxime Vivas’s new book “Not So ‘Zen’: The Hidden Side Of The Dalai Lama” hit the shelves of bookstores and online retailers Thursday, days after the Dalai Lama himself held a three-day public conference in the southern French city Toulouse.

Facts and views in the 130-page French-language book refute the long-time self-beatification of the Dalai Lama.

“Based on the word of the Dalai Lama in his transcribed memoirs and also in his speeches during his trips abroad, Maxime Vivas highlights opportunism, omissions, tricks, and lies of a man and his kingdom,” the publisher Max Milo Editions said in a press kit.

“In a plea for secularism, the author raises the question of what would be a ‘Free Tibet’ led by a recalcitrant prophet in front of science and freedom of worship,” the publisher said, while presenting a briefing of a feudal system decades ago under the Dalai Lama and the free primary education system in today’s Tibet that is significantly bringing down the illiteracy rate.

“The trend in France is mostly to edit mass books praising the Dalai Lama. Writing against the Dalai Lama or breaking his image is akin to smearing the portraits of Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi, the idols which we can’t touch,” Vivas told Xinhua.

Confusion-and-curiosity-driven, Vivas conducted a truth-seeking trip to Tibet in the summer of 2010 with several other French journalists.

He found there is a modern Tibet prospering with free prayers in temples and monasteries and even on the streets, and Tibetan-written signs are everywhere.

“What I saw in Tibet is not like what I read from the French press and books,” he said.

To clarify the contradiction of the real Tibet he witnessed and the one in the Dalai Lama’s propaganda and most Western reports, Vivas read numerous documents, including studies of French parliamentarians, and researched opinions from various angles.

“This book is not based on documentation of the opponents of the Dalai Lama, not documentation of the Chinese authorities,” he said. “But the information I have drawn from speeches, lectures, interviews and memoirs of the Dalai Lama, and also with his followers …”

The book with the Dalai Lama’s photo on the cover is now on the bookshelves of Fnac, the largest retailer of cultural and electronic products in France, and in the book category of U.S.-based Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer.

There have been many comments about the book on the Internet.

Some pointed out the double status of the Dalai Lama mixing political with religious faces.

“However the truth is, he is not actually the person he appears to be. His actions have not always been in accordance with his message of peace, tolerance and compassion…” a netizen named “Caz Namyaw” commented.

The book also has drawn attention from the French media including TV5, bfm radio and France info, among others.

Showing footage of a regional TV channel’s interview on the book, Vivas pointed out several illogical arguments posed by some French media, which he said questioned him on the basis of prejudgment rather than the content of his book.

Vivas also said he didn’t believe in the Dalai Lama’s March announcement of handing over political power because he since met U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House in July.

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Tashi delek - བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས

The Sho Dun Festival (Tibetan ༄༅། ཞོ་སྟོན།;  Chinese 雪顿节 pinyin: Xuĕdùn Jié), commonly known as the Yoghurt Festival or Banquet is an annual festival held at Norbulingka or "Jewel Park" palace in Lhasa, Tibet, China.

The festival is celebrated in the summer, from the 15th to the 24th of the 5th lunar month - usually about the middle of August, after a month's retreat by the monks who stay within their monasteries to avoid walking on the emerging summer insects and killing them.

It began in the 16th century with a banquet given by the lay people for the monks featuring yoghurt. Later on, summer operas, or Lhamo, and theatricals were added to the festivities. The operas, "last all day with clashing cymbals, bells and drums; piercing recitatives punctuating more melodious choruses; hooded villains, leaping devils, swirling girls with long silk sleeves. In the past dancers came from all over Tibet, but today there is only the state-run Lhasa Singing and Dancing Troupe."

The beautiful grounds of the Norbulingka are filled with partying groups shielded from the wind by gaily coloured hanging walls of rugs and printed canvas. There is much feasting and visiting between family groups and bonfires are common at night. (Wikipedia)

Photo shows an unfolded Sakyamuni Thangka painting at an unfolding ceremony during the Shoton Festival in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The annual traditional Shoton Festival (Yoghurt Festival) kicked off here Monday. Usually celebrated in the sixth month in the Tibetan calendar, it is one of the most important festivals in Tibet.

People wait for the unfolding ceremony of Sakyamuni Thangka painting during the Shoton Festival in Lhasa.

Lamas from Drepung Monastery unfold the huge Thangka painting of Sakyamuni in the unfolding ceremony during the Shoton Festival in Lhasa

Lamas from Drepung Monastery carry a scroll of huge Thangka painting of Sakyamuni to the site for an unfolding ceremony during the Shoton Festival in Lhasa.

Tibetan monks unfold a giant thangka, a religious silk embroidery or painting unique to Tibet, during the Shoton Festival at Drepung Monastery on the outskirts of Lhasa

A Tibetan monk stands between tourists and a giant thangka, a religious silk embroidery or painting unique to Tibet, during the Shoton Festival at Drepung Monastery on the outskirts of Lhasa

Tibetan monks carry a giant thangka, a religious silk
embroidery or painting unique to Tibet, to be displayed on a
hill during the Shoton Festival at Drepung Monastery on the
outskirts of Lhasa.

Monks burn incenses at Drepung Monastery during the Shoton Festival on the outskirts of Lhasa

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Full Video

Tibet celebrates 60th anniversary of peaceful liberation

Full Video

Chinese VP Xi delivers a speech on ceremony

• Once upon a time in Tibet: 81-year-old grandpa tells his story

  

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• Achievements over past 60 years in Tibet

  

  It´s been 60 years since the peaceful liberation of Tibet. Six decades ago, one million people...

• Live cross: Social and economic development in Tibet

  

  For more on the celebrations in Tibet, we are joined on line by our reporter Shen Le in Lhasa....

• Tibet holds grand parade over peaceful liberation

  

  The parade is themed around Tibet´s liberation. Symbols from different cities, regions and lan...

• Chinese VP Xi delivers a speech on ceremony of Tibet 60th Anniv.

  

  In Lhasa a grand ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of Tibet´s Peaceful Liberation ha...

• Protecting Tibetan Antelopes on verge of extinction

  

  CCTV reporter Wang Guan recently joined zoologists on an expedition to Hoh-Xil, also known as Keke X...

• Highway 318 develops into trade artery connecting South Asia, Tibet

  

  China National Highway 318 running from Lhasa to Zhangmu Port on the China-Nepal border is the tradi...

• Lives of Tibetans change with transportation infrastructure upgrade

  

  The lives of Tibetans have changed with upgrades in transportation infrastructure over the past few ...

• Tibet holds celebration gala entitled "Sing a Folk Song to the Party Again"

  

  A central government delegation led by Vice President Xi Jinping has attended a celebration gala mar...

• First expressway in Tibet halves time from downtown Lhasa to airport

  

  The first expressway in Tibet opened to traffic on Sunday, with Vice President Xi Jinping cutting th...

• Studio interview: Old Tibet 60 years ago & Local lives improving

  

  We will have reporters all over Tibet to answer these questions. As well, joining us in the studio w...

• Tibet continues to enjoy booming economy

  

  Over the past few years, Tibet´s economic growth has entered a "golden period". With...

• 90% of Tibetan wetland maintained

  

  The Tibet Autonomous Region boasts the largest wetland system in China, which supports the life cycl...

• Tashilhunpo Monastery: Best Monastery in Sutras learning

  

  In this special series on Tibetan Monasteries, we take a look at Tashilhunpo Monastery. The monaster...

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Tashi delek - བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས

         CULTURE

  HISTORY

                                                 RELIGION

                                                                                                                          TRAVEL

                                                                                       LIVING

             TRANSPORTATION

                                                                                                     ENVIRONMENT

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Tashi delek - བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས

Visitors to Tibet are invariably impressed by the local people's power of imagination and boldness of their artistic expression, from architecture to clothing and decorations, from furniture to articles of daily use. Religious doctrines have not stifled their creativity. Rather, they have given wings to their imagination.

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Tashi delek - བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས

Xue Xinran

"Real China is made by Chinese mothers and grandmothers, from each individual family's hard work," says Xinran.

Kaixin first came across Xinran on a video broadcast - (Fora TV .. see below, you can access the full broadcast from there). In it, there was a question from a Tibetan in Exile and then a detailed answer from Xinran (See Ch:20 in the full programme).

Xinran made a very telling reply. She had spent 9 years researching for her book on Tibet. She pointed out the long close history between Xi Zang & Zhong Guo, noting that Tibet was an English word and it was the English that bought about the concept of an independent Tibet in 1913 +++.

Xinran on China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation from Berkeley Arts and Letters on FORA.tv

I then listened to what she had to say elsewhere. Very impressive. She made the point to the Tibetan lady who asked the question that the Dalai Lama had said, "Only light gets rid of darkness".

I leave it to you to listen to the full Q & A, see Fora TV above.

I was particuarly impressed by her comment that when people look at China now as a powerful country and try to understand it using economic indicators they miss the point. China was built on the hard work of all the average people working and contributing to their nation, from 1979.

More importantly, she told the story of a mother who lived in a shelter beside a public toilet. See Video below. That mother had sent her children to university. She received no government support, so you know just how hard that must of been.

Xinran made the telling obersation that the China of today was built on the love and devotion of the mothers and grandmothers of China. For me, married to a Chinese mum, that defined China completely.

Xuē Xīnrán (薛欣然, pen name Xinran) is a British-Chinese journalist and broadcaster, born in Beijing in 1958.

In the late 1980s, she began working for Chinese Radio and went on to become one of China's most successful journalists. In 1997 she moved to London, where she initially worked as cleaner. In London, she began work on her seminal book about Chinese women's lives The Good Women of China, a memoir relating many of the stories she heard while hosting her radio show ("Words on the Night Breeze") in China. The book is a candid revelation of many Chinese women's thoughts and experiences that took place both during and after the Cultural Revolution when Chairman Mao and Communism ruled the land. The book was published in 2002 and has been translated into over thirty languages.

Sky Burial, her second book, was published in 2004. This is the story of Shu Wen, whose husband, only a few months after their marriage in the 1950s, joined the Chinese army and was sent to Tibet for the purpose of unification of the two cultures. (Wikipedia)

Acclaimed Chinese journalist Xinran Xue retells an inspirational story of perseverance about a mother who lived in a public restroom for 28 years, but still managed to send her two children to the top universities in China with no government assistance. "Real China is made by Chinese mothers and grandmothers, from each individual family's hard work," says Xinran.

China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation

While the West has commonly viewed the last one hundred years in China through the single narrative lens of Mao's rise and rule, the experience for the Chinese themselves has been infinitely more complex. Xinran, a national celebrity and beloved figure in China who hosted a hugely popular radio show in the 1990s, traveled across China in 2005 and 2006 to gather interviews that form the true narrative of the times.

She sought out the nation's grandparents and great-grandparents, the men and women who have experienced change in the modern era firsthand, in cities and remote villages, interviewing them for the first, and perhaps the last, time.

Though many of them continue to harbor a fear of repercussions for speaking freely, they did speak with Xinran with stunning candor about their hopes, fears, and struggles, from the Long March to land reform, from Mao to marriage, from revolution to Westernization.

'China Witness' gives us the essence of modern China a portrait intimate, nuanced, and revelatory.

BBC - China in the next 60 years: Author Xinran Xue

Mother's Bridge of Love

母爱桥

Who is The Mothers’ Bridge of Love?

Mothers’ Bridge of Love is a charity to set up a bridge between China and the world; primarily for British families, who have adopted children from China, who want to learn more about the culture their children come from and share experiences with other families who’ve adopted children from China.

It was founded by Xinran who is a mother, of Panpan, an author, of books including ‘The Good Women of China’ ‘Sky Burial’ and ‘Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother’ (which focuses on stories of Chinese mothers who have lost their daughters, and includes details of how to donate to MBL). She is also a columnist of The Guardian newspaper (G2); and freelance adviser of TV & Publishing House. Her aim for this project was to build a “mothers’ bridge of love” to show Chinese orphans how much a mother’s love means to them, no matter where the love comes from, be it birth or adoptive mother, from China or rest of the world.

She spent eight months researching the possibility and looking for partners for the project and as of 19 August 2004, The Mothers’ bridge Bridge of Love has been entered into the Central Register of the Charity Commission for England and Wales in the United Kingdom.

Who does it help?
In China many Chinese girls become orphans. This arises because of three main reasons: (1) According to the Chinese traditional way of thinking, only boys can be part of the family tree to succeed the family business and inherit the family fortune;

• The “single-child” policy started in 1981 and has been enforced mainly in the eastern part of China, especially in the big cities.

• Since 1992, many young people have adopted a “western life” style, including pre-marital sex or co-habitation without being married. This behaviour is still ‘forbidden’ to many Chinese today for historical and cultural reasons. So it is still deemed to be ‘immoral’ for people to have children before marriage.

The end of 2003 saw around 55,000 western families that had adopted Chinese children, the majority being girls.

MBL has worked with adoptive families from 25 countries, including Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

It promotes cultural awareness and understanding of the Chinese culture among people who live in the Western world, strives to aid the cultural differences between the adoptive parents and the adopted Chinese children – to help their children find their cultural roots and heritage – and supports projects that help disadvantaged children in China.

Mother's Bridge of Love

母爱桥

China and Tibet - Xi Zang 西藏

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