A crash course of Buddhism in Lhasa, Tibet

how do you know the tibetans are not pleased with the train when you have not even spoken to them? what most tibetans want is not political or religious freedom as what many westerners assume, they just want a chance to catch up with the rest of china or even the developed world, something they can never achieve if they are in a medieval country sandwitched between two powerful nations and led by a smiling monk. this is a very complicated problem that cannot be explained in a few words, my advice is to look at things from their perspective, since you are in tibet it is a good chance to do so. and for your info, tibet had been part of china for centuries until the british came, so it is not wrong to use the word liberated.

I'm sure the tibetans want the liberation and economic pros, unfortunately it's going to come at a fairly large cost of culture, traditions, etc. Eighther way you go you lose out on something.

truth of occupation
imagine what the american or any other government would do if some foreign government and organisation keep influencing certain groups of its population that they are under oppression and urges them to fight for independence? a "preemptive strike" on those terrorists bases or air strikes against countries that are responsible for infuencing its citizens? by contrast the "chinese occupation" is very moderate. talking about culture revolution and its damages, it was definately not targeted at tibet, it was a nationwide catastrophy to chinese and whatever culture in china, tibetan culture by contrast was relatived spared due to tibets' remoteness and small presence of mad students. regarding panchen lama, no body knows what really happened to him, probably the cia kidnapped him and put the blame on china, even if the chinese government really kidnapped him it must be because people with evil intention may use him against the stability of tibet, if that happens who is going to suffer? have you ever wondered why those who seems to care so much about human rights and religious freedom in china never seems to realise that millions are dying in congo, and never seems to care much about what israel is doing to its neighbours. have you also wondered what those tibetans who talks about oppression all the time really want, some probably really think so, but the majority of them is using this as an excuse to seek asylum in dharamsala, a tibetan friend once asked me if dharansala has any link with chinese police because her cousin is trying to escape after accidentally knocking down someone while driving with no license. and for those of you who think china stands to gain something from the "occupation", you probably don't know that every year huge amount of money and resources are pumped into tibet from other parts of china, even with the construction of hydroplants and extraction of local resources, tibet is still heavily dependent on others, and if you think the meagre income from its travel industry could have any leftover for the central government you are very wrong. if you think chinese other than businessman and tourists enjoy going to tibet you are wrong again, in the early days of "occupation", tens of thousands of fresh graduates from big cities were sent to aid the development of tibet only to be slaughtered by simple minded tibetans influenced and armed by cia agents there (documents regarding the deployment of cia agents in tibet after the "occupation" to arm locals against the central government was declassified recently), and many others perished in the harsh environment. Lastly to mad dog mo, tibet is not disneyland, tibetans do not live in mud houses and chant budhist sutras in monastries for you to enjoy. many wish to go to university, get a good job and live in houses with concrete walls and airconditioning.

panchen lama
Ref the subject of panchen lama the Chinese freely admitted they were keeping him in custody 'for his own safety' shortly after he disappeared 11 years ago, but nothing has been heard of him since. Sorry guys!!- we seem to be taking over your blog!

Hey, you guys. I read all your comments from the top the end. That really intrigues me. Currently I am in Saudi Arabia. From a Chinese's point of view, for the agument