November 23, 2008
Side Note: Deepak Bhujel, owner of Sahara Nepal Treks and Expedition has, time and again, helped me with my various projects in Nepal. This photography series is no exception. Thank you, Deepak.
click on images for enlargement
...................................................................................
November 21, 2008
click on photograph for enlargement
...............................................................................
August 11, 2008
Warren W. Smith Jr. has more than twenty-five years of experience in Tibetan studies. From 1970 to 1981 he was a resident of Nepal. In 1982 he was one of the first Westerners allowed in Tibet. In 1994 he received a Ph.D. in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, with a dissertation on Tibetan nationalism. He is the coauthor, with Manabajra Bajracharya, of Mythological History of Nepal Valley from Svayambhu Purana ( 1977) and the author of Tibetan Nation: A History of Tibetan Nationalism and Sino-Tibetan Relations (1996) and numerous articles on Tibetan politics. Since 1997 he has been a researcher and wrtier with The Tibetan Service of Radio Free Asia, where he has written more than seven hundred short programs on all aspects of Tibetan history and politics, Sino-Tibetan relations, Chinese politics and Sino-U.S.relations.
The new Fall Issue of Tricycle Magazine features my analysis of Smith's new book, China's Tibet, which I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in understanding the dynamics between Mainland China and Tibet. 
CHINA’S TIBET:
AUTONOMY OR ASSIMILATION?
Warren W. Smith, Jr.
Lanham, MD: Roman & Littlefield, 2008
400 pp.; $49.95 cloth
Here is an excerpt from my article in Tricycle Magazine:
This year, Tibetan riots became a lightning rod for Chinese nationalism, as seen on TV news programs broadcast from many Chinese cities. Even Chinese students in the United States, normally regarded as models of preoccupied scholasticism, hit the streets fuming in protest against the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Diaspora’s call for autonomy and cultural—if not national—identity.
Why are ordinary Chinese citizens so adamant, yet so sensitive? Why are they suspicious of international intentions? Why do they tend to assume that foreign concern for Tibet is, in fact, hostile—fabricated in order to denigrate, humiliate and even split China? Where did their viewpoint come from? Are there two separate universes at work here?
Warren W. Smith, Jr.’s China’s Tibet: Autonomy or Assimilation, a groundbreaking study in disconnect, goes a long way in explaining why China’s bitter reaction to any and all criticism about Tibet, including religious and human rights issues, may be an abyss too vast to be spanned by traditional reason or negotiation.
To read the complete article, link to Tricycle Magazine , or pick up a copy of the magazine at your local bookstore or newsstand.
........................................................
