Thursday, March 26, 2009

Preface to “The Snow-Lion Roaring in the Year of the Mouse” by Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth is proud to present the English translation of the preface by Woeser to her new book “The Snow-Lion Roaring in the Year of the Mouse: A Chronicle of the Events in Tibet of 2008” that was published at the beginning of March 2009 in Taiwan.


Because of the news blackout, Woeser became the main chronicler of events in Tibet in the year 2008 through her first-hand sources on the ground. A
similar chronology was published in Spanish and Catalan at the end of 2008 for which Tibetan historian Tsering Shakya wrote an introduction that has also been used in this Taiwan edition, Woeser quotes from this introduction in her preface.

Woeser published the announcement of the publication of “The Snow-Lion Roaring in the Year of the Mouse: A Chronicle of the Events in Tibet of 2008” and the preface on her blog on 9th March 2009. There is no English edition of such a publication but High Peaks Pure Earth readers can find the most complete collection of Woeser's Tibet Updates in English here.


“The Snow-Lion Roaring in the Year of the Mouse: A Chronicle of the Events in Tibet of 2008”

Preface by Woeser

On the night of the “Incident of March 14”, a young man who was there in Lhasa and experienced it in person (he was later taken innocently into custody for more than 50 days), whereas I was in Beijing, said to me: “in fact, we are very weak, although we always say “nation” and “Tibet”, we are only paying lip service. When disasters happen, it’s the ordinary people who are braver than us and are always going ahead regardless of anything.” Yes, the situation was often like this - when many people shouted out loud their accumulated rancour that they had kept inside for so long, more people hid aside to keep their silence. Me too, I was silent, and silent for so many days. The reasons were not the everyday risks, for instance, the imminent danger appeared clearly on one afternoon when a policeman said kindly to me that I was prohibited to go outside; not because I feared him, his working unit, this state apparatus, absolutely not. The real reason was because there were too many feelings suffocating my throat, stuffing my brain full and making my hands stiff as I hit the keys on the keyboard.

I told a Chinese friend who sent his regards to me from the US: “During these days...tremendous suffering, and some feelings of disillusion...I cannot speak out…just like a singer suddenly loses his voice…I don’t know how to express...huge grief and indignation as well as the struggle…” Just as a singer loses his voice because of disillusion and the struggle in his heart. The disillusion stems from this country where we are living, and moreover from the people in this country we have to get along with. However, disillusion doesn’t mean being tired of life, and doesn’t mean that the courage of resistance arises so there is still some struggle from the inside. After a few months, I often heard a voice which came from an idol from my youth whom I had gradually forgotten, an Italian lady called Oriana Fallaci, who, after the events of September 11, wrote: “at this moment, if we keep silent, it’s a mistake, to speak out will be an obligation.” As a reporter and a writer she has written and spoken many words but only these words have tortured my heart.

Yes, to speak out is my obligation. For me whose writing career starts from writing Tibet and who writes with a Tibetan’s heart, if I keep silent at this moment, it is not just a mistake but more than that it is shameful! In order to feel at ease, I started to chronicle daily from March 10th the blood and fire happening in the territories of Mdo-Dbus-Kham* which I knew about and published them on my blog. And I knew well that without Tibetans in every area who were taking grave risks in assisting me, it was impossible for me, who was far away in Beijing, to shoulder the task of recording these events. As Tsering Shakya mentioned in the introduction: “[…] People from all over Tibet sent reports to her as though she were the official chronicler of the momentous events.” How many of my fellow Tibetans who I knew or didn’t know experienced the darkness both day and night? I still remember those days and nights in the darkness, I sat alone in front of my computer, documenting, just documenting. I often heard sad information, and my tears wet the keyboard… I appreciated my friends very much but I could not reveal their names because so many of them were still in Tibet, or their relatives were in Tibet. At this time I also built solid friendships and made precious connections with my friends, which, for me, is an indescribably fortunate thing. During those tough days, we supported each other, we encouraged each other, and made each other feel as though we were not alone and not isolated. We were actually all in different places as the witnesses and documenters of an important historical moment.

At the end of May, my blog was hacked several times and finally it was completely destroyed. I knew well who wanted to put my blog in mortal danger. After a hard time of facing up to the challenge, I rebuilt a new blog with the assistance of friends and have continued to document. Not long after, I went back to Tibet, once in June and another time in August. My trips started to become shorter and shorter, which had never happened before. It was not what I intended, and I was forced to cut my visits short. I wanted to go to all the regions in Kham and Amdo again, and hoped to have been able to stay in Lhasa for a long long time. I wished I could be the same as I had been before, free to circumambulate the holy mountain, Gang Rinpoche (Mt. Kailaish), to go on pilgrimage to Lake Namtso, to visit all the areas of Mdo-Dbus-Kham where I had stayed or I had not yet stayed before. All of these places are my hometown. However, I got the opposite of what I wanted, in August, in Lhasa, I was only able to stay 7 days because I was investigated and searched by the police, this left me feeling very sad. When leaving, my mother sighed and reflected the reality of the situation: “the Lhasa of today is not the one of last year, and the you of today is not the one of last year…”

It is true, after the events that took place in March, Tibet is not same Bod (Tibetan for Tibet) as in the past, and all of the Bodpas (Tibetan for Tibetans) are not same as before. In the beginning of 2009, reviewing the reality exposed in the past year, I wrote an article for the Tibetan service of “Radio Free Asia”, which reads: “it would seem that each event just happened yesterday, people still bleeding, fire still smoking, the tears pouring, anger soaring in the blood and fire for most of us are still very real experiences. This is because there is a plot going on behind the huge shadows…..maybe we must do a random investigation of the Tibetan people, to ask them who they know are dead or have been beaten, or have been captured, or are still in prison...for example, from March 10th till now, 12 acquaintances of mine have been arrested. The earliest was arrested on March 15th; the latest was arrested at the end of November. Among them, Lama Jigme of Labrang Monastery has been arrested twice, and even now he is still in prison. Among my friends who were arrested, two are women; three are monks, the others in different professionals. Eight are in Lhasa, one is in Xining, one is in Labrang, one is in Hongyuan (Martang), and one is in Beijing. Only one person’s parents are dead, the others have family, parents, brothers and sisters and beloved husband or wife and young children… Perhaps we, everybody, can gather this kind of statistic. We can do more in detail and in this way keep more accurate records of actual events. This task is not a task that can be finished quickly, it must be in detail, correct, complete, and then, the lives disappeared in the darkness without being known by the public will provide a truth about the blood and fire that happened in 2008 unable to be erased and denied by anyone.

I hence plan to publish this chronicle. This is to commemorate the year 2008, and also 1959. For Tibetans, they have never forgetten “Nga Chu Nga Gu” (in Tibetan: 1959) the year of 1959, if people thought that Tibetans had forgotten 1959, this is not just a misunderstanding but a deliberate malicious misconception. It has been 50 years now and history must count one by one, not only my writing has to take this count engraved on our memories, but also many Tibetans who are of the same blood as me must take up this mission. This is not the same as an accusation, our Buddhist nature is able to forgive every experience, but forgiving does not equal forgetting. And this is not enough to take up the mission: the publication of this book is not really the same as speaking out. The real kind of speaking out is that everybody speaks out. Therefore, I want to dedicate this book to the Tibetans who have experienced 1959-2009, and to Tibet where I promise to be reborn in my future generations.

Something I have to explain is that this chronicle, which begins from March 10 2008 and ends on August 23 2008, is not complete. Due to various limits, the information, which I was able to receive and gather, may have missed many important facts, it being the tip of the iceberg, and cannot reflect all the facets of the present Tibetan situation. And there are still protests and crackdowns that have occurred after August, supplemented by the footnotes, however, there are many cases that haven’t been documented. In fact, up to now at the eve of the anniversary of the Tibetan events that happened last year and shocked all the world, there are still many inhumane and unfair incidents taking place in the broad territories of Mdo-Dbus-Kham, the Tibetan suffering continues…

I hereby thank Yun Chen Publishing Company in Taiwan for publishing this book on a special day, March 10, 2009; this is a day of the 50th anniversary of peaceful Tibetan resistance. I am also most grateful to Tibetan scholar Tsering Shakya, who is accredited internationally as an important historian for modern Tibet. In November 2008 and January 2009, my work “Tibet: Breaking the Silence” concerning the Tibetan events of 2008 was translated into Catalan and Spanish and published in Spain. Tsering Shakya wrote an introduction which is very appropriate for this book. And in the days of 2008, I noted daily events which were translated thanks to Tsering Shakya and published in English. The exchange between us exactly represents the communion of heart with heart of the Tibetan people inside and outside.

Regarding the pictures in this book, some were taken by myself, some by my husband Wang Lixiong and some were downloaded from the internet. As for the others, some photos have the real name of the photographer, some are anonymous, some were provided by the inside and outside Tibetans and some were given by travellers, I hereby give all my thanks to them. There are certain anonymous pictures downloaded from the internet in order to show the real situation and the purpose behind them is to make public the truth. I cannot know who the photographers were but I hereby highly appreciate them too.

Tsering Woeser
Beijing, January 10, 2009

* Mdo-Dbus-Kham: According to the geography of traditional Tibet, the entire Tibetan territory is divided into three main regions from the high to flat land: upper, central and lower, called upper three regions of Ngari (Ngari Korsum), central four horns of U-tsang (Dbus gtsang ru bzhi), lower six Ranges of Dokham (Mdo Khams sgang drug). “Ngari Korsum” is the high peak of mountains, the source of rivers, also the roof of “the roof of the world”. “Dbus-gtsang-ru-bzhi” includes the total area of Dbus and Gtsang which is nowadays Lhasa valley, Nyag-Chu plain, Shigatse, wide area west and north from Shigatse in the territory of the Tibet Autonomous Region. “Mdo-Kham sgang drug”, “Mdo” is Amdo which includes many area of Gtsang in Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan provinces. “Kham” is the Kham region that includes Yushu in Qinghai, Dechen in Yunnan, Kardze in Sichuan, Chamdo territory in Tibet. It still includes the Gyarong region which is consisted of part of Ngaba and Kardze Tibetan areas in Sichuan. And the shorter name of Tibet is called Mdo-Dbus-Kham.
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Tibetan Bloggers Lament

The Tibetan blogs are now coming alive with posts and there is a great deal of excitement and celebration about the return of the websites.

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated two posts, one is a short report criticising Tibetan cadres and a longer post presenting an interesting critique of Losar (Tibetan New Year) celebrations that was broadcast on TV.

It is interesting to note the recent changes in content of the songs and comedy sketches. However, we are not sure whether the blogger is referring to the Qinghai or TAR New Year's Eve broadcast. The Qinghai broadcast
can be seen on YouTube here.



'Tibetan Cadres Working for the Chinese Government'
http://www.tibetabc.cn/u/nba2007/archives/2009/2009323223345.html

Most of the Tibetan officials in the Chinese government use their posts and power to insult people of their own race and become servants to others.

Taking pride in this kind of work, selling land and closing companies are becoming evident: the sale of the of weaving factory by official Rinchen Gyal of Tsolho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and the sale of the Tibetan Middle School's land by school head Benta.

Aren't we allowed to voice our protest about these things.



'Patriotic Education'

Comments on the New Year's Eve TV Show by Nyal Mechag (gnyal me lcags)

http://www.tibetabc.cn/u/niexuedawa/archives/2009/200932310106.html

Because of my great interest in listening to music and watching dance on TV, I liked to enjoy the New Years Eve Show on TV. As usual I was eager to watch the TV show with high expectations. However, I did not expect that this year’s TV show would leave so many uncomfortable feelings in my heart. The prevailing content of patriotic education wrapped the theme of the whole show from the beginning to the end. The main theme of the show was supposed to praise the outcome of good policies and the improvement of living conditions after the so-called peaceful liberation and democratic reform in Tibet. One thing we should keep our mind on is that there is hardly a piece of the show that does not contain an element of patriotic education. It seems that the wounds in the hearts of the people from the Cultural Revolution have disappeared completely.

As a matter of fact, there are ample things in Tibet which we should appreciated. There are also many problems that should be addressed before the public. Being writers of lyrics and plays, it is not the right way to act like a one-eyed cow eating the grass and telling only one side of the story. Those folks who claimed themselves as the advancers, mouthpiece of the masses and the engineers of human souls have already forgotten their obligation of telling the truth. They are trying to escape from reality. This is a huge tragic moment in our history.

Language and script are the soul of a nation. It would be the great loss of a nation if its language is not preserved and widely used by the people. If a nation cannot carry on its culture by using its own language, then the nation will eventually die out and what will remain behind is just an empty name. My heart suffers tremendously by the fact that Tibetans are forced to use an alien language while having their own language.

It is unquestionable that TV shows in Tibetan areas should target the Tibetan audience so that more and more programmes in Tibetan language can be shown. On the contrary, this year’s TV show displayed even more songs and short sketches in Chinese than in the Tibetan language. I consider this an abuse of the Tibetan language. I describe the people who were involved in the performance as a group of folks who were beating up his or her own head by neglecting their own language.

Tibetans are becoming miserable people now. Although our body is nourished by the circulation of the blood of the red-faced people, and our bone marrow is made of mountain snow, unfortunately we are encouraging our children to learn Chinese, as well as English, instead of our Tibetan language. Many people who are Tibetan are so proud of altering some Chinese words and mixing Chinese words when they speak publicly.

We Tibetans compromise our own interests all the time. For instance, at the New Year’s Eve TV show, all the singers, namely Yadong, Yongdrong Gyal, Tanzin and Tsering Samdrub sang their songs in Chinese and 80% songs of the TV show were sung in Chinese. It was even worse to see an entire short TV sketch written in Chinese which intentionally prejudices Tibetan language, makes fun of Tibetan words and harms the beauty of the Tibetan language. It is worth quoting a statement from the short TV sketch here: “As a Tibetan, it is shameful not to speak Chinese”; they tried to translate this TV sketch into Tibetan to convince people, but the audience found that it was nothing more than a meaningless stage farce in the end.

One of the sad things about the sketch is that the author of this TV sketch is a well-known Tibetan writer from the region. This guy has no sense of responsibility for his nation. I consider this kind of person, nothing more than a criminal who tramples on the language of the Tibetan nation.
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Sunday, March 22, 2009

The Return of TibetABC!

Having previously reported various closures and 'technical maintenance' incidents related to Tibetan language blogs, High Peaks Pure Earth is happy to report that the highly popular Tibetan language website www.tibetabc.cn is back online!

We haven’t gone through each of the posts to see if any have been sanitised and cleansed of any inappropriate thoughts but just at quick glance, it appears that many of the previous posts are intact. Jamyang Kyi’s previous posts haven’t been removed either.


The return of the site is welcomed by netizens with many celebratory odes. All Tibetan netizens agree that the Tibetan language websites and forums are vital to the flourishing of Tibetan language and its use. The Tibetan creator of the website and other writers and intellectuals argue that making a Tibetan language that is vibrant and used daily, especially the written language, is the most important task of all. Without turning the Tibetan language into a language of everyday practice, its vibrancy will be lost.

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated two posts, which reflect the happiness felt by Tibetan netizens.



http://www.tibetabc.cn/u/sosang/archives/2009/200932019751.html

A Joyous Day 20th March 2009

Today is the day the Tibetan language blog has been re-opened. Over the last five or seven days, the blog has been closed. In my opinion, it is better not to post anything that “exceeds the limit” (gtam ‘gal) if you are a real friend of the blog. Since everyone knows the reason, I do not have to tell you about this in detail. All the unsuitable comments on the blog will be deleted, but comments on the ten minor and five major sciences of Tibetan culture are welcome, especially on Tibetan literature. In order to keep the Tibetan language blog running; we appeal for your support for our work by posting comments that will bring only benefits for the blog.

Under this post a comment reads:


On the joyous day of 10 March in the Land of Snows, Golog Kunga Tsangyang (mgo log kun dga' tshangs dbyans) was suddenly arrested. At the moment he is probably in the city prison (grong khyer btson khang).

For this second posting, High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a celebratory poem:


http://www.tibetabc.cn/u/xueyuhanzi/archives/2009/2009320195322.html

Tibetan language website
The radiating light of our hearts
From today
Lets hope that the light may not be eclipsed

Tibetan language website
The single lamp that is the thread of our souls
From today
I hope that it may not be blown away by the wind

Tibetan language website
The messenger for the souls of compatriots
From today
I hope that the noble messenger may be free of all obstacles.
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Monday, March 16, 2009

Wounded Yaks

Today High Peaks Pure Earth has only had to do half the usual amount of translation work! The following blogpost was partly written in English and partly reproduces text in Chinese that ponders the unusual fate of this one poor yak - as captured in an art installation by Chinese artist Jia Hongyu.

The blogger commented that they did not know under what circumstances Jia Hongyu created this art work in October 2007. High Peaks Pure Earth has learned that Jia Hongyu is a member of the Comprehensive Art Department of China Fine Arts College. He participated in fieldwork called "Subverting Shangri-la: An Investigation into Painting Themes Concerning Tibet", conducted in 2006.


The symbolism of the wounded yak seems obvious, the artist is raising important questions about the fate of Tibet in the People's Republic of China. Tibetan artists in Tibet have also been using the yak as a symbol of Tibet. Here are artworks by prominent Tibetan contemporary artists. High Peaks Pure Earth readers are invited to be art critics and to give their own interpretations:

From the "I'm Here" Series by Keltse

From the "I'm Here" Series by Keltse

"Yak" by Yak Tsetan

"Yak Khampa" by Ang Sang

Friday, March 13, 2009

No Time Like The Present

Surfing around...news, gossips, music, movies, photos...
the world has gone mad!

after years a yak finally got his passport
immediately started his world travel
beach - too hot
mountain - too much
New york - too loud
London - too busy
Tokyo - too crowd
Paris - too crazy
...
shortly landed in Madrid
where his cousin bull lives
hug, kiss, music, dance, wine...
but then
shortly ended his life in a bullring
...

[Beginning of blogpost in Chinese which reproduces the original description of the installation by the artist. The name of the installation is 《相请不如偶遇》 which roughly translates as "the image doesn't compare to being there"]

The bullfighters who killed madly, hacked the yak to death with swords. This brief story is a fable with many implications: that is a fable for all nation states undergoing the process of modernisation and it also reveals the traveller's anxiety and worry over prospects and fate. It is more a symptom of people's common attitude towards strange things. The images of the victor and the defeated are not completely equivalent to the strong and the weak. Perhaps both victory and death are based on fear and misunderstanding, and they are both games of fate.



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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The Disappearing Tibetan Cyberspace

High Peaks Pure Earth has been thwarted again in bringing translations from Tibetan blogs to an English-speaking audience. We have lost access to two major Tibetan language blog and discussion forums. The usually active www.tibetcm.com has definitely been closed down, the photo above is a screenshot of the government closure notice. The very popular www.tibetabc.cn (which hosts Jamyang Kyi's blog, amongst others) is not loading now - no reasons are given.



Having reported earlier that Tibetan blogs and discussion forums are suddenly undergoing "maintenance" in this sensitive period, High Peaks Pure Earth has also translated a blogpost by Woeser that was posted on her blog on 9th March 2009 and deals with disrupted communications. High Peaks Pure Earth readers are invited to draw their own conclusions!


"China Mobile Texts Users: Network Renovations to Start March 10" by Woeser

Recently, the China Mobile Group Tibet Ltd. 10086 customer service hotline sent this short cell phone message to all its subscribers in the Tibetan Autonomous Region:

"Dear customers, our company has decided to renovate our network during the period March 10 to May 1. This will have some effects on the quality of communications. We ask for your understanding of the inconvenience this will cause. For more information call 100086"

It has been learned that from mid-February 2009, cell phone messaging service has been cut off in 18 counties of Ganzi (Kardze) Prefecture with Internet service being cutoff as well. Currently, Internet service has been restored only in Kangding County, however cell phone messaging remains blocked there. Cell phone messaging and internet service remain blocked in all the other counties of Ganzi Prefecture.

Moreover in Aba Prefecture, in the counties considered the most sensitive: Hongyuan County, Ruo'ergai County, and Rangtang County, internet and cell phone messaging service are also cut off.

All telephone calls to Tibetan areas within China from outside China are blocked.

Some private Tibetan websites such as the Tibetan's Culture Website tibetcul.cn and the Tibetan Buddhism website "Kamageju China Forum" have been asked to "close for maintenance".

Now that they have cut off Tibetan areas from the outside world and deployed many soldiers to Tibetan areas, what do they intend to do?
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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Remembering 10th March, 1959 - 2009

On this historic day, High Peaks Pure Earth brings you two blogposts from a bold Tibetan blogger. The first blogpost, a poem, was posted on the first day of Tibetan New Year (Losar) this year, 25th February 2009. The blogpost draws the direct line between the sadness felt on the first day of Losar with the events of 10th March 2008 - as indicated by the graphic (picture below). Both blogposts are accompanied by the same sad music.


What I am Remembering!

Once upon a time
When the first day of the year came
The fresh year brought happiness

Today, when the new year comes
Bothered by unspeakable feelings
Untreatable pain inflicts body and mind

Then, I just draw like this ...
We continue to .... ....


The second blogpost is more recent and was posted on 8th March 2009. The post appears to be to commemorate those who lost their lives in the previous year as well as those who were detained and imprisoned.


Brothers and Sisters, We Will Never Forget



Time and year melted like water, compatriots.


I pray that those who lost lives did not suffer and may they be born speedily in the realms of heaven


The poor people who are in prison, I pray to lessen their fear and suffering.

By the kindness of the three jewels.
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Sunday, March 8, 2009

More from Rebkong

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated another blogpost from Rebkong (Chinese: 同仁 Tongren) that confirms yesterday's blogposts that Rebkong is surrounded by soldiers. The blogpost was written today, 8th March 2009.


Rebkong Today

Today, for some reason Rebkong is surrounded by army. I look at this as making the lives of lay and religious people worse. This is an attempt to frighten the people and destroy the joy and happiness of Rebkong. Do they want to start disturbances as last year?

I am really frightened.
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Citizen Journalism from Rebkong

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated two short blogposts from Rebkong in Amdo that were written yesterday and today.


Posted on 7th March 2009
Yesterday and Today’s Rebkong

On 7th March 2009 while the people of Rebkong were gathering to perform according to the annual ritual of burning incense to the local deities, Chinese soldiers surrounded the monastery and watched over the scene from the peak of the mountain. What was the government of China thinking? They were anxiously thinking there would be a protest. All the people who work for the local administration had to sign a paper with fingerprints that said that they would not burn incense and pray. The annual worship of the mountain deities and religious activities have also been forbidden in other villages of the region. What do you think when you hear this news my friends?




Posted on 8th March 2009
Feeling of Deep Fear!

Suddenly, disturbing feelings of sadness entered into my doorway. I went outside to discard this foreboding feeling. The whole region of Rebkong was surrounded by the sounds of darkness as well as the dark military forces. In my mind came the old times when we lived in courage and happiness. I felt my stomach freezing. Will there be any space left for us if we do not wake up now?
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Friday, March 6, 2009

All Quiet on the Tibetan Blog Front

High Peaks Pure Earth is being forced to take a holiday! A notice suddenly appeared on 5th March 2009 on the most popular Tibetan language blog hosting site www.tibetcul.com saying that blogs and online forums were being closed for 'maintenance' and that this would last around a week.

So it means that we at High Peaks Pure Earth can put our feet up and not worry about finding interesting blogs to translate over the next few days. This has been most unexpected. Actually, we had been looking forward to bringing our keen readers the view from Tibetans inside Tibet and China in the run up to March 10th. Having realised it would be a sensitive time, we hadn't quite thought that blogs and forums would simply be closed down for the period, it really is such a coincidence.

Interestingly, a few days ago, when we tried to access the site we got a Google virus warning on www.tibetcul.com. Google provided a detailed analysis of the site and the viruses that were loaded on the site - let's see what changes or improvements await when the site comes back to life next week!

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated the notice that comes up when you try to access the blog and online forum pages of www.tibetcul.com:

Screenshot of the 'Maintenance' Notice


Respected broad masses of netizens.

Hello everyone!

Tibetan Culture Net will be closed for high-level maintenance starting from two o’clock on the afternoon of March 5, with maintenance lasting around one week. Maintenance is to be carried out in stages, with Blog Tibet and Tibetan Culture Community are closed now (March 5) for maintenance, and the main Tibetan Culture Net site will be closed the following day for maintenance.

There will be no way of accessing Tibetan Culture Net during the period of maintenance. We ask for the broad masses of netizens’ understanding, and deeply thank everyone for their continued support for Tibetan Culture Net.

We wish everyone a happy life, good health, pleasure in work, and Tashi Delek!

Tibetan Culture Net, March 5, 2009.
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Sunday, March 1, 2009

An Apology by Lobsang Dundrup

High Peaks Pure Earth has an update from the Tibetan blogosphere for readers today. On 16th February we posted a translation of a blogpost that had Tibetan bloggers criticising the singer Lobsang Dundrup and his bride for wearing fur on their wedding day.

Now, it seems as though Lobsang Dundrup has taken the matter to heart, High Peaks Pure Earth has translated the follow up blogpost that can be found here, http://jomma.tibetcul.com/56948.html - be warned before clicking on that link though, TibetCul has been listed as a "suspicious site" by Google that results in "malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent".

For readers of Tibetan, a very similar blogpost can be found here with photos of Lobsang Dundrup and various comments: http://www.tibetabc.cn/u/ganglin/archives/2009/2009224151358.html

Lobsang Dundrup (left) and his wife (right)

An Apology by Lobsang Dundrup

I once posted a blogpost entitled “The Singer Lobsang Dundrup’s Wedding” (it has already been deleted). Though the clothes [worn by the bride and groom in the pictures] were criticized by many people, at the same time they received many suggestions and help from friends who really care about them. Lobsang came to visit me at my home today, and he hoped to apologise to and thank all friends through my blog.

The following words and pictures are out of Lobsang Dundrup’s own initial idea.

Lobsang Dundrup comes from the Valley of Beauty in Rongdark and is a Tibetan singer who made his first public appearance quite early. The CD called “Thanggula Wind”, recorded together with Yadong, Dechen Wangmo and others was fashionable for a while, and the song called “Holding the Silver Bowl High” has also been sung by others widely. His solo CD called “The Valley of Beauty is my Home” contributed greatly to the publicity of his hometown.

As for the wedding clothes, Lobsang frankly said that these were just old clothes. Everybody should not view things so absolutely either, instead, one should abide by the “Middle Way”.
He himself also loves his hometown, and he also has his belief.s In his hometown, once he spent a “huge” amount of money in comparison to his means to build a three-storey high white pagoda.

Because of his concern for environmental protection and his own beliefs, he absolutely will not wear those clothes any more. He will also persuade his relatives and friends to take off these kinds of ‘fine clothes.” He and his wife will also take another set of wedding pictures to be posted on the TibetCul network again (since after their wedding they live separately, it will probably take some time for them to have the pictures taken).

He also hopes that in future people will not attack each other with vicious remarks. No matter whether one is from Amdo, or from Kham, or from Gyalrong, we are all Tibetan. If somebody makes any mistakes, one should patiently persuade him and help him. Look, didn’t Lobsang Dundrup sincerely apologise to all?

Lobsang once again thanks everybody and greets everybody, Tashi Delek!
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