"Fish Speaking Back to Ichthyologists": Two Blogposts on Chinese Tourists in Tibet

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated two blogposts written by young Tibetan netizens on similar topics, Chinese tourists in Tibet and their attitudes to Tibetans. 

The number of Chinese tourists to Tibet has dramatically increased over the past years and this looks set to continue with a number of luxury hotels either just opened or set to open over the next months. This article from UK's The Independent newspaper of November 3, 2010, centres on the opening of the St. Regis Hotel in Lhasa. The article says:

The surge of tourists to the Himalayan region has seen visitor numbers jump during the first nine months of 2010 to 5.8 million, up 23 per cent on the same period a year earlier.

And newly wealthy Chinese want luxury accommodation. "The St Regis Lhasa Resort offers refined luxury and superlative service in a storied city," gushes the breathless blurb on the St Regis website. "Discover Potala Palace and Norbulingka, UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Jokhang Temple, all minutes from our resort."

"When Tibetan Students Fight for the Tibetan Language " By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for broadcast on Radio Free Asia on October 28, 2010 in Lhasa and posted on her blog on November 4, 2010.

In this blogpost, Woeser writes on the protests by Tibetan students in October 2010 against proposals to restrict the use of Tibetan language in classrooms in Qinghai province. The protests from Amdo also reached Beijing, see photos on our previous blogpost here.

A Blogpost and A Poem on Tibetan language

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost and a poem both on the topic of Tibetan language.

Since the student protests of last month, October 2010, against the proposals to restrict the use of Tibetan language in classrooms in Qinghai province, the serious issues facing Tibetan language have evidently been weighing on the minds of Tibetan netizens.

Interestingly, the Tibetan language blog sites have been very quiet and prefer not to directly talk about the issues the recent language protests have raised, whilst on the Chinese language blog sites frequented by Tibetans, there is much chatter about the issue. Perhaps the language issues are felt more acutely and painfully by those who have lost their language. 

Another Song About Tibetan Unity: "Telephone Rang" By Lhakyi

Screen Title of the music video for "Telephone Rang"

Following on from our earlier blogpost featuring two music videos about Tibetan unity, High Peaks Pure Earth has translated "Telephone Rang", another song on the same topic, this time by a Tibetan female singer called Lhakyi.

The singers of "Mentally Return" and "The Sound of Unity" sang about the unity of Tibetans from all three provinces of Tibet, U-Tsang, Kham and Amdo. In the song "Telephone Rang", Lhakyi imagines a day when Tibetans in Tibet are informed, through a phone call, of the return of His Holiness (also referred to in the song using various metaphors) and thus a day when Tibetans inside and outside Tibet are reunited.

Urgent Blogpost by Woeser; Lhasa Public Security Bureau Summon Her

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated an urgent blogpost by Woeser describing how she was summoned on the phone by the Lhasa Public Security Bureau. The blogpost was written approximately one hour ago.

Liu Xiaobo: “Han Chinese Have No Freedom, Tibetans Have No Autonomy” By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for broadcast on Radio Free Asia on October 13, 2010 in Lhasa and posted on her blog on October 18, 2010.

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo on October 8, 2010, created international headline news. In this article from her blog, Woeser congratulates Liu Xiaobo and recounts his articles and views on Tibet. As she notes in her article, Woeser has known both Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, for several years and, as noted before on High Peaks Pure Earth, Woeser was the only Tibetan amongst the original signatories of Charter 08.

Tibetan Students in Beijing Protest for Tibetan Language; Tibetan Netizens Show Support Online

High Peaks Pure Earth has noticed a lot of online activity by Tibetans over the last few days related to Tibetan language. As reported by international media, Tibetan students in Rebkong and Chabcha in Amdo (Qinghai province) and Tawu in Kham (Sichuan province) have been protesting over plans to restrict the use of Tibetan language in classrooms.

Now the protests have spread to Beijing where over 500 Tibetan students from the Tibetan Studies department of Minzu University of China (formerly known as the Central University for Nationalities) held a protest on the campus today (October 22, 2010) at noon. Tibetans on popular social networking sites such as RenRen and MyBudala have been posting photos and status updates about the protests.

The above status update in Tibetan says: "Today at 12, over 500 students protested at Minzu University of China about freedom of language."

Woeser's Acceptance Speech: International Women's Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award, 2010

High Peaks Pure Earth is re-posting Woeser's acceptance speech that was sent to the International Women's Media Foundation on the occasion of being awarded their Courage in Journalism Award, 2010. 


Woeser posted the speech on her blog on October 20, 2010, a day after the awards ceremony took place in New York. As reported by the media, Woeser was unable to attend the ceremony as the Chinese government refuses to grant her a passport. 


Woeser's acceptance speech was translated into English by A. E. Clark of Ragged Banner. For those who have not yet read Woeser's poetry, High Peaks Pure Earth recommends the volume published by Ragged Banner titled "Tibet's True Heart".