"Attention: Lama Jigme Arrested for the Fourth Time!" By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was written and posted on her blog on August 24, 2011. In this blogpost, Woeser reports the re-arrest of Lama Jigme. 

Interestingly, the first news of the arrest emerged in a Tibetan blogpost hosted by Sangdhor.com on August 23, 2011, that has since been removed, see the screenshot below of the original post in Tibetan.

A reference is also made in Woeser's blogpost to the Chinese Panchen Lama's visit to Labrang Monastery, for more information on this visit, see this article from the New York Times.

"The Xinhai Revolution And Tibet" By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser written in July 2011 for the Tibetan service of Radio Free Asia and posted on her blog on July 30, 2011.

In this blogpost, Woeser casts her eye over the historical Xinhai Revolution of 1911, ruminates on the repercussions it had for Tibet and also compares the fate of Tibetans with Mongolians and Uyghurs. For our own ruminations on the concept of "nationalities" or "minorities", read our 2009 post "Going Minzu".

Read a French translation of this post here.

The “Republic of the Five Nationalities” that appeared in China after the Xinhai Revolution

Showing the 56 ethnic minorities that were identified after the establishment of the People’s Republic

"Who is Responsible for the Destruction of Ganden Monastery?" By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser written on June 17, 2011 for the Tibetan service of Radio Free Asia and posted on her blog on June 26, 2011.

In this blogpost, Woeser writes about the destruction of Ganden Monastery. The photos taken by her Father that Woeser refers to were compiled into an impressive book published in Taiwan by Locus Publishing in 2006 as "Forbidden Memory: Tibet During the Cultural Revolution". Although there is no English translation of the publication, it has been published in Japanese and Tibetan. 

This is Ganden Monastery on October 7, 1991. Photo by Wang Lixiong.

Tibetan Blogger Expresses Concern: "Before Long, Planes Will Fly in My Hometown"

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by a Tibetan blogger from Amdo who keeps a blog on the Tibetan-language blog-hosting site called "AmdoTibet". The blogpost was written on June 1, 2011 and posted online on June 12, 2011.

In the blogpost, the blogger expresses concern after hearing that an airport will be built in his hometown, particularly over an increased military presence, quality of housing and the beginning of the urbanisation of the area.

The previous post on High Peaks Pure Earth about contaminated drinking water around Kumbum Monastery also addresses the problems for locals that intense development can bring. This report by the International Campaign for Tibet, also about Amdo, expands on the issues and states that "more than 30,000 farmers had been moved off their land [...], in order to facilitate the expansion of Ganhetan Industrial District".

Screenshot of the Blog Hosted on AmdoTibet.cn