"Over One Year After the Earthquake, A Rushed Visit to Yushu" By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser written on August 24, 2011 for the Tibetan service of Radio Free Asia and posted on her blog on August 31, 2011.

In July, Woeser and her husband Wang Lixiong travelled by road to Lhasa and these posts were written about the places they visited on the way. Woeser's previous post was on the impoverished county of Matö while this post focuses on Yushu, the area in Kham that was hit by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake on April 14, 2010.

Woeser has previously written about the earthquake and described incidents that happened in the aftermath. On the anniversary of the earthquake, Woeser wrote about how a documentary film to commemorate the earthquake was banned.

"Mourning" - A Poem About the Self-Immolations

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a poem titled "Mourning" by a Tibetan blogger named Sengdor, the poem was posted online on October 11, 2011.

On October 7, 2011, two former monks from Kirti Monastery in eastern Tibet set fire to themselves in Ngaba county town and later died from their wounds. This string of self-immolations in Ngaba continue, with news of another self-immolation just yesterday, an emotionally distressing time for Tibetans inside and outside Tibet.

The poem "Mourning" is a response to these self-immolations and the post has received over 1000 views and 40 comments. To avoid repetition, High Peaks Pure Earth has translated just four of the comments below.

"Impoverished Matö County" By Woeser

The logo of the county seat, written in Chinese, not in Tibetan
(Today’s Matö County belongs to Qinghai Province, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture)  

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser written on August 17, 2011 for the Tibetan service of Radio Free Asia and posted on her blog on August 28, 2011.

In this blogpost, Woeser writes about the once prosperous county of Matö (Tib: རྨ་སྟོད། Ch: 玛多, Maduo) in eastern Tibet, located in today's Qinghai Province. Woeser questions the official rationale given for the impoverishment of Matö county and chooses to focus on environmental degradation brought on by mining, dam building and gold panning and the impact on the nomads. 

For High Peaks Pure Earth readers interested in the full China Dialogue article "Tibet's Disappearing Grasslands" mentioned by Woeser, follow this link: http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/3828-Tibet-s-disappearing-grasslands

Read a French translation of this post here: http://woeser.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/la-province-amdo-sombrant-dans-la-pauvrete/

"Does Tibet Need This Kind of Memorial Site?" By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser written on June 15, 2011 for the Tibetan service of Radio Free Asia and posted on her blog on July 13, 2011.

In this blogpost Woeser continues her ruminations on Ganden Monastery, originally started in the article posted earlier online titled "Who is Responsible for the Destruction of Ganden Monastery?" 

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

Poem: "Square"

High Peaks Pure Earth presents the English translation of a Tibetan blogger's haunting poem titled "Square". The poem was written on September 27, 2011 and posted online on his blog on the same day.

This translation was submitted to High Peaks Pure Earth by a reader, we very much appreciate your help and support!

A Message from Serthar, Tibet

Protest leaflet from Serthar, Kham.
The text says "Long Live the Dalai Lama"
The word inside the heart is "Tibet"

High Peaks Pure Earth has been following the news coming out of Serthar in Tibet's Kham region about protests on October 1, 2011 after a photo of the Dalai Lama and a large Tibetan flag were removed from a building in the town centre. Radio Free Asia has reported the protests by "several hundred people". October 1 is National Day, the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.