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What Losar (New Year) Means to the Tibetans and the Himalayan community

Two anchors along with a group of Tibetans who were among several such Tibetans shown showering praises on President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party at the Losar gala on TV in Lhasa.

February 8, 2019 By: Bhuchung K. Tsering

The first day of Losar, or New Year, in the Female Earth-Pig year fell on February 5 this year. Losar is celebrated by Tibetans and people in the Himalayan region and includes a combination of early morning religious rituals followed by social festivities.

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What China can learn from the 10th Panchen Lama about the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people

3 weeks ago

Bhuchung K. Tsering

January 28, 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of the 10th Panchen Lama. It is interesting to see that his death anniversary was observed in China as well as by the Tibetan community in the free world. These observations included a ceremony in northern India and a daylong discussion with an evening ceremony and concert in New York. Tibetan Minister Kalon Karma Gelek Yuthok had this to say about the 10th Panchen Lama at an event held in Dhondupling Tibetan settlement near Dehra Dun on January 26, 2019:

Kasur Lodi Gyari and what I learnt from him

2 months ago

Bhuchung K. Tsering

We are in the 49th day period after the passing away of Kasur Lodi G. Gyari, or as he is universally known to the Tibetan-speaking world (as well as to Himalayan community), Gyari Rinpoche. Rinpoche is a title with which we refer to incarnated individuals, and he was recognized as one at an early age, while in Tibet. The 49th day after death is an important landmark in Buddhism. In the broader context of the theory of the transmigration of consciousness, it takes at least 49 days after death for the consciousness to proceed on the path of rebirth.

Lights, camera, retraction: How China cut Tibet out of movies

3 months ago

Ashwin Verghese

“You’re not going to see something that’s like ‘Seven Years in Tibet’ anymore,” says Larry Shinagawa, professor at Hawaii Tokai International College, in a recent New York Times piece titled “How China Is Rewriting Its Own Script.” That’s cause for concern, because when I was growing up, movies like “Seven Years in Tibet” and “Kundun,” both of which opened in 1997, helped introduce me—and surely many Americans in my generation—to the Tibetan issue.

Don’t be evil: Google must abandon plans for censored search app in China

August 23, 2018

Ashwin Verghese

Ok Google: What is evil? That’s a question the world’s most popular search engine might need to ask itself. As Google reportedly develops plans for a censored search app in China, the International Campaign for Tibet has signed a letter insisting that the tech behemoth scrap the project immediately. The letter, written by the International Tibet Network and signed by 170 groups worldwide that are working on Tibet, says “There is little doubt that ‘Dragonfly,’” the proposed app, “would have an immense negative impact on the human rights of Chinese citizens, Tibetans, Uyghurs and...

10 years after “Leaving Fear Behind” exposed Chinese repression, situation in Tibet has only gotten worse

August 13, 2018

Ashwin Verghese

Ten years ago this month, a bold documentary exposed the repression ordinary Tibetans faced under the Chinese occupation of their country. A decade later, the situation in Tibet has only gotten worse. The documentary, “Leaving Fear Behind,” features interviews with average Tibetans describing, in heart-wrenching detail, the inhumanity of Chinese rule, as well as their feelings about the then-upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. I started my new job as Communications Officer with the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) earlier this summer, and one of the first things my colleague...

In Memoriam – Nicole Rowell Ryan

July 2, 2018

Guest

It is with deepest sorrow that ICT and The Rowell Fund for Tibet announce the passing of Nicole Rowell Ryan on Sunday, April 29th, 2018, at the age of 54. Nicole, a member of the Rowell Fund Advisory Board, was part of the ICT family since 2003 when she, along with former ICT President John Ackerly, developed the Rowell Fund in honor of her late father Galen Rowell. Galen, a famed photographer and mountaineer, was an avid supporter of the Tibetan cause during his life. Nichole was instrumental in the success of the Rowell Fund over the years. Her husband, Ray Ryan, remembers her insistence...

Tibetan Youth Leadership Program 2018: week of insights

June 20, 2018

Guest

We would often sit facing one another in a fashion identical to conference rooms. Throughout the week of the program, we have sat in the same manner in varying locations under differing circumstances. There was a sense of intimacy in that seating arrangement, the comfort felt was an embodiment of a rooted connection that formed fast and firm amongst us. Although, we all carried starkly distinct assortment of life experiences, the ceaseless tug of a unique cultural identity on our hearts served as the undeniable, unifying factor for us. In other words, the participants of the Tibetan Youth...

My experience at the 2018 Tibetan Youth Leadership Program

June 18, 2018

Guest

If you are familiar with the Tibetan freedom movement, you probably also know the importance of continued support from the international community to check China's oppressive rule in Tibet. Be it China's worry about its image on the global stage or practical trade interest, various forms of support from the international community have been the main source of force for keeping Tibetan issue alive. Needless to say, the US congressional support played an instrumental role to show China that they cannot do whatever they want in Tibet.

Tibetan football team make an impact

June 11, 2018

Kate Saunders

I’m not by any means a football fan, but the arrival of the Tibetan team in London for the CONIFA World Football Cup – bringing together dispossessed nations and others locked out of FIFA - kicked off something rather special. For a start, no other team had been given a personal blessing by the Dalai Lama, who in a special audience before their visit to the UK urged them to set an example of compassion. They are the only team in the history of football, no doubt, to present their opponents with khatags, white blessing scarves, before the game – and to assert that winning or losing are...

A welcome about-turn: the Süddeutsche Zeitung renounces its Chinese propaganda supplement

May 16, 2018

Kai Mueller

Virtually unnoticed by the general public, the Süddeutsche Zeitung seems to have decided to discontinue supplements from the Chinese Communist Party’s China Daily. News of the termination of this presumably very lucrative business relationship was tucked away in a third-page article by the Süddeutsche Zeitung’s correspondent for China, who claimed that the “China Watch” supplement was only meant as a one-time affair. In November 2017, things certainly sounded different.