Crossroads of Tibet

Crossroads of Tibet

Tibet, the roof of the world, is the highest and the most isolated country on earth. Located between China and Nepal, imagine a place tucked safely away from the world, hidden by walls of snowcapped mountains, rich with strange beauty and innocence.

Tibetans are very confined people, their clothes are plain and simple like ropes but are actually silky and thick, unlike Chinese gowns which are flamboyant. They may have old fetchers but that is because the cold makes them look dry and old, but they are actually very pleasant people. During those days, they did not allow foreigners to enter their country. They were not hiding anything but they believed that foreign people would want to modernize their country, which they were against. Tibetans want to maintain their culture without changes, like a time capsule.

Tibetans believe that walking for a long distance to holy places purifies the bad deeds they have committed; and that the more difficult the journey, the greater the depth of the purification.

In 1949, Chairman Moa Tse-Tung was triumphantly proclaimed leader of the new People’s Republic of China, vowing that the first task of the communist regime, was to reunite the Chinese motherland. He declared that remote kingdom of Tibet was an integral part of Chinese territory and must rejoin the great republic.

As the news passed to the ears of the Tibetan government, they replied firmly that “The government of Tibet recognizes no foreign sovereign, and we are an Independent Nation and all Chinese officials will be expelled from Tibet, and have a safe and pleasant return to China”.

The government of Tibet knew that they would have a war against China which they did not intend to for it to happen and in the early 1950’s His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama was called upon to assume full political power of Head of State, when Tibet was threatened by the might of China.

His Holiness, Tenzin Gyatso, at the age of 12 was the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people, was recognised as the reincarnation of his predecessor, the 13th Dalai Lama, was born in a small village of Takster – Northeast of Tibet.

His Holiness dreamt that the village of Takster in Amdo including the northern border regions of Tibet was secured by the Chinese killing every man, woman and child. In his dream, images of monks were forced against their own will to point a gun to each other’s head.