Tibet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Tibet is a region of Central Asia and the home of the Tibetan people. In the People's Republic of China, the majority of Tibet is in Tibetan Autonomous Region (Xizang). See also Government of Tibet in Exile.

Other names:

• Thibet in older spelling
• བོད་ in Tibetan (Pö or Bod in Latin transliteration)
• 西藏 in Chinese (Xīzàng in Pinyin)
• Tübed in Mongolian

History

Main article: History of Tibet

Geography

Main article: Geography of Tibet

Flag of Tibet

Tibet consists of several regions:

• Amdo (a mdo) in northeast → the provinces of Qinghai, part of Gansu and part of Sichuan
• Kham (khams) in east → part of Sichuan, northern Yunnan and part of Qinghai
  • Western Kham → part of Tibetan Autonomous Region
• U (dbus) in center → part of Tibetan Autonomous Region
• Tsang (gtsang) in west → part of Tibetan Autonomous Region

(See also Provinces of China)

In the wide sense, Tibet also includes Bhutan, Sikkim and Ladakh.

Several majors rivers have their source in Tibet, including:

• Chang Jiang
• Huang He
• Indus River
• Mekong

Transport

See Transportation in China.

Culture

The Tibetan people speak the Tibetan language and write the Tibetan written language.

Tibet is the traditional center of Vajrayana, a distinctive form of Buddhism. Before 1959, Tibet was a theocracy led by the Dalai Lama, who now lives in exile and is internationally seen by many people as being a spokesman for the Tibetan people.

Tibet is also home for spiritual tradition called Bön (alternative spelling: Bon).

External links

• http://www.tibet.com/ The Government of Tibet in exile
• http://www.tibet.com/glance.html Tibet at a glance
• http://www.chinese-embassy.org.uk/eng/zt/zgxz/default.htm Chinese Government Tibet information
• http://neverland.net/bati/tibet/ A drawing for Tibet (en fr)
• http://www.tibet-info.org/ Chain for change in Tibet (fr nl en)
• http://www.tibet.freeserve.co.uk/ Private website containing photos and info. on Tibet (and Nepal)

Further Reading & Media

• Virtual Tibet: Searching for Shangri-La from the Himalayas to Hollywood, Orville Schell, Henry Holt, 2000, hardcover, 340 pages, ISBN 0805043810
• Robert Thurman on Tibet, Robert Thurman, 2 July 2002, DVD Region 1, English only, 240 minutes, ASIN B00005Y722

Editing tools:

• The 1911 Encyclopaedia: Info on geography, climate, flora, people, language, literature, writing, and history. (Scroll down pass TIBESTI)

The original article can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet.
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