Tibet

Tibet (Thibet in older spelling; Pö and Wylie translition: Bod in Tibetan, Tübed in Mongolian) 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.

Table of contents

1 History 2 Geography 3 Transport 4 Culture 5 External links 5.1 Further Reading

History

Geography

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

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

See Transportation in China.

Culture

The Tibetan people speak Tibetan language and a few Tibetans 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://neverland.net/bati/tibet/ A drawing for Tibet (en fr)
• http://www.tibet-info.org/ Chain for change in Tibet (fr nl en)

• The 1911 Encyclopaedia