China detains three for social media discussion of Tibetan exile election
April 4, 2016
Radio Free Asia, April 1, 2016 – Authorities in northwestern China’s Qinghai province have detained three Tibetans for allegedly discussing on social media the recent elections for the Tibetan government in exile, RFA’s Tibetan service has learned.
The three were taken into custody in Chugo Desar village in Matoe (in Chinese, Maduo) county in Golog (in Chinese, Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture by four local Chinese police officers on March 30 at around 10 a.m.
Samdrup, a prominent 40-year-old from Chugo Desar village; Lhadon, whose family name is Namgyal; and Rongsher, a 29-year-old, are being held at the People’s Court in Matoe county, sources told RFA.
“Three locals, including Samdrup, a local leader, Rongsher, and Lhadon were forcibly detained without explanation by four Chinese policemen,” an anonymous source from inside Tibet told RFA.
According to the source, “they were detained for taking part in a group chat on social media,” likely on the popular WeChat platform.
All three are alleged to have participated in a group discussion about the recent 2016 election of the Tibetan political leader-in-exile known as the Sikyong that took place at 85 locations around the world.
“They are being detained in the People’s Court in Matoe county, and until now their family members have not been allowed to meet or contact them,” the source said.
Samdrup has acted for many years as a leader of the sixth camp of the Chugo Desar settlement, and is a deputy head of 150 households in the village’s first, third, and fifth camps.
Lhadon, family name Namgyal, is the mother of one son, Tsegyalmo, and one daughter, Darkar, aged 8 and 11.
Rongsher, a 29 year old is married without children.
On March 20, Tibetans elected a Sikyong responsible for political and diplomatic decisions for the Dharamsala, India-based government-in-exile known as the Central Tibetan Administration.
The Tibet Sun and Phayul.com have reported that incumbent Lobsang Sangay has a substantial lead over parliamentary speaker Penpa Tsering in the race for Sikyong, or the top leader of the government-in-exile. The official election results are scheduled to be released on April 27.
Exiled Tibetans see the CTA as their legitimate government, despite the Chinese government’s attempt to marginalize it. It is based in Dharamsala, India, where a community of Tibetans lives with their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Reported by Sonam Wangdu for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Rigdhen Dolma. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.

Chinese Authorities Slap New Constraints on Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries
2016-03-29
Chinese authorities in Tibet have imposed new restrictions on monasteries in a county in northwestern China’s Qinghai province, intensifying an existing ban on displaying photos of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Tibetan sources in the region and in exile said.
The restrictions pertain to Rongwo and other monasteries in Rebgong (in Chinese, Tongren) county, Malho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in northwestern China’s Qinghai province, a native of Rebgong who lives in exile in Europe said.
“During the month of March this year, the Chinese authorities imposed unprecedented restrictions on the display of the Dalai Lama’s photo in Rebgong’s Rongwo monastery and in other monasteries,” he told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
Authorities issued four restrictions to be implemented at Rongwo monastery, which was founded in the 14th century and is located 124 kilometers (77 miles) from the provincial capital Xining, and other Tibetan Buddhist institutions in the county, he said.
The first mandate requires monasteries to strictly follow the leadership of local management committees in implementing rules and regulations, he said.
Chinese authorities set up the management committees in early 2012 in most Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, placing them under the direct control of government officials who are permanently installed in the lamaseries.
The policy was enacted to ensure that monks and nuns do not participate in activities calling for an independent Tibet or disturb the social order through protests or self-immolations.
“The permanent posting of government or party officials inside monasteries is unprecedented in Tibet, let alone at such a senior level,” Human Rights Watch said in a March 2012 statement after the policy was established.
Under a previous policy, Tibetan monasteries had been administered by so-called democratic management committees whose members were nominated and selected by government and local Communist Party officials, although the body itself was comprised of monks elected by their own communities.
Other directives
The second requirement specifies that the custodians of shrines and temples should sign off on the management committee instructions to hold them responsible for the policy, the source said.
The third directive mandates that monks in charge of temples and shrines should oversee the safety of all statues and other property and prevent their fellow monks from participating in any activities that could bring disgrace to the monasteries, he said. Such activities include putting up posters against Chinese policy in Tibet and being involved in self-immolation protests.
There have been 144 self-immolations by Tibetans living in China since a wave of fiery protests began in 2009. Most protests feature demands for Tibetan freedom and the return of the 14th Dalai Lama, although a handful of self-immolation protests have occurred over local land or property disputes.
The last directive requires that all statues and photos of the Dalai Lama be removed from shrines and temples, the source said. If anyone is discovered violating this rule, he will be expelled from the monastery and could be handed over to authorities for prosecution.
“Shrines and temples that refuse to follow the instructions could be closed,” he said. “All these restrictions were imposed just this year, but they were planned more than a year ago.”
In monasteries in Rebgong, a local government staff member is assigned to one to two monks to educate them on official rules and policy on regular basis as detailed in a government-issued instruction booklet, he said.
The officials are held responsible for the activities of the monks they instruct in the event that they commit an offense against Chinese rule and policy, a source from inside Tibet said.
The 80-year-old Dalai Lama, whose photos are banned by Chinese authorities in Tibetan areas, fled Tibet into exile in India in 1959 and is reviled by Chinese leaders as a dangerous separatist who seeks to split the formerly self-governing region from Beijing’s rule.
The Dalai Lama, however, says he seeks only “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet as a part of China with protections for the region’s language, religion, and culture.
Reported by Sonam Wangdu and Dorjee Tso for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Tibetans in Chinese Provinces Blocked From Travel to Lhasa in March
2016-03-24
Tibetan residents of western Chinese provinces are being blocked from travel to Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa for the duration of March, a month of politically sensitive anniversaries, Tibetan sources say.
Restrictions include bans on travel both by rail and by air, a Tibetan living in Australia told RFA’s Tibetan Service, citing contacts in the region.
“China is profiling Tibetans and denying them rail tickets from Xining and Lanzhou,” RFA’s source named Shelge said, referring to the capitals of Qinghai and Gansu provinces respectively.
“Besides, no plane tickets are being sold to Tibetans traveling from Sichuan’s capital Chengdu to Lhasa until the end of April,” Shelge said.
Tibetans hoping recently to travel by train from Lanzhou to Lhasa had been blocked by authorities, Shelge said.
”They were asked by ticket officials to show their IDs, and after being identified as Tibetans they were told that no tickets would be sold to them.”
Tickets were freely sold to members of other ethnic nationality groups, though, Shelge said.
Sonam, a Tibetan now living in Switzerland, told RFA that Tibetans in Qinghai wishing to travel by rail to Lhasa had been told to wait for a week to purchase tickets to go by rail.
“But then they were told that no tickets would be sold to Tibetans for the rest of the month,” Sonam said, citing local sources.
“They all had to go back to their hometowns,” Sonam said.
Sensitive anniversaries

China now regularly blocks travel to Lhasa by Tibetans living in western Chinese provinces each March, a month of politically sensitive anniversaries.
On March 10, 1959, Tibetans in Lhasa rose up in protest of Beijing’s tightening political and military control of the formerly self-governing Tibetan region, sparking a rebellion in which thousands were killed.
And in March 2008, a riot in Lhasa followed the suppression by Chinese police of four days of peaceful Tibetan protests and led to the destruction of Han Chinese shops in the city and deadly attacks on Han Chinese residents.
The riot then sparked a wave of mostly peaceful protests against Chinese rule that spread across Tibet and into Tibetan-populated regions of western Chinese provinces.
Hundreds of Tibetans were detained, beaten, or shot as Chinese security forces quelled the protests, sources said in earlier reports.
Reported by Sonam Wangdue for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Officials discuss extension of Tibet railway into India and Nepal
March 21, 2016
By Ananth Krishnan
India Today, March 21, 2016 – In a development that experts say has significant ramifications for India, the Prime Ministers of Nepal and China on Monday for the first time discussed a cross border railway project, involving extending China’s Tibet railway into Nepal.
Chinese officials told India Today in Beijing that the project was raised by Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli during talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital on Monday morning.
China responded “positively”, the officials said, and that the two sides had agreed to take forward a feasibility study “at an early date”.
“Prime Minister Oli raised proposals of two kinds of railways,” Hou Yanqi, Deputy Director General in the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Asia Department, told India Today. “The first is projects [within the territory] of Nepal connecting cities in Nepal, and the second is a cross border railway,” she said.
Hou said the Nepal PM had “raised the issue of building a cross border railway between China and Nepal” and that the proposal “has got a positive response from the Chinese side and the two sides have agreed to conduct feasibility study at an early date.”
Hou said China was already in the process of extending a line to the Nepal border, to Gyirong in Tibet, from Xigaze. The line from Lhasa to Xigaze was completed in 2014.
“As for the cross border railway, China is already building a railway to Gyirong so this could be further extended,” Hou said.
On Monday, both sides also signed a landmark transit transport agreement. This will end Nepal’s dependence on India for access to ports, a key requirement for the landlocked country.
The transit agreement was among 10 deals signed on Monday, including Chinese support for developing Nepal’s oil and gas resources through conducting surveys, solar power projects, a joint feasibility study for a first Free Trade Agreement and concessional loans.
Nepal officials say they are seeking greater support from China especially in the energy sector, with the blockade on the India border leading to dire energy shortages.

China urges diplomats and U.N. to boycott Canada-US sponsored event with Dalai Lama
March 14, 2016
By Stephanie Nebehay
Reuters, March 10, 2016 – China has written to diplomats and U.N. officials urging them not to attend a Geneva event on Friday where the Dalai Lama will speak, reasserting that it opposes his appearance at all venues due to his “separatist activities”.
Reuters reported in October that China is waging a campaign of intimidation, obstruction and harassment that Western diplomats and activists say is aimed at silencing criticism of its human rights record at the United Nations.
The Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, fled to India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Communist rule. China views him as a separatist, but Tibet’s spiritual leader says he only wants genuine autonomy for his homeland.
In a letter seen by Reuters on Thursday, China’s diplomatic mission in Geneva raised objections about the presence of Tibet’s spiritual leader on the panel of Nobel laureates, being held at the Geneva Graduate Institute.
“Inviting the 14th Dalai Lama to the aforementioned event violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China, in contravention of the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter. China resolutely opposes the 14th Dalai Lama’s separatist activities in whatever capacity and in whatever name in any country, organization or event,” it said.
The letter was dated March 8, the day that the event – being sponsored by the United States and Canada – was announced.
“The Permanent Mission of China kindly requests the Permanent Missions of all Member States, U.N. agencies and relevant International Organizations not to attend the above-mentioned event, nor meet the 14th Dalai Lama and his clique.”
U.N. spokesman in Geneva Ahmad Fawzi confirmed that U.N. agencies and offices in the Swiss city had received China’s letter. “We take note but of course we are not bound by instructions from member states,” he said.
A U.S. spokesman declined to comment on the letter saying: “I refer you to Chinese authorities for their views. We do not comment on the substance of our diplomatic exchanges.”
Philippe Burrin, director of the Geneva institute, said that “pressures are being applied from various sides” but the event would not be canceled.
“This is a question of freedom of expression and academic freedom to organize an event,” he told Reuters.
“It is not an event on Tibet, it is not on a politically sensitive subject, i.e. territorial issues, but on the role of civil society in promoting human rights,” he said.
At the U.N. Human Rights Council’s main annual four-week session no delegation is expected to make a formal complaint about China but there has been criticism recently of its mass arrests of lawyers, including from the United States.
A rare joint statement criticizing that crackdown, sponsored by a dozen countries, was read out by U.S. ambassador Keith Harper to the forum on Thursday.
China’s envoy strongly rejected the censure and said the United States was hypocritical and guilty of crimes including the rape and murder of civilians.
Friday’s event, also featuring Nobel laureates from Iran and Yemen, will take place on the sidelines of the U.N. session.
U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kate Gilmore, the panel’s moderator, is believed to be one of the first senior U.N. officials to meet the Dalai Lama.
Thursday is the fifty-seventh anniversary of the beginning of the Tibetan people’s peaceful uprising against China’s invasion and occupation of Tibet.
(Editing by Louise Ireland) WTN – Canada

Unprecedented UNHRC Joint Statement Condemns China’s Problematic Violations
The United States and Western countries have criticized “China’s ongoing problematic human rights record,” in an unprecedented joint statement issued Thursday during a United Nations Human Rights Council session in Geneva.
A U.S. State Department official told VOA this joint statement is “the first collective action taken regarding China at the Human Rights Council since its inception in 2007.”
Chinese diplomat Fu Cong vigorously rejected the U.S.-led criticism. He in turn criticized the U.S. for crimes including the “rape and murder” of civilians.
Fu told the Council “the U.S. is notorious for prison abuse at Guantanamo prison; its gun violence is rampant, racism is its deep-rooted malaise.”
State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said on Thursday during the daily briefing that disagreement on human rights issues between two countries will not affect overall cooperation.
“We are by no means perfect,” said Toner, “it [human rights] remains an important part of our foreign policy agenda, and something we were continuing to pursue, not just with China, but with a number of other countries.”
The joint statement called recent cases of unexplained disappearances and apparent coerced returns of Chinese and foreign citizens from outside mainland China “unacceptable” extraterritorial actions, as well as “out of step” with the expectations of the international community and “a challenge to the rules based international order.”
Five Hong Kong booksellers, including owner Gui Minghai, have gone missing since last October. They were thought to have been abducted and taken into Beijing’s custody for selling literature banned in mainland China.
Earlier this month, two of the Causeway Bay bookshop employees were released briefly and allowed to return to Hong Kong. After they requested the police to drop their cases of missing persons, two booksellers were reported going straight back to the mainland.
The joint statement also expressed concern about the “increasing number of individuals whose confessions have been aired on state media” prior to any indictment or judicial process.
In late February, a prominent Chinese rights lawyer Zhang Kai confessed on state television to “disturbing social order.” He has been helping to defend Christians resisting authority’s orders to remove crosses from buildings. Zhang was arrested last year shortly before a planned meeting with the U.S. envoy on religious freedoms.
Following Zhang Kai’s purported confession, the State Department urged China to release Zhang and others “detained for seeking to peacefully uphold the freedom of religion guaranteed in China’s constitution.”
Human Rights Watch’s China director, Sophie Richardson, applauded the joint statement, saying it took an unprecedented and courageous stand condemning China’s relentless crackdown on human rights.
The joint statement was endorsed by the United States, Ireland, the U.K., Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

USA TODAY
U.S. should speak out for Tibet
March 10, 2016
By: Nancy Pelosi and Jim McGovern

Freedom-loving nations must call international attention to mounting Chinese human rights violations.
Last November, we led the first delegation of United States members of Congress the Chinese government has allowed to visit Tibet in more than eight years.
As we mark today’s anniversary of the 1959 uprising in Tibet, the deteriorating human rights situation throughout China is deeply troubling. However, our trip has led us to believe there is a narrow but real opportunity to encourage the Chinese government to re-evaluate its policy toward Tibet.
For decades, China has severely limited foreign officials and journalists’ access to the Tibetan Plateau. Travel to Tibet was further curtailed following the Chinese crackdown on peaceful Tibetan protesters in 2008 — and the Chinese government intensified crackdowns both immediately before and after our visit.
From the moment we landed, it was evident that the Chinese authorities wanted to present a sanitized version of Tibet. In Lhasa, the authorities attempted to control what we could see, to whom we could speak and where we could go.
Nevertheless, our delegation had the rare chance to walk through the streets and visit the historic palace, temple and monastery as representatives of the U.S. government. Despite the efforts of our handlers, we were able to see beyond the façade.
China’s harsh policies in Tibet are clearly mired in the prejudices and misconceptions of the past. In our conversations with senior Chinese officials, we were saddened by the disrespect expressed toward Tibet’s unique and precious cultural, linguistic and religious heritage — not to mention the government’s scorn for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
To make progress on the significant issues between China and Tibet, the Chinese government must set aside its outmoded attitudes toward the Tibetan people and explore the possibility of a new dialogue.
Engagement with the Dalai Lama is key for designing a future for Tibet that allows for modernization while protecting and advancing Tibetan culture, language, religion and way of life.
We believe there is an opportunity for a respectful, good faith, high-level dialogue between Chinese officials and the Dalai Lama on resolving outstanding issues regarding Tibetan autonomy and the treatment of Tibetans outside of the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
During our visit, many Chinese officials who spoke with us encouraged more Americans to travel to Tibet and to China. Those statements should be honored with actions: lifting restrictions on U.S. diplomats, members of Congress, journalists and others interested in the region. The U.S. should be allowed to establish a consular office in Lhasa, in order to serve these Americans traveling to the Tibetan Plateau.
China should not fear greater openness and engagement in Tibet. The United States must emphasize this idea at the highest levels.
Sadly, the Chinese Government is showing increasing hostility toward all forms of peaceful dissent throughout China by utilizing arbitrary detention, arrest and forced disappearance of hundreds of lawyers, paralegals, law firm staff, human rights defenders and other civil society activists in Beijing.
New restrictions on freedom of expression have been enacted, especially on the Internet, in the media and in universities. The disappearance of several booksellers and publishers from Hong Kong indicates a widening crackdown by Chinese authorities against civil society everywhere.
The Chinese government has succeeded at marginalizing the discussion of grave human rights abuses in too many international forums and interactions. The democracy and human rights activists we met with in China pleaded with us for the United States to be more openly and directly engaged in these issues.
Advancing human rights is fundamental to our national values and our national security. It must be a prominent part of our conversations with the Chinese government at every level.
Our country has a responsibility to speak out in support of human rights in Tibet and elsewhere in China. If freedom-loving people do not speak out for human rights in China because of our commercial interests, then we lose our moral authority to talk about it any other place in the world.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives and a former Speaker of the House. Rep. Jim McGovern is a Massachusetts’ Democrat.

Joint Statement by Members of Parliament and Tibetan supporters of the Baltic states on Sino-Tibetan dialogue
We, the undersigned Members of Parliament of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – together with Tibetan supporters from the three Baltic States are deeply concerned and distraught over the long-lasting wave of self-immolation protests in- and outside Tibet. Since 2009, at least 143 Tibetans have resorted to self-immolation to express their grievances under the repressive policies of the Chinese government.
Such desperate and frequent protests indicate clearly that there is an inhuman pressure on the Tibetan nation and that their human, cultural and religious rights are under unbearable assault.
We were shocked by the recent Tibetan self-immolation protests which resulted in the deaths of Kalsang Wangdue and a 16-year-old student Dorjee Tsering on February 29, 2016 and the death of the Tibetan artist Dubey on February 27, 2016 after they had set themselves ablaze.
According to a number of independent reports over the past 57 years there has been no real improvement in the human rights situation in Tibet under the Chinese rule.
Therefore, we are calling upon the Chinese government to begin an immediate and meaningful dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration, both of whom embrace meaningful autonomy for Tibet within the People’s Republic of China.
As the Sikyong (elected political leader of the Tibetan people) has said in his Statement of March 10th this year: “We the Kashag of the Central Tibetan Administration firmly believe that the longstanding issue of Tibet can be resolved through dialogue between the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and representatives of the Chinese government. We remain fully committed to the Middle Way Approach, which clearly seeks genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people within China. It is hoped the leaders in Beijing will see reason with the Middle Way Approach, instead of distorting it, and step forward to engage in dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s envoys”.
We, the undersigned Members of Parliament and Baltic Tibetan supporters, are available and willing to assist resumption of a meaningful dialogue between the Chinese government and Tibetan leadership in-exile to help find a peaceful and sustainable solution for the Chinese and Tibetan nations in Tibet.
Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians share a similar history and fate with Tibetans, regarding their cultural, social and political struggle. We have the motivation and experience to facilitate the Chinese-Tibetan dialogue.
We are also calling upon the international community, in particular, the Governments and Parliaments of the Member States of the European Union as well as The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to take all possible peaceful steps to encourage dialogue and seek for a feasible solution for Tibetan nation within China.
We strongly condemn the repressive policies of the Chinese government in Tibet and urge the Chinese leadership to investigate the causes of Tibetan grievances.
At same time, we are calling on all Tibetans to stop self-immolations as a form of protest and to refrain from such drastic actions for the sake of their freedom, national interests and for promoting Tibetan cause. Tibetan brothers and sisters, we have seen your desperate sorrow and pain. You are visible enough in our hearts and eyes without any further flames.
10 March 2016
Tallinn
Riga
Vilnius
Roy Strider,
Writer, Human Rights Defender
Yoko Alender,
Member of the Parliament of Estonia,
Chairman of The Estonian Parliamentary Support Group of Tibet
Artur Talvik,
Member of the Parliament of Estonia
Andres Ammas,
Member of the Parliament of Estonia
Andres Herkel,
Member of the Parliament of Estonia
Monika Haukanõmm,
Member of the Parliament of Estonia
Lauri Luik,
Member of the Parliament of Estonia
Eerik-Niiles Kross,
Member of the Parliament of Estonia
Mart Nutt,
Member of the Parliament of Estonia
Ken-Marti Vaher,
Member of the Parliament of Estonia
Märt Läänemets,
Head, Senior Researcher, Centre for Oriental Studies University of Tartu,
President, Estonian Oriental Society
Laur Järv,
Scientist, Founder of Friends of Tibet, Estonia
Mārtiņš Šics,
Member of the Parliament of Latvia,
Chairman of the Group for parliamentary support for Tibet
Inese Laizāne,
Member of the Parliament of Latvia,
Deputy Chairperson of the Group for parliamentary support for Tibet,
Chairperson of the Human Rights and Public Affairs Committee
Ingūna Rībena,
Member of the Parliament of Latvia,
Andris Buiķis,
Member of the Parliament of Latvia
Nellija Kleinberga,
Member of the Parliament of Latvia
Kārlis Krēsliņš,
Member of the Parliament of Latvia
Janīna Kursīte-Pakule,
Member of the Parliament of Latvia
Imants Parādnieks,
Member of the Parliament of Latvia
Jānis Ruks,
Member of the Parliament of Latvia
Juris Viļums,
Member of the Parliament of Latvia
Hosams Abu Meri,
Member of the Parliament of Latvia
Artuss Kaimiņš,
Member of the Parliament of Latvia
Jānis Mārtiņš Skuja
Head of Society “Latvia for Tibet”
Agnese Bišofa,
Ganden, Buddhist Mediation Center (FPMT), Latvia
Jānis Dambītis
Ganden, Buddhist Mediation Center (FPMT), Latvia
Vadim Lazar
Riga Drikung Ngaden Choling Buddhist Center, Latvia
Margarita Putniņa,
Buddhist Nun, Latvia
Dalia Kuodytė,
Member of the Parliament of Lithuania,
Head of The Lithuanian Parliamentary Support Group of Tibet
Robertas Mažeika,
Lithuanian Tibet Support Group
Vytis Vidūnas,
Director, House of Tibet, Vilnius

Tibet closed to foreigners ahead of sensitive anniversary
February 29, 2016
CNN, February 26, 2016 – China has closed Tibet to overseas travelers from Thursday until the end of March, three travel agents told CNN, but with or without foreigners, tourism to the isolated mountain region is booming.
The closure has been an annual occurrence since 2008 when the Tibetan capital Lhasa was rocked by riots linked to the anniversary of an uprising against Beijing rule.
Authorities have also stopped issuing travel permits to foreign travelers at short notice during periodic unrest.
But tour operators and hotels say this matters little to their business, with domestic Chinese tourists eager to see the region’s yak-filled grasslands and snow-capped peaks. And authorities are equally keen to woo travelers less likely to pass on reports of protests or violence.
Chen Jianliang, a student from Shenzhen in southern China, spent 28 days cycling to Lhasa from the neighboring province of Yunnan in 2012 and loved it.
“Most people are tired of the cityscape; they go to Tibet for its serenity,” he said.
Robert Zhao, from Beijing, said he started practicing Buddhism after making a trip to Tibet.
According to the Tibet Autonomous Region Tourism Development Committee, some 17.5 million tourists visited Tibet in the first nine months of 2015, 36% more than the same period last year. It didn’t break down the number of foreign and domestic tourists.
‘Holy grail’
All foreign tourists need specific permits to enter Tibet, said Chloe Xin, an employee of Tibet Vista, which usually schedules trips for 160 foreign clients a month.
She confirmed the five-week closure but said she wasn’t clear why it was imposed.
She cited the cold weather and Tibetan new year, which falls in February and is when many drivers and tour guides take extended time off.
Another travel agency employee in the city of Chengdu who didn’t want to give their name said it was for “political reasons.”
Mei Zhang, the founder of travel agency Wild China, said the bans were initially disruptive but her company now routinely declines to take bookings for Tibet trips in March.
Most of her clients are from overseas but she says Tibet has become a “holy grail” for young Chinese travelers.
“It’s the spirituality, the exotic culture and also the stunning landscape.”
Who benefits?
Robbie Barnett, a Tibet scholar at Columbia University, says China has poured in huge sums of money to make the high-altitude region accessible for mass tourism.
“Many of the tourists travel in highly organized tour groups, which are several hundred strong and have no contact with any local person,” he says.
“But others, usually from wealthier backgrounds, are interested in Tibetan Buddhism, and see it as filling a spiritual vacuum in their lives.”
But he adds that Tibetans tend to benefit more from foreign tourists “since they want to be guided by Tibetans, want their money to go to Tibetans, and tend to prefer low-impact, sustainable forms of tourism.”
“Chinese businesses appear to benefit most from mass tourism, which mainly involves Chinese tourists,” he says.
China announced plans this week to build a ski resort in Tibet.
Wider trend
The travel situation in Tibet encapsulates a wider trend — albeit for different reasons.
From Thai beaches to the Antarctic, Chinese travelers are discovering the globe in their tens of millions.
Outbound travel soared last year, with Chinese making 120 million trips overseas last year, 13 million or 12% more than in 2014.
But foreign tourist arrivals to China have been flat or falling for several years.
Some 8.2 million foreign tourists visited China in 2015, down 680,000 or 7.6% from 2014, according to government figures.
Travelers are put off by a variety of reasons, says Zhang including smog, escalating costs and China’s reputation abroad.
“China is no longer a bargain destination and people ask me all the time about the air quality,” says Zhang.
“For older clients in their seventies, they may completely abandon their dream of a China trip.”
But smog is no problem in sparsely populated Tibet, another reason why it’s become so popular with domestic tourists from China’s polluted cities.
Chen relished the blue skies and clean air during his trek.
“The bike ride made me realize how much I could endure — both physically and mentally,” he says. “The experience has kept my mind open since.”
CNN’s Shen Lu in Beijing and Maggie Wong in Hong Kong contributed to this report

Tibetan Foreign Minister announces resignation
February 29, 2016
By Lobsang Wangyal
Tibet Sun, February 28, 2016 – Minister for the Department of Information and International Relations for the Central Tibetan Administration, Dicki Chhoyang, has resigned from her post, a few months before her term ends.
She wrote in her press statement at CTA headquarters in Dharamshala: “With a sad heart, I resigned today as Kalon for the Department of Information and International Relations for the Central Tibetan Administration.”
“My decision was made with careful deliberation, bearing in mind our collective interest and the significant challenges that lie ahead. It has been a tremendous honour to serve the Tibetan people as Kalon.”
She refused to take any questions from the journalists, but said more details will come in due course of time.
Her resignation fuelled much speculation at a time when the Tibetan election for Sikyong (Prime Minster) 2016, in three weeks on 20 March, is already rife with controversies.
Incumbent Sikyong Lobsang Sangay and his contender Penpa Tsering are the two candidates in competition for the coveted post.