| Original Message: Re: where and when were the pictures taken? |
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They were taken at the Yushu Horse festival, which is in the traditional Kham region of Tibet - one of Tibet's three traditional regions. The area is 4000m above sea level, and is mostly grassy plains (unlike most people's image of a mountainous Tibet). Nearly all western people and EVERY chinese person I've asked doesn't realise that this region is actually Tibet. What the Chinese call the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) is only half of Tibet! The other half (after China took over in 1959) got put into four other Chinese prefectures: Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Gansu. Tibetan culture is far better preserved in these non-TAR areas. Massive Chinese immigration has occured into Lhasa and other cities in the TAR, but not into the non-TAR towns and countryside areas. And the government generally granted Tibetans in these areas much more freedom of movement and self-governance - an experiment in liberal treatment, opposed to the more oppressive treatment of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Yushu is in the Qinghai region. There is a 30 minute english documentary on the Yushu Horse festival below. It's a good watch. Remember that it's made by the Chinese Communist Party's TV station. The festival normally happens every summer at the end of July. It might happen in a couple of weeks. But Yushu had a terrible earthquake in 2009 (known as the Qinghai earthquake). It was the most prosperous town in all of the traditional Kham region, but every single building there was severely damaged and 10% of the population died. Currently the town is a tent city. The Chinese government have completely raised the area and are building a new town, with a home for every family. The reconstuction will be finished in a 18 months to 3 years. All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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