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A brief account of Tibet, its origin, how it grew into a great military power and carved for itself a huge empire in Central Asia, then how it renounced the use of arms to practise the teachings of the Buddha and the tragic conseguences that it suffers today as a result of the brutal onslaught of the Communist Chinese forces is given in the following passages.Five hundred years before Buddha Sakyamuni came into this world i.e., circa 1063 B.C., a semi-legendary figure known as Lord Shenrab Miwo reformed the primitive animism of the Shen race and founded the Tibetan Bon religion. According to Bonpo sources there were eighteen Shangshung Kings who ruled Tibet before King Nyatri Tsenpo. Tiwor Sergyi Jhagruchen was the first Shangshung King. Shangshung, before its decline, was the name of an empire which comprised the whole of Tibet. The empire known as Shangshung Go-Phug-Bar-sum consisted of Kham and Amdo forming the Go or Goor, U and Tsang forming the Bar or Middle, and Guge Stod-Ngari Korsum forming the Phug or Interior.As the Shangshung empire declined, a kingdom known as Bod, the present name of Tibet, came into existence at Yarlung and Chongyas valleys at the time of King Nyatri Tsenpo, who started the heroic age of the Chogyals (Religious Kings). Bod grew until the whole of Tibet was reunited under King Songtsen Gampo, when tha last Shangshung King, Ligmigya, was killed.The official Tibetan Royal Year of the modern Tibetan calendar is dated from the enthronement of King Nyatri Tsenpo in 127 B.C. This lineage of Tibetan monarchy continued for well over a thousand years till King Tri Wudum Tsen, more commonly known as Lang Darma, was assassinated in 842 A.D.

Most illustrious of the above kings were Songtsen Gampo, Trisong Detsen and Ralpachen. They are called the Three Great Kings.The Great King Songtsen Gampo with his Nepalese and Chinese Queen.

During the reign of King Songtsen Gampo (629-49) Tibet became a great military power and her armies marched across Central Asia. He promoted Buddhism in Tibet and sent one of his ministers and other young Tibetans to India for study. He first took a Tibetan princess from the Shangshung King as his wife and then obtained a Nepalese consort. After invading the Chinese Empire he also obtained a Chinese princess as one of his wives. The two latter wives have been given prominence in the religious history of Tibet because of their services to Buddhism.

During the reign of King Trisong Detsen (755-97) the Tibetan Empire was at its peak and its armies invaded China and several Central Asian countries. In 763 the Tibetans seized the then Chinese capital at Ch'ang-an (present day Xian). As the Chinese Emperor had fled, the Tibetans appointed a new Emperor. This memorable victory has been preserved for posterity in the Zhol Doring (stone pillar) in Lhasa and reads, in part: "King Trisong Detsen, being a profound man, the breadth of his counsel was extensive, and whatever he did for the kingdom was completely successful. He conguered and held under his sway many districts and fortresses of China. The Chinese Emperor, Hehu Ki Wang and his ministers were terrified. They offered a perpetual yearly tribute of 50,000 rolls of silk and China was obliged to pay this tribute It was during his time that Samye, the first monastery in Tibet, was founded by Guru Padmasambhava, who also established the supremacy of Buddhism and coverted the indigenous deities into guardians of the Dharma. King Trisong Detsen also expelled the Chinese monk (Hoshang) and banished the Chinese Chan school of Buddhism from Tibet forever and adopted the Indian system. He also declared Buddhism as the state religion of Tibet.

During the reign of King Ralpachen (815-36) the Tibetan armies won many victories and in 821-2 a peace treaty was concluded with China. The inscription of the text of the treaty exists in three places: One outside the Chinese Emperor's palace gate in Ch'ang-an, another before the main gate of Jokhang temple in Lhasa and the third on the Tibetan-China border at Mount Guru Meru. Eminent Tibetan scholars, Kawa Paltsek and Chogru Lui Gyaltsen, worked with Indian scholars, invited them to Tibet and prepared the first Sanskrit-Tibetan lexicon called the Mahavyutpatti.

In 838 King Ralpachen's brother, Tri Wudum Tsen, ascended the throne. He tried to reinstate the Bon religion and persecuted the Buddhists. After his assassination by a Buddhist monk the kingdom was divided between his two sons. With warring princes, lords and generals contending for power the mighty Tibetan Empire disintegrated into many small princedoms and a dark period fell over Tibet during 842-1247.

In 1073 Konchog Gyalpo founded the Sakya monastery. His son and successor, Sakya Kunga Nyingpo, formulated the tantric traditions of the great scholars Marpa and Drogme and founded the Sakya sect. The Sakya lamas grew in power and from 1254 to 1350 Tibet was ruled by a succession of 20 Sakya lamas. The Mongols, who invaded many countries of Europe and Asia, also invaded Tibet and reached Phenpo, north of Lhasa. However, Prince Godan, the ruling Khan, was converted to Buddhism by Sakpa Kunga Gyaltsen, popularly known as Sakya Pandita, and the invading force was withdrawn. The next Khan, Kublai, was also converted to Buddhism by Sakya Pandita's nephew and successor, Sakya Phagpa. In return, Kublai Khan gave recognition of full sovereignty over "the three provinces of Tibet : U-Tsang, Dhotoe and Dhome" to Sakya Phagpa.

The influence of the Sakya priest-rulers gradually declined after the death of Kublai Khan in 1295. In 1358 the province of U (Central Tibet) fell into the hands of the Governor of Nedong, Changchub Gyaltsen, a monk of the Phamo Drugpa branch of Kagyud school, and for the next 86 years, eleven Lamas of the Phamo Drugpa lineage ruled Tibet. But, after the death of Drakpa Gyaltsen, the fifth Phamo Drugpa ruler, in 1434, power passed into the hands of the Rinpung family who were related to Drakpa Gyaltsen by marriage. From 1436 to 1566 the heads of the Rinpung family held power.Meanwhile, Tsongkhapa Losang Dragpa, one of the greatest scholars of Tibet, was born in 1357. He founded Gaden, the first Gelugpa monastery, in 1409 and began the Gelug lineage.

During the first decade of the 16th century, Tseten Dorje, a servant of the Rinpung family, with the help of some local tribes and Mongols, managed to gain control of Shigatse and the surrounding regions of Tsang province. From 1566 to 1642 Tseten Dorje and his two successors ruled Tibet with the title of Depa Tsangpa. Sonam Gyatso, born in 1543, emerged as a scholar of great spiritual and temporal wisdom. He became the spiritual teacher of the Phamo Drugpa ruler, Drakpa Jungne. He was the Abbot of Drepung monastery and the most eminent lama of that time. He provided extensive relief to the Kyichu flood victims in 1562, founded Lithang Monastery in 1580 and Kumbum Monastery in 1582. He also successfully mediated between the various warring factions in Tibet. He converted Altan Khan to Buddhism and the latter conferred on him the title Dalai Lama meaning "Ocean of Wisdom" in 1578. As Sonam Gyatso was third in his line, he became the Third Dalai Lama, the title being posthumously conferred on his two previous incarnations. A close spiritual relationship developed between Tibet and Mongolia. The Gelugpa sect grew stronger and gradually eclipsed the waning Sakya authority.

In 1642, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lozang Gyatso, assumed both spiritual and temporal authority over Tibet. He established the present system of the Tibetan Government, known as the Ganden Phodrang, "Victorious Everywhere". After becoming the ruler of all Tibet, he set forth to China to demand Chinese recognition of his sovereignty. The Ming Emperor received the Dalai Lama as an independent sovereign and as an equal. It is recorded that he went out of his capital to meet the Dalai Lama and that he had an inclined pathway built over the city wall so that the Dalai Lama could enter Peking without going through a gate.

The Emperor not only accepted the Dalai Lama as an independent sovereign but also as a Divinity on Earth. In return the Dalai Lama used his influence to bring the warlike Mongols into acknowledging the Emperor's sway in China. Henceforth, there started a Priest-Patron relationship which brought a new element into the relations of Tibet, China and Mongolia. Another important event was the statement of the Fifth Dalai Lama that the line of the first Panchen Lama, Choskyi Gyaltsen, who was one of his tutors, would continue.

The glorious reign of the Great Fifth was followed by a period of intrigue and instability. To start with, the powerful prime minister, Desi Sangye Gyatso, had kept the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama secret for fifteen years in order to complete the construction of the Potala Palace and also to ward off possible interference from the Manchus, who had become increasingly powerful in China. When the Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, was finally enthroned in 1697 he turned out to be an embarrassment to the Desi and his associates, refusing to take interest in the affairs of state and leading a frivolous life. Circumstances arising from the behavior of the young Dalai Lama and also the personal conflict between the Desi and Lhazang Khan, the grandson of Gusri Khan and the chief of the Qosot Mongols in Central Tibet, led to the resignation of the Desi and the complete take-over of political power by Lhazang Khan, who later allied himself with the Manchus and sent the young Dalai Lama into exile.

Lhasang Khan was himself defeated and killed by Dzungar Mongols who had come to Tibet at the invitation of the monks of the three big Gelugpa monasteries in Lhasa. The Dzungars, who were staunch followers of the Gelugpa tradition, were not content with the death of Lhazang Khan. They proceeded to persecute the adherents of the Nyingamapa sect. This brought about a feeling of disenchantment against their presence among sections of the Tibetan people. When Kalsang Gyatso, the reincarnation of the Sixth Dalai Lama, was discovered in Lithang, in eastern Tibet, there was a struggle among various tribes of the Mongols and the Manchus to gain control over him so that they could exercise their influence in Tibet. The Manchus were successful in this endeavor and so it was that in 1720 the Manchus sent in troops to escort the young Dalai Lama and also avenge the death of their ally, Lhazang Khan. At the same time, Tibetan troops under Khangchennas and Pholhanas took advantage of the situation to attack the Dzungars, who fled with as much loot as they could take with them. When the Manchu troops entered Lhasa, the Dzungars hact already left. But they had other designs and when their troops finally left in 1723 they left behind a Resident or Amban ostensibly to serve the Dalai Lama but in fact to look after their own interests.

This was the beginning of Manchu interference iri Tibetan affairs. The Manchus also put up their own nominee as the Tibetan Regent against Tibetan wishes. A few years later the Manchu nominee was killed and then the Manchu Emperor, Yung Cheng, sent a military force which was the first time the Manchus invaded Tibet. The Manchu force in 1727 tried to bring changes in the administration of Tibetan Government. The Manchu Emperor also tried to buy the allegiance of certain Tibetan princes, chieftains and lamas by giving many of them seals of office. But the Tibetans regarded the seals as a compliment and did not acknowledge them as a mark of vassalage. However, the Manchu Residents (Ambans) began to meddle in Tibetan state matters whenever the opportunity arose.

The Tibetans were repelled by the extent of Manchu intrigues when the Manchu Resident murdered the Tibetan Regent. The Tibetans retaliated by massadring the Manchus in Lhasa. Again the Manchus invaded Tibet in 1749 and they tried in vain to increase the power of the Manchu Resident.

In 1786 the Gurkhas invaded Tibet. The cause for this invasion went back a few years before the Gurkhas had gained full control of Nepal. Nepal had started adding copper to the silver coins which they were supplying to Tibet. In 1751 the Seventh Dalai Lama had written to the three Newari Kings, who ruled over the principalities of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhatgaon, to protest against this practice. When Prithvi Narayan, chief of the Gurkhas, overthrew the Newari rulers he was similarly apprised of the situation.

Another sore point in the relations between the Gurkhas and the Tibetans had been the intervention of Tibet in the Gurkha invasion of Sikkim. Tibet offered help to Sikkim and a treaty was concluded between Nepal and Sikkim in the presence of two
Tibetan representatives. The Gurkhas resented this interference and were looking for an excuse to attack Tibet. Such an opportunity arose in the controversy over the third Panchen Lama's personal property which was being claimed by the Panchen's two brothers, Drugpa Tulku and Shamar Tulku. The latter hoped to use the backing of the Gurkhas for his claim. The Gurkhas used the claim of Shamar Tulku and invaded Tibet.

The Eighth Dalai Lama, then 26 years old, requested the Manchu Emperor, Ch'ien Lung, for temporary military assistance. The Manchu army which entered Tibet in 1792 became more harmful to the Tibetans and they again tried to increase the power of the Manchu Resident. Further, Ch'ien Lung sent a golden urn from Peking and declared that future reincarnations of the Dalai Lama and other important lamas should be determined by putting the names of the candidates in it and extracting one at random in the presence of the Manchu Resident. This imperialist imposition was not adhered to by the Tibetans and the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, whose own choice had not even been referred to the Manchus, publicly abolished this form.

During this period Tibet was invaded several times and the Manchu Resident at Lhasa engaged in nefarious intrigues and meddled in Tibetan state affairs. But Tibet never lost her sovereignty. The Tibetan people recognized the Central Tibetan Government, headed by the Dalai Lama, as the only legal Government of Tibet.

The sovereignty of Tibet was further shown in her dealings with Nepal in 1856 when a treaty was signed between the two countries without reference to China. In the internal affairs of Tibet, the sovereignty of the Central Government of Tibet at Lhasa was most clearly illustrated in the internal war which broke out during the middle of the nineteenth century between the chieftain of Nyarong on the one side and the King of Derge and the Horpa princes on the other. The Tibetan Government sent an army, crushed the Nyarong Chief, whose invasion of his neighbour was the cause of the trouble, and set up a Tibetan Governor in his place, charging him with the general supervision of the affairs of Derge and the Horpa principalities.

In 1876, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thupten Gyatso, at the age of 19, took charge of the duties of state from Regent Choekyi Gyaltsen Kundeling. He was an outstanding personality and helped Tibet to reassert her rightful sovereignty in international affairs.

At this period the British had close and profitable ties with China. The Chinese had persuaded the British that they exercise 'suzerainty' over Tibet. Therefore on September 13, 1876, the Sino-British Chefoo Convention, which granted Britain the 'right' of sending a mission of exploration into Tibet, was signed. The mission was abandoned when the Tibetans refused to allow them on the grounds that they did not recognise China's authority. Two more similar agreements, the Peking Convention of July 24, 1886 and the Calcutta Convention of March 17, 1890, were also repudiated by the Tibetans.
The Tibetan Government refused to have anything to do with the British who were dealing over their heads with the Chinese. This coincided with new contacts between Russia and Tibet around 1900-1.

There followed an interchange of letters and presents between the Dalai Lama and the Russian Czar. This strengthened British fears about Russian involvement in Tibetan affairs. As the Russian power in Asia was growing, the British Government felt that their interest was at stake. Tibet was invaded by a British expeditionary force under Colonel Younghusband, which entered Lhasa on August 3, 1904.

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A treaty was signed between Tibet and Great Britain on September 7, 1904. During the British invasion Tibet conducted her affairs as an independent country. Peking did not so much as protest against the British invasion of Tibet.
When the British invaded Tibet, the 13th Dalai Lama went to Mongolia. The Manchus, who were then ruling China, made one last attempt to interfere in Tibet through the military campaigns of the infamous Chao Erhfeng. Mhen the Dalai Lama was in Kumbum monastery in the province of Amdo, he received two messages - one from Lhasa, urging him to return with all speed as they feared for his safety and could not oppose the intruding troops of Chao Erhfeng, and the other from Peking, requesting him to visit the Chinese capital. The Dalai Lama chose to go to Peking with the hope of prevailing upon the Chinese Emperor to stop the military agression against Tibet and to withdraw his troops.

When the Dalai Lama finally returned to Lhasa in 1909, he found that, contrary to all the promises he had received in Peking, Chao Erhfeng's troops were at his heels. During the annual Monlam festival of 1910, some 2,000 Manchu and Chinese soldiers under the command of General Chung Ying entered Lhasa and indulged in carnage, rape, murder, plunder, and wanton destruction. Once again the Dalai Lama was forced to leave Lhasa. He appointed a Regent to rule in his absence and left for the southern town of Dromo with the intention to go to British India if necessary. Events in Lhasa and the pursuing Chinese troops forced him to leave his country once again.

In India the Dalai Lama and his ministers appealed to the British Government to help Tibet. Meanwhile the Manchu occupation force tried to subvert the Tibetan Government and to divide Tibet into Chinese provinces - exactly what, not half a century later, the Communist Chinese would do.

But, when the news of the 1911 Revolution in China reached Lhasa, the Chinese troops mutinied against their Manchu officers and attacked the Amban's residence. Fighting broke out between rival Manchu and Chinese generals. Then, in a desperate attempt to regain their dwindling hold in Lhasa, the Chinese attacked the Tibetans. By then, however, the Tibetans had reorganised themselves with orders coming from the Dalai Lama in India. Chinese troops in Lhasa, and elsewhere in Tibet were overcome by the Tibetans and finally expelled in 1912. During this period of fighting and confusion the new ruler of China, President Yuan Shih-kai, tried to send military reinforcements to the beleagured troops while at the same time trying to placate the Tibetans. He apologised for the excesses and said that he had restored the Dalai Lama who wrote back saying that he was not asking the Chinese Government for any rank as he intended to ezercise both spiritual and temporal rule in Tibet and declared Tibet's independence.

In January 1913 a bilateral treaty was signed between Tibet and Mongolia at Urga. In that treaty both countries declared themselves free and separate from China.
The Thirteenth Dalai Lama, having returned from India i.n January 1913, issued a formal declaration of the complete independence of Tibet, dated the eighth day of the first month of the Water-Ox year (March 1913). The document also clarified:
"Now the Chinese intention of colonising Tibet under the patron-priest relationship has faded like a rainbow in the sky".

The Thirteenth Dalai Lama started international relations, introduced modern postal and telegraph services and, despite the turbulent period in which he ruled, introduced measures to modernise Tibet. On December 17, 1933 he passed away.
The following year a Chinese mission arrived in Lhasa to offer condolences, but in fact they tried to settle the Sino-Tibetan border issue. After the chief delegate left, another Chinese delegate remained to continue discussions. The Chinese delegation was permitted to remain in Lhasa on the same footing as the Nepalese and Indian representatives until he was expelled in 1949.

In September 1949, Communist China, without any provocation, invaded Eastern Tibet and captured Chamdo, the headquarters of the Governor of Eastern Tibet. On November 11, 1950, the Tibetan Government protested to the United Nations Organisation against the Chinese aggression. Although El Salvador raised the question, the Steering Committee of the General Assembly moved to postpone the issue.

On November 17, 1950, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama assumed full spiritual and temporal powers as the Head of State because of the grave crisis facing the country, although he was barely sixteen years old. On May 23, 1951 a Tibetan delegation, which had gone to Peking to hold talks on the invasion, was forced to sign the so-called "17-point Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet", with threats of more military action in Tibet and by forging the official seals of Tibet.

The Chinese then used this document to carry out their plans to turn Tibet into a colony of China disregarding the strong resistance by the Tibetan people. What is more, the Chinese violated every article of this unequal 'treaty' which they had imposed on the Tibetans.

On September 9, 1951 thousands of Chinese troops marched into Lhasa. The forcible occupation of Tibet was marked by systematic destruction of monasteries, suppression of religion, denial of political freedom, widespread arrests and imprisonment and massacre of innocent men, women and children.

On March 10, 1959 the nation-wide Tibetan resistance culminated in the Tibetan National Uprising against the Chinese in Lhasa. The Chinese retaliated with a ruthlessness unknown to the Tibetans. Thousands of men, women and children were massacred in the streets and many more imprisoned and deported. Monks and nuns were a prime target. Monasteries and temples were shelled.

On March 17, 1959 the Dalai Lama left Lhasa and escaped from the pursuing Chinese to seek political asylum in India. He was followed by unprecedented exodus of Tibetans into exile. Never before in their history had so many Tibetans been forced to leave their homeland under such difficult circumstances. There are now more than one hundred thousand Tibetan refugees all over the world.

It has been almost 40 years since Chinese occupied Tibet and the destruction of a unique Culture is still going on Tibet, yet the world has not come in aid of Tibet, only lip service. His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Nobel Peace Prize which was Awarded to him by the Norweigian Nobel Committee in 1989 for His Non Violent approach to the issue of Tibet

A quote from His Holiness the Dalai Lama: " This is the worst period in our 2000 year history. This really is the most serious period. At this time, now, there is every danger that the entire Tibetan Nation, with its own unique cultural heritage will completely disappear. The present situation is so serious that it is really a question of life and death. If death occurs, nothing is left."

General Information of Tibet
Tibet remains one of the most interesting, remote and undeveloped part of the world, situated at an average elevation of 5000m (16500ft) above sea level. Its limited facilities for tourists are only now approaching a reasonable standard.

A trip to Tibet is not for the faint hearted; the traveling can be hard, adventurous and often unpredictable. Due to Tibet's high altitude travelers with a history of heart, lung or anemia problems should consult a doctor before considering a visit.

Visitors should also understand before taking this trip that Tibet was only opened to tourism in recent years. The infrastructure of the Tourist industry is still very basic in the remote country. Please do not expect the standards you are accustomed to in the west. However, every effort will be made under the circumstances to ensure a smooth and pleasant trip.

Like the Han Chinese (and almost all ethnic minorities of China), the Tibertans are classified as belonging to the Mongoloid family of peoples. They probably descended from nomadic tribes who migrated from the north and settled to sedentary cultivation of Tibet, s river valleys. About a quarter of Tibetans are still nomadic. There are considerable variatikons between regional groups of Tibetans.The most recognisable are the Khampas of eastern Tibet, Who are generally larger and a bit more rough – and –ready than other Tibetans and who wear read our black tassels in their long hair.Women from Amdo are especially conspicuous because of their elaborate braided hairstyles and jewellery.

There are pockets of other minority groups, such as the lhkopa(Lhoba) and Monpa, in the southesst of Tibet, who make up less than 1% of the total population.A more visible ethinic group are the Hui Muslims.Tibet,s original Msli inhabitansts were largely traders or butchers (a professsion that most Buddhists abhor),although the majority of recentmigransts are traders and restaurant owners from southern Gansu province.The Tibetans closest ethnic cousins are the Qiang, who now live mostly in Northern sichuan province. Tibetans are also closely related to the Sherpas of Nepal and the Ladakhis of India.

Population
China,s 1996 population survey put the population of the Tibet Autonomous Region at 2.44 million, with a natural growth rate of 16.2% the highest in China. Figured are likely to be higher than this if Han immigrants and people,s Liberation Army (PLA)trokops stationed in Tibet(perhaps up to 200,000) are included.

Chinese figured for the population of Lhasa, indicate it is just over 87% Tibetan and just under 12% Han Chinese, a ration that stretches likely that somewhere in the vicinity of 50% of Lhasa,s Population is Han Chinese.

Arts
Overall Tibetan art, with perhaps the exception of some folk crafts, is inspired by Buddhism. Wall hangings, paintings, architecture, literature, even dance all in some way or another attest to the influence of the Indian religion that found its most secure resting place in Tibet.
In same time, the arts of Tibet represent the synthesis of may influences. The Buddhist art and architecture of the Pala and Newari kingdoms of India and Nepal were an important early influence,as were the Buddhist cultures of Khotan and Kashmur. Newari influence is clearly cisible in the early woodcarvings of the Jokhang and Jashmiri influence in particularly strong in the murals of Tsaparang in western Tibet,. As China came to play and increasingly major role in Tibetan affairs, Chinese influences too were assimilated, as is clear at Shalu Monastery near Shigatse and in the Karma Gadri style prevalent in eastern Kham.A later, clearly Tibet. The use of color in art is decided purely by convention and rigid symbolism.

Clothing Accessories:
From Oct.-March warm clothes are required to fight the frostily cold and from April-September light clothes to shun the scorching heat. However a jacket and sweater are advised through out the years as the weather may unexpectedly changes at any time. The recommended items are: A domestic first aid kit; water purification tablets (mineral water can be bought as well) toilet and tissue papers, flashlight, sleeping bag, comfortable walking shoes, dust masks, utility knife, sun hat, sun glasses, suntan lotion and a limited number of clothes.

Customs:
There is no prohibition on still and video cameras, tape recorders or radios as long as they are for personal use or if commercial use should be registered with a custom official. Printed matters considered unsuitable by the Chinese Government is prohibited. Customs regulations forbid the export of art objects created prior to 1959 or souvenirs in amounts deemed to be excessive.

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Food & Drinks:
Tibet has only a handful of towns, and Tibetan cuisine is not exactly the most varied in the world. It is handy to carry anything that can be brewed with hot water. Instant coffee, drinking chocolate, tea (bags), soup cubes. Other food items worth considering are instant noodles, nuts and raisins, chocolate, dry foods and biscuits.

Currency:
RENMNBI, the people's money used by millions of Chinese everyday, circulates in notes of 1, 2,5,10 and 50 yuan; 1, 2 and 5 jiao; 1, 2 and 5 fen. There are also coins for 1, 2 and 5 fen. With the Chinese Currency, Renminbi, one yuan is divided into 10 jiao; into 10 Yen.

Airport:
Lhasa Gonggar Airport is approx. 96km away from Lhasa.
Air Ticket reconfirmation: Your guide will reconfirm the air ticket upon payment of RMB 30, which is reconfirmation fee charged by Air China.

Health & Altitude Problems:
Traveling in Tibet involves high altitude and can be strenuous. Clients with heart and lung problems or blood diseases should consult their doctor before booking the trip. Very often the cases of altitude sickness have been reported. Simple headache, fever, loss of appetite or stomach disorders can happen before the acclimatization. Advised, drink approx. 03 litres of water per day, do not strain yourself, move slowly, breathe deeply and take regular rests.

Tibetan Counterpart:
All the packages in Tibet will be handled by the Tibetan Counterpart and they will take over the arrangements immediately on landing at Gonggar Airport (Lhasa)/ After reaching Nepal/Tibet Border (Kodari), which includes transportation, Accommodation and services of their local guide.

ROAD CONDITIONS:
Mostly un-paved roads within Tibet - due weather conditions road can be blocked sometimes by sudden floods, landslides or snow fall which we couldn’t able to know.

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Tibet People
The Tibetan people perciive their country as a sacred cosmos, a holy landscape guarded by mighty gods and filled with centers of ritual and mystical power. Within this lanscape, ecery building, and every deed is charged with religious significance. Mountains are often the seatd of awe-inspiring deitees, their caves places for meditation, and their winding trails emblematic of the path to enlightenment. By marking the landscape with cairns, inscriptions, rock paintings, banners, and votive offerings, Tibetans perpentually reinvent their world, reaffirming the lives of the ancient saints and sages whose heroic acts infused the universe with potent spiritual meaning.

Artists and craftspeople typucally worked for monssteries and temples , their finest products finding a tresdured place in shrines, chapels, and monastic libraries.Sculptures were carved and cast for wordhi; precious metals were hammered into lamps and incense burnerd for temple altars;masks were made for religious processions; and fine fabrics and embroideried- usually imported from India and China- were used to clothe images or to line the scrkoll paintings that play a jey role in Tibetan devotional life. This religious artistic activity continues today, though on a reduced scale in Tibet itself since the depredations of the early period of Communist Chinese occupation.

Religious images play a very important role inBuddhism. Sculptures are not simply reminderd of cosmic realitied or mementos of the Buddha and thegreat teachers of the past. Rather, each sculpture is a living presence, and actual embodiment of what it rpresents. In Tibet and elsewhere, objects may be placed inside images in the courde of their consecration in order to transform them from mundane raw materials- copper alloy in the case of most Tibetan sculpture- into living realities. Deosits in immages vary enormously, but generally they include small scrolls with written or printed prayers and mystic siagrams ralating to the deity or person depicted in the sculpture. One crucial element is a shaft or sliver of wood (sogshing), a “tree of life”that serves as the living”axis” of the sculpture. Imaged of historic individuala will also contai a relic relating directly to the deceased – often a small pieces of ash collected after his of her cremation.

Once a sculptur has thus been “bruough to life”, it id reated like a living being. Images, as a result, are usually clothed, pace on a seat, and predented with foof, water, and other gifts.Offering-cakes are made of butter and tsampa (roasted barley flour), but cakes of painted clay are also offered. A crucial part of worshi is the lighting of buter lamps- there may be dozens of such lamps berore the most imprtant and popular sacred images.

Like sculptures, Tibetan paintings on cloth scrolls (thangks) are not simply decorative. They depict deities, sacred beings, or asints and are brought to life by dedicatory prayers written on the reverse; sometimes the handprintd of the Lama who performed the dedication were added.

Thangka paintings are hung inside chapels in accordance with the liturgical and ritual practices of the partricular mkonsstery or temple. The images they bear can servea sisactic purpose and the ordinary devotee may well worship them. Some thangkas may be viewed only by initiated as part of their mystical training.

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Important Sightseeing Places

Yumbulakhang
Lhasa
Lhasa the capital city of Tibet at an altitude of 3,650 meters, is situated on the northern banks of the Kyichu River. Lhasa in Tibetan means "Palace of Gods", the residence of Dalai Lama (The God King), is the earthly representation of the Celestial Palace of Avaloketeswora, the Buddha of Infinite Compassion whose incarnation in the human form is believed to be Dalai Lama. As Tibet's political, religious and cultural center, it is a city truly blessed by the gods, where life is unhurried, it's people jovial and yet remaining staunchly independent.

Potala Palace
This legendary palace built atop, a single hill is synonymous with Tibet. First built in the 7th century as a fortress by Tibet's foremost king, Srongtsen Gampo, was later expanded to its present structure during the 17th century by the 5th Dalai Lama. This 13 storied, 1000 room citadel served as the headquarters of the former 'church state' of Tibet and was home to the successive Dalai Lamas, who from the latter half of the 18th century used it as there winter palace.

The Norbu Linkha
The 'Jewel Park ' as it is known in Tibetan, was built in the 18th century and served as the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lamas. This colorful garden landscape was the site of picnic gathering. The palaces are richly decorated creating an atmosphere of peaceful response.

Drepung Monastery.
Said to be largest monastery in the world housing over 10,000 monks, it was founded in AD 1416 by the disciple of Tsonkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The Second, Third, and Fourth Dalai Lamas lived and were entombed here. Drepung in Tibetan means ' mound of rice'.

Gyantse
Gyantse is a pastoral town between Lhasa and Shigatse. It is 264 Kilometers south west of Lhasa. It still retains the charm of a traditional Tibetan town untouched by modern expansion. It made world headlines in 1904 when Colonel Younghusband led a British Expedition to Tibet and defeated the Tibetan army there. As a cross road on the principal trade route to India, it used to be renowned for the excellence of its carpets. The compound, encircled by a an impressive wall once contained 19 monasteries presided over by the still fortress perched atop a nearby mountain.

Kumbum
It is one of the most unique and magnificent buildings in Tibet consisting of 6 Stories complete with a Buddhist Hall and a prayer hall. It has 112 chapels and its walls are adorned with religious paintings. Built in the 15th Century, it has since then withstood all the ravages of battles and revolutions.
Pelkho Chode Monasteryr.

Located near the Kumbum, it was founded in the 15th century. It has been remarkably well preserved and many of the statues and paintings inside date back to the time of its founding.

Shigatse
Shigatse is the second largest town in Tibet and the capital of the Tsang province. It is 354 kilometers west of Lhasa at an altitude of 3180 meters.

Tashilhunpo Monastery.
Founded in Ad 1447 by Genden Drup, the First Dalai lama. It is the seat of the Panchen Lama who is second to the Dalai Lama in Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy. The 5th Dalai Lama declared that his teacher, then the Abbot of Tashilhunpo, was a manifestation of the Buddha Amitabha and the fourth in line of incarnate Lamas who would henceforth be referred to by the title of Panchen Rinpoche. Tashilhunpo has one of the world's largest statues, a 9 storied gilded bronze statue of Maitreya, the future Buddha.

Shalu Monastery.
Shalu is 19 kilometers southwest of Shigatse. It was famous as a Tantric school where yogic practices were taught and perfected. The architecture of Shalu is uniquely Chinese.

Sakya Monastery.
Sakya lies 143 kilometers to the southwest of Shigatse. Shaky Monastery, the center of the Sakya order of Tibetan Buddhism, was founded in 1073 by Konchok Gyalpo. During the rule of the Sakyapas, the priest?patron relationship between Tibet and China was established. Sakya rules reigned over Tibet for nearly a hundred years from the 13th to the 14th century. Many of its priceless images, statues, holy scriptures remaining today back to the time to its founding.

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