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Places in China: Tibet Autonomous Region

Tibet, China, is also known as Zizang and is one of the most famous provinces in the country. It is the second largest province in China and exalts in its beautiful, scenic, mountainous landscape and its cultural heritage. Buddhism made a rather late entry into the province but has become one of the major elements in the culture of Tibet.

There are 1,228,400 square kilometres in Tibet and a small population density of 2.2 persons per square kilometre. The population is around 2,740,000. The people of Tibet are largely Tibetan in origin rather than Han as in most other of China's provinces. Ninety-three percent of the province is peopled by Tibetan people while Han makes up only six percent. Other ethnic groups in the province include Hui, Moinba and Lhoba.

The capital city of Lhasa contains good examples of Tibetan architecture in such places as Norbulinka Park, the Jokang, the Bakhor district and in the Potala Palace. The city of Lhasa is 3500 metres above sea level and is full of Buddhist religious shrines which attract many visitors. Around 200,000 people call Lhasa home. The city has some of the markings of a modern Chinese city although the Bakhor district contains some of the old streets of the city.

Tibet is located on the Tibetan Plateau, the highest region in the world. Most of the Himalaya Mountains are in Tibet. Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, sits near the border between Nepal and Tibet.

Agriculture has been the staple economic basic in Tibet although tourism is also strong with people coming for mountain climbing and to view the homeland of the Dalai Lama.

Tibet's history does not exactly parallel the history of China. From the 7th to the 11th centuries, Tibet's borders reached from Bengal to Mongolia. Buddhism entered Tibet in the 7th century, about a thousand years after the death of the Buddha. The Mongols came into the region in the 13th century. The fifth Dalai Lama managed to unify Tibet in the 17th century and moved its capital to Lhasa where he built the Potala Palace.

The Chinese held a small amount of influence over Tibet from 1644 to 1911. In the 19th century, Tibet was often referred to as Hermit Kingdom. The Dalai Lama fled to Mongolia and later to India when the British sent troops from India to occupy Lhasa. In1910 the Qing Dynasty managed to establish direct rule over Tibet for the first time.

Loyalists to the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 when the PRC troops won out over the Tibetan Resistance Movement. The present Dalai Lama, number fourteen, is living in exile now and probably will not return to Tibet.

Some of China's largest forestry and grasslands are found in Tibet. The topsoil is not all conducive to farming although some of it is. Water, solar and wind energy are generated in Tibet, which produces about thirty percent of the country's total output.

Tibet is in the far western areas of China. Several great rivers begin in the province including Yangtze, Yellow River, Nu River (Salween), Lancang River (Mekong), Yarlong Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), Indus, and Ganges. A sacred lake and sacred mountain are at Ngari in the western part of Tibet.