Poem: "Tearful Morning"

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a poem titled "Tearful Morning" written by a Tibetan blogger whose online name is "Drink Blood" (Tibetan: Khrag 'thung ཁྲག་འཐུང་). The poem was written on the morning of September 23, 2011 and posted on his AmdoTibet blog on September 26, 2011 at 6:17 pm.

My New Book “Tibet: 2008” By Woeser

The creator of the Tibetan calligraphy is Lama Jigme Gyatso of Labrang Monastery, Amdo.

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser written on July 15, 2011 for the Tibetan service of Radio Free Asia and posted on her blog on August 23, 2011.

In the blogpost, Woeser introduces her new book "Tibet: 2008", published in Taiwan earlier this year. As Woeser mentions, she documented 2008 in real time as it happened on her blog, the Tibet Updates can be read online here and were also later published in book form. 

For those interested reading the poem "The Fear in Lhasa" in its entirety, the translation used below is by Ragged Banner and can be read by following this link: http://www.raggedbanner.com/pTFIL.html

Finally, Lama Jigme Gyatso, mentioned in the post as creating the calligraphy for the book cover, was detained for the fourth time on August 20, 2011 and his whereabouts are still unknown. See Woeser's blogpost calling for international attention for his case: http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2011/08/attention-lama-jigme-arrested-for.html

"The Hero Propagated by Nationalists" By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser written in July 2011 for the Tibetan service of Radio Free Asia and posted on her blog on August 4, 2011.

Woeser's article focuses on the historical figure of Zhao Erfeng, known as the last Qing Amban in Tibet. Although Woeser has mentioned Zhao Erfeng in previous blogposts, this is the first article to focus solely on him. Woeser also mentions Chinese scholar Wang Hui, High Peaks Pure Earth readers shouldn't miss Woeser's previous article about Chinese scholars on Tibet titled "Who Are The Real Orientalists?".

Photo of Zhao Erfeng facing execution

"Kumbum On A Journey" - A Poem About Kumbum Monastery

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a poem titled "Kumbum On A Journey" by a Tibetan blogger whose online name is "Madman". The poem was written on July 22, 2011 and posted on his TibetCul blog on August 17, 2011.

Kumbum Monastery featured here on High Peaks Pure Earth in July 2011, we translated an open letter written by the monks and local residents to the authorities appealing for action to be taken over the lack of clean drinking water in the area, brought on by intensive mining activities.

The poem conveys the rather sad thoughts and feelings of the blogger as he visits Kumbum Monastery, mourning what he sees as the loss of the greatness of past, both historic, Tsongkhapa, as well as more recent, Tenth Panchen Lama. Interestingly, this sense of Kumbum's decline was featured in a Wikileaks Cable from the US Embassy in Beijing in September 2009, read more by following this link: http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/09/09BEIJING2719.html

"Who Are the Real “Orientalists”?" By Woeser

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser written on June 27, 2011 for the Tibetan service of Radio Free Asia and posted on her blog on August 9, 2011.

In this blogpost, Woeser writes a searing criticism of Chinese scholars with regard to their stance on Tibet, in particular Wang Hui and Shen Weirong.

And in other news, High Peaks Pure Earth congratulates Woeser on receiving a Prince Claus Award from the Dutch Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development. In their press release, the Prince Claus Fund describes Woeser as "an audacious writer/blogger from Tibet, whose work provides a unique outlook on the complexity of present-day Tibet."


Read a French translation of this post: http://woeser.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/qui-sont-les-vrais-%C2%AB-orientalistes-%C2%BB/

"That Leader Who Sent Me to Lhasa...": A Satirical Poem About Corruption

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a satirical poem written by a Tibetan blogger and posted on their TibetCul blog on May 4, 2011.

This satirical poem appears to be a commentary on corruption, currently a very hot topic in both China and India. In fact, this news article suggests that netizens in China are being inspired by figures such as Anna Hazare in exposing corruption.