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TAR - Contemporary "TIBET"
MAJESTIC MOUNTAINS,
MYSTICAL RIVERS, MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE
TAR OVERVIEW
TAR
DEFINITIONS
The Tibet Autonomous Region
(TAR) is also called Xizang Autonomous Region (Western
part of China)
TAR (Tibet) - Chinese Definition
Tibet is comprised of the three provinces: Amdo (now split
by China into the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu & Sichuan),
Kham (largely incorporated into the Chinese provinces of
Sichuan, Yunnan and Qinghai), and U-Tsang (which, together
with western Kham, is today referred to by China as the
Tibet Autonomous Region).
Sovereign Tibet Area - Pre 1951
The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) comprises less than half
of historic Tibet and was created by China in 1965 for
administrative reasons. It is important to note that when
Chinese officials and publications use the term "Tibet" they
mean only the TAR.
Tibet
- Tibetan Definition
Tibetans use the term Tibet to mean the three provinces
described above, i.e., the area traditionally known as Tibet
before the 1949-50 invasion
TAR
PREFECTURES
The Tibetan
Autonomous Region has seven administrative divisions known
as Prefectures.
The TAR is considered a high altitude plateau with high
altitude lakes, stunning peaks, and
rushing rivers. The
summers are short and the winters can be harsh. Most of the
province is used for yak grazing on the hundreds of miles of
open grasslands. Yaks live at high altitudes without
problems, and surprisingly nomads manage as well.
International borders with
Tibet (TAR) currently include:
India
Nepal
Sikkim
Bhutan
Myanmar/Burma
Internal borders with
Tibet (TAR) include:
Sichuan
Yunnan Qinghai
Xinjiang
TAR
POPULATION
Tibetan
There are a myriad of difficulties in assessing the true
extent of Tibet's population. This is due to the extremely
inaccessible terrain and general absence of fixed
settlements such as nomadic communities which represent a
sizeable proportion of the community. The Tibetan
Government-in-Exile has estimated the Tibetan population
inside traditional Tibet at 6.1 million (DIIR 1992). This
figure was reaffirmed in 1988 by Huan Xiang, Director of the
Centre for International Studies of the State Council in
Beijing, when the Beijing Review quoted him as saying: "of
the present population of six million Tibetans, only two
million are living in Tibet ('TAR') while the remaining four
million are in other provinces of China."
Chinese
In 1952, Mao Zedong said: "There are hardly any Han
(Chinese) in Tibet." On 25 September 1988, Mao Rubai,
Vice-Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), said
that there were a million Chinese in the TAR. In addition,
the Tibetan Government-in-Exile has suggested that there
could be upwards of 7.6 million Chinese settlers in all
traditional Tibetan regions. In contrast, the Chinese 1990
census figures from The Present Population of the Tibetan
Nationality in China (Zhang & Zhang 1994) claim the total
non-Tibetan population to be approximately 4.2 million and
the total Tibetan population to be 4.59 million. With the
difficulty of conducting a comprehensive, independent census
in Tibet, it is extremely difficult to give any precise
picture of its population profile.
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