YARTSA BOOM TIME: THE CATERPILLAR FUNGUS ECONOMY OF THE GRASSLANDS Of all the medicines coming from Tibet, the most valuable, so costly it is an asset class of its own, is almost weightless, not at all suited to being measured by the ton. Yartsa gumbu is a bubble economy; a bubble that keeps on growing, […]
Category: Tibet
All things tibet
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Copper and gold mining in Tibet
THE GOLDEN VISION OF TIBET’S COPPER- COLOURED MOUNTAINS IN CHINA’S CENTRAL PLANS [A shorter version of this detailed analysis was published by China Dialogue on 5 September 2011] Gold and copper are at the heart of China’s 12th Five-Year Plan for Tibet. Only tourism has a similar wealth-creating potential. Like tourism, intensive exploitation of Tibet’s […]
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CRISIS? WHAT ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS?
FINDING AUTHENTIC, SKILFUL BUDDHIST RESPONSES TO THE PLANETARY DEBATE Presented to Global Buddhist Congregation, Delhi, November 2011, convened by Asoka Mission Gabriel Lafitte [DISCLAIMER: This presentation makes a case for inner transformation as the foundation for effective action in the world to deal constructively with global challenges such as climate change. The author has not […]
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Mining Tibet (in Chinese)
西藏面临矿产开采的威胁: 中国政府认为，青藏高原是解决中国日益增长的重金属需求的关键所在。然而，推动这一计划并非是市场需求，而是资源民族主义情结。
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LHASA HOTEL BOOM: THE BACK STORY
CHINA IN FAIRY LAND: HUGE HOTELS, PROPERTY SPECULATORS & MASS TOURISM IN A REMOTE CORNER OF TIBET THE BACKSTORY BEHIND THE HOTEL CONSTRUCTION BOOM IN LHASA 2011 Gabriel Lafitte 2002 This is a story about the biggest tourism destination in Tibet, bigger than the holy city of Lhasa, even though few Tibetans know […]
IMPERIAL ARROGANCE CREATES ITS OWN DOWNFALL Reflections on a visit to Vienna at the invitation of SaveTibet, and a talk given at Universitet fur Bodenkultur, 11 April 2011, by Gabriel Lafitte Here in Vienna, as always, the situation is critical but not yet serious. On the surface all is well, the heurigen (wine bars) do […]
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Restoring Sustainability to Tibet
HOW THE TIBETAN PLATEAU CAN CONTRIBUTE TO GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE IMPROVEMENT A briefing to European Union Directorate-General on Environment, and EU Directorate-General on Climate, 4 April 2011 By Gabriel Lafitte www.rukor.org, editor@www.rukor.org +613 407 840 333 TIBET: HEART OF EURASIA Environmental impacts do not respect national boundaries; they are invariably transboundary issues. Eurasia is […]
ECO-TOURISM IN TIBET: WITH CHINESE, TIBETAN OR GLOBALISED CHARACTERISTICS? Several big new hotels, badged with high profile global brand names, are under construction in Lhasa; the StRegis luxury hotel is already open. When the four new hotels are complete, by the end of 2012, Lhasa will for the first time have about 2700 premium priced […]
WHAT COULD EUROPE DO TO HELP TIBET? A briefing by Gabriel Lafitte Presented at European Parliament Tibet Intergroup 30 March 2011 www.rukor.org, editor@rukor.org, +613 407 840 333 In a world where active, violent conflicts inevitably dominate headlines and the attention of policymakers, unresolved conflict over Tibet attracts less attention. It is a political reality of […]
MOBILITY AND MOBILISATION: WHY MODERN STATES CANNOT TRUST NOMADS Gabriel Lafitte March 2011 China, at its imperial centre, has long mistrusted the mobility of the nomads of its northern and western edges. The mobility of the nomads was always the core of imperial fears and strategies. Mobility was an ever-present problem for successive dynasties facing […]