March 14th, 2012 in Beijing, China: A Tibetan monk delegate arrives for the closing ceremony of the Chinese People’s political consultative conference.
Photograph: Vincent Thian/AP
Tibet situation grim, needs global intervention, say exiles
DHARAMSHALA: An 18-year-old monk immolated himself in front of a monastery in Tibet. While in flames, he was praying, “May His Holiness the Dalai Lama live thousands of years” and “Freedom for Tibet”. Reported last week, it is the latest incident to have occurred in Tibet against Chinese policies and in support of freedom, said the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the exiled Tibetan community’s elected body based in this north Indian hill town.
“The situation inside Tibet is extremely grim. Tibet is virtually sealed off. The military build-up is very heavy,” said Thubten Samphel, secretary of the department of information and international relations of CTA. The Chinese have launched a massive crackdown on Tibetans who visited India for the Kalachakra teachings presided over by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Bodh Gaya in Bihar in January. Several hundred Tibetans who had returned from India have been detained and are being forced to undergo political re-education, said the CTA quoting a New York-basedHuman Rights Watch (HRW) report.
HRW said it believed it was the first time since the late 1970s that the authorities had detained Tibetan lay people in such large numbers, and comes as China frets about unrest in Tibetan areas. The Chinese government should immediately investigate the shootings of Tibetan protesters by security forces, open Tibetan areas to international observers, and engage with Tibetan representatives address grievances and growing violence, HRW said. It said the Chinese security forces opened fire on protesters January 23 and 24, killing at least two people and injuring dozen more.
“In the current very volatile situation, it is especially important for Chinese forces to refrain from using disproportionate force,” said Sophie Richardson, China director at HRW. In the past year, 23 monks, nuns and other Tibetans set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule, according to the CTA. It has procured footage of Chinese police brutalities on Tibetans. Some 140,000 Tibetans now live in exile, over 100,000 of them in different parts of India. Over six million Tibetans live in Tibet.
February 22nd, 2012 in Langmusixiang, China: A monk participates in a debate as part of Tibetan new year celebrations.
Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters
February 21st, 2012 in Beijing, China: Tibetan monks dressed as demons perform during the ghost banishing ceremony on the eve of Tibetan new year at the Yonghegong Lama temple.
Photograph: How Hwee Young/EPA
February 16th, 2012 in California, US: Kusang Tobdhen protests outside Los Angeles international airport, where China’s vice-president Xi Jinping was arriving.
Photograph: Phil McCarten/Reuters
February 15th in Dandong, China: a man catches worms in the Yalu River.
Photograph: Hong Wu/Getty Image
February 12th, 2012 in Suining, China: A man performs morning exercises near a riverbank.
Photograph: AP
January 29th, 2012 in New Delhi, India: An exiled Tibetan woman prays at a rally to show solidarity with Tibetans who have died by self-immolation or were allegedly killed by Chinese police.
Photograph: Kevin Frayer/AP
Truck full of dogs crammed into tiny cages and bound for Chinese restaurants is intercepted by animal lovers.
Crammed into tiny cages, unable to stand and deprived of food and water, these dogs endured terrible suffering on a truck bound for a chain of restaurants. The harrowing pictures show the cruel conditions in which 1,500 of the animals were found when the truck was stopped at a toll gate by highway police and animal rescue volunteers in Chongqing, south-west China. The truck was stacked high with cages, each containing several dogs in pitiful condition.
The animals were moved to a nearby farm by volunteers from the Chongqing Animal Protection Association who gave them food, water and emergency treatment. Sadly some of the dogs were already dead and rescue workers were unable to save other who were dying.
Volunteer Xiao Lu said: ‘When they [the dogs] saw us they were groaning, but some were so exhausted and dying that they didn’t even have the strength to make a sound. He said: The dog peddler said his truck was only loaded with 700 dogs, but there are at least 1500.
Dog continues to be a popular meal in the Far East, with many in China favouring the meat, particularly during the winter. The incident comes just months after police in Thailand rescued more than 1,000 dogs that were being transported to Vietnam. The dogs were being taken across the Mekong river in Laos as prices for stray dogs and pets in rural Thai villages can reach as much as $33 an animal.
11 COUNTRIES WHICH STILL EAT DOG MEAT
Eleven countries around the globe still eat dog meat. They are: China, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Philippines, Polynesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Arctic and Antarctic and two cantons in Switzerland.
China: Although the Chinese were the first to domesticate the dog and keep them as pets, dog meat has been a source of food from at least the time of Confucius, and possibly even before.
Indonesia: Eating dog meat is usually associated with people from the Batak Toba culture, who cook a traditional dish named saksang that is like a dog-meat stew.
Mexico: Dogs were historically bred for their meat by the Aztecs. These dogs were called itzcuintlis, and were often pictured on pre-Columbian Mexican pottery.
Philippines: In the capital city of Manila,the law specifically prohibits the killing and selling of dogs for food except in certain circumstances including research and animal population control.
Polynesia: Dogs were historically eaten in Tahiti and other islands of Polynesia at the time of first European contact in 1769.
Taiwan: Dog meat in Taiwan is particularly eaten in the winter months, especially black dogs, which are believed to help retain body warmth.
Korea: Gaegogi literally means ‘dog meat’ in Korean. Gaegogi, however, is often mistaken as the term for Korean soup made from dog meat, bosintang. The distaste felt by dog lovers, particularly from the West, has made this dish very controversial.
Switzerland: According to a Swiss newspaper report in 1996, the Swiss rural cantons of Appenzell and St. Gallen are known to have had a tradition of eating dogs, curing dog meat into jerky and sausages, as well as using the lard for medicinal purposes.
Vietnam: Dog meat is eaten throughout Vietnam. To many Northerners, it is a popular, if relatively expensive, dinnertime restaurant meal.
Arctic and Antarctic: Dogs have historically been an emergency food source for various peoples in Siberia, Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland. Sled dogs are usually maintained for pulling sleds, but occasionally are eaten when no other food is available.
Visitors to the Jian River in Luoyang, China were shocked earlier this week when they saw the water had become a “river of blood,” dyed bright red after an illegal dye dump by nearby chemical plant, an incident that has since launched an official investigation by the Luoyang Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.
The Jian (or Jianhe) River runs through Luoyang in the Henan province. Locals were subject to the water’s eerie, blood-like color for several days before government officials tracked the source of the color not to a Moses-like End Times but to two small chemical plants dumping red dye into the city’s storm water pipe.
Chinese President Hu Jintao Tuesday urged the navy to prepare for military combat amid growing regional tensions over maritime disputes and a US campaign to assert itself as a Pacific power.
The navy should “accelerate its transformation and modernization in a sturdy way, and make extended preparations for military combat in order to make greater contributions to safeguard national security,” he said.
Addressing the powerful Central Military Commission, Hu said: “Our work must closely encircle the main theme of national defense and military building.”
His remarks, which were posted on a statement on a government website, come amid growing US and regional concerns over China’s naval ambitions, particularly in the South China Sea.
DHARAMSHALA, October 7: Reports coming out of Tibet confirm that two more Tibetans set themselves on fire today in an apparent anti-China protest. One is feared dead while the other is being described in serious condition.
This is the third incident in a week following the self immolation of Kesang Wangchuk on Monday, when Tibetans have been forced to commit the ultimate sacrifice of setting their bodies on fire as a last resort of peaceful action against the Chinese government’s repressive policies in Tibet. Last week, two monks, Lobsang Kalsang and Lobsang Konchok had set themselves ablaze.
The exile base of Kirti Monastery in Dharamshala, in a release today describe the two as Choephel aged 19 and Khayang (Lhungyang) aged 18, both former monks of Ngaba Kirti Monastery in eastern Tibet.
“At around 11.30 am Tibet time, Choephel and Khayang set themselves ablaze in the central town of Ngaba district. With hands joined in prayers, both of them raised anti-China slogans,” the statement said.
Eyewitnesses have told sources in exile that Choephel and Khayang were engulfed in flames as they called for Tibetans to unite and rise up against the Chinese regime and raised slogans for Tibet’s freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama from exile.
“Chinese security personnel arrived at the scene and started beating the two indiscriminately while dousing the fire,” the report said.
“Even while they were being taken to the hospital, Khayang was seen throwing his fist in the air, raising slogans,” the report added.
It is feared that Choephel succumbed to his injuries half an hour later.
This is the sixth incidence in the year and the third in October alone when Tibetans have self immolated as a last desperate measure to draw international attention and support on the deteriorating situation inside Tibet. Earlier, leaflets had surface in Ngaba town and Kirti Monastery warning that “if the present situation continued, many more people were prepared to give their lives in protest.”This is what we wake up to. ༀམཎིཔདྨེཧཱུྃ།
Zen Master Huanglong Huinan (1002-1069)
[Zen Lessons, p. 31]
[image source]
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Mazu said, ‘What is the meaning of this moment?’
Zen Master Mazu Daoyi (709-788)
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