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Article #1: Tibet overview

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Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: The Potala Palace in Lhasa is Tibet's
??; Wylie: Bod; Lhasa dialect IPA: holiest centre
[p?o`?]; Simplified and Traditional Name
Chinese: ??, Hanyu Pinyin: Xizang; also In Tibetan
referred to as ?? (Simplified Chinese), Tibetans call their homeland Bod ( ??),
?? (Traditional Chinese), Zangqu (Hanyu pronounced pö in Lhasa dialect. It is
Pinyin), see Name section below) is a first attested in the geography of
plateau region in Central Asia and the Ptolemy as ß???? (batai) (Beckwith, C.
indigeneous home to the Tibetan people. U. of Indiana Diss. 1977). Tibetans refer
With an average elevation of 4,900 m to Tibet as a "fatherland" (Tibetan:
(16,000 ft), it is the highest region on ??????; Wylie: pha-yul), whereas
Earth and is commonly referred to as the "motherland" (Tibetan: ??????; Wylie:
"Roof of the World". ma-yul) is a neologism introduced in the
Existing as a seperate nation for 1960s to refer to China.
centuries, Tibet is today administered In Chinese
mostly under the People's Republic of The modern Chinese name for Tibet, ??
China. Tibet is also officially claimed (Xizang), is a phonetic transliteration
by the Republic of China (Taiwan). derived from the region called Tsang
However in the Tibetan sovereignty (western Ü-Tsang). The name originated
debate, the Chinese government and the during the Qing Dynasty of China, ca.
Government of Tibet in Exile have 1700. It can be broken down into "xi" ?
disagreed over the legitimacy of Tibet (literally "west"), and "zang" ?
becoming a part of China since 1959, and (literally "Buddhist scripture" or
whether this incorporation into the "storage"). The term can be interpreted
Chinese homelands was legitimate. as either "Buddhist scripture of the
The Tibetan Empire came into existence in west" or "western storage." The pre-1700s
the seventh century when Emperor historic Chinese term for Tibet was ??
Songtsän Gampo united many areas and (Tufan, Medieval Chinese pronuncation:
tribes of the region. Since the early t'obw?n/), which comes from the Turkish
1600s a lineage of allegedly reborn word for "heights" and is also the origin
(tulku) magistrates, known as the Dalai of the English term "Tibet."
Lamas have administrated Tibet, and the The government of the People's Republic
fourteen Dali Lama's are beleived to be of China equates Tibet with the Tibet
the incarnations of Avalokiteśvara Autonomous Region (TAR). As such, the
("Chenrezig" [spyan ras gzigs] in name "Xizang" is equated with the TAR. In
Tibetan), the bodhisattva of compassion. order to refer non-TAR Tibetan areas, or
Between the 17th century and 1959, the to all of cultural Tibet, the term ??
Dalai Lama was the head of the Tibetan Zangqu (literally, "ethnic Tibetan
government, administering religious and areas") is used. However,
adminstrative authourity over a large Chinese-language versions of pro-Tibetan
portion of the country from the independence websites, such as the Free
traditional capital Lhasa, regarded as Tibet Campaign, the Voice of Tibet, and
Tibet's holiest city. Tibet Net use ?? ("Xizang"), not ??
When the Government of Tibet in Exile and ("Zangqu"), to mean historic Tibet.
the Tibetan refugee community worldwide Some English-speakers reserve "Xizang",
refer to Tibet, they mean a large area the Chinese word transliterated into
that formed the cultural entity of Tibet English, for the TAR, to keep the concept
for many centuries, consisting of the distinct from that of historic Tibet.
traditional provinces of Amdo, Kham Some pro-independence advocates duplicate
(Khams), and Ü-Tsang (Dbus-gtsang), but the situation into the Chinese language,
excluding areas outside the People's and use ?? (Tufan) or ??? (Tubote), which
Republic of China's administration like are both phonetic transcriptions of the
the disputed territory Arunachal Pradesh word "Tibet", to refer to historic Tibet,
(or South Tibet), Sikkim, Bhutan, and this is still used for research area and
Ladakh that have also formed part of the is known and accepted by most of the
Tibetan cultural sphere. Chinese.
When the People's Republic of China (PRC) Tibetan monks from Ganden Monastery
refers to Tibet, it means the Tibet Tibetan monks from Ganden Monastery
Autonomous Region (TAR): a province-level The character ? (zang) has been used in
entity which, according to the transcriptions referring to Tsang as
territorial claims of the PRC, includes early as the Yuan Dynasty, if not
Arunachal Pradesh or South Tibet earlier, though the modern term "Xizang"
(presently under the administration of was devised in the 18th century. The
India). India considers Arunachal Pradesh Chinese character ? (Zang) has also been
as its integral part. Sikkim, Bhutan, and generalized to refer to all of Tibet,
Ladakh may also be considered to be parts including other concepts related to Tibet
of cultural Greater Tibet in addition to such as the Tibetan language (??,
Amdo, Kham, and Ü-Tsang. The TAR covers Zangwén) and the Tibetan people (??,
the Dalai Lama's former domain consisting Zangzú). The two characters of Xizang
of Ü-Tsang and western Kham, while Amdo can literally mean "western treasure".
and eastern Kham are now found within the (The second character can also mean
provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan, and "storage", though it is pronounced
Sichuan. differently (cáng) when used for that
The difference in definition is a major meaning.)
source of dispute. The distribution of In English
Amdo and eastern Kham into surrounding The English word Tibet, like the word for
provinces was initiated by the Yongzheng Tibet in most European languages, is
Emperor during the eighteenth century and derived from the Arabic word Tubbat.[1]
has been continuously maintained by This word is derived via Persian from the
successive Chinese governments. Tibetan Turkic word Töbäd (plural of Töbän),
exiles, in turn, consider the maintenance meaning "the heights". The word for Tibet
of this arrangement since the eighteenth in Medieval Chinese, ?? (Pinyin Tufan,
century as part of a divide-and-rule often given as Tubo), is derived from the
policy. same Turkic word. Tufan was pronounced
Tibet has scenic mountainous terrain. t'o-bw?n/ in Medieval times. PRC scholars
Tibet has scenic mountainous terrain. favor the theory that "Tibet" is derived
The Potala Palace in Lhasa is Tibet's from Tufan.
holiest centre






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