Jigme Namgyal

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Jigme Namgyal (also known as Jiming Nanjia) is the current vice-mayor of Lhasa. He is more concerned with the cultural preservation of Lhasa, than the growth-oriented mayor Doje Cezhug. However, he shares Cezhug's anti-Dalai Lama sympathies.

Lhasa (prefecture-level city) Prefecture-level city in Tibet, Peoples Republic of China

Lhasa is a prefecture-level city, formerly a prefecture until 7 January 1960, one of the main administrative divisions of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It covers an area of 29,274 square kilometres (11,303 sq mi) of rugged and sparsely populated terrain. The consolidated prefecture-level city is divided into five mostly rural counties and three partially urban districts Chengguan District, Doilungdêqên District, and Dagzê District, which contain the main urban area of Lhasa.

Doje Cezhug is an ethnic Tibetan politician in the People's Republic of China. He was the mayor of Lhasa between 2007 and 2013 and currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region. He is an outspoken critic of the Dalai Lama for his alleged role in instigating the 2008 Lhasa violence and pursues a growth-based economic policy in Lhasa anchored in tourism.

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2008 riots

On the second anniversary of the riots, Namgyal delivered a response to a speech by the Dalai Lama, alleged by the Chinese government to have fomented the 2008 Lhasa violence. He said that the Lama was "a separatist who uses religion as a cloak", and reports that contrary to the Lama's allegations, the Buddhist monks in Lhasa are doing well, focused on improving their qualities of life. [1]

The 2008 Lhasa violence was one of a number of violent protests that took place during the 2008 Tibetan unrest.

Tibetan Buddhism is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet where it is the dominant religion. It is also found in the regions surrounding the Himalayas, much of Chinese Central Asia, the Southern Siberian regions such as Tuva, as well as Mongolia.

Culture

He has helped to earmark 205 million yuan for the renovation of the Potala Palace and other major monasteries. All the government documents he issues are bilingual, in Chinese and Tibetan. [2] Mr. Namgyal takes a relatively liberal stand on religious freedom: "In Tibet, people can believe whatever they want as long as it is legal. The government won't interfere. Instead it will help people solve problems along the way," he was quoted as saying. [3]

An earmark is a provision inserted into a discretionary spending appropriations bill that directs funds to a specific recipient while circumventing the merit-based or competitive funds allocation process. Earmarks feature in American and South African public finance.

Renminbi official currency of the Peoples Republic of China

The renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China, and one of the world's major reserve currencies. The yuan is the basic unit of the renminbi, but is also used to refer to the Chinese currency generally, especially in international contexts where "Chinese yuan" is widely used to refer to the renminbi. The distinction between renminbi and yuan is that renminbi is the name of the currency and yuan refers to its primary unit. One yuan is subdivided into 10 jiao, and a jiao in turn is subdivided into 10 fen. The renminbi is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of China.

Potala Palace palace in Lhasa, former chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India

The Potala Palace is a dzong fortress in the city of Lhasa, in China's Tibet Autonomous Region. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and is a World Heritage Site since 1994.

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Dalai Lama Tibetan Buddhist spiritual teacher

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Panchen Lama Priest in Tibetan Buddhism

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The Tibetan independence movement is a movement for the independence of Tibet and the political separation of Tibet from China. It is principally led by the Tibetan diaspora in countries like India and the United States, and by celebrities and Tibetan Buddhists in the United States, India and Europe. The movement is no longer supported by the 14th Dalai Lama, who although having advocated it from 1961 to the late 1970s, proposed a sort of high-level autonomy in a speech in Strasbourg in 1988, and has since then restricted his position to either autonomy for the Tibetan people in the Tibet Autonomous Region within China, or extending the area of the autonomy to include parts of neighboring Chinese provinces inhabited by Tibetans.

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Norbulingka palace

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1959 Tibetan uprising

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Human rights in Tibet are a contentious issue. According to a 1992 Amnesty International report, judicial standards in China, including in the Tibet Autonomous Region, were not up to "international standards". The report charged the Chinese Communist Party government with keeping political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, including the death penalty in its penal code, ill-treatment of detainees and inaction in the face of ill-treatment of detainees, including torture, the use of the death penalty, extrajudicial executions, forced abortions, and sterilisation. The status of religion, mainly as it relates to figures who are both religious and political, such as the 14th Dalai Lama, is a regular object of criticism.

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Ganden Phodrang organization

The Ganden Phodrang or Ganden Podrang was the Tibetan government that was established by the 5th Dalai Lama with the help of the Güshi Khan of the Khoshut in 1642. Lhasa became the capital of Tibet in the beginning of this period, with all temporal power being conferred to the 5th Dalai Lama by Güshi Khan in Shigatse. After the expulsion of the Dzungars, Tibet was under administrative rule of the Qing dynasty between 1720 and 1912, but the Ganden Phodrang government lasted until the 1950s, when Tibet was incorporated into the People's Republic of China. Kashag became the governing council of the Ganden Phodrang regime during the early Qing rule.

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Tibet under Qing rule refers to the Qing dynasty's rule over Tibet from 1720 to 1912. During the Qing rule of Tibet, the region was controlled by the Qing dynasty established by the Manchus in China. In the history of Tibet, Qing administrative rule was established after a Qing army defeated the Dzungars who occupied Tibet in 1720, and lasted until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, although the region retained a degree of political autonomy under the Dalai Lamas. The Qing emperors appointed imperial residents known as the Ambans to Tibet, who commanded over 2,000 troops stationed in Lhasa and reported to the Lifan Yuan, a Qing government body that oversaw the empire's frontier regions.

References

  1. Yang, Ai (2010-03-12). "Dalai Lama told to stop separatist activities". China Daily . Retrieved 2010-07-12.
  2. "Lhasa grows, and the cultural heritage well-preserved". Xinhuanet. Shanghai News and Press Bureau. 2009-06-19. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
  3. Blanchard, Ben (2010-03-11). "Angry China blasts Dalai Lama's latest speech". Reuters . Retrieved 2010-07-12.