The pair met each other at the United States Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was broadcast via Facebook Live. The 19-minute video showed the duo discussing such issues as meditation, mental health and how to detoxify humanity.

According to the Apple Daily, websites in China have been ordered to stop uploading or distributing her songs. Meanwhile, government-run news outlets such as CCTV, the People’s Daily and the Global Times were ordered to criticize the meeting.

China has previously reacted harshly to international artists seen associating with the Dalai Lama.

Last July, Shanghai cancelled a Maroon 5 concert after it was revealed a band member had sent out a tweet regarding the Dalai Lama. Bon Jovi concerts scheduled for Shanghai and Beijing last September were also cancelled due to objections from the Ministry of Culture over Tibet imagery used as part of the band’s performance.

This past April, pop singer Selena Gomez cancelled upcoming concerts in Guangzhou and Shanghai over rumors she had circulated content on her Twitter account regarding the Dalai Lama.

The post Lady Gaga Meets Dalai Lama, Now Predictably Banned in China appeared first on The Nanfang.

Photographs of a woman standing at the side of a sacred lake in Tibet have raised the ire of Chinese people who claim the photos don’t “respect” the local religion and customs of the area. The photographs were first posted on the Weibo micro-blogging platform by a user named YouchumDolkar Monday night. In them, a nude woman can be seen standing on the shore of Yandrok Tso, one of three lakes in Tibet considered to be sacred among Tibetans.

The photos were accompanied by the text, “This girl says this is about the best time for her to come to Tibet, and so wanted to take a souvenir at this sacred place.”

According to Chinese news sites like iFeng and Sohu, a number of people are outraged at the nude photos for having “insulted” Tibet and its people.

One person wrote, “Do you know what ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’ means? It the same as how everyone understands what ‘respect’ means. Since old times, our country has held the respect of having good etiquette, thereby leading our countrymen to better understand the meaning of respecting others. If you aren’t even capable of understanding the most basic idea of respect, why did you come to Tibet?”

However, a visit to the account of YouchumDolkar reveals that a vast majority of comments on the post support the photos. One person wrote, “Naked does not equal sexy. Naked does not equal vulgar.”

Similar incidents of Chinese tourists posing nude for photographs has happened in previous years at Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia. However, despite the cries of disrespecting local customs, the photos in this case appear to show an ethnic Tibetan.

Although it has not been specifically made clear who the person shown in the photos is, a number of YouchumDolkar’s posts show a Tibetan girl in Tibetan environments in photos accompanied by Tibetan text. Furthermore, one of her posts simply says, “I’m home” while showing her standing in front of Potala Palace, the famous Tibetan landmark.

Could this story be a case of misplaced outrage? Is this Tibetans taking charge of their own culture and identity?

Since posting the photos on Monday, YouchumDolkar wrote a follow-up post in which she addressed the controversy. As well, she brought up the “When in Rome…” analogy, but this time in a different context:

I didn’t think this would cause such a disturbance, I just wanted people to be familiar with the local culture of Tibet. When in Rome, do as the Romans do! Thank you everyone! May fortune smile upon you!

The post Nude Photos at Tibetan Holy Lake Raise Questions About Proper Etiquette appeared first on The Nanfang.

Xinhua published photos showing Chinese tourists posing in in the square that is mostly free of people, insisting “The number of tourists in Lhasa began to mount as the temperature rised [sic].” The Xinhua report did not provide any specific details.

Other media announcements have been made at an awkward time.

During the recent “two sessions”, deputy director of the Tibet tourism development commission Hong Wei said government regulations will be reformed in order to make travel to the region more accessible. “Tibet will be more open to domestic and foreign tourists in the next five years,” said Hong.

Hong’s remarks come at a time when non-Chinese tourists and visitors have been banned from traveling to Tibet. As has been the annual tradition since 2008 when anti-Beijing riots in Lhasa broke out, China forbids Tibet travel access to any foreign visitors during the month of March. This is a politically-sensitive period in Tibet that culminates in Tibet Uprising Day, which takes place on March 10, a day that marks Tibetan opposition to Beijing rule.

Any foreign traveler wishing to enter Tibet must first procure a Tibet travel permit, a special document not needed for other regions in China. As China Daily reports, this extra requirement is based on Tibet’s unique ethnic traditions, cultural heritage, reception capacity and ecological protection needs.

But even as foreign tourists are currently not allowed in, tourism in Tibet is flourishing from the huge numbers of Chinese tourists that flock there.

Mei Zhang, the founder of travel agency Wild China, says Tibet has become a “holy grail” to Chinese tourists. “It’s the spirituality, the exotic culture and also the stunning landscape,” explained Mei.

And the numbers of tourists are equally stunning. According to the Tibet Autonomous Region Tourism Development Committee, some 17.5 million tourists visited Tibet in the first nine months of 2015, an increase of 36 percent over the same period last year. Specifics detailing the difference between foreign and domestic tourists were not included in the report.

Robbie Barnett, a Tibet scholar at Columbia University, said that a distinct difference between Chinese and foreign tourists is where their money ends up.

Local Tibetans tend to benefit more from foreign tourists “since they want to be guided by Tibetans, want their money to go to Tibetans, and tend to prefer low-impact, sustainable forms of tourism,” said Barnett, while “Chinese businesses appear to benefit most from mass tourism, which mainly involves Chinese tourists.”

But while Chinese tourism continues to rise in domestic and outbound trips, foreign tourists from abroad are becoming less inclined to come to China. Last year’s 8.2 million foreign tourists marked a decline of 680,000, or about 8 percent, from the year prior.

All the same, even without foreign tourists, China is banking heavily on tourism to develop Tibet. Local Tibet authorities have predicted tourist revenue will double in the next five years, accounting for over 40 percent of local economic output.

Already, Lhasa’s tourism revenue has more than tripled in the past five years to an estimated 15.49 billion yuan ($2.35 billion) in 2015. The local authorities say the revenue will double by 2020, bringing some 150,000 jobs in the city.

Development in Tibet has already resulted in Lhasa’s first-ever KFC, the construction of a second railway line to be completed by 2030, and plans for a ski resort.

The post China Uses Photo of Empty Square to Show Tibet’s Popularity With Tourists appeared first on The Nanfang.

The people of Tibet may have long sought out inner peace through their spirituality, but now they’ll also have a quick way to satisfy their immediate cravings with the opening of a brand new KFC restaurant in Lhasa, the first Western fast food chain to have a store in Tibet.

The huge 5,000 square meter store opened on Tuesday amid a rush of customers, estimated to number about 1,000, many of whom took the time to pose for group pictures in front of the store sign.

The Tibetan KFC serves the same menu items as other restaurants in the franchise, but at a higher cost. A combo meal containing chicken wings, soda and French fries costs 40 yuan ($6.10) in Lhasa compared to 31 yuan in other Chinese cities.

The higher cost is attributed to flying in ingredients from Xi’an, Shaanxi, located some 2,900 kilometers away. Plans for a 4.67-hectare frozen storage facility to be built in a nearby suburb will allow for any future expansions.

The Tibet expansion comes after last year’s food scandal in which a local supplier was caught supplying tainted meat to restaurants like KFC, McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut. Parent company Yum! Foods had previously attempted to expand into Tibet in 2004 with KFC, but had called it off saying it wasn’t “economically feasible”. At the time, staunch vegetarian the Dalai Lama had written a letter voicing his objection to KFC, referencing the “sufferings of chickens”.

Other concerns arising from a KFC in Tibet cited the dangers the local culture faces from assimilation as more Han Chinese continue to relocate in the area.

“There’s nothing in principle wrong with a Western company setting up shop in Tibet, but it’s always a source of concern because so far, very few companies have shown that they have any interest in bringing benefit to Tibet and Tibetans,” said Alistair Currie of the London-based Free Tibet organization.

“The onus is on Yum! to show that its commitment to the community is not tokenistic and superficial,” Currie said. “They haven’t done that yet.”

A first glance makes it seem as though the new KFC in Lhasa caters more to Chinese customers than to locals. The restaurant menu is written in Chinese, as are writings on the store windows. Furthermore, the store opening is accompanied by a number of floral arrangements as is in keeping with Han Chinese traditions.

But despite these concerns, a number of people are saying that KFC is a proponent of change, and that change is good.

According to store manager Yu Zhengqing, KFC is committed to providing equal opportunity to the community. “Recruitment is continuing,” Yu said. “Eventually, we hope the ratio between local ethnic Tibetan employees and non-Tibetans is even.”

At the moment, the Lhasa KFC outlet currently has 40 employees, of which half are from Tibet. Only eight of those are ethnic Tibetans.

Former deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Tibet Basangluoshi thinks the introduction of KFC to Tibet can only serve as a positive development. “The introduction of KFC into Tibet is a good thing for cultural exchange and blending,” he said. “Not only does this bring new flavors and experiences, but more importantly, it promotes the exchange of two cultures from different regions.”

Western fast food has sometimes been viewed by Chinese as bad influence, responsible for turning people fat or into “morons“. But its also a source of nostalgia for Han majority Chinese who have grown up with it.

Yang Yanfang, a 23-year-old civil servant from Yunnan province who is working on a two-year project in Lhasa, considers KFC as part of his own upbringing that has followed him to Tibet. “It offers another pleasant dining choice for young people from the inland area like me who grew up with frequent treats of chicken and sandwiches,” said Yang.

Maybe we can’t put too much significance upon the opening of just one store in one area. And yet, Xinhua wrapped up its reporting on the first KFC in Tibet by concluding the following:

An ancient and mysterious Tibet is now relaxing its stance and quickly embracing the world.

The post Not Everyone is Happy as KFC Becomes the First Western Fast Food Joint to Open in Tibet appeared first on The Nanfang.

An announcement at this week’s National People’s Congress (NPC) that said Tibet looks to become one of the world’s top tourism destinations comes at the same time a travel ban has been implemented for the region, forbidding any visitors from entering.

Hong Wei, deputy director of the Tibet tourism development commission and NPC delegate, said government regulations will be reformed in order to make travel to the region more accessible.

“Tibet will be more open to domestic and foreign tourists in the next five years. We will simplify the procedure for foreigners to obtain travel permits and cut the waiting time,” said Hong.

As the China Daily reports, the reduced waiting time for Tibet travel permits will attract more tourists that may change Tibet into one of the world’s top tourist destinations over the next five years.

However, a “reduced waiting time” is the least of anyone’s troubles as any tourists or visitors wanting to travel to Tibet right now are out of luck. A travel ban has been implemented in Tibet from February 25 to March 30, forcing all non-locals from outside China to leave. This marks a politically-sensitive period in Tibet that culminates in Tibet Uprising Day, which takes place on March 10, a day that marks Tibetan opposition to Beijing rule.

Any foreign traveler wishing to enter Tibet must first procure a Tibet travel permit. As China Daily reports, this extra requirement is based on Tibet’s unique ethnic traditions, cultural heritage, reception capacity and ecological protection needs.

Padma Choling, head of the standing committee of the regional people’s congress, said Tibet has no plans to completely abolish permits for foreign travelers because its natural environment is complicated and the purpose of the permits is mainly to ensure the safety of the travelers.

Travel to Tibet is tightly controlled by local authorities, especially when concerning journalists. The 50th anniversary last September of what China calls the Tibet Autonomous Region was celebrated in grand style by the CCP, but not one foreign journalist was invited.

Besides tourism, China is also banking on the development of Tibet through the construction of a second railway line, the Sichuan-Tibet railway. Chairman of Tibet Losang Jamcan said the railway, 1,629 kilometers long and scheduled to be finished by 2030, will significantly improve people’s livelihoods along its route.

The post China Announces “Tibet to Be More Accessible” During Middle of Tibet Travel Ban appeared first on The Nanfang.

Until recently, Tibetan text was only available on the iPhone, a device which many in China still cannot afford: “Now the situation is different.” says Dordram, the Vice-President of Gansu Normal University of Nationalities in Hezuo, Gansu. “People can buy less expensive phones and install Tibetan fonts themselves. More Tibetans can benefit from digital technology.”

The China Tibetology Research Center has created 17 Qomolangma Tibetan fonts, at least eight of which are based on the handwriting of famous Tibetan calligraphers. Previously, only Uchen, the classic block-style Tibetan script, was available.

Lu Yajun, of the Tibetology Institute at the Northwest University for Nationalities, explained that the technological breakthrough had many obstacles to overcome on digital media: “Compared with the previous stiff Tibetan fonts available, the new Qomolangma fonts are more flexible. With the stretched strokes, they often remind me of shadowboxing,” said Lu.

Based on the international encoding standards and OpenType technology, the New Qomolangma fonts can universally adapt to the operation systems of Windows, Macintosh, Android and Linux.

The Qomolangma-Dunhuang font is based on Tibetan works collected in the Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu province, the oldest Tibetan writings found on murals. The Qomolangma-Woodblock font is based on scriptures found in the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa. The Qomolangma-Edict font is based on ancient imperial edicts and historical documents, while the Qomolangma-Horyig font is based on historical stamps and documents.

The new fonts aren’t the only technological breakthrough that will benefit Tibetans. “Cloud Tibet”, China’s first internet search engine in Tibetan, will be released in August. Development of the project began in April 2013, and is expected to cost an estimated 57 million yuan ($9 million).

The post Tibetan Language Now Available On Android Devices appeared first on The Nanfang.

Authorities are issuing notices to all major cities and counties that all foreign visitors must leave the region by the deadline. Oddly, notice of the travel ban did not come from the government, but from a travel agency called Travel China Tibet which posted to a TripAdvisor forum at the end of January.

In another development, government authorities in Tibet have ordered shopkeepers to immediately turn over all photos of exiled spiritual leader Dalai Lama or risk punishment: “Those who delay in handing these over, or who never turn them in, will be punished severely,” the notice reads. Issued on January 31 by three government departments in Draggo, Kardze, the notice also forbids the display of these photos in shops and stores. Residents were given until February 2nd to comply.

[h/t r/China at reddit]

The post Foreigners Banned from Tibet in March appeared first on The Nanfang.

“Cloud Tibet”, China’s first internet search engine in Tibetan, is expected to be released next August.

Being built next door in Qinghai Province, development on the Cloud Tibet project began in April 2013 by a 100-member team from a Tibetan language research center at a cost of 57 million yuan ($9 million).

Development team head Tselo said the basic architecture had been finished and significant core-technology developments had been achieved. The search engine will help speed up IT, economic and social development in the Tibetan region, Tselo said. Upon completion, the search engine will also feature news, pictures, video and audio, he added.

Internet use in China is highly regulated, monitored, and censored by government authorities with the regions of Tibet and Xinjiang put under extra-tight controls. Prolonged Internet shutdowns are frequent in Uighur and Tibet minority regions, further restricting the flow of information, while internet and phone users in Tibet are required to register their real names in a local monitoring scheme.

This past August, one of the oldest Tibetan websites promoting culture and literature was shut down by Chinese authorities. The website “Chodme”, or “Butter Lamp”, served as a forum for news and literary writings in the native language of the residents of Tibetan-populated regions of western China. Having previously been shut down by Chinese authorities, the webmaster of Chodme was instructed to re-register with China’s Department of Communications.

The post China to Launch First Ever Tibetan Search Engine Next Year appeared first on The Nanfang.

1. Although it doesn’t show the area, the map has labels implying that indisputably Chinese land on the border between Nepal and Pakistan could conceivably be Indian.

2. It shows the part of South Tibet cruelly stolen by British imperialists and now named ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ by India in the same colour as India and with a hatched effect, suggesting it is in some way not a full part of the glorious motherland.

3. It calls the Xisha islands, which have been integral and greatly cherished Chinese possessions for millennia, the ‘Paracels’, suggesting their ownership is not beyond doubt, and omits the rest of the South China Sea, down to the shores of the Philippines, Borneo and Vietnam, which is all unquestionably Chinese territory.

4. (or probably 6. or 7. by now) Perhaps most staggeringly of all, the map uses the hatched effect for Taiwan, as if the island province is somehow of a different status from the rest of the country. It also leaves the Diaoyu Islands unnamed, as if it were another country’s territory, which of course it is not.

And this guy wonders why Hong Kong’s patriotic Chief Executive CY Leung orders his valiant police to kick Uber’s door in and drag the interns off to the dungeons.

And why is the South China Morning Post putting this disgraceful insult to the nation’s territorial integrity on its front page? Next thing, they’ll be publishing fellow race-traitor Minxin Pei’s musings on the fate of the ‘predatory state’.

The post Uber Backs Splittists, Denies Chinese History appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Tibet celebrations took place in front of the local seat of power, the Potala Palace in Lhasa.

Besides showing off a collection of over-sized and miniature Chinese flags, the Tibet celebrations also featured a collection of China’s five Chairmen and Presidents depicted together. It also had a float that resembled a cresting wave or a yellow steamroller with a replica of the Potala Palace with a Chinese flag on top (as seen in the gallery).

And while there was some local culture on display, the Tibet celebrations also took after the Beijing parade by featuring marching soldiers:

But while the west was invited to come witness the September 3 military parade, the same was the same for the Tibet celebration. Western news organizations like the BBC reported that they weren’t allowed to attend the festivities.

The post China Throws Big Party for Tibet Anniversary, But Doesn’t Invite Any Foreign Reporters appeared first on The Nanfang.