Control, Exploitation and Assimilation; Development with Chinese Characteristics
An extensive survey of the Tibetan autonomous areas which lie outside the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), this unprecedented report contains hundreds of photographs, tables, charts, maps and analysis on the half of Tibetan land and people that China has designated "Tibetan autonomous", but severed from "Tibet" and submerged under four Chinese provinces.
Three fundamental aspects characterise China's presence in these areas - control, exploitation and assimilation. Their methodical duplication throughout the ten Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures and two Tibetan Autonomous Counties outside the TAR neutralises political, economic and cultural autonomy - despite their enshrinement in China's Constitution. Under the pace and direction of current Chinese development, a Tibetan majority which was largely intact at the incipience of the People's Republic of China in 1949 is now seriously threatened. Economic development is a fact easily observable in many areas, as is clear evidence that China is the chief beneficiary. The study meticulously documents a sophisticated political, demographic, economic and cultural process which could rapidly achieve a seamless assimilation of Tibetan land and people into a Chinese model.
The report is based on 9 months' fieldwork, which entailed more than 30,000 kilometres of ground travel in the area and visits to 52 prefectural and county-level administration sites. Backed by comprehensive research and the utilization of official Chinese sources, it offers an irrefutable picture of contemporary Chinese development in Tibetan areas that China has endeavored to keep veiled from international view.
The size of the document (more than 2,700 pages if printed) required an innovative production solution. The entire report, complete with images and graphics, has been presented in Adobe's easy-to-use Acrobat Reader software. Every page can be printed, in color or black and white, with excellent results. A full search index allows instantaneous location of a query. Photographic images can be zoomed into with startling, and often unsettling, detail. A navigation system allows rapid movement from any part of the document to any other part.
Tibet Outside the TAR was compiled independently by the authors, Steven D. Marshall and Susette Ternent Cooke. The Alliance for Research in Tibet is an independent organization which emphasizes on-site investigation of Tibetan Issues.
We apologize, but due to the size of the document (200 MB) it is not available online. You can purchase it on a CD-ROM from the ICT Store.
Reaction to the study and CD-ROM
"Tibet Outside the TAR is a report of unprecedented scope, depth and credibility. This critical research comes out at a time when Tibet is obtaining a level of unprecedented visibility and support in the international community. By incorporating official Chinese sources, this thorough field study lays to rest any doubt about what constitutes Tibet. A must read to dispel the view of self-appointed arbiters of Tibet's fate who try to debate with the Tibetan people what is Tibet and what is not."
Lodi G. Gyari, Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
"Understanding requires information. Information, and its pursuit, should be characterized by openness. The study of Tibet and China has proved frustrating, too often yielding observations which lack significance and objectivity. Tibet Outside the TAR provides a unique contribution to the pool of data and analysis of an important and complex problem which reaches deep into Tibet, across China, and to our shores."
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, United States Senate
"There are many myths about Tibet, but it is, in fact, a precious part of our planet - and it is endangered. This CD-ROM offers the most comprehensive information ever assembled about Tibet. Anyone who is interested in Tibet - or China - should have it."
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke
"The paucity of well-sourced information about Tibetan ethnic regions in China has long presented an obstacle for scholars, writers and travellers who wished to understand the complexities of the interaction between Han Chinese and Tibetans. Tibet Outside the TAR helps fill that void in an informative and constructive way."
Orville Schell, Dean, The Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley
"A landmark contribution to the political sociology of modern-day Greater Tibet, and essential reading for all those seeking to grasp the true depth and complexity of Han Chinese dominance over this little-known "other half" of China's ethnically Tibetan population. Encyclopaedic in scale yet commendably sober in presentation and judgement, this pathbreaking new survey provides a much-needed structural explanation for the Chinese authorities' continuing disregard of the civil, cultural and human rights of those living in the non-TAR areas of historic Tibet. This monumental accomplishment sets the standard for future scholarly work in the field."
Robin Munro, Human Rights Watch/Asia (China Researcher and Hong Kong Office Director)
"A fantastic tool for anyone who wants to research Tibet - or go to Tibet - revealing what is actually happening in Tibet now. Replete with photographic, demographic and political information in a thorough historical framework."
Professor Jeffrey Hopkins, Department of Religion, University of Virginia
"This CD-ROM presentation of Tibet Tibet Outside the TAR provides for the first time the hard and comprehensive facts, the demographic, cultural, economic, and social facts, about Tibetans on the Himalayan Plateau and in their diaspora. No research on contemporary Tibet and its people can proceed without this invaluable research tool. It is the definitive study of Tibetan communities - in the world."
Professor Richard D. Hecht, Chair of Religious Studies, University of California
