Amdo Tibetans in Transition

Language: English
Pages: 325 (11 B/W Illustrations)

About the Book
This volume (being the firth volume of
the Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the
IATS, 2000) investigates Eastern Tibetan recovery from the devastation of High Socialism and
a new engagement with attempts to modernise
the region in the era of reform and opening in
post-Mao China.
Amdo Tibetan in Transistion covers all major areas of cultural revival in post-Mao Amdo: The
active negoation of culture and identity is addressed in public debate about traditional culture,
in attempts at language standardisation, and in
reflections on sexuality. Religious culture is represented by discussion of critical perspectives on
reincarnate lamas and by case studies of revival
and reinterpretation of popular rituals, Amdo
Tibetan self-expression in art, literature and
performance and studied by means of folksongs,
painters and their works, and the changing economics of cultural production. The final chapters deal with social and economic trends in two
nomadic pastoral areas and with foreign aid for
new Tibetan schools.
This is a unique introduction to contemporary
life and attitudes in north-eastern Tibet, invaluable for understanding modern Tibetan life in
China today, how it developed, and what it is
rapidly becoming.

Introduction
While reflecting on the calm and peaceful aspect of our winding
threadlike path and comparing it with the noise and clamour of the
trailers, tractors and automobiles driving on the highway, which was
blasted across our massive mountain ranges, I miss the people of my
race and our homeland. A beautiful and dazzling array of a thousand
beams of light shone before my eyes and revealed a path to me, a

Toni Huber, Ph.D. (1993), is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at Victoria University, an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow (1997-1998), and author of both The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain (Oxford, 1999) and The Guide To India by Amdo Gendun Chophel (LTWA, 2000), as well as numerous scholarly articles on Tibetan culture and society.