A Boot In The Face
Tibet has long captured the imagination of Westerners. In fact, the very first paperback ever published, “Lost Horizon” by James Hilton, was about the mystical, hidden kingdom of “Shangri-La,” nestled in the Himalayas north of India and populated by enlightened and incredibly long-lived citizens. This romantic vision of Tibet — prayer flags flapping in the rarefied mountain air, monks chanting in the early morning, peasants churning yak butter — has enough basis in reality to perhaps justify itself. But those elements that are grounded in reality are slipping away as the Chinese empire proceeds toward a total obliteration of Tibetan culture. More »
