China Cultural Chronicles February 3, 2013
- Potala Palace by night
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Impressive view on the Potala Palace by night seen from the Potala Palace Square of Lhasa.
- View over Lhasa from the Potala Palace
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The Potala Palace provides an impressive view over Lhasa, all the way to mountains on the other side of the valley.
- Queue of tourist wating in front of the entrance of the Potala Palace.
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Large groups of tourists visit the Potala each day. Here they form a queue in front of the steep stairs to the entrance of one of the buildings of the Potala Palace.
- The stairs all the way up to the Potala Palace
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On visiting the Potala Palace, you need to climb a quite long path of steep stairs. Lhasa is located at more than 3000m above sea level and it is highly advisable for everyone to get acclimatized to these heights before embarking on the journey all the way up to the Potala.
- Chinese tourists climbing the stairs up to the Potala Palace
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The Potala Palace in Lhasa attracts many tourists among which are large groups of Chinese people. Here we see a group of Chinese tourists climbing the stairs up to the Potala Palace.
- Potala Palace in Lhase
- Elephant ivory and Chinese Buddhism
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from National Geograpghic article: "Ivory Worship" Thousands of elephants die each year so that their tusks can be carved into religious objects. Can the slaughter be stopped?
By Bryan Christy Photographs by Brent Stirton, Reportage by Getty Images
"At a gallery in Guangzhou, Gary Zeng shows me a photo of a 26-layer "devil's work" ball on his iPhone. The 42-year-old Zeng has just bought two of these ivory balls from the Daxin Ivory Carving Factory, one for himself and one on behalf of an entrepreneur friend. He's come to this retail store to see whether he got his money's worth. I climb into his new Mercedes, drive to his double-gated community, and watch as he hands the less expensive ball to his three-year-old for National Geographic's Brent Stirton to photograph. It will become a centerpiece in a new home Zeng is building, to "hold the house against devils," but for a moment the $50,000 ball is simply a very precious toy. I ask Zeng why young entrepreneurs like him are buying ivory.
"Value," he replies. "And art."
"Do you think about the elephant?" I ask.
"Not at all," he says.
On the corner of one of the most popular ivory-selling streets in China, outside the Hualin International Buddhist jewelry arcade, a four-story electronic billboard runs a video announcing to passersby a hot new investment opportunity: Sales of Buddhist jewelry and related religious products have reached $15.8 billion a year and are growing by 50 percent a year. "There are nearly 200 million Buddhism believers in China," the sign declares. Inside the building two stores deal exclusively in ivory carvings. Down the street other galleries offer Buddhist ivory carvings—some legal, some not.
Everything about China's ivory industry is poised for growth. The government has licensed at least 35 carving factories and 130 ivory retail outlets and sponsors ivory carving at schools like the Beijing University of Technology. "
The precious elephant is intimately connected to the birth of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni: China wants to spend three billion developing Lumbini to enhance their prestige, why not put this money toward stamping out the perfidious, evil and barbarous "Buddhist" ivory trade at home? - Lango Rinpoche
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The elephant that belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama being ridden along the path in front of the south face of the Potala
- Perspective on the Preceding
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I took the preceding 10 or so photos from underneath and from the top of the building on the RIGHT : a building currently the 2nd tallest in the world.
Soon the building on the LEFT will be the 2nd tallest on Earth ...
In the middle is poor number 6 on Earth, at a "mere" 88 odd stoteys, the Jin Mao. - People of the old town. Songxue Jie
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Songxue Jie 松雪街 is already only a half of a street. Residents of the low-rise half demonstrate a lot of creativity reclaiming the opposite side, walled off by the high-rise development: there are several lunch tents, a row of laundry racks, board game tables and one of those ubiquitous open-air gyms. The low-rise western half harbors an odd relic: a "Gothic" brick building of a protestant church from around 1914, once known as Grace Church 天恩堂, now used as a kindergarten. Will it also be demolished?
- Mr. Tsering
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"…
For a long way we saw no sign of life at all. But about three in the morning a dog barked, and we saw a house ahead. I sent my Chamberlain forward to find out where we were, and who the owner of the house was. He discovered that the name of the place was Namgyalgang. The owner was a simple kind man, and two of our escort had already been there to warn him to expect a very important guest. I was tired by then, and I rested a little while. It was the first of many humble Tibetan houses whose owners sheltered me, without any thought of the risk, some knowing, and some not knowing, who I was.
There Wangchug Tsering, the admirable twenty-year-old Khampa leader, left us to take 400 of his men to guard us against attack from beyond the river. He had already detailed two or three hundred other Khampas to defend our route.
…"
Excerpt from My Land and My People by Dalai Lama.
Boudhanath, Kathmandu, Kathmandu District, Bagmati Zone, Nepal.
Ricoh GXR | GR Lens A12 28mm f/2.5 - The fields outside of Shigatse
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- For a good luck and life force, Tibet 2012
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Like to see the pictures as LARGE as your screen? Just click on this Slideshow : www.flickr.com/photos/reurinkjan/sets/72157630983897338/s...
- For a good luck and life force, Tibet 2012
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Like to see the pictures as LARGE as your screen? Just click on this Slideshow : www.flickr.com/photos/reurinkjan/sets/72157630983897338/s...
- Potala Palace
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