To the Friends of the Mekong
NGÔ THẾ VINH
If Tibet dries, Asia dies
[www.tibetanwomen.org]
Picture 1: The Dalai Lama and the Third Pole of the World
[source: http://www.activeremedy.org]
THE THIRD POLE OF THE WORLD
About three million years ago, Tibet still lied at the bottom of the Tethys sea, a vast expanse of water that covered the landmass of Asia and India. A violent collision between pre-continental Gondwanaland and Laurasia caused a massive earthquake that pushed the area that is present day India northward. An entirely new geological formation emerged from this process: most notably the Himalayan chains and Tibetan High Plateau.
Such a geological history put Tibet at a high elevation of 3,500 to 5,000 m and understandably it is hailed as the
"Snow country ",
“rooftop of the world”, or
"the Third Pole" – the other two being the North and South Poles. With an area of more than one million km2, almost as large as Western Europe, this country is isolated from the outside world on three sides by inaccessible mountain ranges: the Himalayans to the south, Karakoram to the west, Kunlun and Tangla to the north while in the east, it is intersected by low-rising mountain ranges and deep valleys sloping gently toward the Chinese borders adjoining the Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces. [Picture 2]The northwest region of Tibet is a sparsely inhabited no-man’s-land stretching for over 1,200 kilometers in a west-east direction. Further south, nomads roam the mountains and steppes with their herds of sheep, goats, and Yaks. Going east, one arrives at the city of Kham and in the northeast is the city of Amdo, the birthplace of the 14th Dalai Lama. It is also this country’s most prosperous and populated region. Further south, the climate becomes milder and the Tsangpo River along with its many tributaries bring their life-giving water to the local inhabitants.
The Tibetan peasants mainly plant wheat and potatoes as the secondary crop. Due to irregular weather changes, the local harvests suffer from constant damages caused by hails and frost. As a result, the Tibetans rely on animal husbandry of Yaks, sheep, goats, and chickens for a more reliable food source. The Tibetans prefer to eat roasted wheat flour called Tsampa, their daily staple. In Tibet one can find the perfect image of the steppes, high mountains, deep valleys and a sky that normally looks the clear blue color of jade. Up to the end of the 19th century, the lifestyle of the Tibetans remained unchanged from what it was for thousands of years.
