Table of Contents

Introduction: Pictures of the Dalai Lama 7

1 Is the old always better? 15

Bintsi, the former slave

2 A country of beggars 27

Tari Cirenyuzhen, the Tibetan cadre

Zhaxi, imitator of Mao Zedong

3 Abandoned in the snow 47

Rinzindorje, the settled nomad

4 Escape to a deserted mountain 57

Gundun Tenzin, the refugee

Bhagdro, the tortured monk

Marja Koolen, the Western eyewitness

5 Fleeing for education 83

Zhaxi Cidan, university professor in Lhasa

Tenzin, student at the Tibetan Children's Village School

6 Nowhere as beautiful as home 97

Kagya, the returned exile

7 Members of one family 107

Xiao Huai Yuan, the Chinese cadre

Dawa Tsering, the former Chinese

8 That man called Panchen 127

Tsewang Nyima, Tibetan Development Fund

9 Monasteries as political battlefields 137

Nema Tsering, monk in the Jokhang temple

Pemba, the runaway monk

10 Spirits in the mountains 153

Thupten Ngodup, the state oracle

Tsering Thackchoe, the doctor

11 Supermarket Buddhists 169

Han de Wit, the Western Buddhist

12 Democracy in exile 183

Tseten Norbu, the extremist

Sonam N. Dagpo, the government official

13 The forgotten sisters 199

Phurbu Dolma, the Women's Association secretary

14 An audience with the Buddha 211

Endnote: Musicians in Beijing 219