Amdo Tibetans in Transition Society and Culture in the post Mao Era

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.