Latest news with #Tibetan
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Kalimpong over Darjeeling? Here's why it might be a better choice
Tired of the crowds, the traffic jams, and the constant hustle of Darjeeling? It's time to consider a quieter, more laid-back escape: Kalimpong. Nestled in the Eastern Himalayas, this charming hill station offers all the beauty of its famous neighbour—without the frenzy. Think scenic views, vibrant markets, and peaceful monasteries, all wrapped in a cool, fresh breeze. Kalimpong is perfect for those who want to enjoy the mountains at their own pace, away from the tourist bustle. So, if you're seeking serenity over chaos, Kalimpong might just be your next favourite getaway. Here's why it can be a better choice: A peaceful alternative to Darjeeling Located at an altitude of about 1,250 m, Kalimpong is an ideal blend of nature's beauty, cultural diversity, and colonial history. It is the go-to preference for those who want to escape the rush, but not be a part of it. The following are reasons why Kalimpong may be a better alternative. Darjeeling, though undoubtedly beautiful, can be too much at peak season. Hotels are reserved solid months in advance, traffic clogs up the twisting roads, and every stunning view is thronged with tourists jostling for elbow room. Kalimpong, on the other hand, is peaceful. Its roads are deserted, its cafes quiet, and its viewpoints blissfully free of people. Whether the activity—sipping tea from a hillside veranda or strolling along local bazaars—the experience is relaxing, as it ought to be in a hill station. Breathtaking views without the crowds Worried you'll miss the Himalayan scenery? Don't. Kalimpong offers equally breathtaking vistas of the Kanchenjunga range, and from Deolo Hill and Durpin Dara Viewpoint, especially. On a clear day, you can gaze at snow-clad peaks without elbowing your way through throngs of travellers. The bonus? You can enjoy these views in peace, to the chorus of birdsong rather than the click of cameras. Culturally rich The beauty of Kalimpong is not just in its landscape but also in its cultural diversity. A gateway town once, between India and Tibet, it is a unique blend of Nepali, Bhutanese, Tibetan, and British cultures. The Zang Dhok Palri Phodang Monastery on Durpin Hill is a spiritual landmark with valuable Buddhist scriptures imported from Tibet. Contrastingly, Morgan House, a colonial bungalow now a government-run lodge, whisks you straight into the pages of a traditional British novel. The flower capital of East India Kalimpong has dozens of nurseries that grow and export exotic flowers like orchids, gladioli, and cacti. Walking through the gardens is like being transported to a watercolour painting, especially during the flowering season. In contrast to Darjeeling, where tea is dominant, Kalimpong's palette is richer, and one finds oneself engulfed in hues, aromas, and a massive horticultural sector. Slower pace, timeless charm Kalimpong is perfect for tourists who prefer a slower pace. You will not see gaudy malls or noisy nightlife. Instead, there are charming cafes with mountain views, paths that wind through pine forests, and people who still greet strangers with a smile. Sites like Dr. Graham's Homes, an old missionary school founded in 1900, provide a glimpse of the town's educational and social past. Kalimpong is not vying against Darjeeling—it's its counterpart. However, for other tourists, especially those looking for solitude, austerity, and spirituality, it will prove to be a choice. With breathtaking views, blossoming landscapes, cultural heritage sites, and serenity all around, Kalimpong is your own Himalayan escape you wouldn't have even known about. One step to a healthier you—join Times Health+ Yoga and feel the change
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
New report accuses China of ‘indoctrinating' Tibetan children in boarding schools
Tibetan children face abuse, neglect, indoctrination, and identity erasure in the Chinese government's network of colonial boarding schools and preschools in Tibet, an advocacy group has accused. The Tibet Action Institute (TAI) in its recent report has accused the Chinese government of using Tibetan children as a means to aggressively and forcibly assimilate Tibetans, threatening their survival as distinct people. The report found that students are restricted from enrolling in Tibetan language classes or engaging in religious activities, even during school breaks. As per activists, such boarding schools are now believed to house approximately one million Tibetan children, however, the exact number is difficult to confirm. The report titled 'When They Came to Take Our Children': China's Colonial Boarding Schools and the Future of Tibet' says the children are separated from their families at an early age –– as young as four years old in some rural areas –– and indoctrinated to be loyal to the Chinese Communist Party. 'There is now additional evidence that even younger children are being compelled to board across Tibet. At present, Tibetan children aged three or four to six must attend Chinese-language preschool,' the report states. TAI, is a US based advocacy group created in 2009 to assist Tibetans after large protests were held before the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The research for the report is based on rare firsthand accounts by Tibetans either still in Tibet or who have recently escaped. This includes fifteen in-depth interviews conducted between 2023 and 2024 with Tibetans who had recently fled to India, statements published online by people still in Tibet, and approximately 75 private or public comments by people in Tibet from January 2022 to April 2025 that were documented by Tibetans in exile. The report stated that China's education policies in Tibet seek to deracinate Tibetan children from their culture, language, and identity. In the colonial boarding school system, children are first separated from their families, and then bombarded with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ideology through carefully curated images, texts, and songs, all in Chinese language. The report also added that as one of the persons who recently escaped from Tibet as saying: In boarding schools, the indoctrination process begins from a very young age. The children are taken away from their parents, restricted from speaking their mother tongue – Tibetan – taught in Chinese language, forced to learn and speak Chinese, and taught only state-approved history. A stated in the report, former boarding school student described how politicised education was implemented in their classroom: 'All the materials put on our class walls were in Chinese. All [my] class teachers [were] Chinese…. In all the classes, we had pictures of Xi Jinping, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao.' The report outlined that all students in China are subjected to a politicised curriculum that is intended to cultivate loyalty to Xi Jinping and the Communist Party. However, in Tibet, education is part of a larger effort to methodically strip away a sense of Tibetaness and manipulate students' primary identification to be Chinese, rather than Tibetan. Notably, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights echoed the Special Rapporteurs', in March 2023, concern that the colonial boarding schools violate China's obligations under the ICESCR, urging the Chinese government to 'abolish immediately the coerced residential (boarding) school system imposed on Tibetan children. 'A generation of Tibetan children is being harmed by China's colonial boarding school policy — socially, emotionally, and psychologically,' said Lhadon Tethong, director of TAI, calling on the international community to step up all efforts to push the Chinese government to abolish this abusive and coercive system. TAI urges the United Nations and concerned governments to call on the Chinese government to immediately conduct a public investigation into the alleged abuses, deaths, and mental health concerns of Tibetan children in Chinese state-run boarding schools, to abolish the coercive system of boarding schools and preschools, and to enable Tibetan children to access high-quality mother tongue education while living at home.
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Will go ahead with Siang dam only after public nod, says Arunachal CM amid protests
Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu on Friday said a public hearing would be conducted once the pre-feasibility report for the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Hydropower Project (SUMHP) is completed and underlined that the consent of local residents would be key to the government's decision on the project. The chief minister's comments come days after a meeting on the pre-feasibility report (PFR) for the contentious project in Upper Siang district spiralled into chaos on May 27 after villagers opposing the mega hydropower project stormed into the meeting and disrupted the proceedings. Khandu stressed that the PFR was a preliminary, non-intrusive assessment only focused on geological viability. 'Once the PFR is complete, we will hold a public hearing and only proceed based on the will of the people,' he said. The report, he noted, will identify the likely submergence areas, the number of affected villages, and necessary mitigation measures. Khanu said the project was of strategic value and was not just a project aimed at generating electricity. 'This is not just a hydropower project. It is a national security necessity,' he said. The chief minister pointed to China's plans to construct a 60,000 MW project near the Indian border. 'China's unilateral dam construction poses serious challenges to the flow of the Siang River. If they release excess water, it could trigger devastating floods in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Conversely, if they withhold water, the river could reduce to a narrow stream in winter,' Khandu said. In December, China approved the construction of what will be the world's biggest hydropower dam on the eastern rim of the ecologically fragile Tibetan plateau. The approval triggered concerns about the impact of the dam, which could affect millions downstream in India and Bangladesh. Khandu said China was not a signatory to the United Nations Watercourses Convention and, as such, is not legally obligated to share hydrological data or consult with downstream nations on transboundary rivers. 'In the absence of a water-sharing treaty, we must act responsibly and construct necessary safeguards on our side,' he said. Drawing a comparison with the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan, Khandu warned that during hostilities or national emergencies, such treaties may be suspended, leaving countries exposed. 'We must prepare for all contingencies. Water security is as critical as national defence,' he added. Khandu also affirmed that both the state and central governments are on the same page regarding the project. 'Let the PFR be completed first. Only then will we comprehensively address all technical, environmental, and social aspects, including compensation and rehabilitation,' he said. The project has faced resistance from civil society groups. The Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum (SIFF), in particular, has been vocal against the project, accusing the government and local legislators of pushing the plan without adequate research or public consultation. 'Villagers are mostly unaware of the dam's implications. Ground verification and awareness drives should have been conducted much earlier,' SIFF spokesperson Talong Mize said recently, demanding greater transparency and the involvement of subject-matter experts to explain the project's environmental and technical dimensions to affected communities.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Newly discovered 'ghost' lineage linked to ancient mystery population in Tibet, DNA study finds
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A 7,100-year-old skeleton from China has revealed a "ghost" lineage that scientists had only theorized about until now, a new study finds. Researchers made the discovery while studying ancient skeletons that could help them map the diverse genetics of central China. The DNA of this ghost lineage individual, an Early Neolithic woman who was buried at the Xingyi archaeological site in southwestern China's Yunnan province, also holds clues to the origins of Tibetan people. "There likely were more of her kind, but they just haven't been sampled yet," study co-author Qiaomei Fu, a paleontologist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, told Live Science in an email. Fu and colleagues detailed their analysis of 127 human genomes from southwestern China in a study published May 29 in the journal Science. Most of the skeletons that they sampled were dated between 1,400 and 7,150 years ago and came from Yunnan province, which today has the highest ethnic and linguistic diversity in all of China. "Ancient humans that lived in this region may be key to addressing several remaining questions on the prehistoric populations of East and Southeast Asia," the researchers wrote in the study. Those unanswered questions include the origins of people who live on the Tibetan Plateau, as previous studies have shown that Tibetans have northern East Asian ancestry along with a unique ghost ancestry that has mystified researchers. The oldest person the researchers tested was found to be the missing link between Tibetans and the ghost' lineage. Related: 'Mystery population' of human ancestors gave us 20% of our genes and may have boosted our brain function At the Xingyi archaeological site in central Yunnan, dozens of burials were discovered that dated from the Neolithic period (7000 to 2000 B.C.) to the Bronze Age (2000 to 770 B.C.). Beneath all the other burials, archaeologists found a female skeleton with no grave goods. Carbon dating revealed she lived about 7,100 years ago, and isotope analysis of her diet showed she was probably a hunter-gatherer. But genomic analysis of the woman, who has been named Xingyi_EN, was a surprise: her ancestry was not very similar to East and South Asians but was closer to a "deeply diverged" Asian population whose genes contributed to the ghost population only seen in modern Tibetans. A "ghost population" refers to a group of people who were not previously known from skeletal remains but whose existence has been inferred through statistical analysis of ancient and modern DNA. The mystery ancestry seen in Xingyi_EN does not match Neanderthals or Denisovans, both well-known ancient populations that did contribute some "ghost" DNA to humans. Rather, Xingyi_EN is evidence of a previously unknown lineage that diverged from other humans at least 40,000 years ago, according to the researchers, and has been named the Basal Asian Xingyi lineage. RELATED STORIES —Ancient jawbone dredged off Taiwan seafloor belongs to mysterious Denisovan, study finds —DNA from mysterious 'Denisovans' helped modern humans survive —Now-extinct relative had sex with humans far and wide For thousands of years, the lineage was separated from other human groups, meaning there was no admixture — interbreeding that would mix their DNA. "The possible isolation allowed this ancestry to persist without apparent admixture with other populations," Fu said. But at some point, Xingyi_EN's relatives did interbreed with other groups of East Asian ancestry, mixing DNA. "The mixed population has lasted for quite a long time and contributed genes to some Tibetans today," Fu explained. However, these results should be taken with caution, the researchers noted in the study. Given the genetic evidence comes from just a single person, further research is needed to fully understand the relationship between Xingyi_EN and the Tibetan ghost lineage.
Japan Forward
3 days ago
- General
- Japan Forward
Reintroducing Wolves: A New Hope for Japanese Ecosystems
During a recent visit to the Hokkaido University Botanical Garden in Sapporo, I found myself standing before two haunting figures: the taxidermied remains of the now-extinct Ezo and Honshu wolves. Preserved behind glass, their forms felt frozen in time, ghosts of a lost species that once ruled the forests of Japan. Their absence, however, is anything but silent. In recent decades, deer, wild boar, and even bears have surged in numbers across Japan. They have disrupted ecosystems and damaged crops, edging ever closer to human settlements. It's within this context that the Japan Wolf Association (JWA) proposes an audacious solution: Bring back the wolves. A taxidermied Japanese wolf (courtesy of the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences / Faculty of Agriculture). The JWA was founded in 1993 by Associate Professor Naoki Maruyama, who was then teaching at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. According to Kunihiko Otsuki, a current director at the Association, the idea was born after Maruyama attended a conference in Poland. "He happened to see a wolf on the grasslands," Otsuki told me. At the time, Maruyama had been researching the effects of deer overpopulation on Japan's forests. That single encounter made him realize what was missing in his work: a natural predator. He returned to Japan convinced that wolves were the key to restoring balance to the nation's ecosystems, and rallied fellow researchers to form the JWA. "In the beginning, we were starting from zero," said Otsuki. The notion of reintroducing wolves to Japan was met with skepticism and fear. For many, wolves were still the villains of old folktales, dangerous beasts better left in the past. Yet over the years, the Association's persistence has paid off. Between 2006 and 2016, public support for their reintroduction rose from 17.4% to 43.3%. During the same period, opposition fell from 30.2% to just 11.0%. These numbers, Otsuki believes, reflect the cumulative impact of the Association's outreach: books, symposiums, a robust online presence, and educational campaigns. However, progress has since stalled. "Support has plateaued since 2016," Otsuki said. "The biggest barrier now is the government." Japan's Ministry of the Environment remains opposed to the idea of reintroducing wolves. Without political will, the JWA finds itself at a crossroads. "We believe we've entered a phase where political lobbying is necessary. Ultimately, we must move the national government." Tibetan wolves in the enclosure at Osaka's Tennoji Zoo (courtesy of Tennoji Zoo) What would the return of wolves mean for Japan's environment? Otsuki laid it out in ecological terms: deer populations, particularly Sika and Ezo deer, are causing widespread damage to forests and farmland. The government has responded with increased hunting allowances, but the effects have been minimal. Wolves, as apex predators, could offer a more sustainable solution by naturally regulating deer and boar numbers. "By restoring the food chain's natural order, wolves would allow vegetation to recover," said Otsuki. This, in turn, would support the return of birds and small mammals, halt soil erosion, and slowly revive entire ecosystems. "Ultimately, we see this contributing to the recovery of healthy forest systems and the mountain–river–sea continuum." So, where would reintroduction be viable? According to the Association, mountainous regions across Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu are all technically suitable. Wolves, with a natural fear of humans, could be imported from overseas, and would likely avoid populated areas, said Otsuki. Potential sites include Shiretoko, the Daisetsuzan range, the Japanese Alps, the Kii Peninsula, the Chugoku Mountains, and Mt Aso. Each of these areas has sufficient prey and land area to support multiple packs — roughly 100 to 300 square kilometers per territory. Even in national parks with tourist traffic or rural communities, human activity wouldn't necessarily pose a significant obstacle. "If Japan's intensive livestock model is maintained, wolf attacks on farm animals would likely be rare," Otsuki explained. Still, he acknowledged the need for systems to mitigate risk: "Subsidies for livestock protection and compensation schemes must be in place to reassure farmers." Moreover, geography isn't the only factor. "Local government consent and political decisions will greatly influence which sites are selected," he said. "That's why we can't name a concrete location ourselves at this stage." Public fear remains a formidable challenge. "The biggest misconception is fear — what we call 'Little Red Riding Hood syndrome,'" said Otsuki. People also conflate wolf reintroduction with the introduction of invasive species, or worry that wolves will disrupt ecosystems rather than restore them. To change minds, the JWA has used every tool at its disposal, including books, lectures, exhibitions, art, and social media. One notable publication, The Maligned Predator: Rethinking Wolves in Japanese History ( Ookami Enzai no Nihonshi in Japanese, Impress Books), directly rebuts the idea that wolves were historically dangerous to humans. A taxidermied specimen of the Japanese wolf (courtesy of the National Museum of Nature and Science). The Association also shares accident statistics, research from Europe and North America, and even produces children's stories with wolves as protagonists. "We share voices from communities already coexisting with wolves," said Otsuki. Could Japan follow in the footsteps of Yellowstone National Park or Europe? Otsuki thinks so. The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone in the 1990s is often cited as a success story. Wolves restored balance to the ecosystem, reducing elk overgrazing and allowing plant and animal life to flourish. The European example is different but equally valuable. Protected under the 1979 Bern Convention, wolves in Europe have expanded naturally from neighboring countries into old habitats. "It's not exactly reintroduction, but more like a comeback," said Otsuki. He highlighted a framework Japan could emulate: protect wolves legally, create compensation systems for damages, and permit controlled hunting once populations stabilize. "Public education, like websites explaining that wolves aren't dangerous, is also key." Finally, I asked Otsuki what reintroduction would mean for Japan, not just ecologically, but culturally and spiritually. "It would be a big step for biodiversity," he said. Japan is classified as a biodiversity hotspot (rich, highly threatened ecosystems) by Conservation International. "Wolves could help reverse the decline of vegetation, birds, insects, soil life — even reduce sediment buildup in rivers and dams." Culturally, wolves once held sacred meaning in Japan. Shrines, such as Mitsumine Shrine in Saitama Prefecture, still honor them, and legends abound about wolves that protected and guided humans. "These stories show that wolves were once part of a vibrant spiritual worldview," Otsuki explained. Their return could reignite that relationship. In a time when balance feels increasingly out of reach, the howl of a returning wolf might signal something far greater than its own survival. It could mark the first step toward restoring Japan's ecological soul. And perhaps most profoundly, reintroducing wolves would force a reckoning with the natural world. "Seeing a wolf hunt a deer might strike some as cruel," said Otsuki, "but it reminds us of nature's laws. It helps us reflect on what life means, and what it means to live as a human in harmony with nature." Author: Daniel Manning
