Chinese Government Promotes Tibetans' Development

EDITOR＇S NOTE： On June 15-29, 2005 Toriumi Yoshiro, a reporter of the Sankei Shimbun of Japan, made a reporting tour of Tibet and Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province. After returning home, he published a series of reports in the Sankei Shimbun. Following are three of his reports.

Face to Face Talk——Chinese and American Scholars Discuss Tibetan Issues

In early 2002,Zhu Xiaoming(Vice-President of the China World Ethnic Society),Huo Zhongquanand Hong Tao(both research fellows with the China Ethics Research Center)met with Americanexperts on China with the Research Office ot the US Congress and the US Think Tank,includingKerry B.Dumbaugh,Alfred D.Wilhelm Jr,David G.Brown and Thomas G.Lum.They held talkson issues of common concern.Following are excerps of their talk on the Tibetan issue.

Chinese Silk in Tibetan Buddhism Monastery

Chinese traditional silk has held a special place in Chinese tex-tile history as its great contribution to the development of economy and culture of all ethnic groups as well as international exchanges.From time immemorial,

Dissemination of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Germany from an Intercultural Perspective: A Brief Introduction of Franz Hübotter

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)is the cultural heritage of all humankind.TCM not only embodies the cultural crystallization of the region and the nation,but also performs the important mission of curing the lives,saving the sick and maintaining the health of the people.In the history of the spread of Chinese medicine to the West,foreign missionaries have played an important role,and researches about this role have continued in China.In the history of Chinese medicine in Germany,there is a pivotal figure named Franz Hübotter(1881-1967),who broke through the deadlock in the academic research of Chinese medicine in the 19th century in Germany,but the discussion on his contribution has been comparatively rare in China.His works and translations are not only of medical value,but are also valuable historically,culturally,and socially.The historical development of TCM has the authenticity of history,the integrity of the environment,and the richness of the times.Medical experts have explored and verified the value of medicine.Translators and scholars are mainly concerned with the dissemination of knowledge from an intercultural perspective.This paper provides a primitive and objective introduction to Franz Hübotter,hoping to trigger off the secondary research among scholars of different professional backgrounds and to expand professional thinking,and then get over the barriers of disciplines.

Fostering a Strong Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation and the Chinafication of Tibetan Buddhism

The objective of fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation is to establish the Chinese national identity,which is the symbol of a modern nation-state,for all Minzu in China;and the precondition of it is to define"China"and"Chinese people"with preciseness.For that sake,we must abolish both Han chauvinism and narrow-minded local ethnic chauvinism,and reaffirm the staunch belief that all 56 Minzu are inseparable parts of the Chinese nation and that all people of these 56 Minzu are Chinese people.To adapt Tibetan Buddhism to the Chinese context is not to sinicize Tibetan Buddhism,but to adapt it to the requirement for the development and progress of the Chinese nation in a new era,as well as to make it a fantastic catalyst for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.For the sake of it,we will not only make Tibetan Buddhism a crucial part of Chinese Buddhism,but also include Han and Tibetan Buddhism as the most important identity of Chinese Buddhism,so as to integrate Tibetan Buddhism,Han Buddhism,and Theravada Buddhism inside China and strengthen a sense of community for Chinese nation in China's Buddhist community,which will serve as an important part of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation.

Branched tetraether lipids in Chinese soils:Evaluating the fidelity of MBT/CBT proxies as paleoenvironmental proxies

The ubiquitous occurrence of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers(br GDGTs) in soils has allowed development of new proxies for reconstruction of past climate and environment. The methylation and cyclization degrees of br GDGTs, expressed as MBT and CBT, respectively, are reported to be mainly controlled by mean annual air temperature(MAAT) and soil p H. However, the br GDGT-derived temperatures and soil p H scatter widely when data from different environmental conditions are considered. In this study, we collected over 300 soil samples from China, which are representative of humid(Xishuangbanna, Guangzhou, and Shanghai), semi-arid(Dongying) and semi-arid/arid(Lanzhou, Tibetan Plateau) regions. Collectively we have the most extensive dataset that broadly characterizes the distribution of br GDGTs according to climate zones in China. The overall data demonstrate that the MBT/CBT derived temperatures better match the measured MAATs in humid and non-alkaline regions than those from regions of low MAP(<400 mm/yr) and above neutral soil p H(>7.0–7.5). Similarly, CBT describes soil p H much better in humid and non-alkaline soils than in semi-arid/arid and alkaline soils; the semi-arid/arid and alkaline soils tend to show a positive correlation between soil p H and CBT, which contradicts that in the humid and non-alkaline soils. While soil p H, MAAT and mean annual precipitation(MAP) are dominating factors controlling the br GDGT distribution across all climate zones, conductivity, total organic carbon and total nitrogen, as well as soil water content can also play an important role locally. Removing br GDGT-II resulted in a revised CBT index that provides more accurate estimation of p H, especially in semi-arid/arid and alkaline soils. The overall Chinese dataset demonstrates that continental air temperature derived from br GDGT-proxies can vastly deviate from real measurements and should be used with extreme caution in paleo-climate or-environment studies.