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Photo Exhibition China : Beijing to Lhasa, from Evariste Huc (1813-1860) until now
Section 7 - Qinghai province
Discover the evolution of these areas during history.
EXTRACT OF TEXT FROM THE DESCRIPTIVE PANEL :
160 years of evolution until our days
At the XXth century, China draws contours of the province of Qinghai
During the years 1950, the Chinese redefine the borders of Tibet and increase the frontier Chinese provinces. The province of Qinghai integrates the People's Republic of China by including the area of Amdo (old Tibetan territory). It includes vast wide Qinghai lake ("Blue sea", in Chinese), in the past called lake Koukounor, and a great part of the Tibetan plateau delimited in the south by the mountain range of Tanggula.
Qinghai, of the nomadism to the sedentary
Whereas there are still nomads on the high Tibetan plateau, the banks of the Qinghai lake shelter primarily seminomad Mongolian and Tibetans communities or sedentaries who always practise the breeding of sheep and yaks. In addition, new Chinese commercial cities develop in edge of the lake. They constitute the point of meeting of the various ethnos groups which come to sell their local production...
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Thematic canvas :
Qinghai province
Discover the old and comptemporaine history of this China area.
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Villagers gathered for a religious demonstration in a Buddhist temple in the valley of Xining
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Each village has its modest sanctuary, the lhakhang, i.e. "house of god", in Chinese. The monk who occupies himself some has "the same" duties as our priests of countryside. He achieves the daily rites, assists the patients,the dying, and living from public offerings.
Currently, one estimates at 150 million the number of followers of Buddhism in China for 400 million in the world (for 2 billion Christians, 1,3 billion Moslems and 850 million hindouists), which places it at the 4th row of the world religions
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Mongolian nomad in the village of Ganca on northern bank of the Qinghai lake
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" While going towards south-west, one meets the Mongols of Koukou-noor, or Blue lake (in Chinese, Tsing-hai, Blue sea ). The Mongols of Koukou-noor occupy only the surroundings of the lake which gave them its name. Still they are mixed of much of Si-fan, which cannot remain with safety in their own country, because of certain hordes of brigands who do not cease afflicting it. Further still, and in the heart even of Thibet, one meets other Mongolian tribes. "
Évariste HUC — Memories of a journey in Tartarie and Thibet.
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Beginning of the XXth century photographs (Missions Étrangères de Paris) :
"The following day, the town of Tang-keou-eul was the theatre of a dreadful disorder. The brigands had appeared in the vicinity, and had taken along two thousand steers belonging Houng-Mao-eul, or Long-Haired. These Eastern Thibetans leave every year, by large caravans, from the foot of the Bayan-khara mounts, and come in Tang-keou-eul to sell fur skins, butter and a species of wild tea which grows in their regions. While they are occupied of commercial businesses, they leave their many herds in vast meadows not very far away from the city, and dependent on the Chinese authority. "
Évariste HUC — Memories of a journey in Tartarie and Thibet.
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Glaciers in the mountain range of Tanggula to more than 5200 m
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Thismountain range traces the border between the Qinghai province and the Autonomous Region of Tibet. According to a legend, even the eagles cannot cross these high mountains
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Caravan of Tibetans nomads on the road of the Qinghai lake close to the village of Hemahe
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The old virtual borders of the Mongolian banners of Qinghai disappeared at the end from the XIXth century. They are replaced today by quite real obstacles where the iron wire braid a network of impermeable fences around the lake. Even if many nomads sedentary themselves on the banks of the lake, some always carry out transhumance, in particular in the Western part of this inland sea. Confronted with the fences, the current nomads borrow the modern ways under the horns of the vehicles...
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Targo in the village of Serpo Lungpa on the Tibetan plateau at 4 600 m
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The targo (in Tibetan) is a mast on which prayers flags are fixed in the shape of big top. This Buddhist structure is installed in top of the mountain pass, or at the entry of the villages or the monasteries. The role of the prayers flags, delivered to the breath of the wind, is to carry with far the blessings texts which are printed on and to move away the harmful influences from this place...
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And 33 other photographs accompagnied by captions...
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