It's pretty unlikely you'll find yourself being a tourist in Tibet any time soon - the northern Himalayan region, annexed by China, has for decades been the scene of political repression and human rights abuse. From time to time it pops up on the public radar for some story or other - the Chinese announcing some new initiative, Amnesty International getting involved - and then sinks back into the twilight world of nations that live just out of the public gaze.
The word "nation" is used to advisedly there, because that's what Tibet is, whatever the government of the People's Republic of China would have us believe. Tibet has been part of the PRC for over fifty years, although the historic land of Tibet, confined more or less to the northern rim of the Himalayan range, is considerable smaller than the Tibet Autonomous Region, which stretches much further north. The degree of autonomy the TAR is actually allowed is open to debate: although the president is, by law, a native Tibetan, many local officials are Han Chinese appointed by the Beijing government. This is rather similar to the system used by Moscow in Soviet days to keep control of supposedly "independent" satellite republics.
Tibet is right back in the news at the moment because of the opening of the Qingzang Railway, the highest railroad route in the world. It's highest point is the Tanggula Pass, at 5,075 meters above mean sea level - over eighty percent of the route is above 4,000 meters. This has presented significant difficulties, both in engineering and human terms. Because of the altitude carriages on the line have to have extra protection from ultraviolet light as well as an oxygen-enriched atmosphere to make up for the relative thinness of the air at this height above sea level. Much of the line is laid over permafrost, some of which is actually non-permanent, and softens during the summer months, meaning the foundations are built on ground that changes with the seasons. Some very ingenious solutions have been used to get around this problem, most unusually the circulation of liquid nitrogen to keep the ground hard in summer months.
However great an achievement the Qingzang Railway may be, one has to question the motives of the government behind it. Has this, like the Three Gorges Dam, been constructed purely as a utility, or partly as a demonstration to the world of what China can do? The environmental cost has been and will be substantial, not least because coal-fired trains will be extensively used to provide services on the line. Whether the Qingzang proves to be of lasting benefit to the people of Tibet very much remains to be seen.
The Adventures of Tintin: The Calculus Affair / The Red Sea Sharks / Tintin in Tibet (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 6)
Seven Years in Tibet
Tintin in Tibet (The Adventures of Tintin)
Sacred Images of Tibet 2009 Wall Calendar
Tibet (Country Guide)