Patrick French, the prize-winning author, turned down the offer of an honour from the Queen for "his contribution to Indo-British relations" because he felt this might undermine his status as an independent writer, it was revealed today.
AT A CROSSROADS: Uighur men chat at a bazaar in Minfeng. China's Uighurs, who are of Turkic Muslim origin, face assimilation policies to force them to learn Chinese and end separatist activities. (ROBERT MARQUAND)
In the blurry quarter-light of dawn, a long line of Uighur men streams silently out of morning prayers at the Idkah Mosque - known as the "Mecca of Xinjiang." The men walk in twos and threes, wearing dark clothes and solemn expressions, and head off to work or homes.
The valley is nestled in the green Himalayan foothills, a wedge of cultivated land where the scenery is so idyllic and the wheat and highland barley grow so high that it is easy to overlook the tiny man sitting by the road with a black pig on his lap.
On the 7th October 1950, independent Tibet was invaded by the armies of the newly founded People’s Republic of China. Since then, the Chinese government has systematically colonised Tibet.
Singer Loten Namling from Switzerland calls his one-year tour to India, Nepal and Bhutan a ''Musical Journey'' during which he plans to perform at various Tibetan settlements and institutes; and meet fellow singers and document their musical talents.
A row over Communist cronyism has erupted in China after the prime minister approved plans to build a controversial dam on a Tibetan holy lake, one of the country's last great wildernesses.
Tourists and Buddhist pilgrims flow through a dim quarter of a Lhasa temple illuminated by manhole-size butter candles in brass urns. Some stop to tuck a banknote or two in glass barriers in front of towering Buddhist images, including the Great Fifth Dalai Lama
