Books like A Year in Tibet: A Voyage of Discovery

A perceptive perspective on Tibet, the author is a Chinese woman who was raised in China but later studied in Britain. She was in a remote part of Tibet making a film for the BBC for 18 months. We are used to reading about Tibet from a Western perspective. So this book is quite unique. When Sun discussed the Cultural Revolution with Tibetans she could offer her perception of what she experienced in China.“My grandma, like most Chinese of her generation, was a Buddhist. Her sole consolation was the paradise she believed in. I sided with my (communist) father. Mao was the Savior. Communism would bring paradise on earth.” Sun was interested in Tibet when she was a child. But she regrets how she treated her grandmother because she was following the party line in the ’60’s during the Cultural Revolution.On sky burial, when the human corpse is cut up and fed to vultures: “I had expected something far more brutal, far bloodier. There is something dignified and peaceful about it and it produces no waste or pollution. By giving their bodies to the vultures, Tibetans are performing their last offering in this life.” “Giving is in Tibetans’ nature in life or in death.”On Tibetans consumption of alcohol: “Tibetans live for pleasure and die for it too.”A must read. And I would love to see the TV show.