This product is currently available for *pre-order*. Anticipated to be shipped by mid-April 2024, reserve yours today to secure your copy ahead of time. Pre-order now to ensure you don't miss out on this upcoming release!
Historically, Chakdu (sometimes called Zhanhua in China) was a tiny place situated at the nexus of Chinese Han-Tibetan relations throughout previous centuries. It was the old name for what is present-day Xinlong County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province.
Today it remains a key focal point through which one can view the complexities of “The Tibetan Issue” which have dogged China’s internal affairs for decades. In fact, Tibet had remained an internal affair until foreign powers turned it into a contested arena, strategically, militarily, and within the international media.
Extensively researched, Chakdu the book offers a panoramic view of modern Tibet history and reveals that the Tibetan issue insofar as China is concerned is a great deal more complicated than the Han-Tibetan relationship. The clash of cultures and ethnic groups is always inevitable. The problem is that people tend to simply take any problem related to Tibet as a “failure” in Han-Tibetan relations. This book seeks to redress the in-situ misunderstandings and give readers a true picture of the interactions be-tween the Han and Tibetan peoples through the Twentieth Century and into the Twenty First Century. Alai skillfully reconstructs the wars, conflicts, and vicissitudes of the locality over the past two hundred years. The result is a fascinating mico-history of the region: its sagas, legends, and everyday life.
Alai is the author of numerous works of Chinese fiction and nonfiction including Red Poppies. He was born in the Tibetan area of Sichuan Province. His novel Red Poppies won the Mao Dun Literature prize in 2000, and made his reputation with its lyrical, poetic language, and deep grounding in Tibetan culture and society.
