A \u201cno photograph upon landing\u201d announcement punctured the serene silence of the cabin as I gazed at the snow-capped peaks outside our airplane window, a stark reminder that we were entering a land of profound beauty and immense political sensitivity. <\/p>\n
Our Air China flight from Beijing carried not just my cameraman and me, but also about two dozen other foreign journalists, all accompanied by a team of Chinese officials. We were headed to Tibet, a place where access is as guarded as its ancient treasures. <\/p>\n
We usually avoid government-organized media tours, wary of the predictable agendas and restrictions. Yet, for Tibet, there is no alternative. <\/p>\n
The Tibetan Autonomous Region remains the only place in China where all foreigners \u2013 especially foreign journalists \u2013 are barred entry without prior authorization. <\/p>\n
Our requests to report from the ground have mostly been met with polite, but firm denials – including in January, when a powerful earthquake struck the region, killing more than 120 people. <\/p>\n
For centuries, Tibet was mostly independent from China \u2013 with the Tibetans possessing ethnic, linguistic and religious identities starkly different from those of the Han Chinese. On a few occasions in history, Tibet fell under the rule of emperors in Beijing, most recently during the Qing dynasty starting in the 18th Century. After the 1912 collapse of Qing, China\u2019s last imperial dynasty, Tibet enjoyed de facto independence though it was never recognized by China or much of the international community. <\/p>\n
The Communist forces, emerging victorious from a bloody Chinese civil war, marched into Tibet in 1950 and formally annexed it into the newly founded People\u2019s Republic of China the following year. Beijing has maintained a tight grip on the Himalayan region since the 14th Dalai Lama, Tibet\u2019s spiritual leader, fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. In the decades since, the Communist Party has swiftly cracked down on any unrest and enforced policies that critics say are intended to weaken the Tibetan identity. <\/p>\n
Landing in late March at Gonggar Airport, one of the world\u2019s highest at nearly 12,000 feet, just outside the Tibetan capital Lhasa, the thin air was an immediate signal to slow down as breathing grew labored and a headache began to develop. Stepping into Tibet, long known as \u201cthe roof of the world,\u201d was an immersion into a different rhythm of life, dictated by the altitude\u2019s power. <\/p>\n