Introduction

Tibet usually popular for having the world’s highest plateau is also known as the “Roof of the World" as the average height of the whole region is more than 4,000 meters (16,500ft.) above sea level. It lies on Tibet Plateau of the southwest border of China. The highest peak of Tibet, also the highest in Himalayas and in the whole world, is the Everest Peak, which is as high as 8,846.27 meters above sea level.

Till today, Tibet still remains one of the most interesting, mysterious, enchanting, remote and underdeveloped parts of the world. Its transformation from a warring and aggressive to a peaceful, pious and gentlepeople by the influence of Buddhism, is very amazing. Its isolation nearly tills the second half of the twentieth century; its diverse climatic and geographical conditions strongly attract people of all types from historians, adventurers, pilgrims and so on.

Although a part of China, Tibet has a unique culture of there own. Tibetans mainly inhabit it, a minority nationality of old and mysterious people. Tibet (Xi Zang in Chinese) is to the south of Xin Jiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Qing Hai Province, to the west of Sichuan, to the northwest of Yunnan and to the north of India and Nepal. Its population of 2.3 million people comes from a variety of ethnic groups including Tibetan, Han, Monba and Lhota. Its capital city is Lhasa.

Northwest Tibet, mainly Qing Hai plateau, is home to a variety of unusual and unique animals. Across the northern expanse of Tibet, you can see vast grasslands where horses, yak and sheep roam freely. The world's lowest valley, the Grand Yarlun-tzanpo River Valley lies in east Tibet.

Nearly all Tibetans follow Tibetan Buddhism, known as Lamaism, with the exception of approximately 2,000 followers of Islam and 600 of Catholicism. Tibetan Buddhism was greatly influenced by Indian Buddhism in its early time, but after years of evolution, Tibetan Buddhism has developed its own distinctive qualities and practices. A well-known example is the belief that there is a Living Buddha, who is the reincarnation of the first, a belief alien to Chinese Buddhism.