ABSTRACT
In 2006, a railroad was opened between Lhasa, capital of Tibet, and Golmud, Qinghai, with direct connections with Beijing. Like the first American transcontinental railroad built in 1869, the China-Tibet railway symbolizes the iron link of a nation finally unified. For the Tibetan people, however, this “last spike” is more like a coffin nail for their embattled culture. Having been annexed by the People’s Republic of China in the 1950s, the Tibetan people have struggled to maintain their own identity.
