MAP AND INDEX OF LHASA CITY, lst Edition Map 1:12,500; 5 Colours Bilingual

Index with 590 names Produced by Atelier Golok

Published by Amnye Machen, Institute Dharamsala, India, 1995. US$15

THE AUTHORITATIVE MAP OF LHASA The Map and Index of Lhasa City published by Amnye Machen Institute represents a milestone in the cartographic history of Tibet. It is so far the most detailed map of Lhasa city published by any government or organisation, including the Chinese government. With over 590 names, located by grid and numbered references, the map provides the correct names and exact locations of all monuments, temples, monasteries, schools, hospitals, hotels, shopping centres, etc., and also the various offices of the Chinese Communist occupation administration of the "Tibet Autonomous Region" and Lhasa city.

Also included are military bases, offices and depots, and Public Security and Armed Police offices and posts. Prisons and labour camps are featured in detail. In addition to road, street, lane and place names, all the mountains surrounding Lhasa have been identified and delineated with precise contour lines.

The map is on a scale of 1:12,500. An English index of 480 names is printed on the map for the convenience of travellers. A separate main index (64 pages, 590 names) in both Tibetan and English includes a historical survey of Lhasa and a recollection of the old city by the eminent Tibetan historian, the late W.D. Shakabpa. The map and index come together in a protective plastic wallet.

The map has been three years in the making. The project was first undertaken by the graphic design firm Atelier Golok with the later collaboration of the Amnye Machen Institute. Some of the earliest maps of Lhasa surveyed by British agents have been consulted. Later maps commissioned by the Tibetan government (in the forties), Chinese civil and military maps, and maps drawn by Tibetan scholars in exile have also been used. Photographs have been extensively used especially to pinpoint specific buildings, compounds and landmarks. Tibetan scholars and various other informants have also been widely consulted. It has, of course, not been possible to conduct a full ground survey, but the daring efforts of a few latterday "pundits" must be acknowledged. Their contribution has provided the living quality to this map.

This map is the first in our Cartographical Series. A number of other maps, both historical and contemporary, local, provincial and national, have been envisaged and work on a few already begun. Though primarily scientific, this project has also been conceived with the purpose of removing much of the vagueness and confusion in Tibetan political direction by providing the fundamental information resource on which our leaders, intellectuals and people could chart the future course of Tibetan history.

This purpose is effectively conveyed in the following perceptive observation:

"In the history of colonial invasion, maps are always first drawn by the victors, since maps are always instruments of conquest; once projected, they are then implemented. Geography is therefore the art of war but can also be the art of resistance if there is a counter-map and a counter strategy" Edward W. Said, The Politics of Dispossession; The Struggle for Palestinian Self-Determination 1969-1994.

For orders and inquiries, please contact the following:

AMNYE MACHEN INSTITUTE

Tibetan Centre for Advanced Studies

McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala 176219 H.P. India

Phone/Fax: (1892) 23073

E-mail: ami@cta.unv.ernet.in

Price: US$ 15 (US$ 17 inclusive of shipping)

Bulk Order Discounts: ten and more 25%; twenty-five and more 30%; fifty and more 40%; above hundred 45%

The Amnye Machen Institute is an independent centre for research and publication to emancipate the Tibetan people.

AMI seeks to begin a movement towards addressing imbalances and limitations in the intellectual, social and cultural life of the Tibetan people inside and outside Tibet.

AMI is initiating systematic and scientific studies into the history, culture, society and politics of Tibet. It is also initiating studies into the external cultures, ideologies and nations that have influenced the course of Tibetan history.

AMI is the only such organisation established along liberal and humanist lines. Its focus is essentially on secular subjects with emphasis on the contemporary and the neglected aspects of the Tibetan culture.

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