Archeology all over the planet confirms that hunting tools, that is, weapons, were some of the first items that we made in the ancient history of mankind. Flint arrow heads and spear points are some of the most prevailing articles found around the world.

In those ancient times, people hunted for food and fought each other. We do not know, but it probable that men and non-pregnant young women hunted animals and collected fruit, nuts and berries, while the older family members looked after the children.

It is unclear when bows were invented, but certainly more than two thousand years before Christ or four thousand years ago. Earlier than this, hunters almost certainly crept up on or ambushed their quarry and then ran after it, throwing rocks and sharp sticks or primitive spears perhaps with fire-hardened or flint tips.

It is improbable that they often killed their quarry out-and-out, they most likely wore it out until it bled to death. This style of hunting deer is still practiced by some hunters in South Africa and to other places.

As people lived and learned, so more sophisticated hunting devices were invented and improved on. The first such item would have been the spear and the second either the throwing arrow or the bow and arrow. It is probable that the throwing arrow came first. This weapon is still used by some traditional Aborigine hunters in Australia.

Recurve bows and longbows dating back to 2,000 BC have been found all over Europe and Asia. It seems that the longbow was more common in the north and the recurve bow in the south. Recurve bows can be shorter than longbows and still retain their power, which suits shooting from horse back or chariot.

As farming developed, so did civilization and more and more often, hunting wild animals was left to specialist. The creatures that they killed would be swapped for other items or, later, sold for money.

For the majority of people, hunting became recreational, a sport or a game and the animals they killed in their spare time they called ‘game’ and we still do today in English.

Most peoples of the world did not only develop weapons to hunt with, they also trained animals to help them. Dogs, whose forebears were wolves, were almost certainly the first whose help was sought. Some dogs were used to recover the gave after it had been shot and fallen into the bushes or the water, other dogs really did the killing.

Later still, the aristocracy would hunt with no intention of consuming the animal at all: foxes in Britain and lions in Afghanistan. This is still done today. Likewise with falcons and eagles.

Other animals were used to help chase prey. Horses equalized the speed difference between man and buffalo or deer. Elephants were used to even out the strength of tigers and offer a safer platform from which to hunt.

Nowadays, few people need to hunt to survive, but it is still a popular activity, even though for many it is a once a year event. The most legendary hunting trips were or still are the safaris, despite the fact that now more people shoot with video cameras than with guns.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on several subjects, but is currently involved with compound hunting bows. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Tags: archery, buddhism, education, government, History, hobbies, hunting, martial arts, other, outdoors, Politics, recreation, sports, war

Archery is as old as the hills. The oldest bows to have been discovered date back to about 2000 BC and bows are almost certainly older than that. Archery is so old that no-one knows where or when the bow and arrow was developed. It has always been employed in hunting and warfare. Buddhist monks in the Far East have used archery in their martial arts routines for centuries as well.

Archery is even now being utilized by some tribes around the world for hunting purposes and many millions of ordinary people practice archery for leisure. Buddhist monks still utilize it in their meditation techniques. There are basically three kinds of archery recognized: primitive, traditional and modern archery.

Traditional archery includes such bows as the longbow and the recurve bow. Bows of both types have been found dating back to 2000 BC. It appears that the longbow was more common in northern Europe and the recurve bow was more widespread in southern Europe and east from there all the way to Japan.

The contemporary compound bow can achieve a heavy draw weight by expending relatively little physical energy compared with traditional bows by the use of a set of pulleys or cams, but still a lot of people prefer to use traditional bows. People appear to want to get back to the root of archery.

Longbows are very simple items, traditionally made from one piece of yew or ash. Recurve bows could also be made from one length of wood, but more often, the tips would be crafted from wood and horn or bone. Remember that the tips of a recurve bow point to the front when the bow is unstrung.

Because of the recurved tips, a recurve bow is more powerful than a longbow weight for weight or inch for inch, but recurve bows are typically fairly short, so the standard longbow is much more powerful than the typical recurve bow.

However, both types of bow require quite an amount of physical strength to draw them to full power and hold that draw to take aim.

This cycle of drawing and holding without quivering or trembling requires a lot of strength and concentration, which usually has to be acquired. It can take years of practice to master traditional archery. The British longbow men of the 14 th and 15 th centuries trained all their lives.

In fact, Henry VIII made it law that all English and Welsh men had to train with a longbow at the butts every Sunday aiming at targets at a minimum of 220 yards away. These days, 90 metres (100 yards) is about the furthest archers shoot. It would often take ten years to become this proficient, but some archers could cast an arrow 400 yards and more.

In order to cast an arrow that far, traditional longbows used in warfare had a draw weight of between 160 and 180 lbs, which would send a three ounce, armour-piercing arrow about 300 yards. Not many men could draw a bow like that these days These days, a standard draw weight for a longbow would be 100 lbs and for a recurve something like 60 lbs.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on various topics, but is currently concerned with archery bows for sale. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Tags: archery, buddhism, education, government, History, hobbies, hunting, martial arts, other, outdoors, Politics, recreation, sports, war

People have been involved with archery for a minimum of four thousand years, but very nearly certainly for a lot longer than that. Sections of composite recurve bows have been found dating back to the second millennium BC, but the parts that were found were the non-wooden, composite parts, usually of horn.

The wooden sections ordinarily rotted away thousands of years previously, but a wooden longbow from the same period was found in Somerset. Most probably, people had been using all wooden, single piece bows long before they started constructing complex composite recurve bows.

The skill of archery has always enthralled mankind and, in spite of the fact that guns have made archery obsolete, it still fascinates people today, although nowadays archery is practically exclusively used for sporting purposes. It is a thriving sport and hobby and is the national sport of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

If you are interested in taking up archery, you will first have to decide which type of bow you prefer. Among other types, there are the longbow, recurve bow, reflex and decurve bows, deflex bow, pyramid bow and crossbow.

To a certain degree, the arrows are not interchangeable either. For example, a longbow can cast a three foot, heavy-gauge arrow, whereas a crossbow shoots a six inch bolt. The bows also had different uses although there was a certain degree of common ground.

For example, longbows were the heavy, rapid-firing artillery of their day, being able to lob a heavy, armour-piercing arrow hundreds of yards; whereas a short recurve bow was perfect for attack from horseback. Crossbows took less ability to operate but were slower than a bow.

There are different types of arrow too. Historically, arrows were made of wood with a pointed metal tip, but these days arrows can be made of aluminium or carbon fibre. The arrowheads are different for different uses as well. A plain brass tip is sufficient for everyday shooting whereas a ferocious, slashing broadhead is used for killing.

Most people who take archery seriously use carbon fibre arrows these days which is the typical arrow shaft used at the Olympic games. The flights are usually of bird feathers and are used to steady the arrow in flight to minimize wobble. Plastic flights are also to be had as they are less susceptible to damage.

The Welsh (and English) longbow was perhaps the most powerful hand bow widely used. These longbows were typically six feet or more in length and made of one section of seasoned yew (or other woods). The draw weight of a Welsh longbow at the time of Henry VIII was between 160 -180 lbf and that would shoot a heavy three ounce arrow up to about 280 yards.

An explanation of the damage that one of these arrows could wreak was given by Gerald of Wales in the 12th century:

“… in the war against the Welsh, one of the men of arms was struck by an arrow shot at him by a Welshman. It went right through his thigh, high up, where it was protected inside and outside the leg by his iron cuirasses, and then through the skirt of his leather tunic; next it penetrated that part of the saddle which is called the alva or seat; and finally it lodged in his horse, driving so deep that it killed the animal”.

It took years of practice to draw and shoot one of these longbows bows accurately.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on several topics, but is currently concerned with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Tags: archery, buddhism, education, government, History, hobbies, hunting, martial arts, other, outdoors, Politics, recreation, sports, war

Phayul, April 28, by Tenam

In a visit that is likely to raise the political temperature between Paris and Beijing, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be arriving in France for a two-day, 6-7 June, visit to the French capital. It is expected that His Holiness the Dalai Lama will also be officially presented with the Citizen of Honour, a legislation that the Paris City had passed in April 2008.

After the mass protest against the Beijing torch relay in Paris, France has been the target of government and nationalist scorn in China. French supermarket chain Carefour came under increasing calls for boycott. President Sarkozy sent a delegation of high level French officials led by former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin to China. It has been widely reported that the Speaker of the French National Assembly was sent by President Sarkozy to China with an invitation for Chinese president Hu Jintao to visit France.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his French interpreter Mathieu Ricard at a press conference in Paris, August 2008. Photo: Tenam

Before the G 20 meeting in London, a joint communique by the French foreign ministry and China on 1 April, declared that France does not “support any form of Tibet’s independence,” which is credited with the eventual meeting between Sarkozy and Hu Jintao in London.

The Tibet Group in the French Senate said in response that the Tibet issue cannot be considered an internal issue of China and that the Tibetan cause is very important and sensitive to the French people and their elected officials.

© Leo Golan for Tibetan Incense Blog, 2009. |
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Tags: buddhism, Dalai Lama, News, Politics

By Michael Heath,  March 13 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama urged China to renew talks with the Dalai Lama’s envoys on Tibet, shortly after Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi asked the U.S. to respect his country’s position on the Himalayan region.

“The president expressed his hope there would be progress in the dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama’s representatives,” the White House said in a statement after Obama met with Yang. “The promotion of human rights is an essential aspect of U.S. global foreign policy,” it said.

Earlier yesterday, Yang said in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies that “Tibet is an inalienable part of China’s territory and Tibetan affairs are exclusively China’s internal affairs.”

The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, ended contacts with China last November after eight rounds of talks failed to produce results. China deployed armed police in Tibet, stepped up patrols on the border with India and cut mobile telephone and Internet connections in some areas ahead of the March 10 anniversary of a 1959 uprising that led to the Dalai Lama’s exile, according to Tibetan groups.

Last March, the largest Tibetan uprising in almost two decades broke out after Chinese security forces suppressed a protest by monks in Lhasa. At least 19 people were killed in rioting in the city, most of them ethnic Han Chinese, the government in Beijing said.

In the ensuing crackdown, more than 200 Tibetans were killed, according to Tibet’s government-in-exile, based in northern India.

‘Hell on Earth’

The Dalai Lama said in a speech marking the 50th anniversary that Tibetans have suffered “hell on earth” under Chinese rule. He accuses the government in Beijing of committing “cultural genocide” in the region and says mass migration of ethnic Han Chinese has made Tibetans a minority in their own land.

Tibet is stable and peaceful overall, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said in a press briefing in Beijing today.

The U.S. Congress passed a resolution two days ago that urged China to “cease its repression of the Tibetan people, and to lift immediately the harsh policies imposed on Tibetans.”

In a statement issued late yesterday, the National Peoples’ Congress Foreign Affairs Committee called the U.S. resolution “a gross interference in China’s domestic affairs,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Tibet, a theocratic state ruled by the Buddhist clergy before Chinese rule, has made “remarkable progress” since the launch of democratic reform 50 years ago, Yang told the CSIS. Tibet’s traditional culture has been “well preserved” and people there enjoy all the rights prescribed by law, he said.

Respect China’s Position

“I hope that people from various sectors of the United States will appreciate these facts, and understand and respect the Chinese people’s position of upholding state sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the foreign minister said.

The Chinese Communist army fought its way onto the 3.2- kilometer (2-mile) high Tibetan Plateau in 1950 and 1951, easily defeating Tibet’s horse-borne troops. The Dalai Lama, then a teenager, accepted Chinese control to save his people from war, he wrote in his 1977 book, “My Land and My People.”

In 1959, with the Chinese troops’ presence straining Tibet’s economy, citizens of Lhasa grew alarmed when a Chinese army commander summoned the Dalai Lama, without his usual bodyguard, to the army’s camp in the city. Tibetans surrounded the Dalai Lama’s palace and forced a standoff with troops.

“A vast multitude of excited, angry people” had “armed themselves with sticks, spades or knives” and a few guns, the Dalai Lama wrote in his memoir. To avoid a battle, he slipped out, disguised as a Tibetan soldier, and fled to India.

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Tags: buddhism, China, Dalai Lama, News, Politics

BEIJING (AFP) — China’s communist government will decide on the reincarnated successor of the Dalai Lama when Tibetan Buddhism’s highest spiritual leader passes away, state press said Thursday.

“Besides religious rites and historical conventions, there is also a very important condition for the reincarnation of the Dalai and that is the approval of the central government,” top Tibetan legislator Legqoq told Xinhua news agency.

Legqoq, who goes by only one name, was speaking on the sidelines of China’s ongoing annual session of parliament which coincided with this month’s 50th anniversary of a Tibetan uprising that led to the exile of the current Dalai Lama.

Legqoq said China’s State Religious Affairs Commission issued regulations in 2007 that mandate government approval for all reincarnated “Living Buddhas,” or lamas.

The rules were widely seen as an effort to bring Tibetan Buddhism more firmly under China’s control, after decades of unrest over religious freedom and the plight of the Dalai Lama.

Living Buddhas are an important element in Tibetan Buddhism, forming a clergy of influential religious figures who are believed to be continuously reincarnated to take up their positions anew.

Often there is more than one candidate competing to be recognised as the actual reincarnation, and the authority to decide who is the true claimant carries significant power.

This is especially true in the case of the Panchen Lama, the second-most influential figure in Tibetan Buddhism behind the Dalai Lama.

Chinese authorities detained the Dalai Lama’s choice of the Panchen Lama in 1995 when the boy was six years old, and he has not been seen in public since.

The Chinese government’s choice as the Panchen Lama has meanwhile been paraded around the country in recent years to promote China’s rule over Tibet.

He will also likely oversee the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama, after the 73-year-old incumbent passes away.

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Tags: buddhism, China, Dalai Lama, News, Politics

By Stephanie Ho, VOANews
Beijing, 13 March 2009

China has issued its strongest recent criticism of Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama - calling him a political exile who directly heads an illegal theocratic government. The comments came Friday in Premier Wen Jiabao’s press conference at the end of the annual session of China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao discussed a host of issues in a news conference that stretched for more than two hours.

These topics ranged from the global economic crisis, to the Central Asia-focused Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to debt relief for developing nations in Africa.

The issue that the Chinese Premier spoke about most forcefully, though, was Tibet, which he stressed was an inalienable part of China’s territory.

Wen says Tibet-related issues are completely China’s internal affairs and that Beijing will accept no foreign interference on the matter.

The Chinese leader also had strongly critical words for Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in his homeland.

The premier said Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a political exile, not a religious figure.

Wen pointed to the Tibetan government in exile, which is based in Dharamsala, India. He called that government theocratic and illegal, and said it is under the direct leadership of the Dalai Lama.

This comment preceded his recitation of what has become a standard phrase - Beijing wants to see what the Dalai Lama does, not what he says.

Premier Wen accused the Dalai Lama of misleading political figures around the world, but added that some western leaders are also trying to use him for their own purposes.

The Chinese leader had a much different approach to Taiwan, a separately-governed island Beijing considers a renegade province and has been trying to woo.

Mr. Wen called Taiwan a “treasure island” and said he has a long-cherished hope of going to visit it someday.

In the only comments that elicited apparently spontaneous applause, Mr. Wen said he is already 67 years old, and even if he could no longer walk, he would crawl to get to the island.

On other issues, the premier said he is, in his words, “a little bit worried” about China’s “huge amount” of U.S debt, which totals about $1 trillion. He urged the United States to continue to be what he called “a credible nation” that can “ensure the safety of Chinese assets.”

Meanwhile, he said China is working very hard to cope with the negative effects of the global economic downturn. He said China is aware that no country can overcome these economic difficulties alone. But at the same time, he said his country’s view is that, in his words, “we would rather dig a well for ourselves than beg for water from others.”

© Leo Golan for Tibetan Incense Blog, 2009. |
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Post tags: China, Dalai Lama, News, Politics, Tibet

Tags: buddhism, China, Dalai Lama, News, Politics

On Thursday, March 12, the European Parliament (EP) held a debate and resolution to mark the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against China, calling on Beijing to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

On 10 March 1959 the people of Tibet rose up against the Chinese occupation of their country. The anniversary of that failed enterprise was marked this week by MEPs who passed a resolution 338 votes in favour with 131 against calling for China and the Dalai Lama to pursue dialogue based on the “Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People”.

Speaking in the debate German Christian Democrat Thomas Mann said, “the Memorandum must be the basis for further discussion with China.” He regretted that the non-violent appeal of the Dalai Lama for dialogue found no echo in Beijing.

British Labour MEP Glyn Ford said the resolution was “counter-productive” to Chinese-EU dialogue. In his view the way forward is “through dialogue and engagement not through rehash resolutions.”

EP’s official press release

In a resolution adopted by MEPs on Thursday to mark the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, the Chinese Government is urged to resume talks with the Dalai Lama’s representatives with a view to “positive, meaningful change in Tibet”, not ruling out autonomy for the region, a solution that MEPs believe need not compromise China’s territorial integrity.

The EP’s call for talks to resume came as Tibetans in many countries commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1959 revolt against China, which led to the flight of the Dalai Lama and the beginning of his exile in India.  Eight rounds of dialogue in recent years between the Dalai Lama’s envoys and Chinese Government representatives have produced no breakthrough and no further talks are planned.  In recent days the Chinese authorities have tightened security in Tibet, banning journalists and foreigners from visiting the region.(…)
Read the rest of European Parliament Urges China to Negotiate with Dalai Lama (347 words)

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Tags: buddhism, China, Dalai Lama, News, Politics

2009-03-01, xinhuanet.com

The title of “Dalai Lama”, was not granted by the Dalai Lama himself, or created by Tibetan Buddhism, or conferred by the old Tibetan ruling class and still less by any foreigners. The title was actually granted by the central government of China’s dynasties and has multi-ethnic language features.

In the late Ming dynasty, Tibetan Buddhism proliferated into a number of sects, among which Sagya, Gagya and Gadang were most popular. However, many monks failed to follow Buddhist tenets; instead, they always served the devil by seeking fame and personal interests, disrespecting senior monks, indulging in entertainment, abducting, cheating or raping women. This resulted in grievances among the public in Tibet. At that time, Tsongkapa, a monk born in Qinghai Province, was learning Buddha Dharma in Tibet. Seeing all this, he felt that what these monks did was a long way from the actual requirements of Buddhism. Then he proposed a religious reform of all sects in Tibet, and vowed to create a new sect.

In 1402 and 1406, Tsongkapa finished writing “Treaties of the Staged Enlightenment” and “Tantra in Tibet: The Grand Exposition of Secret Mantra” respectively, laying a theoretical basis for establishing the Gelug Sect. He thought that Buddhism believers ought to first respect Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, be devoted to learning Sutras, Vinaya and Sastra of Tripitaka Sutra, as well as the three trainings of precepts, concentration, and insight. That is, to abide by taboos, to esteem the Buddhas and Patriarchs, to be immersed in studying the original meaning of Buddhist scriptures, to cultivate oneself according to Buddhist doctrine, to free oneself from vulgarity, to study intensively sutras of Mahayana and Hinayana, as well as to practice both Esoteric and Exotoric Buddhism.

Tsongkapa’s reform soon won support from the Tibetan nobles and serf owners. In lunar January 1409, he held and presided over the first Pray for Blessing Dharma Assembly in Lhasa’s Jokhang Temple. Later in the same year, Tsongkapa had the Ganden Monastery built and appointed himself the chief abbot there, marking the establishment of the Gelug Sect.

With an increasingly higher influence, the Gelug sprang up in Tibet and Qinghai. As a result, more monasteries were set up, such as Drepung, Sera and Tashilhunpo, laying a solid foundation for the development of the Yellow Sect.

Tsongkapa’s success in the reformation enabled the Gelug to become the largest sect in Tibetan Buddhism. “Gelug” means that Buddhism believers should do good things and never do evil things. It is also called Huangjiao (the Yellow Sect) by the Han people because its followers always wear yellow hats.

Though it was the last to come into being, the Gelug had grown into the most powerful sect in Tibet with the energetic support of the central dynasty. This indicates that even a small sect would be able to become grand and influential in a region, so long as it gained support of the imperial court, the central government or a secular regime.

The title of “Dalai” first came from the third Dalai Lama Soinam Gyamco. “Gyamco” means the Sea in the Tibetan language, which is contained in the name of Dalai Lama of later generations.

In 1577, the 38th year of the reign of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming dynasty, Soinam Gyamco, Tsongkapa’s third-generation disciple, came to Qinghai, by traveling thousands of miles from Tibet, to publicize the doctrine of the Gelug Sect. At that time, Mongolian noble Althan Khan, who ruled Qinghai, was a Buddhist who believed in Tibetan Buddhism the most. Hearing that Soinam Gyamco had arrived, he extended a rousing welcome to the dignitary and conferred him the title of “the Overseer of the Buddhist Faith Vajra-dhara Dalai Lama” to express appreciation of his wisdom and talents.(…)
Read the rest of Dalai Lama Title’s Background by Eyes of Chinese (3,730 words)

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Post tags: China, Dalai Lama, History, Politics, Tibet

Tags: buddhism, China, Dalai Lama, History, Opinions, Politics

Mark MacKinnon, theglobeandmail.com, March 03

So the powers-that-be here have decided that British rock band Oasis can’t play their first-ever gigs in mainland China because Liam Gallagher (the Gallagher brother with the nicer voice and even less of a grasp on things like politics than his sibling) played at a “Free Tibet” concert on Randalls Island in New York in 1997.

That’s the reason being given by the band, anyway. Oasis were scheduled to play a pair of shows in Shanghai and Beijing in early April and said in a statement that they were “bewildered” by the decision, which came just three weeks after the shows were announced.

“According to the show’s promoters, officials within the Chinese Ministry of Culture only recently discovered that Noel Gallagher appeared at a Free Tibet Benefit Concert on Randall’s Island in New York in 1997, and have now deemed that the band are consequently unsuitable to perform to their fans in the Chinese Republic … during its 60th anniversary year,” the statement reads.

Leaving aside the question of just exactly what or where the “Chinese Republic” is, the government-ordered cancellation is bad news for Chinese music fans, even those who aren’t particularly keen on “Wonderwall” and everything that followed.

Here’s an incomplete list of some of other musicians who played that day at Randalls Island: U2, R.E.M., Eddie Vedder, the Beastie Boys, Alanis Morissette, the Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, a Tribe Called Quest and Ben Harper. So the ban on Oasis might mean no shows by Bono, Pearl Jam or Alanis in the Middle Kingdom either, although Sonic Youth did play Beijing last year without any problems.

The Chinese government is hypersensitive regarding foreign artists performing here, particularly since last March, when Bjork – another singer who was on the stage that day in 1997 – finished a concert in Shanghai with her song “Declare Independence” and shouted “Tibet! Tibet! Raise your flag!” over the final bars. There was some chatter among Chinese music fans about what the notoriously unpredictable Gallagher brothers might do on stage.

(It’s not just the Tibet issue that gets the censors back in their 1970s frame of mind. All major foreign acts need to submit a setlist to the authorities before performing; the Rolling Stones were famously made to drop several songs with “suggestive” lyrics before they were allowed to make their 2006 debut in China. “Brown Sugar,” “Honky Tonk Woman” or “Beast of Burden” all got excised for fear of what hearing such songs live might do to the locals.)

In my books, if the Chinese authorities were going to ban Oasis for a perceived offence to the people of China, they should have targeted the other Gallagher, Noel (the one with the unibrow who writes most of the better tunes), who made a far bigger error when he referred to Shanghai – maybe you’ve heard of it, population 18.9 million – as “the middle of nowhere” in an interview with That’s Shanghai magazine.

The good news is that an April 7 Oasis show in Hong Kong is apparently still going ahead. “One country, two systems,” the formula under which Hong Kong was absorbed back into China in 1997, apparently means one concert for 1.3 billion people.

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Post tags: China, Politics

Tags: buddhism, China, News, Politics