11 January 2006
Tibetan burial rituals to receive ‘state protection’
Official news agency Xinhua reports that the Chinese authorities have imposed a rigid ban on photography and media reports about traditional Tibetan sky burial methods in an effort to better protect and show more respect for the centuries-old practice. According to the provisional administration's rules on "celestial burial" released by the TAR government, people are not allowed to gather around to watch the burial process; photos, video recording, and all other ways of reporting the traditional custom are forbidden. Large numbers of Tibetan people still dispose of their dead by feeding them to vultures. Official statistics suggest that there are as many as 1,075 celestial burial sites and approximate 100 operators across Tibet. The Chinese central government built a modern crematory in Tibet in October 2000, but it has proved to be unpopular with local Tibetans. The provisional regulations are the third of their kind in the past two decades since 1985.