Domestic and overseas media visit Tibetan area of Gansu

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Source: CCTV.com | 04-10-2008 09:02

A delegation of domestic and overseas media are visiting riot-hit areas in northwestern Gansu Province on a tour organized by the Information Office of the State Council. During their visit to Labrang Monastery in Xiahe, the tour was interrupted by a group of monks, but soon resumed.

Reporters on the tour include 11 from foreign media organizations such as the American Broadcasting Company, Reuters, the Russian News and Information Agency and Japan's Asahi Corporation.

Reporters on the tour include 11 from foreign media organizations such as the American Broadcasting Company, Reuters, the Russian News and Information Agency and Japan's Asahi Corporation.

They are scheduled to visit the worst hit areas in the riots and interview local residents, living buddhas, and government officials.

The Labrang monastery was one of their stops. The Monastery is one of the six most important lamaseries in the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism and is home to more than 1,000 lamas.

The head of the monastery told the media group that the riots in Lhasa and Gannan were manufactured by separatists.

Living Buddha Jiamuyang, Head of Labrang monastery, said, "This can be seen as a great madness and big exposure of the separatists. Us Tibetan people have seen more of their true faces. "

He said separatists who are trying to sabotage the torch relay of the Olympic Games have also made their true intentions clear to the world.

The visit was interrupted when over a dozen young monks carrying Tibetan independence flags, walked out of the Monastery and shouted slogans for Tibetan independence to the journalists in a square outside of the monastery.