Locked away in its Himalayan fortress, Tibet has long exercised a 'Shangri-la' type hold on the imagination of the West. A 'Land of Snows', the 'Rooftop of the World' is mysterious in a way that few other places are. Tibet's strategic importance, straddling the Himalaya between China and the Indian subcontinent, made it irresistible to China, which invaded in 1950. But Tibetans have never had it easy. Theirs is an unforgiving environment, and human habitation has always been a precarious proposition. Even so, the deliberate cultural strangling inflicted by the Chinese government since 1950 rates as the harshest burden Tibet's native inhabitants have been forced to endure.

Following virtual closure after the Chinese annexation of the Buddhist kingdom, Tibet was opened to foreign tourism in 1984. It was closed to all but tour groups in 1987 after an uprising by Tibetans in Lhasa, and reopened in 1992. Travel in Tibet comes with some ludicrous permit requirements. The present Chinese policy on individual tourism in Tibet seems to be one of extorting as much cash as possible from foreigners, but not so much as to scare them off completely.