Spoiling Tibet : China and Resource Nationalism on the Roof of the World

The mineral-rich mountains of Tibet so far have been largely untouched by China's growing economy. Nor has Beijing been able to settle Tibet with politically reliable peasant Chinese. That is all about to change as China's 12th Five-Year Plan, from 2011 to 2015, calls for massive investment in copper, gold, silver, chromium and lithium mining in the region, with devastating environmental and social outcomes. Despite great interest in Tibet worldwide, Spoiling Tibet is the first book that investigates mining at the roof of the world. A unique, authoritative guide through the torrent of online posts, official propaganda and exile speculation. About the Author Title Copyright Contents Preface Maps of Tibet and China Introduction Four key minerals, four modes of production Geologists as guerrillas of socialist construction Perspectives: global, national, Tibetan Nation-building through mining A note on sources 1 Tibet in its own right Mining old Tibet The land of Tibet: foreground of enlightenment Roiling the gods Modern imaginaries of Tibet ‘Both sky and earth belong to the government’ Mining into history Extraction and distraction: twin pillars of China’s Tibet Enriching whom? Tibetan resistance ‘I don’t know if they really have permission’ Tibet’s territorial charisma Becoming the mountain 2 Gold rush in Tibet Surface wounds Gold rush and rent-seeking Tibetan voices ‘Suwa village did not receive even one yuan’ Chewing the land for gold Death in Amchok Gold, caterpillar fungus and sheep Government is the problem ‘You can see the dust floating in the air’ ‘Locals tried hard to stop the mining’ ‘There used to be foxes and wolves on the hill’ Bringing the state back in ‘They didn’t receive any compensation’ ‘All the workers are Chinese’ Unstoppable degradation ‘No one consulted our village’ Impacts and consequences ‘That driver drove into the protestors and broke the legs of three or four people’ ‘This mountain is the property of the local government.No trespassers’ The resource curse Conflict minerals and Tibetan resistance Resistance at the sacred mountain Tilting the plateau The Sioux, the Kazakhs and the Tibetans 3 Reach of the revolutionary state The Tsaidam/Qaidamu Basin Revolutionary oil China’s nuclear power, uranium and Tibet Colonizing the Tibetan desert Protests in Dzogang Minerals boom on the new frontier 4 Chromite globalization Protests end in death Chrome-plated modernity Norbusa/Luobusa China’s searoads lead to chrome China’s chromers Chroming your next car made in China Chromium and health Yellow water – hexchrome contamination China eats the world Gold panning 5 Capitalizing on Tibet: privatizing the treasure house Lithium and the snow li-ion Molybdenum and the trade wars of resource nationalism Compulsory modernity: gold-mining corporations move into Tibet Dachang: gold in the alpine desert of Tibet Kumbum Monastery 6 Intensive exploitation Planning the industrialization of Tibet Tibet work: industrializing the TAR Overriding the provinces: recentralizing power Inventing Tibet work If development is the answer, then what is the question? A new master plan for Tibet ‘Songtsen Gampo’s hometown is about to be completely excavated’ Conclusion China’s new rulers Tibetan voices Unbundled modernity Notes Further reading on Tibet Index About Zed Books The mineral-rich mountains of Tibet, hitherto largely untouched by China's growing economy, are now to be the site of massive investment in copper, gold, silver, chromium and lithium mining for the world's factory, with devastating environmental and social outcomes. Spoiling Tibet is the first book that investigates mining at the roof of the world - an entirely unique authoritative guide through the torrent of online posts, official propaganda and exile speculation.