An employee of a state-run publishing house whose earlier books called on Tibetans to slough off their superstitious ways, Mr. Tragyal, 47, faces the charge of "splittism," one of the gravest crimes under Chinese law.
Charles Hopkins of Chicago writes: "I cannot find the words splittist or splittism in my dictionary.
For China has always said that it will not tolerate any signs of "splittism", and will attack if necessary.
Yet for all China's propaganda and the new science suggesting how genetically close the two peoples may be unity is elusive and "splittism" a constant threat.
Three years ago, China's congress adopted an antisecession law threatening to use military force against Taiwan if it declared independence, using fen lie for secession, or splittism.
To China's rulers it is a backward kind of place whose former serfs, "liberated" by the Communist army, have repaid the favour with ingratitude and even outright "splittism".
What would be the correct communist term for describing that, Mr Barnett wonders: Meta-Über-Reverse Splittism, perhaps?Others respond that a plateau culture predating the migration is in fact compatible with the science.
Fen lie, with China's official translation of "splittism," has long been a hot-button word in Chinese communist terminology, and not just directed against Tibetans objecting to the ravishing of their culture.
Splittism solidifies "Beijing's communist rulers," noted The Washington Post's editorial page, kept resolutely independent by the editor-columnist Fred Hiatt, "have been brushing off Olympics-related protests" as "the work of Western extremists or 'splittists' such as the Dalai Lama".
In one cell the Tibetan singer Lolo, now serving a six-year sentence for what the Chinese government calls "splittism," warbles a plea for Tibetan independence over pizzicato strings.
