IA.
The vast public square at the center of Beijing, capital of China. In 1989, as many as a million protesters, led by students, demonstrated in favor of democracy, prompting a lethal crackdown by the Communist government on June 4. Number of deaths still unknown, but totaling at least in the hundreds. The crackdown is a central event in modern Chinese history. See CHINA; TAIPENG REBELLION; TIBET; UIGHUR.
A mysterious culture and important branch of Buddhism dating back more than 2,000 years. Long known as the “Roof of the World” because it is home to the Himalayan mountain range and Mount Everest. Since 1965 an autonomous region of China. The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the head of the “Yellow Hat” order of Tibetan Buddhists. In 1959, he fled China on foot and horseback into India after a Chinese crackdown of a Tibetan uprising. Tibetan Buddhism emphasizes reincarnation. The Dalai Lama (a combination of the words “ocean” and “teacher”) is the 14th of his line. He is regarded as the earthly embodiment of the compassionate “bodhisattva,” or “buddha-to-be.” The Chinese central government views the Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile with contempt. In 2012, state-run media sought to equate the Dalai Lama, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, with the Nazis. Tibetan exiles have set themselves on fire in protest of Chinese rule. In his 70s in 2012, the Dalai Lama, has gradually devolved power, yielding secular authority to a prime-minister-in exile and starting the years-long search for a successor as spiritual head.
A head covering in desert or other hot climates that does not necessarily have ethnic or religious significance and is not solely Arab. See SIKHISM.
UIGHUR (ALSO UYGHUR):
Pronounced wee-GORE. A small ethnic group in China that speaks languages of the Turkic family (which includes Kazakh, Turkish and Uzbek). They generally practice Sunni Islam. They are newsworthy because of increasingly violent clashes with China’s central government. China is perhaps the most homogeneous nation on Earth, with more than 92 percent of the population from one ethnic group (the Han). On paper, the separatist Uighurs should not affect China as a whole, but a defining theme of Chinese history is the government’s fear of political instability. See CHINA; TAIPENG REBELLION; TIANANMEN SQUARE; TIBET.
Dalit (capitalized) is a more respectful and current term for castes once called “untouchables.” M.K. Gandhi coined the term Harijan (“children of God”) to refer to these castes. See CASTE SYSTEM; GANDHI; HINDUISM; INDIA.
A part of Imperial China until the 10th century, Vietnam was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. A war against the French led by Ho Chi Minh resulted in their expulsion in 1954, but not Vietnam’s independence. A simmering civil war between the Communist North, led by Ho, and the Western-leaning South drew in the United States in 1959. The shadow war expanded into war in 1965. After nearly 60,000 American dead, more than 300,000 South Vietnamese dead, and more than 1 million North Vietnamese dead (with uncounted millions of civilian deaths), the United States withdrew in 1975. The Communist North united the two halves. A significant migration of Vietnamese refugees began in the late 1970s and lasted into the mid-1980s. Tensions persisted between the former enemies and normal diplomatic relations were not reestablished until 1995. About the size of New Mexico. Capital: Hanoi (South Vietnam’s capital, Saigon, is now called Ho Chi Minh City). Languages: Vietnamese, English, French. Faith: None (81 percent), Buddhist (9 percent), Roman Catholic (7 percent) and others (1999 estimate). Population: 92 million. Proportion of population younger than 15: one-quarter. Ethnic groups: Viet (86 percent), Tay (2 percent), Thai (2 percent), Hmong (less than 2 percent) and others (2009 estimate). (Source: World Factbook.) See also INDOCHINA; THAILAND; VIETNAMESE SLURS.
Virtually unknown in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, Vietnamese restaurants grew in number with the end of the Indochinese wars in 