HIGH TRAIN TO TIBET

Area of Academic interest

Tibet. China. Nomads. Megastructures. Indigenous cultures. Melting permafrost. Train  engineering. Climate change. Social changes. Tibetan cultures. Tibetan monks and monasteries. History. Colonialism. International affairs. 

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The Film

High Train to Tibet

A film by Patrick Morell
A Golden Rabbit Films LLC Production

HD. Color, 90 minutes, 2014

with English subtitles

Opening in July 2006, the final segment of the highest train in the world, from Beijing to Lhasa is a technical feat. But is it not also a threat to the survival of the cultural and religious identity of Tibet?

 

For thousands of years the indigenous people of the Tibetan Plateau lived in relative isolation, surviving as a devout nomadic agrarian society, following the teachings of the Dalai Lamas, including the current one.

In 2006 the railway was completed. It opened the region to a wave of Chinese immigrants traveling from Beijing to Lhasa and to the Tibetan Autonomous Region. What does this train mean for the survival of the culture of the Tibetan people? How does it impact the lives of Tibetan Nomads?

These are the questions explored in the High Train to Tibet film – an epic and exciting look at one of humanity’s most ancient and heroic people.

The film premiered at the Explorers Club, New York City in February 2015.

To purchase a copy of this film  on DVD or streaming formats, click on the Purchase Film button: