Tibet has been a part of China for hundreds, if not thousands of years. It's status only came into question in the last fifty, thanks to the involvement of the CIA, during the cold war.
Tibet has been part of China before, it is true -- but not for thousands of years, and primarily (until recently) when China has been ruled by a foreign dynasty (the yuan and qing dynasties respectively). But it has been independent many times for longer (before Buddhism came to rule in Tibet they were considered a fierce enemy). So you could say its status has always been in question.
Not sure where the CIA comes into it. I don't doubt that they would have wanted contention in the area - but I believe the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan community in Nepal were contesting Chinese control after they invaded in 1959 quite outside of the CIA's involvement.
I was at a reading of yours recently, and only thought of this question after I left? You seem enormously taken by the stories and problems of the period of history of the baroque era.
Why not write history about the time period rather than fiction? Why add characters -- however fabulously written they are -- to a tableau of already fabulous characters?
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Tibet has been a part of China for hundreds, if not thousands of years. It's status only came into question in the last fifty, thanks to the involvement of the CIA, during the cold war.
Tibet has been part of China before, it is true -- but not for thousands of years, and primarily (until recently) when China has been ruled by a foreign dynasty (the yuan and qing dynasties respectively). But it has been independent many times for longer (before Buddhism came to rule in Tibet they were considered a fierce enemy). So you could say its status has always been in question.
Not sure where the CIA comes into it. I don't doubt that they would have wanted contention in the area - but I believe the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan community in Nepal were contesting Chinese control after they invaded in 1959 quite outside of the CIA's involvement.
I was at a reading of yours recently, and only thought of this question after I left? You seem enormously taken by the stories and problems of the period of history of the baroque era. Why not write history about the time period rather than fiction? Why add characters -- however fabulously written they are -- to a tableau of already fabulous characters?
Read some stories about capital punishment and organ transplants in China, and found Mr. Nivens stories to be remarkably prescient!