Against the backdrop of a stream of self-immolations [1] in Tibet in protest against Chinese rule, unrest in eastern Tibet [2] with protestors shot by police and a severely increased military presence [3], several of the most popular independently-run Tibetan language blog sites hosted in China have gone offline as of today.
The blog section [4] of the website AmdoTibet has been closed (the rest of the site is functioning [5]) and the following notice can be seen:
Another very popular blog site Sangdhor.com [6] is also offline, without any explanation. In October 2011, Sangdhor boldly published a poem titled “Mourning” that was about the self-immolations in Tibet. The poem was quickly taken offline. An English translation of the poem [7] was published on High Peaks Pure Earth.
Below are two screenshots of Sangdhor.com, the top screenshot shows Sangdhor in its functioning state and the bottom screenshot was taken earlier today:
Finally the blog site Rangdrol.net [10] is also offline and contains an interesting notice in Tibetan. In October 2011, Rangdrol published a poem titled “The Truth of Flames on the Thorny Path” which carried many references to fire and flames; the poem was taken offline (read the English translation [11] on High Peaks Pure Earth).
Below is a screenshot of Rangdrol taken earlier, the English text “Site off-line” suggests that the administrators have removed the site, and the Tibetan text underneath reads: ”For the sake of life, we are mourning and crying”.
This post is part of our special coverage Languages and the Internet [13].