Imagining Tibet

Since 1990 the attention to "Tibetan Culture" has been a prominent cultural phenomenon. A large number of words, images and popular music, together with all kinds of other media, reshaped Tibet into a mysterious, crystal and natural "Utopia", as a result, construct the cultural image of Tibet by the main stream culture. The thesis, based on the concept of "image", analyzes all kinds of discourses related to Tibet, attempting to crystallize the "Tibetan Image" across the topographical and ethnic images of Tibet. The body of this thesis is divided into four parts: the literal image of "Tibetan Image" and cultural productivity; the means of representation about Tibet and ideological connotation of "Tibetan Image"; the relationship between "Tibetan Image" and "self, and self narration of "Tibetan Image" in the strong main stream discourse. These attempts aim to demystify the halos surrounded "Tibetan Image". In another sense, it also shows the narrative ways of minorities in Chinese cultural discourse and the ethos of geographical and tribal cultures.