The Tibetan minority
The Tibetans with a population of 5,416,021 mostly live in the Tibet Autonomous Region. There are also Tibetan communities in Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. The areas where Tibetans live in compact community are mostly highlands and mountainous country studded with snow-capped peaks, one rising higher than the other.
Mt. Qomolangma on the Sino-Nepalese border is 8,848 meters above sea level, the highest in the world. The Tibetan areas are crisscrossed by rivers and dotted with lakes.
Shaxi, historical market town
Shaxi is an historical old town. In 2001, the World Memorial Fund for Architecture (WMF), an international fund for the protection of world heritage sites announced that Shaxi has been added to the list of internationally significant sites, together with the Great Wall, the Ohel Rachel Synagogue of Shanghai and the Christian Pagoda, and the Monastery of Shaanxi Province.
