For a fifth straight year, China plans to close Tibet to foreign travelers during a sensitive period starting in mid-February. Yu Zhi of the Lhasa Youth Tourist Agency said recently that travel agents had been informed that foreign travelers would be banned from Feb. 20 to March 30. Another agent with the China International Travel Agency in Lhasa, who wouldn't give her name, said she had been told the ban would end March 20. The periodic closure of the Himalayan region encompasses the Feb. 22-24 Tibetan New Year Festival of Losar, as well as the anniversary of a deadly anti-government riot March 14, 2008. Tensions are especially high this year after the self-immolations of at least 16 Buddhist monks, nuns and other Tibetans. Most sought Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959.
-- Christopher Bodeen, The Associated PressHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
