Eat the Buddha

Eat the Buddha – Barbara Demick

Ngaba is a town on the high Tibetan plateau, in a region of western China that was once part of the historic Tibetan territory of Amdo. In recent decades, it has become known as one of the most tense and closely watched places in China, a center of Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule.

In Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy, a celebrated book about North Korea, tells the story of Ngaba through the lives of the people who live there. Drawing on years of reporting and interviews, often conducted under difficult circumstances, she traces the town’s history from the early twentieth century to the present.

Demick follows a cast of memorable individuals, including a princess from the region’s former royal family, a young girl from a nomadic family who grows up to become a businesswoman, a monk, a student, a poet and others, each of whose lives reflects the pressures and changes facing Tibetans under Chinese rule. Through their stories, she describes the arrival of the Communist army, the devastation of the Cultural Revolution, periods of relative openness and renewed crackdowns, and the waves of protest that brought the town to international attention.

The book offers a vivid and humane portrait of Tibetan culture, faith and resilience, and of the complex realities of life in a place where politics shape every aspect of daily life.

Eat the Buddha is an important read for anyone interested in Tibet, China, human rights and narrative nonfiction. It contains descriptions of violence and distressing events.