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Unlike Songpan county, where monasteries are small and scattered, Aba's main monastery, called Kirti, is large and central.
ECONOMIST: China��s restive Tibetan regions
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Songpan county is perched on the north-eastern edge of Aba and has become a magnet for ethnic Han tourists from across China.
ECONOMIST: China��s restive Tibetan regions
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Fire extinguishers have become the accoutrement of choice for police patrols (see picture) as far away as Lhasa, the Tibetan capital some 1, 200km south-west of Songpan.
ECONOMIST: China��s restive Tibetan regions
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The police have recently been helped by snowfall on the mountain road from Songpan to Aba town, which is at around 3, 200 metres (10, 500 feet) above sea level.
ECONOMIST: China��s restive Tibetan regions
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They are nervous that news of the immolations and the grievances that led to them will inflame tensions among more than 1m Tibetans in the two prefectures. (The population in Tibet proper is three times larger.) The handful of journalists who have ventured beyond Songpan this year have been briskly caught and turned back.
ECONOMIST: China��s restive Tibetan regions