DOLMA SQUARE, outside Rongwo monastery in Tongren, Qinghai province, generally feels empty in its hugeness, punctuated only by a golden stupa at its heart, and the occasional monk. On November 9th it was swarming with activity, as thousands of Tibetans, mostly students, demonstrated against ethnic injustices; an 18-year-old Tibetan, Kalsang Jinpa, had burnt himself to death there the day before.
