The new hi-tech railroad to Lhasa, Tibet, has been getting lots of press lately, as much for its technological innovations as for the threat it poses to Tibetan culture; easier access means that many more Chinese settlers, who already greatly outnumber Tibetans in the capital.

However, in case you were thinking the situation in Tibet had slowed to a colonial economic creep, here’s a story straight from the days of the Iron Curtain. The BBC is reporting that a group of British climbers witnessed Chinese soldiers shoot and kill a young Tibetan nun trying to flee to Nepal with a group of other Tibetans.

Andrew Merz, Associate Editor