Stop profiting from suffering and oppression!

We, the undersigned, are writing to inform you that we are deeply disappointed in the offer for a luxury railway cruise from China to Tibet. The China-Tibet railway is used to increasingly militarize Tibet, maximize the Chinese population transfer into Tibet, and exploit Tibet's natural resources while damaging its fragile ecosystem.

Tibet is a region still ravaged by poverty and suffering horrific human rights violations under Chinese rule. Commercializing and selling Tibet in such a way is insensitive and willfully ignorant of its situation. It also serves to legitimize China's occupation of Tibet and to depict Tibet's condition in an inaccurately positive light.

The ad mentions a visit to Tiananmen Square for kite flying. It is appalling to us to think of tourists flying kites in that area. Tiananmen Square is known for peaceful student protestors being gunned down by their own nation's military, and any visits there should solemnly acknowledge this fact.

One selling point in your ad is the "spectacular scenery" of Tibet's landscape, such as "antelopes and yaks grazing in emerald green fields" and "brilliantly blue skies". Ironically, the very railway taking the people on this tour is damaging the environment that creates this beautiful view.

The cruise tours Drepung and Sera Monasteries. Both have been subjected to strict surveillance and purges, and many monks from both have been imprisoned for political crimes. For example, Lobsang Khedrup, 24, was a monk from Sera Monastery who was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment for allegedly hoisting a Tibetan National Flag.

The ad also describes the Potala Palace as the "former home of the Dalai Lama". Of course, the Dalai Lama does not live in the Potala now, as he has been forced into exile due to the Chinese occupation.

The Jokhang Temple is described in the ad as "a center of Buddhist pilgrimage for centuries"- but it has been reduced to a tourist attraction and money-making mill. Pious Tibetan pilgrims must wait in line and pay for tickets among garish tourists. And over 6,000 other monasteries and temples in Tibet- the homes and universities for many Tibetans- were destroyed by the Chinese military.

One well-known place in Tibet that the tour does not stop at is Quishui Prison, where monks and nuns the Chinese Communist Party deems threatening to its rule are tortured and denied their right to practice their religion.

I urge you to stop offering this tour. Your use of the railway supports China's oppression of Tibet. No amount of money is worth knowing one has profited from the suffering of others.

Thank you for taking the time to read about this issue which is of great importance to us, and those we speak for who cannot speak for themselves.