Mick Hartley

As the BBC report, it's not so much that things have quietened down after that brief flare-up in Tibet; it's more that China's grip has tightened:

China appears to be maintaining a tight grip over Tibetan areas, nearly three months after a series of anti-Beijing protests and riots.

The government suggests life in areas inhabited by Tibetans is returning to normal, but evidence suggests otherwise.

Security is tight, Tibetans face travel restrictions, and monks and nuns have been forced to attend re-education classes.

Chinese tourists are once again being allowed to visit the Himalayan region, but not many are making the trip.

Foreigners are banned. It is difficult to get information about what is going on in Tibet and nearby provinces that are home to large numbers of Tibetans.

Chinese central and local government officials – who keep a tight rein on information at the best of times – are saying little. […]

The Free Tibet Campaign said 54 nuns were arrested a few weeks ago after staging a protest in Garze County in Sichuan Province.

It said the nuns were angry because they were being forced to denounce the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader.

Renouncing the Dalai Lama – who lives in exile in India – appears part of a general re-education campaign being forced on monks and nuns.

One Tibetan monk, who lives at a monastery in southern Gansu Province, told the BBC he attended re-education sessions every other day.

"Communist Party officials talk to us about how to love our country [China]," he said.

The monk said the situation in his town was relatively calm, but the People's Armed Police was maintaining a visible presence.

"The police question and beat any Tibetan they want. I have seen this with my own eyes," he said.

Spokesman Thubten Samphel fears the Chinese are increasing the amount of repression – free from the prying eyes of outsiders.

Foreign reporters are banned from going to Tibet and other Tibetan areas, and there is no word on when that ban will be lifted.

How long till the Olympics? Two months?