The Chinese fence traces a furrow in the Himalayas, its barbed wire and concrete ramparts separating Tibet from Nepal.

Here, in one of the more isolated places on Earth, China¡¯s security cameras keep watch alongside armed sentries in guard towers.

High on the Tibetan Plateau, the Chinese have carved a 600-foot-long (182-meter) message on a hillside: ¡°Long live the Chinese Communist Party,¡± inscribed in characters that can be read from orbit.