Chirarab lives in Luchu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in northwest China's Gansu Province, located in the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Gannan borders Tibetan-inhabited areas in Qinghai and Sichuan provinces.
Copy-cat self-immolations spread in the border area of Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu provinces last year, mostly involving young people under the age of 30.
Sangdegye, 18, lies in a bed in the Burn Department of the Gansu Provincial Hospital in the provincial capital of Lanzhou after having his leg amputated from the knee down last year.
The young man from Gannan's Xiahe County recalls buying three liters of gasoline and a handful of painkillers at a village store on Dec. 2, 2012.
He drove a borrowed motorcycle toward the nearby Bora Temple. Dressed in his Tibetan robe, he doused himself in gasoline. After the fire broke out, he ran to the temple. But he forgot to take the painkillers he had purchased, and in his immense pain, he took off his fiery clothes and caught the attention of nearby police.
Police investigations show that Sangdegye was introverted and believed in the Dalai Lama clique's saying that self-immolations were a sacrifice for the great Tibetan undertaking. One of his friends set himself alight and died on May 27, 2012, a move that shocked Sangdegye.
Sangdegye used to watch Voice of America (VOA) Tibetan-language programs, and says he adored the self-immolators VOA reported on, as they were like "heroes."
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High-profile divorce saga ends
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