On March 13th, the eve of the riots, security in central Lhasa was visibly tighter than normal in the city, which is ringed by military encampments.

ECONOMIST: Tibet

But one plausible explanation is that some officials actually wanted turbulence in Lhasa so that they could justify tighter security in the city well before the games.

ECONOMIST: Fifty years after the 1959 uprising, Tibet remains restive

Tibetan monks were rioting in Lhasa, and large numbers of foreign journalists descended on the city for the first time.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Asia Buzz: Spin Follies

It was, perhaps, a sign of the authorities' misreading of Lhasa's anger that a foreign correspondent was in the city at all.

ECONOMIST: A week in Tibet

Nearly ten years after its launch, the Lhasa Economic and Technological Development Zone is still a mostly desolate expanse on the edge of the city.

ECONOMIST: Tibet