ALAN NICHOLS
Founder, Alliance Against China Genocide

        Alan Nichols has had a busy life he's been an attorney, author, politician, educator, explorer, cyclist, lecturer, mountain climber, husband and father, and a public servant. Now, at the age of 75, after a quintuple bypass, and 50 years of frustration about the genocidal plight of Tibetans, he's found a solution, or at least a hope, that Tibetans can be free.

        His ideas took a long time in coming, growing from his interests in Tibet, beginning with Chinas invasion of Tibet in 1959 and an audience with the Dalai Lama in 1972. Alans experiences and knowledge of Tibet come from many years of his study of and journeys to the sacred mountain in Sikkim, Nepal, Kashmir, Ladak Little Tibet, Tibet, and his extensive adventures in China and Tibet.

        Alans experiences in China and Tibet have been the subject of articles in Beijings China Daily, Chinas Cultural Magazine, The Explorers Journal, his book A Journey, even poetry (published in the San Francisco Chronicle), and other articles and lectures on the subject.

        His overwhelming lifelong interest and experience in Tibet is reflected in many other activities, such as:

• Serving as a legal consultant on doing business in China
• Advising individuals on travel in China, particularly Xinging and Tibet Autonomous regions
• Participating in his first audience with the Dali Lama in 1972 and many informal meetings since
• Traveling extensively in Tibet and China
• Becoming the first Westerner to circumambulate Mt. Kailas in Western Tibet (Tibets most sacred mountain) after Tibet was opened to foreigners and to circumambulate Tibets sacred lake Manosarowar
• Writing articles, poetry, a screen play, memos, letters and publications on Tibet
• Becoming the first person (with Keith Brown) to bicycle across Tibet from the northwest border to Lhassa
• Becoming the first person to bicycle from Urumchi, Xinging, to Lhassa, Tibet
• Becoming the first person to bicycle the entire Silk Road from Xian, Chinas historic capitol, to the Mediterranean (Explorers Club Flag 186 and 134)
• Reading and analyzing the official publications of the Tibetan government in exile, the free Tibet movement, and the books written by the Dali Lama for the last 45 years
• Giving lectures and slide shows on the subjects of Tibet, China, and the Dalai Lama
• Speaking with media on the plight of Tibetans

        Alan also served as President of the Sacred Mountain Foundation and is former president of the San Francisco School Board and City College of San Francisco; is a graduate of Stanford and Stanford Law School, and has practiced law for 50 years in San Francisco. Alan now lives in Belvedere (Marin County) with his wife Becky, who, between them, have six children and four grandchildren, one named Shan, the Chinese word for mountains, arising out of Alans study and experiences in the sacred mountains of China.