Recent clashes between ethnic Tibetans and Hui Muslims in the region of Qinghai that borders Tibetan and Muslim areas, apparently sparked by individual arguments over business matters. Our reporter interview with Agya Rinpoche, previously the region’s government official in charge of religious affairs (defected in 1998 and is now living in the United States), which suggested that the unrest was quite out of character for the region, which, until now, has seen good relations between the two ethnic populations.