To celebrate language, music and faith is as much a political statement as a show of reverence for the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959."Most of our culture and the way we live has a really strong tie to Buddhism," Yangkyi says Tibetan Buddhists believe that like all previous Dalai Lamas, he will choose the time and place of his reincarnation.For almost 20 years he has maintained: "As far as my own rebirth is concerned, the final authority is myself, no-one else, and obviously not Chinese communists."It's the view shared by Tibetans in Australia, who shake their heads in disbelief at Beijing's logic that it alone can decide.As Canberra-based Tibetan activist Shenphen Ringpapontsang says: "If they can get away with saying something so irrational like an atheist communist party has the authority to appoint a spiritual leader, then what's next? Are we going to expect a Pope Xi Jinping the First to come to the next Vatican conclave?''This struggle over religion, identity and power reaches from Australia's beaches to the future of Tibet itself."Tibetan existence is actually at a really critical point in time," says Zoe Bedford, of the Australia Tibet Council."It's very vulnerable right now … simply being Tibetan is an act of resistance."So, when Tibetans here in Australia don their cultural dress, speak Tibetan language and just celebrate the life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, this is a powerful act.''It's an act of resistance that starts at school.Tibetan language schools around the world are keeping the culture and religious identity alive in exile.At one such school at Dee Why, on Sydney's northern beaches, children gather each Saturday morning to learn more than vocabulary