Two Tibetan men set themselves on fire to protest against Chinese rule, a graphic video released by an exile group shows.

Tenzin Khedup, 24, died in the incident and Ngawang Norphel, 22, was seriously injured, according to the Tibetan Youth Congress and the official Xinhua News Agency. The self-immolations took place in Yushu prefecture in west China's Qinghai province.

The dead man was a local herder and the survivor was a migrant carpenter from Aba prefecture in Sichuan province.

The group released photos of a charred body, along with dramatic footage of the two men engulfed in flames while holding up Tibetan flags and calling for independence.

After a few seconds, the two figures stumble and collapse. One of them manages to get up again and runs down the street in flames.

High-pitched screaming can be heard. There are several bystanders in the video, including a woman who leaves a car next to the burning men and runs away.

About three dozen self-immolations have occurred over the past year in Tibetan areas of China in protest against Bejing.

The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who is touring Britain, said it would be futile to resume talks with China on Tibet's future, unless it adopted a "realistic" stance.

He added that it was useless attempting to persuade Beijing that he was not seeking full independence for Tibet.

"We both have mantras to recite. My mantra is 'We are not seeking independence'. The Chinese mantra is 'Tibet is always part of China'. The real effect of both mantras is limited," the Dalai Lama said. "This is not a question of convincing. They feel it is easier just to suppress."

The Nobel Peace Prize winner claimed that a shift towards democracy and better human right has become inevitable.

"China has to go along with world trends. That's democracy, liberty, individual freedom. China sooner or later has to go that way. It cannot go backward," the Dalai Lama said. "Chinese people themselves, they really want change," he said.

China Congress