Updated

Chinese state media say a Tibetan man has died after setting himself on fire in northwest China's Qinghai province, as the wave of the fiery protests against Chinese rule show no sign of abating.

The official Xinhua News Agency says Libong Tsering, 19, self-immolated in Tongren county Thursday afternoon but provided no further detail about why the man set himself ablaze.

Two days earlier, Xinhua reported two Tibetan herdsmen killed themselves by setting themselves on fire in two separate incidents.

The latest death brings to at least 78 the number of Tibetans who have self-immolated since 2009 in protest of what rights supporters say China's suffocating rule of the Tibetan region.