A Silent Tibet in New Pursuit

For outsiders, including many <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Han Chinese, Tibet remains a mysterious place and is closely associated with key words like Dalai Lama, riot and suppression. So, is the real Tibet the same as the media-perception one?

 

In the second half of November, I took a two-week trip to Tibet as a tourist, and what I am writing here is just what I saw and heard during my trip -- superficial but true.

 

Train

The train from Beijing to Lhasa took 44 hours, and the price tag for a hard sleeping bed on the train is 789 yuan ($116).  In Beijing’s propaganda materials, the Tibet railway, which was completed in 2006, is boosting social and economic development in Tibet, and critics said the railway would only accelerate “Hanization” in Tibet. I did not see many Tibetan people on the train. A group of migrant workers from the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu were neighboring me, and they were on the train to Lhasa for a local radio project.

 

The landscape along the railway is spectacular, and wild Tibetan antelopes were visible outside the train window.

 

Lhasa

Lhasa is a heavily guarded city. At the East Beijing Road of Lhasa, the traditional Tibetan community, armed police guarded the entrance of every small alleyway. Soldiers with guns and helmets are also patrolling in the region around the clock. The system was in place since the riot on March 14, 2008, according to locals.

 

But the ubiquitous military presence in Lhasa did not turn the city into anything like a camp. Business is booming in Lhasa with many new restaurants and shops, and the traffic on main streets was very heavy, with jeeps, buses, rickshaws and trucks horning together.

 

November is not a season for tourists, and the city is full of Tibetan people. Hundreds of Pilgrims were kowtowing around the Jokhang Temple. Souvenir shop owners were trying hard to sell their products – everything Tibetan but the portrait of Dalai Lama.

 

Han-Tibetan

There may be tensions between Han and Tibetan people, but for a tourist like me, the tension barely existed. For many times, me and my friend were the only two Han customers in a local smoke-stuffed Tibetan tea house (a big pot of sweet yak butter tea’s price is 4 yuan, or $0.6), and the atmosphere was always friendly.

 

A Tibetan taxi driver, who is at his late 20s and is from Lhasa suburb, said he hated the riot in March 2008 because it hurt his business. And his dream? “As everyone else, getting rich!”