efinancialnews.com
26 October 2015
The Lhasa municipal workforce appears in no hurry to dismantle the thousands of red flags and assorted banners proclaiming the population’s joy at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Tibet’s official inauguration as the Xizang Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. Life is only slowly returning to what passes for normal here.
At the major intersections, the bright red LED message boards proclaim this week’s catchy slogans, in Chinese, Tibetan and English (foreigners are now allowed in again, having been banned during the parades and “spontaneous” rallies). One officiously verbose message reads: “Strengthening the frontier region is a key to governing a country and maintaining stability is a prerequisite of strengthening a frontier region.”
Another is somewhat snappier: “To enhance the ethnic solidarity is the key to building a beautiful Tibet.” The term “ethnic solidarity” is official code for China’s policy of absorbing Tibet into the Chinese state through a combination of tight security, massive economic investment and population shift on a grand scale.
In 1965 Tibet was still largely cut off from the world, its population homogenous, fervently Buddhist and culturally distinct from its Chinese neighbour. Fifty years later, a significant proportion of the population is Han Chinese (though China officially denies the Dalai Lama’s claim that Tibetans risk becoming a minority in their own land).
Beijing has historically encouraged migration to Tibet’s three main cities – Lhasa, Gyantse and Shigatse. Han Chinese already control most of the small businesses in the urban areas. Across the river from the well preserved historic capital, a forest of cranes relentlessly sways above rows of high-rise apartment blocks under construction to house the continued influx.
Quite apart from the creeping loss of identity, Tibetans feel another loss – their traditional ruler. The 14th Dalai Lama, who is 80, fled into exile in 1959 during an uprising against the Chinese that resulted in many thousands of civilian deaths (the exact numbers are disputed). His former residence, the spectacular Potala Palace, dominates the centre of Lhasa. All day, every day, hundreds of ordinary, devout Tibetans are to be seen processing slowly clockwise around the perimeter, chanting softly and whirling their prayer wheels.
Those who enter the palace and climb the 400 steps to the Dalai Lama’s official reception rooms lay gifts of holy scarves or small banknotes before an empty throne. Elsewhere, in a discreet corner of one of the monasteries that continue to flourish, hangs the unmistakable photograph of the present Dalai Lama – a beaming image that is officially forbidden, together with the old Tibetan ‘snow lion’ national flag.
On the positive side, China’s massive investment in Tibet’s social and economic infrastructure is there for all to see. Pylons straddle the inhospitable mountains of this country, which did not have electricity before the 1950s. Giant electronic advertising displays flash above the entrances to brash shopping malls selling all the usual international luxury brands, bringing Western as well as Chinese culture to Tibet.
There is a shiny airport with a connecting motorway and, since 2006, the highest railway in the world, built on permafrost, linking Lhasa to Xian in a 33-hour trip across the roof of the world. The frenetic drive for development has its costs.
The stunning turquoise Lake Yamdrok Tso, which lies between Lhasa and the Himalayas, is regarded as sacred by Tibetans. In 1985 a hydroelectric scheme was initiated, which gave rise to (rapidly suppressed) protests from ecologists and Buddhists predicting depletion and desecration. Thirty years on the lake appears to have lost 20% of its area.
But the electricity to power the boom has to come from somewhere, and the last thing this thin, crystal-clear atmosphere needs is the coal-fired power stations that have contributed to the permanent smoggy haze that covers much of this part of the world.
The author recently visited Tibet
