Author: Vijay Kranti
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 19, 2002
Beijing Resorts To Selling Tibetan
Culture To Make Political And Financial Capital
If you are a first time visitor
to Lhasa or visiting this 'Roof of the World' after a gap of over ten years
then irrespective of whatever you have read or heard about Tibet from a
distance, you can not escape the psychedelic bombing that comes crashing
on you with the very first visuals of the city. This bombing is far more
overpowering than the splitting headache that sets on most visitors as
a result of high altitude and the shortage of oxygen, a striking feature
of China's most celebrated colony - Tibet.
If you have been hoping to see yaks
roaming muddy streets of this Tibetan capital, then herds of swanky Pajeros,
omnipresent Land Cruisers, luxurious green-top Taxis and cars supporting
the best known international brands are bound to give you the shock of
your life. The most overpowering sight is that of one kilometer long shopping
plaza that connects Potala, the traditional seat of Dalai Lamas and
Jokhang, the national cathedral and the most revered temple of Tibet. With
their glittering facades and well packed modern merchandise the massive
Chinese stores lining this street can put even the best shopping malls
of western cities like Washington, Berlin, Paris, Zurich and London to
shame.
But the worst shock lies in stock
for those western tourists who have been hooked to the picture postcard
images of old Tibet and have been wondering if there are still some Tibetans
left in Lhasa.There are thousands to choose from in the Barkhor, the heart
of Tibetan quarter of Lhasa.Walking in a hip-to-hip crowd of circumambulators
along the periphery of Jokhang temple many among the crowd hail from
distant villages and are distinguishable from their colourful and best
traditional attires and, of course, their rosaries and hand held prayer
wheel 'Mani'. The rest include the locals and Buddhists from Mainland China,
Taiwan, Hongkong and Japan etc. Even if there are a few hundred video cameras
watching the crowd from trees and walls of surrounding houses, don't worry,
they are meant only for Tibetans.Inside Potala and monasteries like Jokhang,
Drepung, Sera and Tashi Lhumpo too, the locals offer mounds of butter,
scarves and small currency notes while the foreigner leave behind heaps
of dollars, Yens and Sing-D's (Singapore Dollars) to reflect the height
of their faith. Each monastery has its own population of maroon robed monks.
In Sera courtyard you can see about 200 of them debating religion. Their
session is well synchronized with the tourist buses. As tourists are tired
or taking their pictures and buses start moving out the debate session
also comes to an end. How many of them are genuine monks and how many are
on PSB (Public Security Bureau) duty to keep watch on the visitors and
fellow monks is only a matter of guess. Previous experience shows that
no sensible tourist can afford landing into trouble by engaging in a serious
dialogue with them.
As in any other given situation
this visual encounter with China's Tibet too offers enough space to draw
many meanings and interpretations to each interested quarter. The first
ones to venture are, obviously, Beijing masters of Lhasa who present the
astonishing civic progress of Lhasa as a precious 'gift' from the 'Great
Motherland' to an impoverished people of Tibet. They are also quite enthusiastic
in presenting the surging crowds of pilgrims at Barkhor, as a proof of
religious freedom given to the Tibetans. Interestingly, these two also
happen to be the major issues on which China has been facing international
community's ire since it forced the Dalai Lama to flee to exile in 1959
and finally assimilated Tibet into the fold of 'great Chinese motherland'.
It is not surprising that China
has, of late, adopted a new aggressive policy of saying this all by opening
Tibet to international tourism and inviting the world citizens in a true
Deng Xiao-Ping spirit to 'seek truth from facts'. As a result of this approach
Beijing has opened its Tibetan doors even to Indian visitors who, barring
a hand picked select group of 'China Friends', had been simply barred from
visiting Tibet during past 50 years.For a keen watcher of the Tibetan scene
for three decades now, this opportunity to seek truth from facts was too
tempting to ignore. Even if it meant travelling 750 km as an ordinary tourist
in an air-tight bus and staying in 'sanitized' country hotels under the
supervision of a China trained Tibetan tour guide and a government sponsored
driver.
If you have a reasonable background
on the subject and the right kind of eye to separate chaff from barley
you cannot escape admiring the great Chinese art of creating colourful
and breathtaking facades. But then if you want to see the real colours
of this city then, unlike the typical Western 'Ingee' (a Tibetan synonym
for the white Europeans and Americans) tourist who loves to remain within
the confines of old Lhasa zone of Potala-Shol-Jokhang-Barkhor and
its dingy lanes and restaurants, you will have to take a 10 Yuan taxi ride
in any direction of this ultra modern city. And, as I did, just allow yourself
to be lost in the streets and discover it without a guide.One kilometer
away from this 'Tibetan Quarter' in any direction will reveal what stuff
the new Lhasa is made of. And, for whom! In nicely laid out modern and
comfortable multistoried houses one rarely sees a Tibetan face except for
in the mornings when they come in groups of twos and fours to sweep the
streets and collect garbage on behalf of the local municipality.
On the other hand one needs to walk
only extra ten meters from the main glittering Beijing Street into the
Tibetan quarter of the town to see the Tibetan contrast. It is as dramatic
as stepping out of a TV soap set to the back stage in a few seconds. Small,
congested houses, Tibetans and the 'Ingees' negotiating their way through
ankle deep sewer water spilling out of blocked sewer lines, poor kids playing
in mud or hanging around a chain of dingy shops selling cheap goodies.
Just another hundred meters in the
street and it leaves no one in doubt who is the real beneficiary of all
the visible economic progress in Lhasa. Barring a few Tibetan policemen
who are too visible in the Barkhor zone for obvious reasons, one rarely
finds a Tibetan face in the government offices or even in the tourist offices
of Lhasa, Shigatse, Tingri or Lhatse.
On the religious front too, real
Chinese game seems to be far from what appears on the face of surging religious
crowds at Barkhor or massive offerings inside Potala and big temples. Fifty
years of Chinese religious record in Tibet, as presented by various UN
agencies, human rights groups, media reports and first hand accounts of
visiting diplomats etc. have made it clear to the Beijing leaders that
they can not tackle the Tibetan problem by crushing religion and culture.
Beijing 's eagerness to foist a hand picked Panchen Lama on the Tibetans
and its more than open role in the selection of new Karma Pa in past years
only shows that Chinese leaders are finally waking up to the power of religion
in their worst-headache colony Tibet. (It is Chinese misfortune that the
new Karma Pa slipped out to India to join hands with Dalai Lama.)
Beijing leaders' decision of giving
religious freedom to the local Tibetans on the one hand and opening
the gates of Tibet to the outside world on the other only reflects a new
Chinese strategy that aims at turning its old sins to its advantage. After
Dalai Lama and his supporters having worked for more than 40 long years
to make Tibet a household name in the West, Beijing has now decided to
cash in on this awareness and mint millions of Touro-dollars.Chinese can
surely afford to do so. Besides a massive network of informers and spies
to its credit the population-transfer policy of Beijing has already tilted
the population scale against the Tibetans in all their cities in a ratio
of at least 10 to one. With examples of hundreds of political workers languishing
in jail since ages, Beijing has already ensured that Tibetans do not create
any significant political problem for the Chinese masters. No wonder the
Chinese rulers of Tibet can now make political as well as financial capital
through selling Tibet as the most popular cultural zoo of our times.
Pl. respond to :Author vijaykranti@vsnl.comTHE
PIONEER : pioneer@del2.vsnl.net.inTHE PIONEER : www.dailypioneer.com
(The author, a senior journalist and a Tibet watcher for three decades
has just returned from a private visit to Tibet. He is the first ever Indian
journalist who could visit Tibet without Chinese patronization or control)
