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A true account of a journey through Tibet

Tibet part of China? Think again...

by Ian A. Inman

Preface

Look, don't get me wrong, I've nothing against the Chinese as people. But I cannot agree with their continued occupation of Tibet, a country that is so different in outlook and culture from China, that there is no way in my opinion, the two can be considered one and the same. Please understand that this article is not meant to reflect badly on China as a whole - I went to China three years before my 1998 trip to Tibet and their treatment of foreigners was top notch. But I saw a different side to the Chinese when I was in Tibet and it is what I saw there that persuaded me to write this article.

In July 1998, I visited Tibet with a party of ten other people, including one Irish woman, an American married couple, one Canadian, one Sri Lankan and six British nationals. I expected to see a country that devoutly followed their religion, but instead found towns that had grown up in size, due to an influx of Han Chinese labour (the Tibet article in Microsoft Encarta 2000 states that this is Chinese government policy), with salaries allegedly greater than their Tibetan counterparts. All the best jobs were reserved for the Chinese, for example, all staff in the better hotels were Chinese.

As for that which was uniquely Tibetan, much had gone. It is true to say that the major monasteries have been restored (Sera, Ganden, Drepung near Lhasa and Tashilhunpo at Shigatse) and that new novice monks are now appearing there, however, there was a feeling that some were in the employee of the Chinese to make the monasteries appear fuller than they actually were. It is quite possible that these were nine to five workers, which went home to their families every evening. The main nunnery in Lhasa was slightly more convincing, with more of a feeling that the nuns there were the genuine article.

The primary cities of Lhasa and Shigatse are now predominantly 'Han Chinese', who form the majority of the Chinese population, with other sources reporting an influx of Hui Moslems - Chinese with Moslem beliefs. Away from these cities, even in small towns like Gyantse, the Chinese are building new buildings to encourage Chinese immigrants, at the expense of the more neglected Tibetan sections of these towns.

Perhaps the worst example of change is the influx of more dubious Chinese practises, such as prostitution. In Shigatse, in a short walk through town, we spotted six brothels, run by and frequented only by the Chinese. There were no signs of Tibetans. There were plenty group jokes about the brothels, until we came to the last - the prostitutes were no older than their early teens. There were no further jokes about brothels.

Also, in the countryside, there were many examples where the Chinese had brutally tried to destroy Tibetan culture (especially during the Cultural Revolution) - at Shegar, to the south of the town were the extensive ruins of a destroyed monastery. Back in Shigatse, the main palace ruins, again destroyed by the Chinese, can be seen on the ridge above the town.

There were other alleged incidents and strange happenings while we were there:

Police were supposed to have beaten up what may have been a bystander and dragged him away for reasons known only to them.

Chinese living only at most 100 metres from the Jokhang temple (the equivalent of Mecca to Buddhists) when asked for directions, did not know where it was. I was present when this happened.

Tibetan children are not allowed to be educated in their mother tongue, they must learn in Chinese. This can only be seen as an attack not only on their religion, but on their language also.

The wages of the immigrant Chinese were, as I mentioned earlier, said to be greater than their Tibetan counterparts. I have been queried on this point and for this, I quote two sources. Firstly, I had a conversation with a Tibetan, who clearly stated that the Chinese were paid 'much more'. Secondly, Heinrich Harrer said in his book "Return to Tibet" (author of the original "Seven Years in Tibet") that in 1982, a wage scale was in evidence, with Chinese being paid the most, favoured Tibetans being paid less and ordinary Tibetans being paid least of all. The comment made to me by the unnamed Tibetan seems to indicate that this apparent practice still continues. This appears to be to encourage more Chinese to move into Tibet.

In addition, television broadcasts appeared to be restricted to those from within China (correct me if I am wrong). In the more easterly provinces, it was possible to receive foreign broadcasts, some in English. I can testify myself to this, where on a previous visit to China in 1994, foreign language broadcasts could be received in Beijing and Xi'an and in the latter, it was possible to watch the English Premiership Football (Soccer) League live! These transmissions originated from Hong Kong and Japan. My own conclusions (subject to the following paragraph) are that the Chinese were trying to restrict the flow of information into Tibet from sources other than their own. I consider this a bit pointless, considering that facilities such as the Internet are readily available, if you know where to look in Lhasa (I found one place by accident).

Admittedly, I have heard since that the Chinese did cut off foreign cable broadcasts to the whole of China, six months after their introduction in 1994, thus the only broadcast sources of information were their own (again, the only problem with this is the availability of the Internet). It is also true to say that foreign signals could still be received, but only along the east coast of China. But my understanding from other tourists is that CNN and / or similar were still being received in Xi'an well after this date. This is well away from the east coast and transmissions were still not getting through to Tibet. The picture as regards television is a little confused and I honestly do not know what conclusions to draw here, though the attempts to control the flow of information clearly continue, despite the presence of the Internet.

As we left Tibet, two further incidents summed up what we had seen on the holiday. Firstly, we were denied access to a reasonably comfortable if basic hotel at Zhang Mu on the border with Nepal, simply because our guide and driver were Tibetan. Before this was realised (the official reason given was that the hotel was full), two of us entered the hotel unhindered and used the toilet. There were only four people staying in the hotel.

Following this, we were then forced to use a Hotel called the Gyan Tsen (I admit I can't spell) opposite, which was without doubt the worst hotel I have ever stayed in (and I have used some pretty bad hotels in my travels). We were told to use the 'clean' rooms at the back; it turns out that the front 'dirty' rooms were being used as a brothel. How is it that people (I refer to the girls plying their trade) can be lowered to this?

The party was relieved to cross over the Nepalese border - at the other side, we were at least a little closer to equals.

* * *

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all doom and gloom, I still had the trip of a life time while I was there, with the friendliness of some of the Tibetans evident by the sharp contrast to the noticeably more reserved behaviour of the Chinese. And the Potala Palace and the Jokhang were brilliant.

I hope that Tibet will once again be a free nation, to determine their own affairs, a country I would then like to return to. The less dubious ideas that the Chinese have brought in, have destroyed the innocence of this country. They have destroyed something that can never be brought back.

Admittedly, not all that the Chinese have done is completely negative. Between the main towns at least, a decent road system is appearing and Lhasa's Gongar airport, although basic, is superior to many I have been through, notably Beijing itself, the appalling, sometimes amusing chaos of Moscow's Sheremetyevo's airport, the slum like conditions of Tashkent airport in Uzbekistan and the slow bureaucracy of Tribuvan International Airport of Kathmandu.

Also, in general, medical and educational standards are vastly improved, with western techniques replacing a Tibetan system based on traditional remedies and superstition. Education does give opportunities for people to advance themselves, but there is a very strong anti-Tibetan bias, in that all tuition in schools and higher establishments, as mentioned, are in Chinese. In the early 80's, the Chinese promised to reverse this situation (Heinrich Harrer: "Return to Tibet"). It appears that via education, the Chinese are trying to push to the margins the Tibetan language and make Mandarin Chinese the de-facto language within Tibet.

Why do all this? Perhaps to convince themselves that Tibet is, after all, a part of China, when they know in their heart of hearts, it isn't. Perhaps to make Tibet and the Tibetans more and more Chinese as time goes on. To increase their hold and influence over a people, a majority of which traditionally do not want the Chinese and do not want to be ruled from Beijing. The 1950 invasion and the following March 1959 putsch (when the Dalai Lama finally escaped) were resisted with what little the Tibetans had to offer (revolts against Chinese rule actually started two years earlier). The 1960's saw the Cultural Revolution and the mass destruction of many facets and icons of what went before, not just in Tibet, but in China as well. In the face of this, guerrilla activity continued in Tibet until 1974, when the Dalai Lama ordered a cease-fire. It is said that rather than surrender, many of the Khampa Guerrillas who fought on for so long took their own lives. These are people that are supposed to regard themselves as Chinese?

Alternatively, the reasons for the Chinese presence and activities may be more economic, in that they want access to Tibet's limited resources of raw materials, with, for example, the Chinese busily stripping Tibet's remaining woodlands for wood and paper.

Their written languages also show significant differences. Although Chinese and Tibetan belong to the same language group (along with Burman or Burmese in Myanmar), the Tibetan language uses a modified Sanskrit script introduced by King Songtsen Gampo in the 7th Century, as used in India, completely different to the Chinese system of writing. It was his conversion to Buddhism by his two wives, one Chinese and one Nepalese, that really began the spread of Buddhism in Tibet - yes, a Chinese wife (Tang princess Wen Cheng), but Tibet and China did effectively remain separate entities.

The Tibetans have always been a fiercely independent "warrior" race, their troops once reaching as far as the former Chinese capital of Xi'an (famous for the terracotta warriors), forcing tribute from the Chinese. Later they suffered invasions from the Mongols, who eventually themselves became Buddhists and gave the title of Dalai Lama (meaning Broad Ocean, inferring wisdom) to the first Dalai Lama.

The modern Chinese claim to Tibet dates back to the seventeenth century, when the Tibetans requested Qing Chinese assistance in expelling the Mongols, in return to accepting Chinese overlordship. This situation did not last long, with the Tibetans soon exerting their own independence once more.

The Chinese never accepted this situation until the Conference of Simla in 1914, when after successive invasions by the British (Younghusband, 1904) and the Chinese (1910), the British, Chinese and Tibetans signed an agreement accepting Tibetan sovereignty over their own affairs. This fact alone in my mind, reneges any legitimate claim the Chinese have to Tibet (they signed it away themselves) and prior to this, the Tibetans had been acting as an independent state for up to one hundred years beforehand.

The Chinese refused to ratify this agreement and tension remained with a further war in the late twenties, culminating in the full scale invasion of Tibet in 1950 by the People's Liberation Army.

The Cultural Revolution and Mao's policies are cited by the Chinese themselves as the reason for the destruction that was wrought. But to blame the activities of the Mao period alone would be incorrect. Even though the mass destruction of icons of Tibetan culture have apparently all but stopped (i.e. destruction of monasteries and other buildings), those that voice opposition to the Chinese presence are still detained on a large scale with many facing varying levels of physical and mental abuse. If they are so sure that Tibet wants to be part of China, why do these activities continue?

The Tibetans are a simple people who have not lost any of their devotion to the Buddhist religion. This is in sharp contrast to the consumerism and sometimes brutal rule of the Chinese, who continue to suppress the voice of the Tibetans, the main activity coming in the winter, when the tourists are not around.

And it is not just Tibet. In Xinjiang province (Chinese Turkestan in the far west of China), the Moslem Uighurs are enduring similar treatment.

I believe that the Chinese have no place in Tibet, an independent nation until the Chinese invasion of 1950. By reading this text, you are more than welcome to form your own opinions.

©by Ian A. Inman
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