 |
| The Potala Palace |
Tibet with its mystery is the spiritual Garden of Eden
and is longed by travelers home and abroad.
Only by stepping on the snowy plateau, can one be baptized by its splendor, culture, folklore, life, snow mountains, saint mountains, sacred lakes, residences with local characteristics and charming landscape.
Chinanews.com
As I often mentioned on this blog, Tibet is fast becoming the largest entertainment park in the world; thousand times larger than Disneyland.
The government in Beijing markets the Land of Snows as the ultimate ‘indigenous’ spot for the Chinese people to spend their holidays, it has become Tibet’s USP (Unique Selling Proposition).
In 1985, the Dalai Lama spoke to the ‘vast seas’ of Chinese migrants who “threaten the very existence of the Tibetans as a distinct people”. In an article in The New York Times, he explained: “In the eastern parts of our country, the Chinese now greatly outnumber Tibetans. In the Amdo province, for example, where I was born, there are, according to Chinese statistics, 2.5 million Chinese and only 750,000 Tibetans. Even in the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (i.e., central and western Tibet), Chinese government sources now confirm that Chinese outnumber Tibetans.”
The Dalai Lama then pointed out: “Today, in the whole of Tibet 7.5 million Chinese settlers have already been sent, outnumbering the Tibetan population of six million…”
This was in 1985!
 |
| Chinese Tourists near Namtso |
Today, the leadership in Beijing has found a more sophisticated way to submerge (or immerge) the Tibetan population under waves of Han Chinese.
Tibet has two unique assets: first, its physical reality. The beauty of the landscape, the imposing mountain ranges, the purity of the air and the rivers, the dry pure sky (especially when compared to the sky of China’s great metropolis); Tibet is the ideal place to visit and have a break from the fast pace of the polluted mainland.
The second advantage is the rich historical past of the Roof of the World, the Land of the Lamas. In Tibet, you can find everything, says the Chinese propaganda: a beautiful Chinese princess falling for the powerful emperor and converting him to Buddhism; the monasteries and nunneries, seat of a wisdom lost in the mainland; the folkloric yak or snow-lion dances; the Shoton (yoghurt) festival; the beautiful colourful handicrafts; the exotic food, you name it, …and a couple of millions of Tibetans (in the TAR) who can guide you through the mega-museum. Of course, the ‘locals’ are not always reliable and their knowledge of Mandarin is often not so good; in any case it is not important, the shows can go on without them.
When 15 millions of ‘tourists’ pour in a relatively small place like Lhasa, one has to be ready to ‘receive’ them and provide them ‘entertainment’.
It is what the Communist leadership has been doing during the last couple of years (for example by ‘rebuilding’ old Lhasa).
 |
| The 'new' Potala built for Wencheng Opera |
The Wencheng Opera
But what about the entertainment?
It has also been planned by the Chinese authorities. Take the ‘Grand Princess Wencheng Opera’; an opera on the life of the Chinese wife of the Tibetan Emperor Songtsen Gompo, who lived in the 7th century CE. It is now being staged at the outskirt of Lhasa.
Of course, the history has to be slightly altered and Bhikruti, the other wife of Tibetan emperor has to be sent to the oubliettes of history; it would not be nice to tell mainland Han tourists that the ‘wisdom’ (i.e. Buddhism) came from the Indian subcontinent.
A few days ago, The People's Daily announced that the preview of Wencheng Opera was to be held in Lhasa on July 20: “The Opera tells the story of Princess Wencheng of Tang Dynasty marrying Songtsen Gampo, the founder of Tubo [Tibet] Dynasty and how she overcame difficulties on her way to Tibet to promote socio-economic and cultural communication between Hans and Tibetans.”
 |
| The Actors |
That sounds great, except for the fact that Songtsen Gampo was the 33rd King of the Yarlung Dynasty, not the founder. A detail for Beijing! And to speak about socio-economic issues in the 7th century is far-fetched to say the least.
One Bai Ji, executive director of the opera and vice president of Dancing Association of the Tibetan Autonomous Region explains: “The Opera Princess Wencheng offers a subtle blend of time-honored Tibetan dances, opera and sutra chanting as well as dances and music styled in Tang Dynasty.”
As a bonus you have at the background the ‘natural landscape in Lhasa’.
The opera proves to be a stunning success, says Bai Ji (that sounds an India name). The Opera is to be performed 180 times a year and the price of the ticket will range from 100 to 1000 yuan ($15 to 150). That is not cheap, but Chinese tourists are rich (it is not French ladies who shop anymore in luxury shops of the Champs-Elysees in Paris, but the Chinese!).
 |
| Preview of the Opera |
International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) commented: “A multi-million dollar drama about a Chinese princess is being staged in Lhasa from Thursday in a bid by the authorities to increase high-end tourism and assert China's propaganda message of its ownership of Tibet.”
The Opera will be staged with some 600 actors on a nearly-100 meters long stage; but more funny (or sad), in front of a newly-built Potala Palace, a few kilometers from the real one.
The Tibetan blogger and dissident Tsering Woeser, who lives in Beijing but frequently visits Tibet, posted images of the ‘new’ Potala on her blog. She explains: "In reality this is a project to rewrite history, to 'wipe out' the historical memory and culture of a people. This is a 'win win' project that can both make money and be a tool for brainwashing people with propaganda."
She says that more than $120 million had been invested in the project.
Bhuchung Tsering, the Interim President of ICT asserts that “while the Chinese authorities are marketing Tibet as a tourist destination based on the spiritual attractions of its Buddhist culture and landscape, Beijing has tightened its control over Tibetan religious expression and practice.”
In 2011, an article published by a Chinese publication already mentioned: “When Songtsan Gambo [Songtsen Gompo] moved his capital to Lhasa, he followed in the footsteps of his predecessors by maintaining good relations with the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains in terms of political, business, cultural and religious fields. Twice he sent a minister to Chang'an (present-day Xi'an) for a Tang princess to marry, and finally married Princess Wencheng.”
It clearly means that Tibet and China (Tang Dynasty) were then two separate entities at that time, a fact that modern Communist historians have often denied.
 |
| Wencheng Opera |
How the fact of marrying a Chinese princess made Tibet part of China is still a mystery that no serious historian has been able to solve.
The China Tibet Online article further explains: “Princess Wencheng reached Tubo in 641 [CE]. She brought with her a statue of Sakyamuni equal to the size of the Buddha when he was 12 years old. The princess also brought calendars, Buddhist sutras, books on handicraft industry, and medical books.”
Obliterating the other wives of the Tibetan King, the Chinese propaganda gives the main role Wencheng: “The Tang princess assisted Songtsan Gambo in administering Tubo [Tibet], and the Wotang [Lhasa] City was built for this purpose.”
Surprisingly the 2011 article mentions the Nepali princess as a ‘concubine’: “At that time, Songtsan Gambo was planning the construction of a monastery for Nepalese Princess Khridzun [Bhikruti], one of his concubines. Princess Wencheng calculated that the sky over Gyiqoiwotang [Lhasa] resembled the eight wheels of Dharma, and the land took the shape of eight lotus petals adorned with eight auspicious treasures.”
It is amazing how the Chinese are able to use Tibetan history and tradition for their own economic and ‘touristic’ purposes. About Wencheng, the website elaborates: “Based on this understanding, she named the eight mountains around the city, ‘Bright Lotus’, ‘Treasure Umbrella’, ‘Conch’, ‘Buddha Wheel’, ‘Victorious Umbrella’, ‘Holy Bottle’, ‘Golden Fish’, and ‘Auspicious Knot’.” These are the tradition Eight Auspicious Signs of Tibetan Buddhism.
China fully uses its ‘Records’ to tell the Han tourists: “the Tang princess knew well that the snowland is [located] where a female demon reclines, with the Wutang Lake [in Lhasa] water being her blood (or heart), and the three mountains being her arteries. Since the place sits at the heart of the female demon, the lake should be filled up for the construction of a monastery”, adding that at the suggestion of Princess Wencheng, the lake was filled for construction of the Jokhang Monastery.
Historians consider that it is Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal who built the Jokhang, the Central Cathedral in Lhasa: “Then, during the reign Songtsen Gompo, after his marriage with Khri btsun [Bhrikuti], the daughter of the king of Nepal, the temple of Ra sa [Lhasa] Pe har gling was built,” says an old treatise.
Bhrikuti was said to be a devout Buddhist. She brought from Nepal several sacred statues as well as Newari craftsmen as part of her ‘dowry’. The Red Palace (Mar-po-ri Pho-drang) on Marpo Ri (Red Mountain) in Lhasa, which was later rebuilt into the thirteen storey Potala by the Fifth Dalai Lama, was constructed by Nepali craftsmen on her instructions. They also carved the statue of Manuvajra - housed in the Ramoche Temple near the Jokhang.
The opera ignores these ‘inconvenient’ facts.
A Museum at the Ambam’s residence
A mega-attraction park, at the scale of a State, should be educative and teach history to the millions who visit it. For the purpose, the Communist authorities have set up several museums in Lhasa and around.
One is the former residence of the ‘Ambam’, the Ambassador of the Ming’s court in Tibet. It has been transformed into a museum exhibiting ‘proofs’ of the Chinese control over Tibet during the Manchu Dynasty.
China Tibet Online speaks of the museum of ‘Evolution of High Commissioner System in Tibet’.
 |
| 'Renovated' residence of the Ambans |
The Chinese website calls the Chinese representative ‘the High Commissioner in charge of the affairs of the local government of Tibet’.
From ‘Representative’, the Amban becomes ‘in charge of Tibet.’
It is if the Chinese Ambassador in Nepal was described as “in charge of the affairs of the local government of Nepal” (though it that particular case, there is some truth in the description).
It is however a distortion which will be perpetuated by the millions of visitors when they return to the mainland.
The Chinese website explains: “The office of High Commissioner in charge of the affairs of the local government of Tibet, established by the Qing [Manchu] Dynasty（1644-1911 A.D.), played an important role in the history of Tibet.”
Some details of China’s version of the Tibet’s cultural and political history are given: “In the Qing Dynasty, the normal life of Tibetan people was infringed on with negative consequences by frequent foreign invasions and civil strikes, such as the invasions from Dzungaria, Gurkha, India and Britain, as well as the unrest in Gyumey. To maintain the local order and safeguard national unity, the Emperor Yongzheng [1678–1735] established the office of High Commissioner in charge of the affairs of the local government of Tibet backed by 2000 Qing troops to be permanently stationed there.”
It is true that the Tibetan government at the end of the 17th century and beginning of the 18th faced a lot of troubles with some Mongol tribes and as per an arrangement called ‘Choe-yong’ (Priest-Patron) requested the intervention on the Manchu troops to help restore the order in Lhasa. It was a temporary intervention which had nothing to do with the ‘ownership’ of Tibet.
According to the history re-written for the sake of the Chinese tourists, the new museum states the office of High Commissioner was established for two reasons, “to better administer the local affairs against foreign invasions and to suppress the civil strife.”
 |
| Amban's Museum |
The foreign ‘invasions’ (whether it is from Dzungaria [Mongolia], Gurkha, India and Britain) seem a joke, but it probably serves the purpose of those who conceived the museum.
Here is the Chinese version of the relations between Tibet and China at the end of the 17th cnetury: “In 1673, unrest erupted in Dzungaria with its leader being murdered. The leader’s younger brother, Ganden, used to be a monk, had to make himself the chief to put down the unrest. He annexed most of the Oylut’s tribes and took over the southern part of Xinjiang. In 1690, Ganden and his troops invaded many regions under the Qing court’s government such as the Ujimqin, a Mongolian region just 900 lis (450 kilometers) away from Beijing, which deeply threatened the governance of Emperor Kangxi [1661 to 1722].” Apparently, the Emperor went himself thrice to repress the Ganden’s powers.
The trouble with the Mongols tribes was a historical fact, but the take-over of the administration of the Land of Snows is just a colonial rendering of the history of the Roof of the World.
For Beijing’s historians: “After that, Tsewang Rabten succeeded to his uncle’s reign [or his father?] and continued with the anti-government activities and plotted the rebellion in Tibet. Feeling anxious about the situation in Tibet, the Qing court appointed the assistant minister Hao Shou to take charge of the Tibetan administrative affairs together with the local governor in March 1709.”
It is true that the 18th and 19th century witnessed one of the most troubled times in Tibet’s history. After the Qosot Mongol chief, Lhazang Khan kidnapped the young Sixth Dalai Lama, he became extremely unpopular.
In 1717, the invasion of Tibet by a force led by Tsewang Rabten, the Dzungar chieftain, lead to further political conflict and Lhazang Khan was eventually killed. The arrival of the Dzungars saw the end of Qosot’s control over Tibet. Later, the Manchu rulers got rid of the Dzungars and recognize one of two competing candidates as 7th Dalai Lama. Three years later, the young 7th Dalai Lama entered Lhasa. He was accompanied by the Manchu troops; this however did not stop the internal strife.
 |
| The Amban's residence in the 1940s |
The Manchus, who had been called to help restore peace in Lhasa, used the opportunity to assert their ‘rights’.
Was the fact that India was once administrated by the British, made the country a colony of Great Britain forever?
Most of the world’s States have not been at one point or another of their history ‘administrated’ by another State; this does not make this State ipso facto a colony or a vassal State or a Province of the temporary ‘administrator’.
In the following decade, it is a Tibetan, Miwang Pholanay who played a constructive role in reducing the sectarian struggle and reorganizing the Tibetan administration.
Today, China Tibet Online gives its own rendering of the events: “During the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, the central government, deeply impressed with the necessity of strengthening the Tibetan administration and safeguarding the national unity, sent some officers to perform their duties in Tibet and handled all the administrative affairs in Tibet, thereby establishing the system of High Commissioner, which created a precedent and historical mechanism for the central government to take direct control over Tibet.”
In 1793 Emperor Qianlong [1711 – 1799], Yongzhen’s successor promulgated a 29-Point ‘Regulations for Governance’ for Tibet. It is also cited by Beijing as one of the proofs of the Manchus’ control over Tibet.
One of the main contentions was about the role of the Ambans. However, for Rev. Huc and Gabet, the two French missionaries who visited Lhasa in 1846: "The Government of Tibet resembles that of the Pope and the position occupied by the Chinese Ambassadors was the same as that of the Austrian Ambassador at Rome."
The fact is that for more than 150 years the Tibetan Government did not ‘listen’ to the High Commissioner. The best proof is that when the British invaded Tibet in 1904, there was no Chinese ‘representative’ to discuss with Capt. Francis Younghusband.
6th Dalai Lama Culture, Tourism Festival
To entertain further the Chinese visitors, the administration of the Tibetan Autonomous Region is organizing ‘festivals’ such as the Lhasa Shoton Festival and Damxung Horse Racing Festival.
According to Xinhua: “The Shoton Festival is one of the most popular traditional festivals in Tibet. It celebrates eating yogurt, the Tibetan monks who end their season of meditation, watch Tibetan dramatic operas. It is held annually in the month of August, or late in the sixth month or early in the seventh month of the Tibetan calendar. The festival is a great occasion for both Tibetans and tourists.”
The Chinese news agency explains that during the festival, “there are celebrations in the streets, squares and monasteries in Lhasa”, though the main venue is the Dalai Lama’s Summer Palace, the Norbulinka, a monument recognized by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Xinhua does not mention that another UNESCO Site (the Bakhor, near the Jokhang) has been completed destroyed and reconstructed to house tourist facilities such high-end shops and hotels (
read Tsering Woeser's blog on the subject).
Amongst the several ‘festivals’ held for the tourists, the strangest is the 2013 Culture and Tourism Festival on the 6th Dalai Lama's love songs to be held from August 8th to 14th in Lhoka (Southern Tibet).
It is not that the love songs of the Dalai Lama are not beautiful, but the Chinese propaganda pretends that Tsangyang Gyatso, the 6th Dalai Lama is born in Tibet, while he is born in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh.
The announcement says: “tourists can enjoy beautiful Tibetan love songs performed by locals from the Tsona County in Lhoka Prefecture, hometown of Tsangyang Gyatso, the household name of the 6th Dalai Lama.”
The fact that Tsangyang Gyatso is born on the other side of the McMahon in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh is cleverly overlook. The Chinese authorities probably extend ‘Lhoka’ till the plains of Assam.
Xinhua announces further: “The festival will showcase the culture splendor and mental outlook of the Monbas [Monpas], one of the ethnic minorities living in Tibet, also an ethnic minority from which Tsang Gyasto (sic) comes. According to the plan (sic), various folk activities will be performed, including drinking and singing competitions, Monba dramas, cultural relics’ display and commodity exchanges (sic).”
The most surprising is that India seems blissfully unaware of this blatant territorial claim. The Government of Arunachal should organize its own Festival in Urgyeling, near Tawang where Tsangyang Gyatso is really born.
The Gedun Chomphel Museum
Even more amazing is the Museum dedicated to the great scholar from Amdo, Gedun Chophel (or Chompel). According to the Tibet Business Newspaper, the museum was opened in Lhasa in July.
 |
| Gedun Chopel |
China Tibet Online also reported: “With a strong Tibetan flavor, the Gedun Chophel Museum is part of the Lhasa old town's protection project, covering an area of 1,269 square meters and consisting of three stories.”
Can you imagine, three storeys dedicated to the first Tibetan ‘dissident’?
The Chinese website mentions: “Gedun Chophel was born on April 20, 1903, in the Zho Phung She Village Tongren County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province [in fact in Rekong county of Amdo province]. He believed in the Nyingma Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.”
This is not true, the ‘Angry Monk of Rekong’ got his main education in Labrang Tashi Kyel and Gomang College of Drepung Monastery, two famous Gelukpa institutions.
The presentation continues: “In Gedun Chophel’s age, China experienced a turbulent period of domestic strife and foreign aggressions. He pursued truth, upheld humanist spirit, turned his conception of history from Buddhist theology to humanism, and made important contribution to Tibetan modern academic and intellectual history. While pursuing new thoughts and seeking for social changes, he severely disclosed and satirized various social problems of old Tibet and the British colonist’s plot to invade Tibet.”
What about all the years that Gedun Choepel spent in India? It is omitted by the Chinese propaganda.
The entire life of Gedun Choepel was dedicated to freedom; he would have certainly have had the harshest words for today’s Communist practices, for their repressive policies as well as the diktats imposed by the Party on the Tibetan common men and the Buddhist monasteries.
More than 60 years after his death, China to praise Gedun Chophel, but does not mention that a few days before the great scholar died in 1951, as the Chinese troops were entering, Gedun went around the Bakhor screaming “The Chinese are here”. He had always dreamt of a powerful and modern Tibet. Even when he was very sick at the end of his life, he used to visit the parade ground to watch the training of the Tibetan army. He admired the Great Kings of Tibet who had been able to keep Tibet united.
Interestingly, he is adulated by a generation of young refugees who see in him someone who had the strength to rebel against the establishment.
This explains why he was so disliked by Hugh Richardson, the British (and later Indian) Representative in Lhasa. A colonial Empire does not like rebels. It is ironic that today Communist China is building a Museum dedicated to the life of Gedun.
A Chinese website explains: “He [Gedun] participated in the survey and the catalog of the remains of the palm-leaf manuscripts in Tibet [with Rahul Sankrityayan], the interpretation of ancient Tibetan literature in Dunhuang, the exploration of Tibetan philology, the English translation of Tibetan ancient books and other groundbreaking academic activities. He also wrote and translated a lot of books, and produced a great number of paintings. All these promoted the later development of Tibetology.”
What is more intriguing is that according to the Chinese website: “In April, 1946, the then ‘Gaxag’ [Kashag] government, incited by the British government, put Gedun Chophel into jail, where he was kept in a gruesome prison and intermittently tortured.”
 |
| Gedun Chompel |
Those who have known him intimately have never reported torture, though the life was not easy in the Shol prison at the bottom of the Potala.
In my book,
1962: the McMahon Line Saga, I have dealt at length on the reasons for which Gedun Choepel was arrested; it is probably due to internal power struggle between some members of the Tibetan aristocracy and the fact that Gedun travelled through Mon Tawang (in the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh) and prepared detailed maps of the areas for Rapga Pandatsang, who was close to Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang regime.
One of the many mysteries surrounding Gedun Choepel and his incarceration is the loss of the Black Box in which his revolutionary works, particularly his new history of Tibet were kept. A small sentence in the Chinese communique is mysterious; it says: “The Government of Tibet Autonomous Region decided to build a museum for him, which will exclusively show some of his books and daily necessities.”
Have the Chinese found Gedun’s Black Box?
Arrival of new Chinese cadres
It may not be directly linked to the development of the mega-entertainment park, but Xinhua recently reported that “cadres, chosen from state organs and central government-run enterprises to work in Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan-inhabited areas of Qinghai Province, left Beijing for their destinations.”
Does Tibet need more Chinese guides to look after the millions of Han tourists? Xinhua says: “They are among the latest batch of 1,376 cadres dispatched from across the country to work in Tibet and Qinghai and help with development in both regions. Their tenures there usually last three years.”
It further explains: “The central government launched the cadres aid program for Tibet in 1995 and sent nearly 4,800 cadres from across the country to the southwest region in six previous batches.”
A similar program was organized in Qinghai Province (Amdo) in 2010.
According to Chinese officials quoted by Xinhua: “Such aid programs have created closer ties between Tibet and Qinghai's Tibetan-inhabited regions and the country's central and coastal provinces, and are also helpful in boosting economic development, stability and ethnic solidarity.”
In other words, more Chinese officials in Tibet! How will it help?
I would be curious to know the percentage of Tibetans amongst the 600-strong crew staging the Wengchen Opera. Probably mostly Hans!
The Dalai Lama often speaks of genuine autonomy for Tibet, but today, in the present situation, it does not mean anything.
Tibet has become an immense zoo for Han holiday-goers.
Some other examples of exhibitions and cultural programs organized for the Chinese tourists
- The Tibetan Opera Art Center in Lhasa
 |
| Purang Festival |
Tibet Daily reported that the first exhibition hall of Tibetan opera was opened (for free) on August 1 in the Tibetan Opera Art Center in Lhasa: “The exhibition hall will showcase the history, school, costume, performance as well as achievement of Tibetan opera in its six sections. And it will display the Tibetan opera art comprehensively and vividly through a large number of real objects, texts, pictures, videos and live performances”.
- History of ‘Peacock Costume’ in Purang
Purang (or Burang for the Chinese) is a border town near the tri-junction between Tibet, Nepal and India in southwest Tibet.
According to a Chinese website: “Burang has the most unique and exquisite ‘Burang costume’ with a history of 1000 years. There is a legend about how Burang costume was named after peacock. Thousands years ago, the town lived a kind-hearted beautiful princess who was always bullied by other wives of her husband. At last the girl escaped by turning into a peacock and disappeared. In memory of the princess, residents made clothes modeling the shape of peacock, which was called ‘peacock’ or ‘flying into sky’ costumes. The Burang costume is famous for its luxurious accessories. Hundreds pieces of beeswax, numerous pearls and kallaites, bunchy red corals, and delicate silver and gold decorations compose of a priceless suit with 25 kilos.”
- A glimpse of Gorchom dance in Ngawa and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan (Kham)
The announcement says: “The Manai Gorchom circle dance in Manai Township, Jinchuan County, Aba (Nagwa) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan. Manai Gorchom, a court dance in ancient times, is the living fossil of Chinese circle dance. Nowadays, generally popular among local Tibetans, the Manai Gorchom becomes a miracle among ethnic dances with its unique style in costume, dance and melody. In December 2008, the Manai Gorchom was listed as the National Intangible Cultural Heritage.
- Tibetan masks exhibition
China Tibet Online announced a Tibetan mask art exhibition to be held in the Mask Art Center in Lhasa during this year's Shoton Festival from August 6 to 12.
The exhibition will display over 160 delicate masks from all ‘prefectures’ of Tibet to the public, which are divided into four sections covering masks in sorcerer's dance, masks in Tibetan opera, hanging masks and folk masks. It also creates ‘employment’ as “local masters will attend and show their craftsmanship of mask making to audiences as well,” says the website.
- Tibet to host 1st Yamdrok Yamtso Lake cycling tour
Chinatibetnews.com interviewed a cycle-racer: "We left from the holy city, Lhasa and then went toward Okada Barak mountain. During the travel, we passed through plateau dawn by riding bicycle, and finally arrived at Yangzhuoyong [ke Yamdrok Yamtso] Lake which decorated with jaspers.
This was not a romantic montage in a dream any more, according to experience tour organizing committee of Yangzhuoyong lake, the first experience tour will be held at Yangzhuoyong lake in Tibet from August 18th to 20th.
During the tour, bike enthusiasts from the whole areas of China and the wide travelers will enjoy a perfect holy-traveling meal in a zero distance.
Yangzhuoyong Lake, Namtso Lake and Manasarovar Lake, are called three major holy lakes in Tibet. They are far from Lhasa less than 100 kilometers. These beautiful lakes and mountains make them very famous in the southern Tibet."
- Thonmi Cultural Tourism Festival in Nyemo
China Tibet Online reported that the opening ceremony of the second Thonmi Cultural Tourism Festival took place at Thonpa village in Nyemo County of Lhasa of July 29. The theme of this year’s festival is "Hometown of ancient Tibetan language and water mill incense".
It appears that some local Tibetan villagers have found jobs ‘in local scenic spots since the village developed tourism’. Tsering Dorje, a security guard working at a scenic spot, told the Chinese website that “in the past he had to go far to make money by renovating houses. Now he can earn his bread nearby, plus the convenience of caring for the elderly at home.”
Many more ‘festivals’ could be cited.
But, that is not all: the culture of Tibet is now being exported to the mainland as well as abroad. It is also a way of enticing more visitors to visit the Roof of the World. One example is ‘Beauty of Tibet Painting Contest’.
Xinhua mentions that the second ‘Contest’ started in Beijing on July 18. The organizers were collecting ‘Tibet-related artworks from professional artists and amateurs nationwide’. The theme of the contest was "My Chinese Dream".
China is now dreaming of Tibet; for decades only ‘liberation’ was on the menu; this is a big change, perhaps not for the good of the Tibetan people.
Some illustrations:
 |
| 'Renovation' of Old Lhasa |
 |
| 'Renovation' of Old Lhasa |
 |
| 'Renovation' of Old Lhasa |
 |
| Bakhor Street |
 |
| Yaks for Tourists |
 |
| The Tibetan Zoo |
 |
| Tour du Tibet |
 |
| Chinese Tourists near Namtso |
 |
| Chinese Tourists near Namtso |
 |
| Skating in Lhasa |
 |
| Skating in Lhasa |
 |
| Breath-taking Tibet |
 |
| Potala Palace |
 |
| Namtso lake |
 |
| 'Beauty of Tibet' Contest |
 |
| Costumes in Purang |
 |
| Costumes in Purang |
 |
| Costumes in Purang |
 |
| 'Beauty of Tibet' Contest |
 |
| And Tibetan delicacies! |
 |
| Religious 'entertainment' |
 |
| 'Visit Tibet in Summer' |
|
 |
| 'Visit Tibet in Winter' |
