Tibet Part 2

With the fun part of the journey in Tibet discussed it is now time to move on to the more difficult topic of Chinese control of the region. As most of you probably already know the issue of Tibet is extremely complicated. In 1959 the Chinese government began a cultural revolution in which Tibet was invaded. Many people were killed and monasteries, temples and anything to do with religion was obliterated. The Dalai Lama and many of the highest officials have since fled to India where they maintain a government in exile. China has claimed Tibet as part of its country and has set about through a number of programs over the years to destroy the Tibetan culture. 55 years later the issue of Tibet is still extremely sensitive to the Chinese government as will become evident below.

Traveling in Tibet is a completely different experience than anywhere else in the world I have visited. Despite having been before and knowing what to expect it still took some time to get used to the sheer amount of control. All foreigners must get a special permit to travel in Tibet and must be with a guide and in a private vehicle. We were free to move around within the cities we stayed in, but all of our highway travel had to be done together with our group.

Our adventures in control started immediately as we spent an entire day waiting outside the Chinese border building for our truck to get cleared through the mountain of red tape. Before officially entering Tibet we all had our luggage searched. The number one contraband item the border officials seem to be searching for? Lonely Planet brand guidebooks.

The entire series of Lonely Planet books, a staple among world travelers is banned I suspect for two reasons:

1. There is a guidebook that is titled Tibet which implies it is a separate area from China
2. In the Tibet guidebook the Dalai Lama himself has written a foreword urging people to travel to Tibet and share their experiences with the rest of the world.

My group was able to smuggle in several contraband guidebooks which we subsequently ensured stayed hidden from view at all police and military checkpoints. Other items that are banned include anything showing the Tibetan flag and images of the Dalai Lama.

Finally having entered Tibet we soon fell into a routine of driving between destinations and passing through countless checkpoints where our passports and group documents were checked. There were days where we were required to stop 3 or 4 times at both police and military checkpoints.

The cities we visited were crawling with military, police officers and small police/military outposts. In Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, there was literally a police station every 3 blocks and when I wandered off the main streets into a residential area there were even outposts in these areas. Many of these stations had riot shields and other gear prominently displayed outside of the doors. One lady in our group who is Chinese told me that one of the signs above the police station had a slogan about Communism freeing the Tibetan slaves.

Our arrival in Lhasa coincided with a large Buddhist festival and this meant the police and military presence was even stronger than normal. As I wandered among the main sites where people were gathered I saw SWAT teams carrying machine guns patrolling amongst the crowds, police officers stationed on pedestrian bridges and at random points along the streets. Along the loop that pilgrims were walking around the Potala Palace there were groups of 5 police officers all in aviator sunglasses and all facing outwards from each other stationed every 100m or so. The show of force is so ridiculous as you are walking amongst the most peaceful congregation of people you can imagine.
Just to get into the areas where the festival was taking place I had to pass through metal detectors and bag scanners like at the airport. I also noticed that the Tibetans seemed to have to show ID and have their names registered on a list.

The other common sight was orange jumpersuit clad fire extinguisher teams. These teams of 2 to 8 people patrol around holy sights under the guise of protecting the buildings, but I think the sad truth is that they are there to prevent people from setting themselves of fire in protest of Chinese occupation. News of these incidences has leaked out into the international media despite Chinese efforts to keep them covered up in the past years and they seem keen to not have any more media attention.

In the first monastery we visited our Tibetan guide asked us not to ask him any questions about certain sensitive topics while we were inside the monastery buildings. He explained that the Chinese government has certain monks in its employ who will report back if guides talk about banned topics.

One of the more bizarre episodes I witnessed occurred when I was wandering around a giant square across from the Potala Palace. It is a nice park setting with families out enjoying the outdoors, but in one corner there were about 100 Chinese soldiers split into different groups practicing army drills in full gear. One group was learning to launch what I can only assume was tear gas or gernades by lobbing empty plastic water bottles. Another group was marching with guns and practicing quick turns and positioning while yet another group was practicing tackling and takedown maneuvers. I am assuming the final group was just goofing around, but they seemed to be doing handstands and laughing a lot. Even more interesting was the reaction of the Tibetans who like me also seemed to be trying to make sense of the display. Many were smiling and laughing and I can only hope they found the entire episode as ridiculous as I did. I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to have these shows of force and control constantly flaunted in front of you.

The massive displays continued as we left Lhasa and we would pass several convoys a day each consisting of hundreds of army trucks. I can't fathom what so many vehicles could be required for, but we saw them heading both in and out of Tibet.

The final strange sight along the road out of Lhasa was lone soldiers in tents stationed along the railway tracks that parallel the highway and lead all the way to Beijing. I couldn't get a straight answer as to why they were there from our guides. We had one particularly funny encounter when we drove by one lone soldier who we caught in squatting position with his pants around his ankles. The dirt pile he had chosen as a toilet wasn't quite big enough to obscure the view of 19 people on our truck from seeing him.

Having now been out of Tibet for some time it has become evident that the control is not the same in the rest of country. There are no more checkpoints and I haven't seen any sort of military presence. Seeing all of these things in Tibet left me feeling angry and sad, but I take solace in the fact that despite such horrible and heavy handed control the Tibetan culture is continuing to survive. I think the Tibetan people have proven that force is not a solution and I truly hope that some day a peaceful resolution can be found.