Tibet: But...

The trouble with Tibet is the “but.” It’s beautiful… but. In these days of spiritual emptiness and consumerism and climate change, Tibetan culture is a model that the rest of the world could take many lessons from… but. The level of investment and infrastructure relative to other Himalayan countries appears impressive… but.

The “but,” of course, is always followed by a statement about Chinese meddling. And “meddling” is the mildest of the many descriptions that could be applied to the changes and rules and colonialism and police actions that the Chinese government has brought to Tibet over the years.

The problem is not new. Depending on who’s counting, China has been in charge of Tibet since the 1950s, or since the 1200s. No doubt the Tibetans aren’t 100% innocent in the story of their own destruction. One can also make the case that even without any interference from China, globalization would have altered the way of life here. But…

Even viewed in the most charitable light imaginable, Chinese “support” to Tibet risks smothering its inhabitants. Parallels to the “settling” of the American West aren’t farfetched. Tibetans are long since a minority in their own land. Though no Chinese government statistics are ever made public, the number of residents in the region who can’t speak Tibetan is far above 50%—and no wonder, considering the education system that has been put in place.

Schools all operate in Chinese, teach a curriculum based on Chinese culture, and celebrate Chinese holidays. Many of the teachers are from the “interior,” sent by the government as part of a Peace Corps-like program known as Volunteers Aiding Tibet. Their aims are honorable enough—to serve, to make a difference in a place they see as needing development.

Yet unlike Peace Corps volunteers, very few of these teachers will make the effort to learn the local language. Absent that kind of respect for the local culture, the program, like many other aspects of everyday life in the region, looks to be part of a larger, calculated, shameless effort to make Tibet disappear.

How else to explain the forced display of Chinese flags “celebrating” 60 years of the People’s Republic? Or the bulldozing of an area directly across from the Dalai Lama’s former palace in order to build a Tiananmen-style plaza? And the countless indignities that ordinary Tibetans must put up with at the hands of their “liberators”: checkpoints, near-total Chinese takeover of commerce, Beijing control of religious succession, soldiers in green overcoats stepping carelessly among groups of prostrating pilgrims.

It makes perfect sense (and perfect irony) that the Chinese word for Tibet translates as “Western Treasure.” Far from feeling any embarrassment about its approach there, the Chinese government aggressively counters critics with claims of having improved the lot of the average Tibetan, and bemoans, in classic colonial style, the ingratitude of its victims.

We witnessed a display of this arrogance tonight at a Tibetan “cultural show,” one of those combination buffet and revue affairs that crop up whenever some entrepreneur senses that a way of life is at risk and that a buck might be made in the meantime. In this case the venue featured a line of food tables at the front of a long, rectangular room. Rows of dining tables faced the food, which when removed made room for a stage. A raised area at the back was reserved for larger tour groups.

This evening the large group appeared to come from central China (90+% of visitors to Tibet are Chinese, says our guidebook), although some of its members may have been local Chinese residents entertaining their visiting relatives. Wherever they came from, they were loud. And drunk. Perhaps their loudness and drunkenness was deliberately designed to provoke, like the raucous German singers in Casablanca’s Rick’s Café.

Unfortunately, no Viktor Laszlo stood up to demand the Tibetan equivalent of “La Marseillaise.” Instead, the toasting and carousing continued even after the cultural show began, seemingly in defiance of the scowling, tskking Westerners in the front rows. Aiding and abetting the Chinese was a Tibetan comfort woman, much to the chagrin and disappointment of our Tibetan guide.

I suppose that being the oppressor takes a toll, and at times involves as much stress as being oppressed. People in power need to blow off a little steam now and then, just like everyone else. But I’d have preferred they did their partying in private. By choosing that time, place, and hostess, this gang was grinding the police state’s boot heel.