The Hindu : China opens up Tibet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 30, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

China opens up Tibet

By C. Raja Mohan

LHASA AUG. 29. From the first floor of a cafe on the edge of the Jokhang square, the sharp evening sun can be seen glistening on the golden canopy of a shrine that is at the heart of Tibetan Buddhism. Pilgrims with prayer wheels in hand joust with tourists looking for bargain prices in the innumerable shops around the temple. The newly-renovated square of the Jokhang temple, located in the Bakhror area of old Lhasa, symbolises a Tibet that is at once rapidly changing and deeply enduring.

If Lhasa is the holy land for Buddhists, Jokhang, which means the house of the Lord, is its inner sanctum. Built in the seventh century, Jokhang hosts the statue of "Sakyamuni'' brought to Tibet by the Chinese princess, Wencheng.

The reincarnation ceremonies of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas are held in front of the statue of the Sakyamuni. It is the holiest of the Buddhist monasteries in the world.

For the Chinese, Jokhang is a product of the marriage between the Tibetan King, Songsten Gampo, and the Tang Princess and reflects the historic compact between Tibet and China. The alliance between the Tibetan kingdom and the Tang dynasty brought the advanced technologies of the day from Tang China into Tibet and remains the starting point of the story about the long relationship between Lhasa and Beijing.

The definition of these ties for the modern times remains unfinished, as the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama, has lived in exile in India for more than four decades. But on the ground here, Tibet is being fast integrated into China. Its broad new boulevards, shopping malls and Karoake bars make Lhasa look like any other booming provincial city of China.

Work is under way to link the Jokhang square with the Yutuo Road that is now a wide and glittering "pedestrians-only'' bazaar. Some complain that as Tibet catches up with the breathless economic growth in China over the last two decades, its old cultural order is being destroyed. Officials of the local Government here say that the new prosperity and the massive effort to restore its religious and other monuments are bringing Tibet in tune with the changing world.

The Jokhang square is at the centre of the contest between tradition and modernity in Lhasa. Tibet's quest for modernisation while preserving its unique cultural legacy is closely linked to the dramatically altering relationship between Tibet and China. And India, with its own deep links to Tibet, has inevitably become a part of the political dynamic between Lhasa and Beijing. And Tibet, in turn, has added to the uncertainty to Sino-Indian relations over the last five decades.

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China is now ready to let its complex relationship with Tibet hang out in front of the world. As part of a new charm offensive, China has released some high profile political prisoners and invited Gyalo Thondup, elder brother of the Dalai Lama, to visit Tibet for the first time in decades. It has also opened the door for foreign diplomats and journalists to see and assess the situation in Tibet.

Underlying this relative openness in Beijing about Tibet is the political confidence that it has turned things around in the sensitive region. While the Dalai Lama might be received by heads of State and Government around the world and the Hollywood backs his campaign for the Tibetan cause, Beijing believes it has the situation in Tibet in full control.

Since Deng Xiaoping initiated in the early 1980s a more liberal policy towards Tibet after the ravages of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, there is enough of visible transformation in Tibet that the Chinese leadership today can boast about. The last few years have also seen a reasonable amount of social stability in Tibet, and China is sure that its side of the story can now be told with some credibility.

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For journalists from India it is a long way to come to Tibet via Beijing.

After all, Lhasa is barely half a step and jump from the Indo-Gangetic plain. Lhasa and South Eastern Tibet, intimately linked to India through geography and history, have created the Indo-Tibetan culture, religion and arts. But as developments in Tibet during the 1950s and 1960s destabilised Sino-Indian relations, the links between Tibet and its neighbouring regions in India were snapped. Tibet increasingly became remote for India. The Chinese decision to let Indian journalists into Tibet is hopefully the first step towards allowing greater contact between the two societies.

Indian visitors today get a warm welcome in Lhasa. From the Jokhang, where Indian architectural influences are so visible, to the nightclubs where Hindi movie songs are being belted out, India's cultural presence in Tibet is all-pervasive. At the airport, the Indo-Tibetan motifs and the Devanagiri script remind us that we have entered a familiar cultural zone. So does the traditional Tibetan practice of garlanding visitors with the "Kada.''

Confirming the shared culture is the Indian-style chaos at the airport, in marked contrast to the order and discipline in other Chinese cities.

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