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Tashi dele from Tibet [April-May 1999]

Tibet trip

Agelasto
2004-05-20 20:00:06

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that was totally inhospitable to modern agriculture. That is not the case, in sharp
contrast with much of the rest of China. China itself is not a rich nation in terms of
agricultural land. In fact, compared to countries like India and the US, China seems to
have been slighted when arable land was bestowed. Demographers advise us that China?s
agricultural land is sufficient for a country of about only three-quarters of its current size
(exactly where the country wants to be after a century of experiencing population control
policies, sometime in the 22nd century.) Still, as China?s population will continue to rise
during the first half of next century, it will find itself more and more dependent on foreign
food imports (something that can save the economies of efficient food producers such as
the US, Canada and Australia). Tibet offers China much potential land for growing crops;
and this potential will probably start to be be recognized sometime after a rail link with the
Mainland (Lhasa - Golmud, Qinghai) is completed in a few years. From the Chinese
perspective, Tibet is also rich in natural resources, an array of minerals and metals waiting
to be mined.
What also surprised me about Tibet was the extent of Tibet-Han interaction. I had heard
there was no marriage between the races. I don?t think this is true. I saw individuals who
had both Chinese and Tibetan facial features (Tibetan noses and rosy cheeks; Han cheek
bones and eyes). For the most part Chinese in Tibet live in the two cities, where they are a
sizable minority of the population (by observation I would guess 25%). These cities of
Lhasa and Shigatse are divided into Chinese and Tibetan districts, which combine
residences and commerce. During business hours (which in China run into the evening),
however, there is a cultural mix. I expected more segregation than I found. It seems to
me that over ...