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Tashi dele from Tibet [April-May 1999]

Tibet trip

Agelasto
2004-05-20 20:00:06

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the past 50 years the majority and minority cultures have found an
accommodation. I have no way of knowing whether the Tibetans are comfortable with
this arrangement. Tibetans in cities are much better off economically (as are virtually all
Chinese) than they were before the founding of the PRC. I do not know to what extent
hate crimes or ethnic disputes exist. There is violence, I suspect more so than in other
Chinese cities. A Japanese traveler, one of my roommates at a Lhasa hostel, witnessed a
stabbing the night he arrived. A dispute between three Chinese and a Tibetan culminated
in the latter stabbing one of the Chinese. I heard another tale by a traveler who saw police
carry away a bleeding Tibetan. Tibetan males traditionally sheave knives; I would expect
the incidents of stabbing to reflect the availability of weapons (Fortunately, China restricts
gun ownership!).
Another thing that surprised me does not surprise most visitors, who visit Tibet
specifically because of the land?s spirituality. I was astonished at the personal religious
commitments made by a large part of the Tibetan population. Lhasa is full of pilgrims
wandering along specific routes, visiting shrines and monasteries. Religion is not just
important, it is the most important part of many Tibetan?s lives. Faith seems very
important for the average people of Tibet, at least on the par with devout Muslims or
Christians. Here, such a large part of the population seems devout, which is not how I
would characterize the people of most Islamic or Christian countries I have visited.
Perhaps my surprise is due to the fact I have lived in an officially atheist country, in the
developed China South, where about the only thing worshipped is money. In contrast
with secular China, where ancestor worship is important but is not what I would describe
as a real religion, Buddhism in Tibet is the guiding ...