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Tashi dele from Tibet [April-May 1999]

Tibet trip

Agelasto
2004-05-20 20:00:06

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1. Impressions and surprises

Recently I traveled for two and a half weeks in Xizang, China. You know this area not by
its Chinese name but as Tibet. My perspective, that of an occidental who has lived in
China for over a decade, is quite different from most of the views on Tibet found in either
Western or Chinese media. This really shouldn?t surprise you who know me. It seems
that my views on just about everything are non-mainstream. It?s not just that I am writing
to the sounds of a different drummer; it?s like I am using a tonal system that has not yet
even been developed. My views on Africa, on Chinese education, indeed my views on just
about anything concerning the USA, are not just out of the main flow; they are not even in
the water. Sometimes, my unusual (I hate to use the term radical) views are appreciated;
most often they do not find an audience. So, anyway, here are my notes from my travel in
Tibet. I have decided to forsake commenting on things touristique; suffice it to say that
Tibet from a tourist?s point of view provides an extremely interesting experience. For me
it was a pleasant experience, save for the headaches and shortness of breath that result
from being on the world?s rooftop.
I went to Tibet with all sorts of expectations, prejudices and preconceptions. I expected
poverty in Tibet to be quite obvious, for statistically it is one of the poorest regions in one
of the poorest countries on earth (worse off by some statistics than even West Africa
which I visited a few months before). But I had not realized that Tibet is really four
Tibets. First, there are the cities of Lhasa and Shigatse which for most practical purposes
should be considered Chinese cities, with Chinese infrastructure, schools, hospitals, etc.
Then, there are the hundreds of towns, which have much less Chinese influence and more
Tibetan flavor. The towns ...