“Lhasa's Tibetans will soon be nothing but decorations for tourists”

Tibetans on pilgrimage in Lhasa’s old town pass by construction work.

Lhasa, the ancient city at the heart of Tibetan culture, contains several sacred sites that have been visited by Buddhists for centuries. But the city’s face is changing as Chinese presence in the area grows, giving way to mass tourism and large shopping districts.

At 3,650 metres above sea level, Lhasa had for centuries been the capital of the Tibetan kingdom. In the middle of the 20th century, when Tibet was forcefully placed under Chinese rule, the city became the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The numerous cultural treasures in the city include the Potala palace – the former residence of the Dalai Lama overlooking the city – the Jokhang monastery and the palace of Norbulingka, all recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Tibetans have repeatedly revolted against Chinese authorities, accusing them of disrespecting their culture and religion. Each time, China has responded by strengthening its military presence in the region.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have been encouraging tourists to visit the autonomous region, particularly Lhasa. Nearly 10 million people, mainly Chinese tourists, visited Tibet in 2011, providing a financial windfall for China. At the end of 2012, Chinese authorities announced a grand “preservation plan” for Lhasa’s old town. At a cost of nearly one billion euros, the project will include part of the old town’s Barkhor district being replaced by a large commercial zone that will include a shopping centre.

A series of self-immolations by Tibetans led authorities to ban foreign tourists from visiting the region in May 2012.

“The Barkhor area, a place of huge religious significance, will become dedicated entirely to entertaining tourists”

Tsering Woeser is a Tibetan activist, journalist and poet. Originally from Lhasa, she now lives in Beijing. After a visit to the region in October, she wrote an article in Chinese entitled “Our Lhasa is on the verge of destruction! Please, save Lhasa!” It has since been translated into English and posted on the website High Peaks Pure Earth.

On the plaza located in front of the Jokhang temple [in the centre of the old town], you no longer see pilgrims from other parts of the region coming to worship in Lhasa. You no longer see the thousands of butter lamps that used to be lit by worshippers in the temple’s pavilions. Instead, you see snipers on the roofs of houses and armed men patrolling the streets.

What we see in Lhasa today are inaugurations of gigantic shopping centres created by agreements signed between the government and the business world. These inaugurations are celebrated with red plastic inflatable columns, which are as ugly as they are intrusive. […]

 

Photo sent by Tsering Woeser.

 

On photos posted on [Chinese microblogging site] Weibo by a tourist, you get a sense of the size of what will be the new Barkhor Shopping Mall, a 150,000 m2 shopping centre project that will include, among other things, a car park with 1,117 spaces. The mall will be built in the northeastern part of the Barkhor district, which is wrapped around Jokhang temple [and which pilgrims walk around as a ritual]. What’s going to happen is that these areas, where traditional vendors currently work, will be razed to make way for new stores. The vendors will be moved into the shopping centre. Residents, meanwhile, will be moved to a suburb west of Lhasa. If they agree to leave quickly, they’ll be given compensation between 20,000 to 30,000 RMB [2,500 – 3,700 euros].

 

Construction in Lhasa. Photo sent by Tsering Woeser.

 

The Barkhor area, which has huge religious significance, will become dedicated entirely to entertaining tourists. With these renovations, the main street will no longer be used by Buddhist pilgrims, and Tibetans who remain will only serve as decorations for tourists. […]

 

Moreover, there are grave consequences to all this construction work: because they are doing a lot of digging to build car parks, cracks have started to appear on buildings in the old town. The Lhasa river is drying up and outside the city, land that has been excessively mined is collapsing [the Chinese government has been encouraging mining in the area].

 

A friend disappointed by the sight of all these changes wrote to me and said: “Dismantling old structures, digging tunnels, building bridges, blocking rivers, draining underground resources: these people are the incarnation of insatiable ghosts. They’ll take everything they can take. What they can’t take, they’ll destroy. […]”

 

“The vast reconstruction project currently underway is part of the Chinese authorities’ plan for ‘maintaining stability’, as they call it”

 

The reconstruction of the old town also allows the authorities to hit two birds with one stone. In May 2012, two people set themselves on fire near the Jokhang monastery. The small police post next to the temple was immediately upgraded to the rank of public security office for the Barkhor old town. The hotel where the two people stayed [before setting themselves on fire] was also seized and turned into the offices of the old town’s management committee. The vast reconstruction project currently underway is part of the Chinese authorities’ plan for ‘maintaining stability’, as they call it.

 

Construction in Lhasa. Photo sent by Tsering Woeser.

 

The Potala palace wasn’t spared from this logic, either. In 1996, the village of Zhol, which had been located at the base of the palace since the 1100s, was moved. It was replaced by a large public square that looks like every other public square in China – places that symbolise the central power […] In 2007, the palace even received a warning from UNESCO. [The report noted the uncontrolled urban development and expansion of tourism-related facilities in and near the classified zone, as well as the negative impact of rehabilitation projects on the protection of the historic centre].

All photos were sent by Tsering Woeser.

Post written with FRANCE 24 journalist Ségolène Malterre.