STILL TIBET

The Tibetan region under the jurisdiction of the Chinese Province of Sichuan is a real police state,
with an officer for every 20 citizens
Richness in mineral resources, the main incentive for China, who exploites them excessively
Disregard to local culture and traditions by Chinese authorities, the main grief of Tibetans

A Tibetan man walking around the Parkhang Temple in Dege

The title of this article entails obvious positive connotations while negative ones as well. To illustrate this, just
visualize that if someone told you "...you are still young..." not only he would be emphasizing that you are
young, but that phrase would carry the inherent message that you will soon stop to be so.
Extension of Autonomous Region of Tibet is equivalent to almost three times the territory of Spain, although this
part corresponds just with one of the three historical Tibetan Provinces. Another one, Kham, is mostly located
in the current Chinese Province of Sichuan, where on the one hand the general impression encourages for hope
since it still retains its unique culture, mysticism and charm, but, on the other hand, at the same time it is
undergoing a sudden metamorphosis due of numerous factors that is threatening to destroy forever such a
special and vulnerable identity as the Tibetan one.

Tibet, a police state

Whilst entering into Tibetan provinces, first thing that attracts attention is the disproportionate amount of
officers and police patrols. It is estimated that the number of troops combining Chinese police and army in
Tibet is nearly one per every twenty Tibetans. Cities are literally taken by the police, with agents in every
corner, groups of heavily armed soldiers jogging in the streets and even, occasionally, inspecting rituals and
ceremonies, which becomes the main discord of the Tibetan community, after assuming that their beliefs are not
respected.

In spite of being an area where a foreign visitor can travel freely with his Chinese Visa, police has precise
commands of detaining and holding every tourist they see with the goal of keeping under control each of their
movements after making the same usual questions, Where are you coming from?, Where are you heading to?
Where are you planning to sleep?, Why are you here? and even Do you like China?
Often, after answering all these questions, they hesitate for a minute and get back to making precisely same
ones all over again in order to gain time till the officer that speaks good English arrives to the location,
normally just one per county, it is required like this to wait for several hours till they locate and transport that
English speaker officer.
A young Chinese girl teaching English at a school in Baiyu, a Tibetan town located in the limit with the
Autonomous Tibetan Region, is occasionally requested to cooperate with Chinese authorities. When asking her
about it, she mentions "This morning I received a call saying Your government needs you. Get ready, we will
come for you in twenty minutes. And during the time we were traveling to the location, I was on the phone receiving
instructions on how to show you us as hospitable and make clear that all our actions are made towards visitors safety."
After asking her why she thought visitors should be warned of being in danger, she answered. "Tibetans are not
like you or me, they understand neither rules nor laws. If they got a problem they may solve it by killing you.
As simple as that." At last, when asking her why she thought it was necessary for the presence of Chinese
authorities and population to stay in areas inhabited by Tibetans, her answer was clear and unequivocal. "They
are savages. They need us because without us in Tibet there would be chaos, violence and murder all the time.
We also educate and teach them manners, for what they should be grateful."

Han colonization
From the fifty-six recognized ethnic groups in China, Han is a spread majority with a representation above 90%
of the total Chinese citizens.
Nowadays, major Tibetan cities are being literally colonized by Han citizens, even there have been cases of
municipalities which population was around a thousand less than five years ago and currently there are
residing above ten thousand people.
Tibetan villages have very strong aesthetics, with clusters of wooden houses situated on mountain slopes
following a joint harmony. However, in recent years Chinese multinationals are building at a hurried pace
blocks of communist-looking condominiums which are inhabited by Han citizens, colonizing like this Tibetan
villages and pushing out Tibetan neighbourhoods to the background, becoming now the minorities of these
villages. Besides, often those apartments are given together with a considerable economical support to
unemployed Han citizens as forced incentive to move from Chinese mainland towards Tibetan areas.

Barkam. The original Tibetan village sees from the mountain the progress of Chinese buildings

Han-Tibetan coexistence is delicate and complex, since they are radically different idiosyncrasies. Nonetheless, a
significant fact which attracts attention is that if a business, such as a restaurant, hotel or bakery is run by Han,
it is frequently visited by Tibetans. However this formula does not work at all in the other direction and it is
practically impossible for a Han to stay in a hostel or to lunch at a restaurant owned by a Tibetan. When asking
a Chinese citizen about this observation, his answer was straightforward: "We have different ways of seeing life. I
have no Tibetan friends and I do not want to mingle with them because I think they are savages. Although I believe there
are some good Tibetans. "

Group of Tibetans in the nowadays Chinese city of Lixian

Despite these factors, harmony and acceptance of the Tibetan community stands out, which at first glance does
not indicate any hint of bitterness. However, if a Chinese symbol is shown or questions in that regard are made,
everyone shows their rejection of all kind of oppression and disregard for their culture and traditions.
A Tibetan citizen, as his wife left the room where he was being interviewed, said "even though it does not seem so,
the rage grows inside us, especially after seeing no respect for our precepts and ideals which are everything for us, they have
always been so. Nevertheless, we never want to be involved in violence or disputes of any kind, especially which might offend
another person. Just think in the most extreme case, which is when some monks have had enough oppression and just cannot
stand it any longer, then their act of protest is the self-immolation, the most painful way to die while not harming anyone. "
Indeed, two days after carrying out that interview, in the city Barkam (600 kilometers from the border with the
Autonomous Tibet), a monk made a sacrifice setting himself on fire in the central city square to protest against
the despotism of the Chinese authorities and numerous indignities committed in opposition to thebeliefs and
ways of Tibetan life, news that was impossible to find in any Chinese media. The spreading of such news and
actions means the main purpose of Tibetan activists, who in their eagerness of broadcasting the message of
distress covered under such actions, set on highest risk their safety and, mainly, their freedom. The fact of
exposing the interests of the Chinese Empire in Tibetan Regions has pushed many of them to exile,
finding in the north of India their main hosting destination.

Incentives of China in Tibet

The interests of the Asian Giant in the Tibetan region are numerous, although its principal incentive is the
exploitation of natural resources. Especially when exploring remote and mountainous areas, Chinese
companies are found drilling and operating in extracting several kind of precious minerals, such as chrome, gold
or copper. Recently, the value of Tibet mineral resources has been estimated in over than 100,000 million euros.
In addition, China finds in Tibetan mountains its main supply of sand, achieving this way to override the global
crisis hitting the major developing countries not worrying about the devastating effects that such excavations

are for the preservation of the Tibetan mountains and plateau.

To ensure maximum utilization of these industries, despite being very rough and vast territories, there are
being built a lot of roads and bridges that will leave connected practically every point with potential in Tibetan
territory with China mainland.

Guanyin, a sacred place for Tibetan Buddhism which helplessly observes the devastation and exploitation of their environment

The Development of such a massive infrastructure network has additionally another clear purpose, while
traveling in the Tibetan provinces under Chinese control, intentions of the Government are uncovered, which
are none other than transforming Tibet into a tourist attraction as an efficient source of income. This
conclusion becomes obvious due to several facts, otherwise how else could it be explained such a rude and
skeptical behavior from Chinese authorities towards any foreigner while every new road sign includes for first
time indications and name of monuments and cities in English?
Besides, in numerous places profoundly sacred for the Tibetan Buddhism, there are in process gigantic projects
of construction and development of facilities for tourism such as malls, resorts and pedestrian streets with
commercial purposes. We are talking about small Tibetan villages located around any temple especially
meaningful for them, where unavoidably such overambitious projects moved by the voracious appetite of
investors will have disastrous consequences for the local culture.

Tourist Project in Guanyin

Road signs in Tibet, also in English

Another factor that obviously plays a fundamental role in the interests of China in Tibet is power. When
adhering, colonizing and exploiting the Tibetan provinces, the Chinese nation is acquiring land, property and
potential supporters. Clear proof of this is the predominance of Confucius teachings as a reference in the schools
that Chinese Government has erected in many of the locations where Tibetan Buddhism is clearly the religious
reference.
This sudden transformation being suffered by Tibet brings along an unavoidable adjustment of local habits,
dragging at the same time new menaces from the global civilization for which they are not ready to face and do
not mean to seem a reason to worry for the Chinese Government. Insertion of a model that, despite its
communist label, it is based on the excessive consumerism has generated a serious environmental trouble; the
forced development Tibet is being exposed carries tons of waste and trash that nowadays there is neither
infrastructure nor civism to handle.

SOS Environment
In this case both ethnicities, Han and Tibetan, share responsibility for the tons of garbage overrunning the
Tibetan landscape. The problem is none other than the lack of environmental awareness. It is just not conceived
that respect for the environment and now that in recent years civilization has drastically arrived to Tibet
bringing cans, plastic wrappers, cigarette packs, etc. there is no clue of infrastructure to deposit and manage the
waste.

Regia, Baiyiu County

Manigango, Dege County

Since normally a ride in Tibet takes several hours, it is frequent to eat and drink all along the way and it is not
surprising at all to catch drivers or any passenger from a vehicle throwing out the window cans or any kind of
wrappers. Diapers, clothes, even disposable oxygen bottles may be found disposed forming mountains of waste
in the middle of the nature.
This abolition of responsibility for the environment does not exclude either Tibetan Buddhist monks, who get
rid of any waste right at the place where no longer is needed. The main Lama instructor at a monastery of
young monks seemed more committed, so after asking him why not try to train his pupils on developing a
greener consciousness and awareness with the environment around them, his response was that "it has been tried
in occasions to enable spaces where waste could be accumulated, however it was never collected. Thus, at the end those
locations became hotbeds of animals and smells. Therefore, it ends up being less harmful and easier for all for the trash to be
left scattered. "

The mystical and captivating perception of Tibet is formed equally by culture, traditions, religion and unique
natural settings. Thus, the fact of each of them being seriously menaced, places the Tibetan idiosyncrasy in a
dimming state, being forced to shout for help to the international community in order to stop on time its
deterioration.

Young Tibetan Monks

The solution does exist and it is called diplomacy

Unlike most of the problems and conflicts devastating our time, in this case both parties have completely
different interests; in the case of the Chinese Government, reasons have been discussed along this article,
however as for the Tibetan community, while hurt since from all this exploitation of natural resources within
their territory all they receive is the devastation of their environment, their main frustration lies in defamation
and contempt towards their beliefs. For them it turns out to be much more than about religious views, but it is
about identity and lifestyle. For the Tibetan community, the layout of international atlas maps or color of the
flag flying over the rooftops of governmental buildings is almost irrelevant compared to what would mean for
them to be respected, something that would not exclude the Chinese Government exploiting the natural and
touristic resources at its own will and educating the population as long as it would be performed in a sustainable
and tolerant form with the idiosyncrasy and interests of the autochthonous population.
Despite all the factors and irremediable pressure from the development of civilization lurking into this
extraordinary culture, there is still hope that both sides will leave behind historical grudges, pride and
resentment managing to dialogue and yield in order to achieve dialectically an understanding that would end
the oppression and violence tingeing with regret and sorrow the peaks of the world.
There still remains the ancient mysticism which finds in extreme peace its most profound and invasive
expression of discord. Still there could be retained a culture based on human development and dissemination of
knowledge. Tibet is still Tibet and Tibet still resists.

Young Tibetan Monk at a traditional ceremony. Nyi Mountains Targyi