Monday, October 15, 2007
Tibet - The Story Behind the Story
Tibet, as beautiful as it is, folds a tragic story.
It is a sad story of a depressed group of peaceful people, cruelly trampled by the Chinese communist regime.
The Chinese takeover in 1950 resulted in incredible slaughter of over Million Tibetans. Since then, Tibetans are forced to live under strict regulations, limitations and restrictions, closely monitored by soldiers, marionette-monks, and even the tourist's temple donations are taken away by the government.
More striking is the disappearance of monks. The most troubling occurred on 1995, right after announcing a six year-old boy to be the next Panchen Lama (2nd in importance to the Dalai Lama), he vanishes off the earth and was never seen since - most likely to be abducted by the Chinese, to become the youngest political prisoner.
The one year old Beijin-Lhasa 48 hours train, aside to the promotions given to chinese migrants, have done their trick and Tibet is being overwhelmed by the Chinese transported population - by now, Lhasa holds a vast majority of Chinese over Tibetan. Silently, China's pincers are closing down over Tibet.
The unjust is evident. The Tibetan calamities cannot be ignored and it seems as if the poor Tibetan nation is facing a potential extinction of its unique religion and culture.
Reaching and traveling in Tibet is not easy - Tourist Infrastructure and facilities (like roads, transportation, hotels, agencies) are still at their early stage, which makes traveling in Tibet a bit of challenge. Moreover, the Chinese are not so keen for western eyes to see what's really happening inside Tibet. This is why permits, guides and groups are required. This is why access to my blog site was blocked. and this is why once you finally manage to get in, you feel obliged to share your observations.
It is a sad story of a depressed group of peaceful people, cruelly trampled by the Chinese communist regime.
The Chinese takeover in 1950 resulted in incredible slaughter of over Million Tibetans. Since then, Tibetans are forced to live under strict regulations, limitations and restrictions, closely monitored by soldiers, marionette-monks, and even the tourist's temple donations are taken away by the government.
More striking is the disappearance of monks. The most troubling occurred on 1995, right after announcing a six year-old boy to be the next Panchen Lama (2nd in importance to the Dalai Lama), he vanishes off the earth and was never seen since - most likely to be abducted by the Chinese, to become the youngest political prisoner.
The one year old Beijin-Lhasa 48 hours train, aside to the promotions given to chinese migrants, have done their trick and Tibet is being overwhelmed by the Chinese transported population - by now, Lhasa holds a vast majority of Chinese over Tibetan. Silently, China's pincers are closing down over Tibet.
The unjust is evident. The Tibetan calamities cannot be ignored and it seems as if the poor Tibetan nation is facing a potential extinction of its unique religion and culture.
Reaching and traveling in Tibet is not easy - Tourist Infrastructure and facilities (like roads, transportation, hotels, agencies) are still at their early stage, which makes traveling in Tibet a bit of challenge. Moreover, the Chinese are not so keen for western eyes to see what's really happening inside Tibet. This is why permits, guides and groups are required. This is why access to my blog site was blocked. and this is why once you finally manage to get in, you feel obliged to share your observations.
and its also not easy to get out of Tibet...
We needed to exit via China and so (thanks to our dear friend Laura who trekked with us and lives there) we found ourselves in Kunming - a nice Chinese city in the Yunnan province - just in perfect timing for the Chinese national independence holiday.
It was a good opportunity to meet the other side of China - The Chinese people are kind and nice. They certainly seems to know how to grow old nicely - Morning Thai-Chi in front of the river, playing music, folk dancing, playing cards, badminton (my Tennis skills didn't help much against the pros...).
China, the land of tea and rice, is very much a country under construction - old neighborhoods are being demolished and rapidly replaced with "modern" constructions. An environmental ray of light is the electric motorcycles that are pollution/smell/noise-free. (and hey, they even have a province named 'Henan'... ;-)
We took a few days for a proper beten-gav (after all, it's a honeymoon-:) relaxation, tan, beach, books and the rest at Koh-Phi Phi, Thailand, which is completely recovered by now from the dreadful 2005 Tzunami.
and it is here that this journey came to it's end - a long way gone to explore the mysterious Tibet (Tel-Aviv->Amman->New Delhi->Kathmandu->Lhasa->Kunming->Bangkok->Amman->Tel-Aviv...)
and yes - pictures are now available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/hananlevin/sets/72157602547684748/
We needed to exit via China and so (thanks to our dear friend Laura who trekked with us and lives there) we found ourselves in Kunming - a nice Chinese city in the Yunnan province - just in perfect timing for the Chinese national independence holiday.
It was a good opportunity to meet the other side of China - The Chinese people are kind and nice. They certainly seems to know how to grow old nicely - Morning Thai-Chi in front of the river, playing music, folk dancing, playing cards, badminton (my Tennis skills didn't help much against the pros...).
China, the land of tea and rice, is very much a country under construction - old neighborhoods are being demolished and rapidly replaced with "modern" constructions. An environmental ray of light is the electric motorcycles that are pollution/smell/noise-free. (and hey, they even have a province named 'Henan'... ;-)
We took a few days for a proper beten-gav (after all, it's a honeymoon-:) relaxation, tan, beach, books and the rest at Koh-Phi Phi, Thailand, which is completely recovered by now from the dreadful 2005 Tzunami.
and it is here that this journey came to it's end - a long way gone to explore the mysterious Tibet (Tel-Aviv->Amman->New Delhi->Kathmandu->Lhasa->Kunming->Bangkok->Amman->Tel-Aviv...)
and yes - pictures are now available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/hananlevin/sets/72157602547684748/
Labels: China, Thailand, Tibet
# posted by Hanan @ 6:12 AM 
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