TA'ER TOURIST TRAP: TIBETAN CONTACTS LAMENT

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 002719 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2029 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KIFR CH IN SUBJECT: TA'ER TOURIST TRAP: TIBETAN CONTACTS LAMENT DECLINE OF ONCE-GREAT KUMBUM MONASTERY REF: A. BEIJING 2595 ¶B. BEIJING 2573 ¶C. BEIJING 726 ¶D. 08 BEIJING 1351 ¶E. CHENGDU 181 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson. Reasons 1.4 (b),(d). ¶1. (S) Summary: Tibetan contacts in Qinghai Province expressed dismay at the impact unregulated tourism is having on Kumbum (Ta'er) Monastery, one of the most important religious sites in Tibetan Buddhism. A monk at Kumbum told PolOff that roughly half of the 800 monks have been "corrupted" by the wealth generated by entrance ticket sales and donations and have given up serious study of Buddhism. Monks responsible for key temples in Kumbum can skim up to RMB 1 million (USD 150,000) per year in donations, he said. Our source relayed that a monk was nearly killed in late 2008 after being attacked in his sleep by a rival seeking control over a lucrative shrine. A professor of Tibetan language based in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, said Kumbum's academic reputation has suffered greatly as a result of the monastery's focus on tourism. A Tibetan hotel owner in Yushu, Qinghai Province, meanwhile, said that for Tibetans in the travel industry, Kumbum stands as a negative example of how unregulated tourism can damage Tibetan culture. Yushu, he said, is trying to avoid the pitfalls of Kumbum, but he noted that doing so will be difficult now that a new airport promises to dramatically increase the number of visitors to Yushu. End Summary. ¶2. (S) On August 18, PolOff visited Kumbum Monastery ("Ta'er Si" in Chinese) near Xining, Qinghai Province, and discussed with 39-year-old monk Tenzin Lopsang Gyaltsen (strictly protect),aka "Jensen," conditions in Kumbum and the impact of tourism on the monastery. Kumbum Monastery was founded in 1583 at the site where Tsong Kha-pa (1357-1419),the founder of the Gelug ("Yellow Hat") School of Tibetan Buddhism, was born. Kumbum is also close to the birthplace of the 14th Dalai Lama and Qinghai Lake (Lake Kokonor),which is also revered by Tibetans. The monastery is one of the six centers of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism. Most Monks Focused on Tourism, Not Buddhism -------------- ¶3. (S) Jensen bemoaned the changes the monastery had experienced in the past decade with the dramatic increase in tourism to the site. Kumbum is a 40-minute drive from Qinghai Province capital city Xining, which has a population of two million people. A four-lane toll highway runs from Xining to Kumbum, which, during busy periods, can receive 6000 tourist visits a day. Tourists pay RMB 80 (USD 11) to enter Kumbum, though entrance is free for Tibetans. Jensen claimed that little of the entrance fee money went to supporting academic study at the monastery and most went toward paying the salaries of monks and local officials. (Note: Another Kumbum monk with whom PolOff spoke in February 2008 made similar comments about the damage tourism was causing, see ref D.) ¶4. (S) Jensen said Kumbum currently housed 800 monks: 400 registered with the local Religious Affairs Bureau and 400 unregistered. (Note: Many monasteries in Tibetan regions accept monks without officially informing local religious affairs authorities.) Jensen said that of the 800, only about 200 were seriously pursuing the study of Tibetan Buddhism. Approximately half of the Kumbum monks, including those who participate in monastery's Democratic Management Committee (DMC) and cooperate with the Chinese authorities, were primarily focused on the tourism industry. (Note: While theoretically a body through which monks directly control the management of their monasteries, in reality DMCs act to represent government interests and enforce government policies.) The remaining 200 were seeking to pursue a monastic life yet often found it hard to resist the allure of tourism-related income, Jensen said. Informants -------------- ¶5. (S) Jensen noted that a number of monks at Kumbum were paid by the Public Security Bureau to act as the eyes and ears of the police inside the monastery and were provided free cell phones to facilitate their efforts. Jensen said that although these informants were nominally Tibetan monks, they were very poorly educated and often lacked even the most basic knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism. Ostracized even by the corrupt monks, informants were unable to provide much useful information to local police. "Everyone knows exactly who the BEIJING 00002719 002 OF 003 informants are," Jensen said. Commercialism at Kumbum -------------- ¶6. (S) Jensen complained to PolOff that at Kumbum, Tibetan Buddhism was being exploited for profit. Outside the gates, visitors were assaulted by throngs of tour guides (mostly non-Tibetan) charging fees of up to RMB 60 (USD 9). These guides, Jensen complained, knew very little about Buddhism or Tibetan culture and simply "spout nonsense" to unsuspecting sightseers. Tourist shops outside the gates hawked souvenirs for astronomical prices by fraudulently claiming the trinkets had been touched and blessed by all 800 Kumbum monks. Some monks, in collusion with tour guides, posed as "living Buddhas" and provided "blessings" to Han Chinese tourists in return for hefty "donations," which the monks and guides split and pocketed. Temple Keeper Violence -------------- ¶7. (S) Jensen said that among the corrupt monks, the position of temple keeper (monks charged with maintaining important temples by keeping lamps burning, sweeping floors, etc.) was highly sought after because of the opportunities to skim donations. While most temples at Kumbum contained locked donation boxes, many Tibetan pilgrims and tourists placed bills directly before statues and pictures. Many of these loose bills, Jensen claimed, ended up in the pockets of the temple keepers. At some high-traffic shrines inside Kumbum, temple keepers could skim annual incomes of up to RMB 1 million (USD 150,000),Jensen claimed. This generated fierce competition for control over temples. Jensen told PolOff of an incident in late 2008 in which a sleeping Kumbum monk had been attacked with a knife by a rival temple keeper. The monk barely survived the attack, which monastery leaders covered up. Ethnic Tensions Remain -------------- ¶8. (S) Unlike many Tibetan monasteries, Kumbum did not experience significant protests in March 2008. (Note: According to Jensen, 13 Kumbum monks were arrested in the wake of the March 2008 riots -- and several were subject to beatings at a nearby police station -- but have all since been released.) However, as a result of the events of March 2008, many Han Chinese, Jensen observed, had a false impression of Tibetan monks as violent and quick to anger. Jensen said that because of this fear, Han tourists rarely approached him to ask directions or to take photos. In early August, Jensen said, a Kumbum monk accidentally drove his car into a group of Han tourists, injuring several. The monk was immediately arrested, and local police began investigating whether the monk had purposely "attacked" the Han visitors. Jensen said the incident, which resulted from the monk's poor driving skills and was not politically motivated, showed the kind of Han-Tibetan tensions that continue to linger over Kumbum. Kumbum Moves Down in Buddhist College Rankings -------------- - ¶9. (S) Duola (strictly protect),a professor of Tibetan language at Northwest University for Nationalities in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, told PolOff August 15 that unrestricted tourism had largely destroyed Kumbum's reputation as an institution of Buddhist learning. Like Jensen, Duola said that most Kumbum monks had been seduced by the tourism industry and had given up monastic life in all but name. Duola contrasted Kumbum to Gansu Province's Labrang Monastery, which has also become a major tourist site. Duola said that the senior monks at Labrang had so far succeeded in maintaining the monastery's focus on academic study despite the growth in tourism and tremendous political pressure in the wake of the March 2008 unrest. Jensen agreed, noting that whereas Kumbum was swarming with incompetent tour guides, at Labrang the monks had maintained more control over tourism and conducted most tours themselves. (Note: Labrang also enjoys more geographic isolation as it is a five-hour drive from Lanzhou, the nearest major city. Gansu officials, however, are currently building a new highway that will shorten the drive time.) Sustainable Tibetan Tourism? -------------- ¶10. (S) PolOff spoke August 21 with Nima Jiangcai (strictly protect),a Tibetan who recently opened a bar and guest house in Yushu, a majority Tibetan city in southern Qinghai BEIJING 00002719 003 OF 003 Province. A frequent visitor to Xining, Nima Jiangcai was, like our other contacts, highly critical of tourism at Kumbum. For Tibetans engaged in the travel business, he said, Kumbum stood as a cautionary tale for how tourism could weaken and even destroy Tibetan culture. Nima Jiangcai said Tibetans in Yushu had been both excited and apprehensive about the opening of the town's new airport (the first commercial flight landed in Yushu August 1),which promised to dramatically increase the number of foreign and Han tourists. (Note: Before August, the only way to get to Yushu was via a 15-hour car or bus ride from Xining, much of it over poor roads and at an altitude above 13,000 feet.) Nima Jiangcai told PolOff that maintaining Tibetan control over the local tourism industry in Yushu was essential for avoiding the pitfalls of Kumbum. Doing so, he admitted, would be difficult given the preferences of Han tourists who, unlike Western tourists, did not necessarily favor Tibetan businesses. Nima Jiangcai worried that Han hotel and tour operators would begin to move into Yushu in force and displace Tibetan business owners once Yushu's tourism industry took off. Bio Note -------------- ¶11. (S) Jensen spent four years in the 1990s living at a Tibetan monastery in northern India. During his stay in India, Jensen met the Dalai Lama twice in Dharamsala. In 1999, Jensen received a scholarship from an overseas foundation to study for two years at Utah Valley State College in Provo. While in Utah, Jensen had an audience with the Dalai Lama during the Tibetan spiritual leader's 2001 visit to the state. Upon Jensen's return to Kumbum Monastery in 2002, authorities confiscated his passport. Jensen said local officials and the monastery leadership view him with suspicion because of his extended stays in India and the United States. Jensen said he listens regularly to Tibetan-language newscasts by Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, and other overseas broadcasters via his computer. He also regularly reads articles on websites affiliated with Tibetan exile groups. HUNTSMAN