TIBET 15 YEARS LATER: CONGENOFF'S OBSERVATIONS OF CHANGING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 CHENGDU 000252 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/CM E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/9/2034 TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI CH SUBJECT: TIBET 15 YEARS LATER: CONGENOFF'S OBSERVATIONS OF CHANGING LIFE IN TIBET REF: A) CHENGDU 251 B) 08 CHENGDU 78 C) 07 CHENGDU 239 CHENGDU 00000252 001.2 OF 004 CLASSIFIED BY: David E. Brown, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General Chengdu. REASON: 1.4 (d) ¶1. (C) Introduction and Summary: ConGen Chengdu Officer visited Lhasa in mid-October for the first time since 1994, when he was a university student in religious studies (including Buddhism). This cable provides his informal vignettes of life in Lhasa. ConGenOff noted that Western tourists in Lhasa were numerous compared to 15 years earlier, and the city was like night and day in the degree of its economic development. Tibetans storekeepers and street hawkers benefit from the tourism trade, while facing significant barriers to full participation in the broader local economy. Strong Han Chinese cultural influences, dominance of the economy, and heavy security presence were clearly visible through most parts of Lhasa; one encouraging sign, however, was the presence of a master Tibetan "thangka" (religious scroll) painter, who was teaching apprentices with support from the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) government. ¶2. (C) In terms of religious freedom, there were contradictions: on the one hand, numerous Tibet pilgrims freely practiced their religion through prostrations and circumambulations after long trips from the hinterland; on the other hand, security cameras were omnipresent even in a remote monastery, and monks were hesitant to speak freely with us when Chinese or cameras were present. One Tibetan tour guide spoke freely with us about the Dalai Lama's early life in Lhasa in the presence of Chinese tourists, and even our Han Chinese Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) handler appeared interested in Buddhism. ¶3. (C) An American NGO is facing difficulties finding a local partner because of pressure from the TAR Government; an ethnic Tibetan anthropologist at the NGO told us that many Chinese officials really do believe that the Dalai Lama and international NGOs were behind the events of March 14 (2008). This is partly because PRC officials "cannot face the possibility that there could be problems with their own system." Increased cultural influences from Nepal may simply be a return to the pre-1951 situation. End Introduction and Summary. Tourism: A Net Plus for Tibetans, But Full Participation in Economy Elusive? -------------- ¶4. (C) Compared to 15 years ago, there are now many tourist-oriented shops along Lhasa's Barkhor district of which the Jokhang Temple -- one of the holiest sites of Tibetan Buddhism -- is a central part. There were numerous western tourists walking about, including Americans and Europeans. The Barkhor is still very Tibetan, and many shops are run by Tibetans, though of course there are also ethnic Han Chinese. There were also numerous stalls selling trinkets, while stores and hawkers of food essentials such tea, butter, etc. have moved to secondary streets. Dico's Chicken -- a Chinese fast food chain -- is now right on the main square that fronts the Jokhang; the Tibet Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) told us that U.S. chains KFC and McDonalds were not in Lhasa yet because its population is not large enough (but perhaps also because of sensitivity by American multinationals about operating in Tibet). The butter shop we visited on a side street had local butter, but also was selling "genuine Tibet margarine" from Shenzhen. ¶5. (C) ConGenOff found a thangka (Tibetan painted scroll with religious motif) shop where a real master is still teaching students. ConGenOff understood previously from exiles in Dharamsala (where he studied for several months) that all the old masters had either died or gone into exile. It was encouraging to see that at least one real master continues to work and teach in Lhasa, and that the work of his students (who some mostly from Tibetan areas of Sichuan Province) appeared quite skilled. One of the students explained that the school is well-supported by the TAR government -- which is also encouraging. ¶6. (C) While some say that the rapid expansion of tourism is excessive and all negative, in reality a vastly expanded economy should mean more opportunities for both Tibetans and Han. On CHENGDU 00000252 002.2 OF 004 the other hand, there appear to be impediments to Tibetans becoming full participants in their own economy. (See reftel A on Vice Governor meeting and discrimination faced by Tibetans and reftel B on discrimination Tibetan merchants in Lhasa face.) A shopkeeper at our hotel told us that it isn't just banks where they only use Mandarin Chinese, it is in all official buildings and offices. When asked if Tibetans were upset by this, she said, "Oh, there are so many things Tibetans are upset about." She said that learning Tibetan is not useful, and that you really need to speak Chinese to have a job or a future. Han Cultural Influence -- and Security Presence -- Very Visible -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) The Han Chinese influence is very visible, culturally, in the local architecture, and through a heavy security presence. There was a giant floral display for China's 60th National Day anniversary lined up directly in front of the Jokhang for easy photo-taking by tourists. ConGenOffs visited Chinatown on "Thieves Island." This new part of Lhasa did not exist 15 years ago and is completely Chinese. Many shop signs were in Chinese only, lacking Tibetan (even though local law requires it),and not a single Tibetan or other foreigner was spotted. The entrance to Chinatown was through a gate guarded by heavily armed soldiers. ¶8. (C) The Public Security Bureau (PSB) building, part of the Beijing-based Ministry of State Security, now has the tallest building in Lhasa, overlooking everything, and looking very ominous. There was a vast police and military presence in Lhasa, with security cameras everywhere including all major intersections and around the Jokhang, and there were 4-15 man units of People's Armed Police (PAP) regularly patrolling the Jokhang area with shotguns, AK-47s, and teargas grenade launchers. ¶9. (C) When ConGenOff tried to take a photo of a temple that included a group of PAP soldiers, one came over and politely asked what he had taken a photo of. When ConGenOff said the temple roof, he said he was concerned that ConGenOff had also taken their photo, and asked to see his camera. LES slipped between us and said, "These are diplomats, you should not make yourself look ugly to them." This gave ConGenOff enough time to delete the photo without the solider noticing, and then to proudly show him that he had no photo of the soldiers. Pilgrims abundant and active -- At Least Some Religious Freedom -------------- -------------- ¶10. (C) Despite this oppressive security presence, Lhasa is still teeming with Tibetan pilgrims, doing prostrations in front of Jokhang and the magnificent Potala Palace, which rises on a hill in central Lhasa. We got caught up in the "kora" (circumambulation) around temples by literally hundreds of pilgrims -- evidence that there are some truly positive signs of free practice of religion among the depressing stories of forced political education of (and disappearance of) monks and nuns. While we were in Lhasa, a respected Tibetan religious figure -- the "rinpoche" -- died, and we noted the line of people 3-4 city blocks long waiting to see his remains. There was also a long line of hundreds waiting to see the Jowo statue in Ramoche Temple. Among the pilgrims, we noted many from Amdo and Kham who had traveled great distances some of them having done prostrations all the way as they travelled on foot. ¶11. (C) At Ramoche, a Tibetan man standing some kind of official guard was busy keeping visitors from stepping on chalk drawings of the eight auspicious symbols, and the huge incense burners outside were going so strong the air was thick with a smog of juniper smoke. At Tsemonling Temple, we saw wonderful old Tantric murals. The monk said they were only partially damaged in the Cultural Revolution, as the temple had been converted into a warehouse and thus the paintings had survived desecration. Some rooms had completely intact murals, though CHENGDU 00000252 003.2 OF 004 they had suffered from age. At Jokhang, a monk who asked, "what country?" gave us a huge grin when we said, "America." Another other monk exclaimed to us "Dalai Lama!", but then a Chinese officer arrived looking very serious and we had to go. Tibetan Tour Guide Openly Discusses Dalai Lama's Life -------------- -------------- ¶12. (C) At Norbulinka, a sort of summer palace on the outskirts of Lhasa, we had an extremely knowledgeable guide, a recent graduate of cultural preservation from Xi'an University. She gave an unvarnished, in-depth tour that surprised even our ethnic Tibetan LES. When several Han tourists heard her and joined our group, she made no change to her tour, nor did she switch to offering propaganda. Interestingly, she did not seem to receive any hint of disapproval from our FAO minders or be signaled to change the tour in light of it having become public. ConGen Chengdu's Tibetan LES later said that she is young and a recent graduate, and is a professional in cultural preservation rather than being a normal tour guide, which probably explains her different style. ¶13. (C) She went into great detail about the earlier life, belongings, and daily routines of the 14th (current) Dalai Lama, and took us into an area normally off limits to tourists that includes a detailed mural of his life. Again, Han tourists were allowed to watch and listen from nearby (though they were not allowed behind the gate with us). (Comment: It is encouraging that a student fresh from Xi'an University would have such a command of Tibetan culture and history, contrasting starkly with other tour guides ConGenOff has encountered on travels in China. Over the past several years, many Tibetan tour guides in Lhasa resent their replacement in many cases by presumably more politically reliable "help Tibet" Han tour guides who started guiding tourist after short term training about Tibetan culture. End Comment.) Even FAO Handlers (Secretly) Interested in Buddhism -------------- -------------- ¶14. (C) Our FAO handlers were a Han and a Tibetan. ConGenOff noticed Han FAO "Help Tibet cadre" Wu (discussed in reftel C) making what appeared to be a typical Chinese prayer movement with his hand in front of his chest near a statue, but he quickly stopped when he saw ConGenOff looking at him. At the Norbulinka, when ConGenOff guessed at the identity of a particular image in a wall mural, the Tibetan FAO handler quickly rattled off the names of the past, present, and future Buddhas using their Sanskrit names. When asked whether she had studied Tibetan Buddhism she quickly said, "No, I just like to visit these places. I have an interest." But Security Cameras Watch Monks Even At Remote Monastery -------------- -------------- ¶15. (C) At the remote but huge Ganden Monastery, an hour's drive from Lhasa at 14,000 feet elevation, ConGenOff asked about the presence of security cameras. Our ethnic Han FAO handler Wu argued it was, "just like buildings anywhere, like in the United States or Beijing." The cameras are there "to prevent fires and for the security of the monastery." When ConGenOff asked further about the security question, Wu asked, "Don't supermarkets in America have cameras?" ConGenOff responded that these were because of thieves, and asked Wu whether he meant there was a problem with thieves at Ganden, to which he said, "They are for fires." PolEconOff asked if there were because the government feared the monks following the unrest of March, 2008, to which the Han FAO handler heatedly replied, "They are just monks, we are China, why should we fear them?" On the positive side, Ganden has been mostly reconstructed -- with significant financial help from the Chinese Government -- after being shelled by PLA artillery in the 1960s, and leveled into rubble. CHENGDU 00000252 004.2 OF 004 American NGO's Tibetan Anthropologist: Chinese Leaders Really Believe in Dalai Lama Plot -------------- -------------- ¶16. (C) Our Tibetan, US-trained anthropologist contact, Ben Jiao, is with the U.S.-based NGO "The Bridge Fund (TBF)," said his NGO was having problems finding a new local partner. Its last MOU expired in 2007, and it recently received news of USD 10 million in new funding from USAID, which it will subcontract to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) and Save the Children UK. TBF's existing local partner (the TAR Forest Bureau) was actually involved in the work, and was not just a silent partner. Ben Jiao stated that, while international NGOs (INGO) with a U.S. background/backing are facing great difficulty, non-US INGOs are doing ok. ¶17. (C) Asked whether China really believes that NGOs and/or the Dalai Lama were behind the events of March 14 (2008),Ben Jiao said "yes," PRC officials "cannot face the possibility that there could be problems with their own system." ¶18. (C) Another Tibetan with several friends in TAR Public Security Bureau told us that his friends there have warned him against working with international NGOs, explaining that TAR Public Security considers those NGOs one of the top ten security threats to the TAR. The Tibetan also said that he has to be careful about meeting with foreign teachers at Tibet University since a Tibetan who meets groups of foreigners is politically suspect. Nepali influence: New, or Just Making A Comeback? -------------- -------------- ¶19. (C) Lhasa's Tibetan section (how odd to have to call it that) now resembles the Tibetan area in Kathmandu as well as other exile communities. Now there is chicken curry and banana lassies (a local milkshake-like concoction),plus the same T-shirts that were for sale in Nepal in 1994. Is this real Nepali influence brought by traders, or being carried back by exiles from when it was easier to travel, or is it catering to the Western tourists? The Chinese are not looking for curries, so this must be for Westerners; moreover, you don't see this kind of influence in Zhongdian or in Tagong -- other ethnic Tibetan areas further off the tourist track. In addition to food influence, you see oxygen for sale in shops, and adventure sporting goods stores catering to extreme travelers from the West. ¶20. (C) Our lower-level FAO handler opined that the influence was simply a factor of Tibet's proximity to Nepal, but this logic does not work as, when ConGenOff visited in 1994, there was no noticeable influence of this kind. Ben Jiao, the US-trained, Tibetan anthropologist that we met over lunch argued that Lhasa used to have lots of Nepali influence, but it went away when the border got locked down and it became difficult for traders to travel. Nepali influence was not new; it was in Lhasa pre-1951 and now is returning to "normal," he felt. Many Tibetans have returned from Nepal and India, though it is not as easy to travel as it was previously, as now it is more difficult to obtain a PRC passport. BROWN