The Roof Of The World TIBET

Tibet has been in the news recently and after having visited there last year, I am quite interested to see what will transpire in Tibet in this year when China holds the Olympics. Tibet will undoubtedly be the most controversial topic this year and as the games get nearer it will be interesting to see whether the native Tibetans can garner world sympathy and opinion to their plight under China.



These photographs were taken last year during my stopover in Lhasa, Tibet..

Although it was a peaceful demonstration still a lot of police were out and it was mostly young people who made up the crowd . In the afternoon the police cleared out the square of all foreigners and then dispersed this crowd with a lathi charge and tear gas, but they were back the next day too and shouting that soon they would resort to other means if their demands were not met by peaceful demonstrations... I guess the latest riots show that the ire of the Tibetans has finally broken loose of the government apathy towards them.


The Tibetans were protesting the Hanization of Tibet. Its a policy pursued by the Chinese government which gives people of mainland China tax rebates and extra pay for working in Tibet and often these Han Chinese look down upon the Tibetans as Second Class Citizens and consider them uncivilized and religious fools. Their food mostly comes from the mainland and the 2 communities seldom fraternize with each other. There are more Hans in Tibet these days than Tibetans and it is mostly the Hans who control key government positions and businesses even with the curio stalls around Lhasa there were many more Han Chinese than Tibetan owners.

This is one of the many reasons for Tibetan discontent specially among the younger generation who have grown up under such regressive policies and deny them a level playing field with other Chinese when it comes to jobs and education.

My overall impression after my visit was that the Han Chinese and Tibetans live together in a co operative segregation: language, food, dress. religion and attitudes divide them. People bought up on Noodles don't like to switch over to a staple rice diet and vice versa.



This is poster from McLeod Ganj, where the Tibetan government in Exile is Headquartered.