Everestland
Britain’s Guardian published an interesting article on the Chinese government’s recently-announced plans to build a paved road and, likely, a hotel leading up to Chomolungma (Mount Everest). It encapsulates how China is “developing” Tibet today: turning Tibet into an ersatz theme park showcasing commodified Tibetans, stripping Tibet’s natural resources, and filling Tibet with increasing numbers of Chinese colonists.
The full article can be read here. It describes the environmental concerns that the government of Chinese-occupied Tibet is ignoring. The article also explains how the road fits into China’s propaganda plans around the Beijing 2008 Olympics, and into China’s desire to turn Tibet into a resource-extraction colony.
The saddest parts of the article are two quotes from Tibetans describing life under Chinese rule. These are ordinary Tibetans trying to survive in a system that is designed to marginalize them.
Kelsang, a Tibetan guide, grimac[es] at the static. ‘They play this over and over again. It is a Chinese song written about Tibet. ‘Propaganda,’ he says, pointing at a huge TV screen showing images of demure, dancing Tibetans. ‘It’s part of the myth they want the Chinese tourists to buy into. They are turning Tibet into Everestland, that way it’s easier to forget the past and make us into a theme park.’
[...]
Outside the Potala Palace, former winter residence of the Dalai Lama, a Buddhist monk chases away another group of Chinese tourists. ‘We cannot stop them coming here, it has become their home more than ours,’ he says. ‘With the train thousands come every day. They want to take our photographs, walk through our sacred temples. Some offer us money for our robes. We have become nothing more than a sideshow.’
Such is life in Chinese-occupied Tibet, where Tibetans are stripped of their dignity and denied their right to self-determination; where policies are decided by foreign rulers with wholly different motivations and interests from the people they rule. In other parts of the world, such oppression and frustration leads to violence and terrorism. In Tibet (so far), this has not been the case. Does that not make it all the more important and morally just that the world help Tibet before it turns into Chinese Everestland?
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[...] On July 9, we discussed the Chinese government’s controversial plans to build a paved road to Mount Everest. We decried how China’s development policies lead to the marginalization, exploitation, and commodification of Tibetans. Now we are confronted with a new BBC report that Mount Everest base camp is already a “wild west” town with drugs and brothels: Drugs and prostitutes are available in the camp village that has grown up to serve mountaineers climbing the peak, according to US author and mountaineer Michael Kodas. [...]
[...] China’s political agenda is clear in showcasing Tibetans as happy, dancing “minorities.” We previously wrote about what China is doing in Tibet today: turning Tibet into an ersatz theme park showcasing commodified Tibetans, stripping Tibet’s natural resources, and filling Tibet with increasing numbers of Chinese colonists. [...]
[...] China’s political agenda is clear in showcasing Tibetans as happy, dancing “minorities.” We previously wrote about what China is doing in Tibet today: turning Tibet into an ersatz theme park showcasing commodified Tibetans, stripping Tibet’s natural resources, and filling Tibet with increasing numbers of Chinese colonists. [...]