Report from Lhasa

Radio Free Asia’s excellent Tibetan language call-in show on Thursday hosted a caller from Tibet who shared her perspective on how Lhasa has changed in the year since the railway opened.  The interview was very powerful, and conveyed a sense of despair that Tibetans are powerless to shape how their homeland is being changed.  It can be listened to (in Tibetan) here, about seven minutes into the broadcast.

For those who do not speak Tibetan, here are some highlights:

There are now 58 flights into Lhasa per day and many trains per day, bringing more and more “outsiders” (Chinese) into the region.  Some are tourists but the majority don’t go back (they settle in Tibet).  Lhasa is getting shockingly crowded.  There are more people, more cars, more crowds.

Old Tibetan homes are being knocked down and replaced with “boxes”, and Tibetans are powerless to stop it.  The hills and mountainsides near Lhasa are now scarred (with construction) like a wounded man.

The throngs of Chinese even brought with them the Chinese climate, since Lhasa is now hot and dusty in the summer, whereas before it was very pleasant.

Now Tibetans are not just outnumbered, they are also anxious and frightened.  People’s behaviour, manners, and morality is degrading.

Chinese propaganda said the train would bring prosperity, but prices have more than doubled and most Tibetans can’t afford many things that they once could.  More and more, the owners of shops and restaurants are mostly Chinese, whereas most of the customers are Tibetan.  As a result, the money is going from Tibetans to Chinese, and then leaving Tibet because the Chinese send the money home.  So there is actually a capital drain that is making Tibetans even worse off.

Over 90% of the taxi drivers in Lhasa are now Chinese.  Some Chinese are driving taxis only one week after arriving in Lhasa, when they don’t even know the roads, whereas Tibetans are getting pushed out of the job and are increasingly unable to break in.

Tibetans are like a deflated balloon, with no air and no power.

What this courageous speaker shows is that China’s much-vaunted “development” in Tibet is marginalizing Tibetans and giving the country over to Chinese colonists… which Tibetans call the “second invasion” of Tibet.  The negative effects of the second invasion are so clear, the ways they could be mitigated are so plain, and China’s incentives to disempower Tibetans and encourage Chinese to take over are so obvious, that a reasonable observer can only conclude that these effects are intentionally designed by China — all to strengthen its grip over Tibet.