Tradition and Transformation in Tibet

On the long 22-hour journey from Xining to Lhasa, I read on the Chinese Tourist Boards site that since the railway line opened in 2006, the income of Tibetan farmers had quadrupled. I thought that's pretty far-fetched given how dry and dusty the place is. Well, my scepticism was definitely misplaced even if 4x is a stretch. The countryside has been totally transformed with irrigation schemes . Gone are the bare dusty fields, having been replaced by fields of (mainly) barley, vegetable, and fruit growing in tunnels, and 100s of millions of new trees, especially eucalyptus.

I had thought that there would have been a lot of immigration from China, but the ethnic hans are currently only 5%, and Tibetans still make up 95% of the population.

Last time we were here, the roads were a mix of the good bad and the ugly, now there are good roads almost everywhere, and even a motorway and high speed railway between the two main cities.

Transformations that have to be seen to be believed.

Of course, in the transformationen there are some parts that Tibet, would have been better off without ( faceless high rises in Lhasa), but at least Unesco was listened to and that ugly part is away from traditional areas.
As far as I can tell, the transformation has not had a major negative impact on local traditions and culture.
The number of monasteries and monks will never return to the levels prior to the cultural revolution, but the remaining religious sites have been renovated, and there are plenty of young monks. (Not something we can claim in Europe).
I'm not going to get into politics, but my impression is that Tibetans are benefiting/enjoying/on board with the transformation. Last night, we watched people from school age to grandmas,dancing traditional Tibetan style to modern local music in a park. Can't remember anyone dancing the highland fling in a Dundee park at 9 pm!

In the West, we pushed for change in many places (Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc) and created huge messes. In my view, be careful what you wish for, and in this case, my bet is Tibetans don't want chaos. They may want more freedom of expression, but not at any price. Except for political freedom, almost every measure of quality of life has improved significantly.

There is no going back to a theocracy, which itself restricted political and other freedoms.Read more