Identity of Tibet Survives Changes
LT Lee
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/reportchina/20000911/tibet.html
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Identity of Tibet survives changes
By Tan Hongkai
As we were tossed about in a bouncing vehicle on the dirt road
to the Namyi Lhoba Autonomous Township, we dreamed of the exotic
world that lay before us.
In our imagination the community of Lhoba in southeast Tibet's
Mainling County, like a lonely isle in a sea of Tibetans, was a
place of color and magic with many visually-striking images to
distinguish it from its Tibetan surroundings.
Even our photographer, who said he had an allergy to
body-numbing rides on poorly-maintained dirt roads, did not utter
a word of complaint.
A yearning for eye-opening discoveries overpowered his usual
desire for comfort.
But our fantasies were shattered as the real picture of Lhoba life
unfolded before our eyes when we approached the village of
Cezhao.
There was an intense feeling that we had been cheated by our
guidebook. What we saw did not agree with the book.
Contrary to our guidebook, villagers no longer make traditional
stoneware. Few people weave bamboo containers. Bow and
arrows, the standard tool of Lhoba hunters, lie idle as makeshift
wall decorations.
Family houses are built, without exception, using a combination
of Han and Tibetan styles -- fancily carved and painted door and
window decorations evoke Tibet, and the sloping roofs are
common in South China.
What was most disappointing to our photographer was our failure
to find a villager dressed in traditional Lhoba clothes.
There was only one complete set of traditional Lhoba clothes in
the town, said Dagyug, the town's head. We did not have the
opportunity to see the set because it was currently on display at
an exhibition of traditional costumes of ethnic minorities in
Kunming, Yunnan Province.
Wearing a Tibetan-style pelt hat, Dagyug said it is no longer
possible to tell Lhobas and Tibetans apart from the way they
dress.
The villagers we came across were all in Tibetan dress, common
in the region.
Lhoba's traditional clothes are too complex and inconvenient for
daily wear, Dagyug said.
Though Lhobas do have their own spoken language, they write in
Tibetan. Everyone we met in Cezhao spoke fluent Tibetan.
Though Dagyug managed to name two things that differentiate
Tibetan and Lhoba foods, he acknowledged that Tsampa, the
most representative of all Tibetan foods, is just as important on
Lhoba dinner tables.
The locals told us that different weddings and burial customs are
the most prominent distinctions between Lhoba and Tibetan
customs.
Days after that "unworthy trip," as our photographer called it, we
overcame our initial disappointment and began to come to terms
with reality.
We were but a group of curious outsiders hunting for novelty. We
cared more about how different the Lhobas than we did for what
is best for them.
While we lamented their "loss" of traditions, they retain a strong
sense of ethnic identity.
Just like Lhasa's Muslims, called "Tibetan Muslims" in Tibet,
who have adopted most Tibetan foods and speak Tibetan, Lhobas
made their choices of their own free will.
They would not, and are not obliged to, change their decisions
about their own life according to our tastes. They are the best
judges of what to do and what not to do.
"You may call this Tibetanization if you want," said Dagyug. "For
us it is not. We are still Lhobas."
This reminds me of the rampant rumors in the West about the
"Hanization" of Tibet.
Chinese Mandarin's equal status with Tibetan as an official
language in Tibet, the presence of Han people in Tibetan cities,
the appearance of so-called Han-style buildings and even the
popularity of Han food are quoted as proof of an effort to Hanize
Tibet.
If that logic stood, it would be possible to say that Americans are
no longer American because they consume products from
everywhere in the world.
This does not appear strange to me because I myself have had
the experience of being considered "Americanized."
"You look so American," an American friend of mine told me
during a study tour of India.
When I inquired about the ground of his judgment, he pointed to
my Levi's jeans and Rayban sunglasses.
I do hold an American degree. I do like American fashions by
Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. I do enjoy Hollywood movies. But
none of these things have ever compromised my Chineseness.
They never will.
As such, China's unconcealed eagerness for Western
technologies and management know-how is not equivalent to a
desire to Westernize.
The proposal of a "market economy with Chinese
characteristics" is a manifesto of self-consciousness.
However popular McDonald's and the NBA are here, China is still
China. If it were not then American China-bashers would not cry
out against "Chinese nationalism" as often as they do. Further to
this it needs to be said that, while racking their brains to pull
China onto the track of "Westernization," however, some in the
West are cursing the growing intimacy between the Han and
Tibetan peoples, who are of the same Chinese nation. Tibet is still
Tibet, however much it changes. There are no traditions that are
set in stone forever.
Like individuals, each ethnic group has its own advantages and
disadvantages. It is a matter of course that different ethnic
groups learn from others' strong points and offset their own
weakness through long-term co-existence.
The ethnic Han Chinese have absorbed the fine traditions of many
other ethnic groups over the long course of China's history.
As the largest ethnic group in China, the Han people have an
obligation to help the country's other 55 ethnic groups.
Despite epoch-making leaps forward in the past 49 years, Tibet
needs substantial outside assistance to tackle poverty.
The Dalai Lama and his followers in the West cite existent signs
of poverty in Tibet as evidence of the Han people's sin of
"marginalizing" Tibet in China's economic rejuvenation process.
This is far from the reality of the case. China has implemented
many aid programs to help eradicate poverty, worked out
according to Tibetans' needs and with their involvement. Critics
in the West vilify this as well, and accuse China of attempting
"cultural genocide."
I am personally concerned about the dilution of Tibetan
characteristics in urban development in Tibet, and I know that
this is not the result of what the Dalai Lama calls "cultural
genocide."
Traditional Tibetan building styles are no longer popular because
of cost considerations, I learned from a Lhasa-based Tibetan
expert on building designing.
Tibetan-style houses cost considerably more than common ones
if they have the same modern functions.
My designer friend also noticed that what Westerners call
Han-style buildings in Lhasa have actually been transplanted
from the West.
So, it is "Westernization" rather than "Hanization," if you want to
stick a label on it.
Eating Tibetan Tsampa and wearing Tibetan robes have not
"Tibetanized" the Lhobas.
Sipping Coca Cola and seeing Hollywood blockbusters have not
"Americanized" the Chinese.
Living in non-Tibetan apartments and going to Sichuan
restaurants will not Hanize Tibetans, either.
In any case, they still eat Tsampa, drink butter tea and pay
homage to Buddha as their ancestors did.
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