Darkness at the end of the train line..

All of my HK friends and co-workers know I have an aversion for traveling in China and respect Tibetan culture. Recently with the opening of the Tibetan railway linking Beijing to Lhasa, everyone around me assumes I'd be one of the first people to be on the train and they ask me what I think about it.

They're often surprised when I reply negatively. Having traveled extensively in Tibetan-dominated regions (western Sichuan and northern Yunnan, unofficially Tibetan country) and talked with Tibetans themselves, I have a bit of an appreciation for their culture and their outlook towards Han Chinese conquerors, yes, I said conquerors! On the other hand, I have also talked with Chinese people in the region.

The way they see each other is quite interesting:

Tibetans see the Han Chinese as pushing them out of their land, assimilating Tibetans and destroying their culture and under the excuse of 'modernisation and economic growth' they come to exploit the situation for their own economic benefit.

Han Chinese regard the Tibetans as dirty, uncivilised (imagine that!) and lazy. They feel it is their duty to modernise and speed up the economy of the backward western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang the northwesternmost province of China.

Both sides' arguments have their merit but I will say that the Tibetan minority isn't the only group that feels this way about the Han Chinese in their homeland. Yunnan is the home to many of China's 56 minority groups and it is clearly evident that the Han Chinese have taken over the business opportunities that local minority groups should be enjoying.

In Dali and Lijiang, minority group businesses geared towards tourism are mainly Han Chinese owned and the Han Chinese go as far as dressing themselves up in minority costumes to make themselves look authentic. Some ethnic groups are indistinguishable from the Han Chinese so they can get away with doing that. Luckily, Tibetans look more like American Indians than Han Chinese so it's easy to tell.


The train line won't even break even since it cost so much (33 billion RMB) to build!
Critics of this train line to Tibet argue that it will open up the province to widescale immigration and tourism. This may be true, but there is a bit of hope, I think, as Tibet has a natural defense mechanism: high altitudes. Lhasa stands at over 3000m altitude so not everyone can visit or live there. Hopefully, this will keep mass immmigration and tourism at bay. I have no problems with younger, independent and more environment-loving tourists such as backpackers (whether Chinese or foreign) going to Tibet as they wouldn't tax the environment as much as those damned Chinese tour groups. They're also not as loud and obnoxious. Loud, chain smoking Chinese tourists will find Tibet a very harsh place; doesn't Tibet sound like a lovely place?:)