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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Get in line
At Xining station, capital of Qinghai province and the official start of the new Qinghai-Tibet railway, Chinese tourists, businessmen and workers, and the odd Tibetan or Hui Muslim travellers clambered on board. They filled most of the train's four third-class 'hard seat' carriages.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Forty winks on the floor
Passengers in the third-class 'hard seat' section did not have bunks. Some made bunks' of their own by lying on towels and rugs in the joints between carriages.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Symbol and splendour
Standing above the rest of Lhasa from the 130m Marpo Ri (Red Hill), the awe-inspiring Potala Palace, once seat of government and winter residence of Dalai Lamas, is now a state museum and a Unesco World Heritage Site. The 14th Dalai Lama left the Potala and escaped to India after a failed rebellion against Chinese rule in 1959. Private chambers, artefacts and storeys-high chortens (stupas) holding the remains of Dalai Lamas are open to tourists and pilgrims. Overcrowding has caused the authorities to cap the number of visitors, who now have to queue for hours to get in.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Hand in hand
Women workers sing traditional Tibetan tunes as they applied a sandy cement coat onto the walls surrounding the Potala Palace. Many Tibetan monasteries were damaged during the Cultural Revolution; the Potala was saved by an order from then Chinese premier Zhou Enlai. More recently, the Chinese government has poured hundreds of millions of yuan into preserving Tibet's cultural heritage sites. One phase of the restoration work starting in 2002 saw the government pumping in 330 million yuan (S$62.9 million) to renovate three historical sites in Lhasa: Potala Palace, the Norbu Lingka Monastery and the Sagya Monastery, according to state media.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Sacred sites
Chinese tourists put on mock-chubas (Tibetan sheep skin-lined cloak) for snaps opposite the Potala Palace. Increasingly affluent Chinese have been visiting Tibet by the plane- and train-loads in recent years.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Tourist haven
It was reported that 1.8 million tourists visited Tibet last year and spent 1.93 billion yuan. Lhasa's hotel rooms were booked up this summer, especially after the launch of the train services to Lhasa on July 1.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Offerings
The thick smell of yak butter hangs in the air in any Tibetan monastery or temple. Pilgrims from Lhasa and beyond come with thermos flasks or plastic bags of yak butter. They chant as they pour or spoon the butter to top up the lamps as an offering.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Holy sprinkles
Tibetans from all over the land make pilgrimages to Lhasa, which has three koras (pilgrimage circuits). On one, the Barkhor kora, pilgrims stop at the Jampa Lhakhang (Water Blessing Temple) to be sprinkled with holy water and touched by the holy dorje (thunderbolt) wielded by this monk. The blessing is believed to cure illnesses.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Say a prayer
This pilgrim, an elderly man from Amdo (what used to be northern Tibet and which is now in Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan provinces) prostrates every step of his way on the 800m Barkhor kora (piigrimage circuit) around the sacred 7th century Jokhang Monastery. In the early mornings, the area belongs to pilgrims chanting as they do their prostrations. By 9.30am or so, tourists take over and throng stalls selling trinkets and souvenirs.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Cave paintings
Pilgrims make their way, always clockwise, around a three-storey high structure stacked with stone pieces bearing scriptures, at Chakpori Lhakhang in Lhasa. A Chinese military camp lay right next to this structure. Nearby, pilgrims prostrated in front of 1,000 images of Buddha painted onto a cave.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
The lit path
Pilgrims prostrate before a cave wall covered with 1,000 images of Buddha at Chakpori Lhakhang in Lhasa. A Chinese military camp lay right nextdoor.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Say cheese!
A family from Shigatse, about 270km southwest of Lhasa, travelled all the way to the capital's railway station just to have a look at the train. Curious Tibetans have picnics on the train platform, complete with beer, biscuits and tea, while taking their very first look at the contraption known as 'huo che' in Mandarin. Some, clearly, come in their Sunday best. The government has announced plans to extend the railway to Shigatse within three years.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Riding the rails
A train bound for Chongqing leaves Lhasa Railway Station and across the bridge over Lhasa River. The bridge is designed to look like a fluttering traditional white hada scarf which Tibetans use to show welcome, respect or blessing. Train services between Lhasa and the inland Chinese cities of Beijing, Chongqing, Chengdu, Lanzhou and Xining started on July 1. Services between Lhasa, and Shanghai and Guangzhou are in the pipe line.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Change in sight
Lhasa and other Tibetan cities have attracted large numbers of Han Chinese migrants since the 1980s. The Chinese government says more than 90 per cent of Tibet's population is Tibetan but anecdotal evidence and experience does show a strong Chinese presence. 'Sichuan flavour' restaurants seemed to be on every street corner and even rickshaw riders were often Chinese while most were TIbetans some years back. Tibet experts like the London School of Economics' Andrew Fischer notes that Chinese migrants compete with the often less-skilled Tibetan for jobs in urban areas. Tibet has among the worst income inequality and the worst education indicators in China, says Dr Fischer.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Man's monuments
The Qinghai-Tibet railway traverses the treacherous terrain of the Tibetan Plateau with bridges, tunnels, and elevated tracks mounted on frozen ground - a surreal sight.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Daily devotion
A young woman prostrates every step of her way on a pilgrimage to Lhasa. By the side of this two-lane highway between Lhasa and Damxung, and with the elevated railway track in the background, she swept to the ground with her hands covered in animal hide mitts and her legs cushioned by a rubber apron. She was with three family members, their chants interupted only by the aggressive honking of trucks bound for inland China, laden with mineral rocks. Pilgrims prostrate to Lhasa from as far as Qinghai, taking up to two years.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Colour my world
Prayer flags of blessing flutter above the 4,718m high holy Namtso Lake, about 240km northwest of Lhasa. Curtained by the Nyenchen Tanglha mountain range, Namtso is the highest saltwater lake in the world and the second largest in China.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Water, water everywhere
Nomads fetch water by the 4,718m high holy Namtso Lake, about 240km northwest of Lhasa. Nomads there have adapted to the encroaching tourism. They leave their grazing land to set up tent guesthouses for tourists every summer, selling them accommodation, meals of yak meat and soup, trinkets and horse rides. Curtained by the Nyenchen Tanglha mountain range, Namtso is the highest saltwater lake in the world and the second largest in China.
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Standalone
In a stone house about 8km from the truck stop town of Nagchu, about four hours by train from Lhasa, an elderly couple live a simple life by their yak dung stove and altars of religious images. The pair said they're not too worried about the impact of the train cutting through the grasslands of their lifelong hometown. The 80-year-old man said: 'I just worry about the train running over animals. And really, what we want is electricity in our house.'
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Memories of Tibet
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Photo by SIM CHI YIN
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Sep 16, 2006
Dalai, Dalai
While pictures of the 14th Dalai Lama have banned from public display in Lhasa since 1996, things are far less tensed in Xining, capital of Qinghai, which has ethnic Tibetan areas once known as northern Tibet or Amdo to Tibetans. In the Tibetan market on Jian Guo Lu (Build the Country Road), these pendants of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama were on sale, alongside huge posters and neon-lit clocks bearing their pictures.
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