In Tibet today, visitors from the West are numerous in number. Many of them have blonde hair and have actually become "scenic spots" in the remote city, tucked away on the "roof of the world." Very often, they love to visit the night market for Sichuan-style BBQ or smoked Xinjiang-flavored mutton. Holding a dozen pieces of skewered food in their pale hands, with nails painted blindingly red, they keep chewing while squeezing words between their greasy, red lips: "W-o-w! Delicious!"

According to an official with the Foreign Affairs Office of the Tibet Autonomous Region, 11 foreigners live and work in Lhasa as what are designated as foreign experts. They include specialists in water works, medical doctors, teachers and advisors to nature reserves. There are also dozens of business people hailing from the Netherlands, Nepal and some other countries. Most of them are owners of bars, restaurants and tourist souvenir stores.



"Each year, close to 10,000 foreign tourists, scholars and students visit the city," the official said.

Foreign Students

"I will try to find a job in Lhasa," said Barren who is studying Tibetan language in Tibet University.

"I love children. So, I wish to find a job in a kindergarten. Otherwise, I will start an English salon in the city."

Hailing from Guatemala, Barren is in Tibet for the third time. In 1992 he went to study Chinese in Beijing Foreign Languages Institute (now the Beijing Foreign Studies University). In the summer of 1994, he visited Tibet. Two years later, he brought his American wife to Lhasa, where they stayed for a week. It was during that trip that Barren made up his mind to study Tibetan sometime later in Lhasa. The couple went to Lhasa in March 2001, becoming students of Tibet University.

"When I was in Tibet for the first time," said Barren in fluent Chinese, "I was attracted by the Tibetan race, Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan-style architecture. The local people are good dancers and singers.

"The transport was not convenient then and the campus of Tibet University did not have much greenery.

"Lhasa is prettier today. The roads are wider."




John Nietze from Germany was among the first group of foreign students in Tibet University. Upon his graduation in 1995, he started a business company in Lhasa.

"Foreign visitors to Lhasa love souvenirs and handicrafts," he said. "This prompted me to start a company in the city to help satisfy their need.

"In the beginning, I was not sure about the business, so I invested only 100,000 Yuan. I received full support from the local government, and the store opened soon."

John's store, located on Barkor Street, grew from a staff of three to the 24 at present. To cope with the growing demand, John threw in an additional 300,000 Yuan. The store deals in more than 100 kinds of handicrafts and souvenirs. John also owns a hostel with 58 beds to accommodate foreign visitors.

"I plan to operate a computer company and a solar energy equipment company in Lhasa in the future," John added.



John has been in China for 14 years. His wife and two children joined him in Lhasa at the end 1999. The two children attend the same primary school in Lhasa, one in Grade One and the other in Grade Three. Two months earlier, Alastair from New Zealand, a friend of John's, reached Lhasa together with his wife, and they became staff members of John's company.

"I've Seen a Real Tibet"

According to Soinam, Director of the Tibet Foreign Affairs Office, some 600 foreign government officials, members of parliaments, diplomatic officials and journalists in over 100 groups visited Tibet in 2000. In addition, up to 1,000 foreign specialists and project officials came for exchanges and cooperation in the cultural, educational, public health, scientific and technological fields.

Garry Nell with the Australian House of Representatives, who visited Tibet on three occasions, said after his recent visit: "Tibet has experienced incredible changes ever since the late 1950s, changes which are unmatchable in the world arena."

"In 1992, a few peddled carts were the chief transport means in Lhasa. Now, I see taxis shuttle in roads. I even saw electric power lines in some mountain villages. New buildings stand conspicuously in Lhasa and Xigaze. All these are facts that show the Tibetans have improved their lives."

When N.Ram, Chief Editor of Front, an Indian magazine, visited Tibet, he wrote a cover story titled Tibet--Test of the Reality, introducing Tibet to his fellow Indians from six perspectives, including economics, population, freedom of religious belief, and human rights.



The cover story points out that the Central Government granted Tibet many preferential policies. For instance, the Central Government decided to let the Tibetan farmers own land and Tibetan herders to raise their own livestock in the late 1980s. A huge amount of funds were invested in the protection of cultural relics. Some classic literary works and Buddhist classics were gathered, collated and compiled into books.

Temlaya, a newspaper chief editor of Thailand and Head of the Thai News Delegation, said after his visit to Tibet: "The Dalai Lama's purpose is for the Tibetan society to revert to serfdom. This obviously goes against the historical current. Our visit reveals the lies promoted by the Western mass media that Tibet is a horrible place without from freedom and respect for human rights. We see a beautiful region. I will write about these when I go back home."

Bruce Cornell, Chairman of the Scotland-China Association, after visiting Lhasa, Shannan, Xigaze and Nyingchi, said to this reporter: "I found many new highways, schools and hospitals in the four places I have visited. Computers and phonetic equipment in Beijing Middle School in Lhasa are almost as advanced as those in Beijing and Guangzhou. It is incredible to find people in the Himalayan area who used mobiles to contact friends in inland China. Cables have also been put up in backwater villages."



He said the Chinese Government follows a good policy in Tibet. There has been huge investment in the construction of infrastructural facilities and improvement of people's livelihood in Tibet.


Surfing the "Heavenly Lake"

Three years ago, I came across a strongly built foreigner in a sleeping carriage of a Beijing-Chengdu train. Carrying a huge backpack on his back, he toddled around in the carriage, attracting my attention.

I ventured to talk to him in English and found he was Jino, a seaman from Hawaii who is famous among tourists to Tibet.

Understanding that I went to work in Tibet, this blue-eyed man advised with regard to how I should go there, what I should do to prepare for scarcity of oxygen in the air....

"When you first get to Lhasa, you are prone to be thirsty which is the high altitude reaction," he told me.

"You need to drink more water, and keep drinking to minimize the adverse reaction."

Jino, 41, was the first in the world to windsurf on Nam Co Lake which is known as the "heavenly lake." Born and brought up in Hawaii, he loves to examine the World Atlas. When he chanced to find a large lake on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, an idea of visiting it flashed into his mind. Because of this desire, he visited Tibet seven times.

Ten years ago, Jino visited Nam Co Lake for the first time, but stopped short when he found "strange animals underwater."

Toward the end of September 1997, Jino, with assistance from Tibetan pilgrims and nuns living in Namco Island, rebuilt his surfing boat. Dressed in Hawaii trousers, he brought along with himself a small mirror to be used to reflect sunlight as an SOS signal. Lying on the surfing boat on the lake, with an elevation of 4,718 meters, he rowed with his hands away from the shore as honest Tibetans prayed for him by the lake.

"How good are Tibetans!" he told his friends even years later.

Jino visited Tibet again recently.

"Lhasa has experienced fresh changes," he said.

When asked about what kind of changes he noticed, the man laughed loudly, and replied laconically:

"Fresh!"

www.ctibet.org.cn
SUN YUXIA, LIU XIMEI & DORMA DORJE