Unknown Tibet
Ii■ II.E. RICHARDSON THE Chinese invasion of Tibet in October, 1950, lately thrust that country into prominence ; but after a short burst of exciting but largely inaccurate Press reports " news from Tartary " has again relapsed into rare and scattered notices. Such hints as there are point to considerable eagerness on the part of the Chinese to reach an agreement with the Tibetans that will avoid further military action. Peking demands control of Tibetan foreign policy and defence arrangements, and holds out, as an inducement, the preservation of a traditional form of Tibetan internal government. Such a plan would reduce Tibet from its present independent position to the status of a colony or protectorate, and one may wonder how long traditional Tibetan ideas would be allowed to survive once independence had been lost.
Tibet has been so much shut off from the world that most people may not have a clear picture 'of the Tibetan way of life and government. In the sphere of government the tradition is the supremacy of religion, which is now represented by the rule of the Dalai Lama and by the influence of the monasteries which preserve the religious teachings and which, although administra- tively in the background. provide the solid conservative and ultimate support for the custom of rule through a divine king. The social organisation is feudal. The monasteries and the lay nobility hold great estates cultivated for them by peasants who arc tied to the farms and receive food and clothing and a small plot of land.
A Tibetan village has an air of solidity and permanence. The houses are squarely made of whitewashed stone ; they are two- storied and flat-roofed and stand firmly on the ground, sur- rounded by a maze of thick stone-walled cattle-pens where cows, yaks and sheep are folded at night. On the roofs you may sec fodder and firewood stored, and often grain spread out to ferment for the making of barley beer. In the stable-yard is a pony or two, for it is a very poor Tibetan who has not something to ride. Inside the house, on the upper storey which alone is used to live in, is a typical peasant array of baskets. pots, rakes and ploughs. hanks of wool, a loom or two, saddles and orna- mental trappings for mules or yaks. The rooms are small and dark ; the main lighting comes from doors and windows giving on to a central open space. There is one good room kept for visitors or ceremonial occasions, and in it are simple images of Buddhist deities and saints and other religious objects ; also a few rugs and some cushion-seats with silk or woven woollen covers. At night the inhabitants just unroll their heavy blankets, take off some or all of their clothes, and settle down, on the floors of the rooms, the verandahs or the roof-top. They usually go early to bed, for their lighting from metal or earthenware lamps in which a cotton wick floats in mustard oil is dim and smoky. In the villages they have at hand most of their needs, but must go to a town to buy salt and tea, iron, pottery and such luxuries as they can afford.
Most of the district towns are little more than large villages ; but they have a few shops, and they are also the headquarters of the local magistrates. Even Lhasa, the capital, although by far the largest town,' is of niodest size, with a population of between 20.000 and 25,000. It is in a very special sense the heart of the country, for it is built round the most sacred shrine of Buddhism in Tibet, a temple built over 1,300 years ago ; and it is the residence of the Dalai Lama, the divine ruler. The majority of Tibetan officials live in Lhasa ; only a few go out to govern the distant provinces and districts. Nearby are three great monasteries housing in all about 20,000 monks. So there are in Lhasa official, religious, business and social activities on a scale far greater than anywhere else in Tibet.
In the streets of Lhasa you will get an idea of the material civilisation of Tibet in its most highly developed form. No Tibetan of position is ever seen walking except when visiting temples or making a pious circumambulation of the holy city ; so you will see many horsemen mounted according to their means and social rank on small local ponies or on larger, showy, well- groomed beasts from Mongolia. The ordinary folk go in home- spun or broadcloth ; the officials, attended by mounted servants, in bright silks ; the monks in garnet-red robes. There is no mechanical transport, and indeed practically no wheeled traffic except for a rare cart on the outskirts of the city. In the Dalai Lama's stables there are two old motor-cars, but &ley have not been out for nearly twenty years. Some time ago a few young men imported motor-bicycles ; but the roads are rough and dangerous, and the noise alarmed the ponies of the more con- servative, so the motor-bicycles soon disappeared. An ordinary bicycle may occasionally be seen, usually with a Nepalese trader as rider.
The shops in the city give evidence that Tibet has commercial contacts with India and China, for in addition to local products such as woollen cloth, boots of leather or wool, silverware, copper and earthen pots, vegetables, incense and the like, you will sec silks and brick-tea from China and quantities of cotton cloth. Indian tea, broadcloth, and miscellaneous goods such as aluminium ware, soap, beads and mirrors. Among the shop- keepers are Nepalese, Ladakhis and Chinese. Many of the shops are part of the lower storey of the great town-houses of the nobility. Tibetans prefer to live on the first floor and to keep the ground-floor of the house in part for protection, in part for storage.
Although the upper storeys have windows on to the streets, Tibetan houses look inwards on to open courts where there is shelter from the force of the wind. There is less need for this now that glazed windows have replaced the old-fashioned wooden. cotton-covered frames which were in general use until about twenty years ago. And nowadays wealthy Tibetan officials build new houses in parks on the outskirts of Lhasa, using steel girders and concrete, retaining the general lines of Tibetan tradi- tional building, but adding great expanses of glazed window and eliminating the many wooden pillars formerly needed to hold up the roof of a large room. Some twenty years ago a small electric plant was established in Lhasa, but it has ceased to pro- vide efficient light, and is being replaced by a larger hydro-electric plant. In the meantime kerosene pressure-lamps are the favoured lighting in big houses and primitive mustard-oil lamps in the smaller.
Lhasa is in touch with the outer world through a telegraph line to India. constructed about thirty years ago, and Connecting with the Indian Government telegraph office at Gyantse. Recently a few wireless stations have been established in Tibet for com- munication between Lhasa and the capital towns of the outlying western, northern and eastern provinces. There are a few wire- less receiving sets In the houses of officials or big traders at Lhasa, but, as the number of people who understand English. Hindustani or Chinese is very small, there is little in the pro- grammes which they can pick up either to interest or enlighten
them ; and as there is no newspaper printed in Tibet, it will be clear that the average Tibetan knows little about happenings out- side his own country. Traders. muleteers and a few officials on leave go down to India. but they are rnostlx interested in trade or in places of religious pilgrimage. This attitude is not due to any natural dullness or stui3idity, but rather to the fear of innovations inculcated through religious training by the dominant priesthood.
The Tibetans are, in fact, quick and adaptable, and they are a pleaSant, friendly people. Many travellers have written of their kindness, candour and happiness. The villagers are sturdy, self- reliant and cheerful, always ready for laughter. hardly ever quarrelling, following an old code of good manners and tolerance. An over-layer of calm and restraint distinguishes the more polished manners of the official class, but underneath that the same friendliness and ready laughter can be found. Life moves at a leisurely and easy-going pace. There is always time for visits to places of worship ; and at Lhasa, in the summer you can see crowds of townspeople going owl° picnic all day in the groves of willows and poplars by the riverside. At this time, too. whatever you may have read to the contrary in travellers' tales; Tibetqns spend much time bathing and washing their clothes. They seem able to pass hours just lazing—chatting, drinking a little, singing, playing simple gambling games.
You are unlikely to see any of the holiday-makers reading a book—unless it be some studious monk—for there is no popular literature in Tibet. Almost the only books are the books of the scriptures. Here may be seen one more manifestation of the influence which has, with the help of natural geographical barriers, kept the life and thought of Tibet within closed con- servative traditional bounds governed by ideas which it is hard for Western minds to conceive as being the living. all-permeating force that they are. It is religion that dominates everything in Tibet. The ruler is divine ; about half of the body of officials are monks ; and behind all lies the immense influence of the thousands or•monasteries scattered all through the country, the ultin\ate source of education and the moulders of thought.
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