Economic wall casts shadow across Tibetan highland (Reuters)

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Economic wall casts shadow across Tibetan highland
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090313/wl_nm/us_china_tibet_economy
By Lucy Hornby Lucy Hornby – Fri Mar 13, 11:53 am ET

KUMBUM MONASTERY, China  (Reuters) – Hammers clinked against copper sheets beside the Kumbum monastery, one of the holiest in Tibetan Buddhism, as workers shaped ornaments to crown the prayer halls at the center of Tibetan culture.

The owner of the workshop was Han Chinese.

Even when producing uniquely Tibetan products, Tibetans have not been able to compete in the rush for wealth that defines today's China. That was a factor in unrest a year ago, and could continue to drive tension between Tibetans and Han Chinese.

Chinese authorities have locked down Tibetan regions this month, which marks the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's flight into exile after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and the one-year anniversary of riots in Lhasa.


Beijing blames the unrest last March on the Dalai Lama, whom it brands a separatist, but economic factors that fueled the protests are slowly being acknowledged by some policy makers.


Tibet governor Qiangba Puncog hinted as much in Beijing this month, when he conceded that rioters in Lhasa might have had other motives than the interference by the "Dalai clique."

"There were all kinds of people, some of whom weren't satisfied with our policies, or had opinions about them, or because our government work hadn't been fully completed. Not everyone was a splittist," he told reporters.

A separate language, an uncertain transition from herding to settled life in small towns, low literacy and limited access to capital and skills have all made it tougher for Tibetans to compete in business and manufacturing, and given an edge to Han Chinese and Hui Muslims even in traditionally Tibetan regions.

Tibetans who do run small businesses often serve the tourist industry, and were devastated by China's ban on foreign visitors for months after last year's demonstrations. Tibetan areas of Gansu, Sichuan and Qinghai provinces, as well as Tibet proper, were closed to foreigners again in the run-up to this month.

Security forces patrol monasteries and Tibetan towns. Police roadblocks and, in some places, outages of Internet and text messaging keep potential protesters from organizing.

Although Kumbum, known as Ta'er in Chinese, has stayed open, business has suffered as Chinese tourists steer clear of anything Tibetan, said a Hui Muslim bus driver.

"I think Tibetans can be competitive," said a Tibetan shopkeeper, who left her hometown in the grasslands because there were "more lamas, but no tourists."

But the Tibetan jewelry she sold came from Nepal, while the Tibetan patterned silk came from the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. Wool to make robes for monks and laymen and the fedora hats favored by older Tibetan men also came from inland China.

"Hui and Han have more of a commercial mindset. Tibetans are coming around to learning that," said a Han Chinese shopowner selling Tibetan clothing and trinkets near the Kumbum monastery.


UNSETTLED
State policies to settle nomads and fence the grasslands have helped create a class of underemployed and restless young men who could raise tensions in years to come.

Government restrictions on the number of monks or nuns in monasteries and convents have removed Tibetan society's traditional way of absorbing the young. Kumbum now has about 600 monks, down from 3,000 before 1949.

The Lhasa government has restricted the movement of migrants into the city as part of an ongoing security crackdown.  

Rural Tibetans and nomads often speak poor, if any, Chinese and lack many of the basic skills needed to be hired, especially in service jobs, Australian National University political science professor Ben Hillman wrote last year.  

Qinghai province has moved about 50,000 nomads into settlements over the last three years, in a policy similar to those carried out in Tibet proper, Sichuan and Gansu provinces.  

Young adults often watch the herds far away in the hills, while children and older people stay in the settlements.  Pro-Tibet activists overseas say the settlements allow authorities to keep tabs on Tibetans.  

By settling in towns, "the kids can go to school and they can get training for vocational skills," said Zhang Shoucheng, who heads Qinghai's provincial economics committee. He estimates only about 60 to 70 percent of settled nomads have jobs.  

With pastures fenced and motorcycles more common than horses, herding in the vast grasslands has become easier but herders have become more reliant on the broader economy.  

"Fences make it much more convenient. Before we had to follow the flock to watch them, now we can lock them in the pasture," said Xingdao, as he shooed sheep and goats into a snowy field ringed with barbed wire near Qinghai lake.

(Editing by Benjamin Kang Lim and Nick Macfie)