Lhasa, Tibet

Lhasa, which means "Place of the Gods," is the spiritual, cultural, and political capital of Tibet and the center of Tibetan Buddhism. Now part of China's Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR; also known as Xizang Autonomous Region), the city was largely isolated for much of its history. Although Lhasa continues to attract large numbers of pilgrims and tourists, ethnic Tibetans today are an increasingly minority influence in their historic capital. The influx of Han Chinese, a massive migration encouraged by the Beijing regime as part of its efforts to force Tibet's assimilation, is steadily eroding Lhasa's once uniquely Tibetan identity and character.

Landscape

Lhasa is located in China's southwestern region on a high-altitude plateau ringed by mountains soaring as high as 5,500 meters (18,000 feet). The Lhasa prefecture encompasses more than 30,000 square kilometers (11,583 square miles), subdivided into counties. The Chengguan District includes Lhasa proper. Lhasa's urban area covers about 50 square kilometers (19 square miles).

Most Tibetan Buddhists make a religious pilgrimage to Lhasa at least once during their lifetime. Lhasa's layout accommodates a centuries-old ritual by which pilgrims walk in a clockwise direction along circular paths, pausing to make prostrations in hopes of obtaining spiritual merit.

Lhasa contains three such pathways, which are nested in a concentric design. The innermost pathway, the Nangkor, lies within the Jokhang temple, while the middle pathway, the Barkhor (which is also Lhasa's most ancient street), encircles the temple grounds. The Barkhor also features many small shops and carts, where merchants peddle religious talismans, prayer flags, and traditionally crafted Tibetan jewelry, masks, knives, and rugs. The Lingkor, which loops around the entirety of Lhasa's ancient city core, is no longer accessible to pilgrims as the result of the construction of a major new thoroughfare.

Lhasa's climate is characterized by a dry and a rainy season. During the hottest summer months, daytime temperatures range from 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit) to 29 degrees Celsius (85 degrees Fahrenheit). Lhasa's thin, high-altitude air tends to intensify the sun's brightness. During the coldest winter months, which can bring significant snowfall, daytime temperatures average around 6 degrees Celsius (42 degrees Fahrenheit).

Climate change has caused the temperature in Tibet to increase three times as fast as the global average. As the temperature in Tibet rises, the Himalayan glaciers are melting faster than they can accumulate ice. While this creates extra freshwater in the short term, it may lead to widescale flooding.

People

According to China's National Bureau of Statistics website, in 2010, about 91.83 percent of Lhasa's 559,423 permanent residents were ethnic Tibetans. These numbers are misleading, however, because they do not reflect the large number of Chinese military personnel living in and around the city. They also do not count the waves of Chinese Han immigrants who have taken up unofficial residence in the area.

The so-called "Hanification" of Lhasa, and of Tibet as a whole, traces its roots to Chinese efforts to subjugate Tibetan culture. These efforts began in 1956, six years after the start of China's ongoing military occupation of Tibet. They increased dramatically in the late 1980s when, to relieve China's enormous population pressures, Beijing began offering financial and housing incentives to its citizens willing to relocate to Lhasa.

During the 1990s, Beijing further encouraged the mass migration of Han Chinese from impoverished Chinese provinces by investing substantial sums in the construction of roads, telecommunications facilities, and power plants throughout the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Today Han Chinese dominate Lhasa's economy. The Chinese government continues to underreport the number of Han Chinese in the area. The Chinese government also denies that it has facilitated large-scale population transfers.

Critics of China's policies claim that Beijing's infrastructural investments have paid dividends primarily to Han Chinese émigrés and not to the native Tibetans, who remain largely impoverished. These critics also argue that the radical demographic shift in Lhasa and surrounding areas is part of an organized campaign of forced assimilation that threatens the continued existence of Lhasa's unique and ancient heritage.

Economy

Under Chinese jurisdiction, an industrial base focused on the production of cars and chemicals as well as the extraction of the region's rich mineral deposits came to underpin Lhasa's economy. While these manufacturing and mining interests created jobs and revenue, they also caused severe pollution and damage to the natural landscape. Under international pressure, local authorities have undertaken some efforts in the early twenty-first century to mine copper, lead, and zinc using more environmentally friendly methods.

Lhasa's services and small-business sectors are heavily dominated by Chinese entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs are poised to play a critical role in the government's aggressive campaign to expand Lhasa's tourism industry. The city receives about 3 million visitors per year while Tibet drew 30 million visitors in 2022. The Tibetan government in exile has expressed grave concerns that Chinese efforts to make Lhasa and its historic sites more tourist-friendly will further diminish the integrity and dignity of a Tibetan cultural heritage already under siege.

Landmarks

Although many of Lhasa's historic landmarks suffered damage or even destruction at the hands of Chinese officials during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), the capital nonetheless features a number of spectacular palaces, temples, gardens, and monasteries.

The Potala Palace, the traditional seat of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, overlooks Lhasa from its perch atop Red Hill. Its two main buildings, the White and Red Palaces, are celebrated for their beautiful architecture and artwork.

The seven-story White Palace—the walls of which are painted white to create a calm, peaceful atmosphere—dates to 1645 and once served as the Dalai Lama's winter quarters. Occupying the palace's top floor are the so-called East and West Chambers of Sunshine, where the natural light provided the Dalai Lama with pleasant living and working accommodations.

The Red Palace, constructed in 1690, features red-painted walls to symbolize power. Its interior is decorated with beautiful murals depicting key figures and stories in Buddhist mythology as well as historical events. The Red Palace also contains several monumental tombs, called stupa, containing the remains of past Dalai Lamas. The most sumptuous of these, belonging to the Fifth Dalai Lama, is covered in gold foil and encrusted with thousands of precious stones.

At the heart of Lhasa's ancient quarter is the golden-roofed Jokhang Temple complex. The temple dates to 647 CE, when King Songtsen Gampo ordered its construction to house sacred statutes of the Buddha. Its main hall features a gilded and elaborately jeweled statue depicting the Buddha as a young boy.

Towering 3,725 meters (12,221 feet) to one side of the Potala Palace is Chakpori Hill. The ruins of a seventeenth-century temple are perched on its summit, which provides a panoramic view of the capital below. Chakpori's cliffs and caves are decorated with ancient engravings of Buddhist scriptures and holy images.

Other indigenous Tibetan treasures are on display in the Tibet Museum, located in the southeastern corner of the capital. The museum showcases Tibetan cultural relics such as Buddha carvings and tangka, which are brightly painted scrolls depicting religious imagery. Its collections also contain many examples of traditional Tibetan clothing, jewelry, pottery, and decorative items.

History

Lhasa's role as Tibet's spiritual and cultural capital traces it roots to the seventh century, when the original Jokhang Temple, Tibet's first Buddhist temple, was built. Although the original temple would be destroyed by natural forces and warfare, its site would remain the focal point around which the city of Lhasa and the culture of Tibetan Buddhism would flourish.

The fifteenth century saw the establishment of three prominent Buddhist monasteries in Lhasa's vicinity. In the middle of the seventeenth century, the fifth Dalai Lama made Lhasa the administrative center of his realm. He cemented Lhasa's status as Tibet's spiritual center with his decision to build the magnificent Potala Palace, which was completed after his death.

For much of its subsequent, largely isolated history, Lhasa continued to function as the epicenter of Tibetan Buddhism. Until the middle of the twentieth century, around half of its population consisted of monks, and an unbroken succession of Dalai Lamas provided spiritual and political leadership from within its boundaries.

The first Western diplomatic and military mission to Tibet occurred in 1903, when Tibet was invaded by the British. After several clashes resulting in the massacre of hundreds of Tibetans, the British entered Lhasa on August 3, 1904. The thirteenth Dalai Lama fled Lhasa, leaving his regent negotiated the Lhasa Convention, which the parties signed on September 7, 1904. The agreement opened Tibet to trade with British India and stipulated that Tibet could not contact any other countries without British consent.

The thirteenth Dalai Lama also fled Manchu forces when they entered Lhasa in 1910. He later negotiated with them at the Jelep-la Pass. In 1911, after the Manchu Dynasty fell in China and Tibetans forced the last Manchu forces out of their country, the thirteenth Dalai Lama returned to Tibet, where he used his political authority to initiate modernization, reform the Tibetan monastic system, strengthen the military, and assert Tibet's independence. The thirteenth Dalai Lama died in 1933.

Lhasa's proud independence ended in 1950, however, when the Chinese army invaded and occupied Tibet. Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, was a teenager at that time. He began an ongoing campaign to bring international pressure to bear on China so that it would restore Tibetan autonomy. In 1959, the Dalai Lama, amid rumors that the Chinese authorities were planning to arrest him and remove him to Beijing, fled into exile in India, followed by tens of thousands of his countrymen.

The Indian government permitted the Dalai Lama to set up a Tibetan government in exile based in the town of Dharamsala. He has spent his decades in exile traveling the globe and mustering support for his vision of a democratic, independent Tibet. In 1989, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to the nonviolent liberation of his homeland.

Lhasa, however, remains firmly under Chinese control.

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