Tourism and Festivals in Tibet

I often hear from people wanting to visit Tibet. They usually want to know what places to visit, what to avoid, when is a good time, and if they could work with some local group as a volunteer. I think these are good questions. And then there are stupid, or should I just say, bad, questions.

Here is one of the bad questions people ask: what kind of things, such as pencils and photos of the Dalai Lama, should they take as gifts for Tibetans, especially for poor children. Giving gifts randomly is a bad idea, especially if it is something the government prohibits, such as pictures of the Dalai Lama. Giving candies, pencils, etc., randomly to children reminds me of throwing bread crumbs to fish in the lake, or to monkeys by the roadside. At parks here in Canada, I see signs restricting people from giving food to animals -- it habituates them, changing their normal way of life. Same thing, but only worse. Tibetans are humans! A friend said it quite well: Tourists should not demean children by treating them as beggars and coming across as a rich almsgiver.

If you are interested in visiting Tibet, read How Not To Be A Tourist in Tibet.

The inspiration for writing this blog actually came from reading this news piece. If you are able to decipher the statistics explained in the article with strange English, please explain in the comments section below. The gist of the article as I understand it is this: A lot of tourists are pouring into Tibet, much more than last year, especially from within China. The rise in the number of tourists is not surprising. The number of tourists last year dropped radically after the March 14 Uprising, and the martial law, and the shutting-off of the Tibetan Plateau, and all the sensitivities surrounding the Olympics.

What really got me thinking was the last sentence which is clearly meant to entice more tourists. I quote a section of the sentence: "in the second half year, more tourists will be attracted as some large-scale activities such as "Miss Asia" Tibet Division Contest, 4th Namtso International Hiking Convention and the annual Shoton Festival will kick off."

Miss Asia? Surely Miss Tibet should be invited. OK, I am being facetious here. But more seriously, it is deeply disturbing that the government promotes certain Tibetan festivals such as the Shoton because of their tourism prospects, while at the same time they tell Tibetans not to celebrate other festivals such as the Buddha Purnima, Sakadawa in Tibetan, the most sacred day for all Buddhists. The government has instructed Tibetans to celebrate Chinese (or is it Korean?) Dragon Boat Festival instead. I highly recommend a close reading of this blogpost by a Tibetan expressing his/her feelings about this in a clever way. Read the contextual introduction of the blogpost by High Peaks Pure Earth carefully as well, and you will know what I am talking about.