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Posting this from my phone so please excuse me for syntax/spelling errors, I’ll update with pictures and more content when I get back.
I’m on the second last day of my week long trip to Tibet, and so far it has been an enlightening and pleasant experience. The beautiful scenery aside, allow me to shed some light on the “true Tibetan” way of life.
Previous knowledge of Tibetan culture pretty much stops at “they are a group of nomadic people with faith in Buddhism.” My contact with them this week has made me realize that they are in fact really good people; enthusiastic to welcome strangers, hardworking (because they have to survive in harsh conditions, especially before modern comforts living as true nomads), concretely devoted to Buddhism, and possesses a rich culture that stretches back thousands of years.
However, some of their practices, especially ones stemming from tradition and survival considerations are tough to stomach. First of all, in stark contrast to the Han perspective on the issue, their sexual relationships are terrifying lewd and salacious. Maybe these are too strong of adjectives, but the fact remains that true, unassimilated Tibetans have more sexual partners than even some porn stars. Let me convey this point further with a true story.
Tibetan girls, upon reaching a certain age (typically 15-16), deemed cultural fit for reproduction, are sent to live in an isolated (~50 meters away from the large family tent) white tent. The color of the tent here is significant; it sends a message to neighboring nomadic families that this family has a daughter of marriageable age fit to have children. Upon seeing the white tent, ALL neighboring Tibetan single men or various ages are automatically granted permission to visit this white tent, for the sole purpose of having sex with the young girl. This practice continues until the girl conceives, from which point onwards neighboring Tibetan families with single men request a marriage. The important thing to note here is that families with pregnant girls are always in demand; single men WANT to marry a pregnant girl, because a pregnant girl has demonstrated her fertility and ability to reproduce further. Thus, a girl gains status and power once she has children. In the end, the children are welcomed into the new family with the mother, and it is truly a case of not knowing who your biological father is, for pretty much everyone.
Incomprehensible to me at first, I understood why this cultural practice came into place after considering the event from a purely biological and survival perspective. The sanitary condition and non-existent personal hygiene practices combine to lower the fertility rates of both men and women dramatically for these nomadic people. Can you imagine working with animal carcasses/feces all day and not washing yourself for years or even decades at a time? Besides poor hygiene, sexually transmitted infections, although mostly endemic and controlled by resistance stemming from natural selection, also engender all sorts of fertility issues. I wish I had better internet to verify this statistic, but apparently AIDS is rampart amongst the Tibetan population, the highest in the country. It’s significant to point out that a girl, depending on how fertile and other factors, could live in the “white tent” for upwards of a decade before she conceives a baby, and sometimes not even then. Getting knocked up is also something the Tibetans worry about, but in their case the anxiety is turned 180 degree in the other direction.
I’ve been volunteering with an NGO in the Gansu and Qinghao provinces in China, driving around in SUVs and giving out free condoms along with educational pamphlets to indigenous Tibetans. It’s ironic and sad because I am very rarely able to convey my message and connect with them; their mentality of being, “What?!! Wear something that prevents me from impregnating a girl? Are you crazy?!! Don’t have so many sexual partners? How the hell am I suppose to have kids?!!”
Next I’ll touch on the religion of Buddhism. It’s almost unreal thinking about the devotion of Tibetans which engenders them to accomplish feats of terrible yet great personal sacrifices. “Ke Chang Tou”, a practice where devoted monks kneel down and bang their forehead on the ground every 2 steps in praise of Buddha, for tens of kilometers at a time, is performed regularly and by many. It is the utmost honor yet also requirement for every family to have a son sent to be educated in the monastery, and people make amazing sacrifices to the monasteries. Donating ALL their materialistic wealth to build a better temple, the monasteries are coated with gold tiles and awe-striking in grandeur with endless wall paintings, bells, and statues of Gods from Buddhist realm. It’s literally to the point of “I’d gladly give my life, be it from starvation or whichever reason, for the betterment of Buddhism”, due to the belief that your contribution to the monasteries in this life will heavily weight into how high of a status you’ll be born with during the next one. Insane dedication and eternal devotion till death, for all believers, for everyone. Sadly, what agonizes me is that although one could praise such a life of the utmost religious fulfillment for the average Tibetan, I have to vehemently condemn a large majority of religious leaders. News reports, photo evidence and eye-witness accounts have revealed scandals of Dalais, the highest religious authority in Buddhism, living revoltingly hedonistic lifestyles with sports cars, mansions and countless wives, not adhering to the Buddhist sins and drinking/gambling/eating meat/etc. Sources will be searched and given when I get the chance, but I can confirm with my own sightings of a Mercedes AMG SLK convertible driven by someone in lama (Buddhist monk) clothing leaving and entering the barred off areas of a large monastery.
Moreover, only now am I starting to understand the real reason behind the conflict between the Tibetans and Hans (majority Mandarin in China). The best parallel I can muster up is the conflict between the Europeans and Native Americans; 2 groups of people from completely different worlds sharing the same geography are bound to have problems, although times have changed (and as such, committing genocide isn’t really an option anymore) and technically both groups are all Chinese people. The Han people have embraced the modern way of life, while it has been a much slower process for the Tibetans. With objectivity in mind, I must say that both parties are at fault, and conflicts are naturally inevitable.
Starting from the economic perspective, the Han people feel as if Tibetans are parasites of the country who take so much yet give back so little, and there is some truth to their feelings. Every year, the Chinese government allocates large sums of money to provinces with Tibetan districts. This is evident just from my own travels where good infrastructure (roads, electricity, etc.), improved residential housing, and remote schools are all built through funding from the government often just to serve (and to a certain extent, appease because of separation issues) the Tibetan communities. Naturally, there are Han people in China whose conditions are much worse off without aid money from the government who will more or less develop feelings of bitterness and resentment, especially when the Tibetans contribute very little to the national GDP aside from tourism. Speaking of tourism, the Tibetans are somewhat hostile toward Han people doing business on their “turf”. In terms of the average businessperson, a Tibetan is no match for a Han, as these Han people that open up shops, agencies, and various other commercial outlets understand what the tourist look for and thus open up much more competitive businesses. Personally, I am choosing to stay at Han hotels and eat at Han restaurants for the most important reason, none other than better sanitation or at the very least, the appearance of it. However, I can also sympathize with the bitter feelings of local Tibetans, to have their sources of income and livelihood “stolen” away by the outlanders.
Socially, the Tibetans, quite understandably, feel as if their land has been encroached upon. Although not as large of an issue nowadays, it was a valid reason to be infuriated with the Han people when the PRC was first established in 1949 which carved up the country into provinces with revised areas. Although still left with massive land areas in the northwestern provinces, small pockets of religious and cultural significance to the Tibetans were lost, because they offered significant geographical and resource advantages for economic development. In contrast, the Han people are gruesomely tired and angry at all the social privileges that assimilated city-dwelling Tibetans enjoy, which is also quite understandable. Especially for Tibetans that have been assimilated into the Han culture and the modern way of life, it seems unfair to the Han people that these “Tibetans”, outwardly exactly the same in appearance as Han people, get to have a large sum of points added to their university entrance exam final scores, a reduced tuition, and legal privileges when in trouble with the law. The Han people are so weary of this issue that although the government is still sensitive to global criticisms on its policy towards Tibetans (and make concessions accordingly), the average Han is mostly just saying, “fuck Tibet. Let them separate and we’ll be so much better without them.” Worse yet, for Han people brought up with an incomplete understanding of Tibetans, the sentiment is that of the utmost contempt and hostility, which is again also understandable as you often see Tibetans urinating/defecating on the sidewalks of smaller city streets and will never forget the smell of months or years of showerlessness.
All in all, the assimilation of the majority of Tibetans into Han culture / modern way of life will happen inevitably as the Hans can’t just physically, mentally and culturally destroy the Tibetans like the Europeans did to the Native Americans, but the assimilation process will be a long and arduous one that require better communication and a willingness to sympathize from both groups of people.
Lastly, I will comment my views on the issue of commercialization. Due to the fact that I planned a route that is mostly populated, and often visited by tourists (for safety considerations), my expectations of seeing traditional and true nomadic Tibetan culture has not been met. Specifically against the teachings of Buddha, now temples and monasteries, especially the large and famous ones with a long history, now require expensive tickets to get in. Everywhere I went, there were endless shops after shops, owned by Tibetans, selling “Tibetan relics and souvenirs”, that upon closer inspection, are undoubted “Made in China” mass produced in factories. Washrooms cost money to enter, water bottles cost money to fill, taking pictures of Tibetans in traditional clothing again costs cheese; the endless list goes on and on, I would not last an hour without my wallet. This phenomenon is saddening considering the loss of traditions and culture, but I guess it is a step in the right direction towards assimilation and harmony.
A bonus lighter note: although not to the point of developing actual altitude sickness, I am feeling “altitude weakness” above 3500 meters. When doing any sort of physical exercise that raises my heart rate by more than 30%, I have to take regular breaks as breathing becomes somewhat labored. Smoking frequency is lessened dramatically as it more often than not just makes me feel shitty. A fun little experiment was conducted when I came across an oxygen tank, where I was only able to hold my breath for a maximum of 1:26 at an altitude of 4100 meters, but after breathing from the oxygen tank I surprised myself and held my breath for 3:15. A sight that I captured in photos was hilariously fantastic: a group of older (late 40s to early 50s) and overweight tourists were smoking in a coffee shop with an oxygen bar, with a cigarette in 1 hand and an oxygen tube in the other.
Thanks for reading, pictures and more content to come after I get home.
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Cool read. As someone living in Shanghai right now, the promiscuity part really surprised me. Never knew those Tibetans were that loving.
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Wow nice post.
About "pimp my ride" monks, I've heard of it too, it's a bit disturbing when you know where the money comes from...
Would you do the same for Xinjiang next? haha
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I would have to disagree only with the use of the word "gods" - while different Buddhist traditions have tulku and devas, they aren't "gods" in the sense that we as westerners would normally understand. Having said that, I'm not surprised when you say that some religious leaders appear to have rather expensive life styles. A tulku (mentioned above) is a way of saying a lama that gets to choose their Rebirth - and there are inheritance traditions that means a reincarnated lama can gain a substantial amount of stuff over however many reincarnations may be attributed to them. And, yeah... the top of a religious group seems to seldom follow the tenets the lower followers do, regardless of religion. (Example - The Catholic priest in my area that administers a shelter and food assistance program drives a Porsche 911. Not the cheap one.) The only thing I can think with regards to Buddhist monks in Mercedes is... maybe it was a donation to the monastery? (I can hope.)
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300/5
Why cant i hold all this insight! So much i never knew.
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Fascinating read. I am by no means unaware of materialistic and worldly buddhist monks, but the white tent stuff comes as a genuine shock. Tibet isn't exactly high on my list of places to visit but the Potala palace is a must see sometime before I die.
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Hm, this alters my perception of Tibet in a somewhat negative way. Must read further.
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Very interesting blog.
Can you enlighten us a bit about the tensions between Tibetans and Hans living in Tibet? I spoke with a Chinese government worker from Tibet and he said that ten, twenty years ago, equality/cooperation between the two ethnic groups was very encouraged by both the Han government and Tibetan officials. Recently, however, this comradery has been replaced largely with mistrust and bitterness, with many Tibetan officials taking aggressive measures against Hans. The man whom I talked to said that in the workplace, there is a very visible segregation of Tibetans and Hans into seperate cliques that is really being encouraged by Tibet's separationist movement.
What are your thoughts on the matter?
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Wow, a very very engrossing read with a ton of insight into Tibet.
Well-put and I learned quite a bit from reading this. Interesting stuff.
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Oh I forgot to mention that no Han on this earth has a positive outlook on tibetans BUT they would die before letting Tibet take some of their land away.
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Thanks for an interesting post.
I feel I should shed some light here, as some of what you says falls far from the tree.
The Tibetan peoples (stretching across Xinjiang, Qinghai, Xizang (Tibet) and Gansu provinces circa 1900) practically lived in a feudal system led by monks with barbaric legal systems of amputations and public humiliation up until the Chinese 'liberation'. This is where the perspectives part ways. The West focusses on the 'peaceful invasion' which led to many deaths and the dissolving of many ancient traditions and China focusses on how bad things used to be. You say that the Communist Party floods the area with money for infrastructure but why do you think this is? Is it so those monks and Yak herdsmen can cruise around the mountains? Or is it so that coal, oil and other natural resources can be transported east? I think that when listening to stories you have to be careful of your source because different people have different agendas.
Monks that I met wanted to go out drinking, smoking, dancing and chatting up women. Some wore gold watches and were more interested in materialism than I was, so your words don't suprise me, yet this is the reality of the situation rather than our deluded, romantisised version of Buddhist monks in Tibet. They were cool guys but very bored and disillusionned with enlightenment, perhaps like us with capitalism.
Unfortunately, your allegory of the colonisation of North America is accurate and cultural assimilation seems to be a synonym for cultural genocide. Many monks remain in prison camps, are strictly monitored by spy monks and the Panchen Lama is being held captive in Beijing. When the Dalai Lama dies he will be the spiritual leader of the Tibetans and will undoubtedly be conditionned into an entirely different way of life. Cities like Lhasa have been settled by large numbers of Han Chinese because they are given a tax exemption in setting up shop in Xinjiang and Tibet. They make a decent amount of money comparatively and then leave once the tax incentive ends. This is tantamount to the colonisation of Ireland with Protestants in the 16th Century and is to establish a populous cultural footing in other people's lands! When I was there it was illegal to stay at a local hotel, again diverting business from locals. There were also young boys, part of the people's army, standing on every street corner of Lhasa with riot shields and guns. In 2 years of living in China I never saw any of the 'social priviledges' of assimilated Tibetans because there were very few who could move out of their home towns. Every 5 miles or so along a highway you were stopped and scrutinised by security. And as absurd as it may sound, the Friendship Highway linking Nepal and Tibet was officially closed.
Peaceful assimilation or occupied land?
Sorry if I have gone on for too long, but these are my experiences and I hope to hear some more.
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+5 stars for a perspective I've been wondering about.
I was in Peru for a few weeks and also experienced altitude sickness. While I don't smoke, what did help a lot was chewing coca leaves - although I'm not sure if you can get them in China.
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Very interesting post. Thanks for sharing it.
Where can I get oxygen tubes ?
edit : wow you typed all this on your phone :O
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Very interesting, thank you. It's always sad to see a culture turned into a commodity to be advertised and sold. Similar thing happened to the Native Hawaiians.
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A very interesting read, it's good to get information like this from a person with first-hand experience. I had no idea about things like "white tent", hope you can write more about Tibetan culture.
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Doesn't this mean that there should be a gigantic market for fertility drugs?
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On August 03 2012 21:33 ulan-bat wrote:
Oh I forgot to mention that no Han on this earth has a positive outlook on tibetans BUT they would die before letting Tibet take some of their land away.
... What? I'm sorry but the Chinese han general populus (not living in tibet) have some of the best perceptions of the Tibetan people and other minority groups. In many areas including education, healthcare and other subsidies minorities are given preferential treatment. It's the people that they are supposedly represented by (i.e. the religious and political leaders) that have problems with each other for their own maxims.
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On August 04 2012 04:19 Shady Sands wrote:
Doesn't this mean that there should be a gigantic market for fertility drugs?
Yes, yes there is, and most of it is unproven and superstitious.
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Do you have a non-personal source for the white-tent story? I've read a decent amount about tibetan culture before and I've never heard that, so I'm naturally skeptical.
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On August 04 2012 03:03 Mothra wrote:
Very interesting, thank you. It's always sad to see a culture turned into a commodity to be advertised and sold. Similar thing happened to the Native Hawaiians.
There's multiple sides to the story here, there is almost no capitalization on the culture by the hans, alot of it is self volunteered as the tibetans see it as a way to capitalize on their situation with out giving up their culture even though they are given the ability to engage in modern day industries and production in some cases. Now rather the situation which disadvantaged the tibetans to choose between economical competitiveness and maintaining their cultural status-quo was created by the hans is with out question, but it's also important to note that creating such infrastructures and educational systems etc to bridge the community with the world could be said to be for the benefit of the human collective, unless you want to argue that ignorance, inefficiency, and superstition are necessary parts of culture which I heartily dissagree with.
The situation certainly was handled extremely poorly by the Chinese government but I would like to note that the Tibetan conflict was exaccerbated with foreign interests (apart from the Tibetans and Hans) namely in the American CIA assisted departure and political conflict of the Dalai Lama (along with the Dalai Lama's own conflicts with other religious / political - the two terms were synonymous in Tibet- leaders in the Tibetan religious environment). So in reality the situation isn't being represented by people who have legitimacy in representing the issue. Often the voices that are most important which are left out is the actual people of the land, namely Tibetans.
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On August 04 2012 10:49 Caihead wrote:Show nested quote +On August 04 2012 04:19 Shady Sands wrote:
Doesn't this mean that there should be a gigantic market for fertility drugs? Yes, yes there is, and most of it is unproven and superstitious.
Dude I should send this to my friend in Thailand who runs a pharmaceuticals factory, lol
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On August 04 2012 11:35 Shady Sands wrote:Show nested quote +On August 04 2012 10:49 Caihead wrote:On August 04 2012 04:19 Shady Sands wrote:
Doesn't this mean that there should be a gigantic market for fertility drugs? Yes, yes there is, and most of it is unproven and superstitious. Dude I should send this to my friend in Thailand who runs a pharmaceuticals factory, lol
there's already a giant underground market between thailand, tibet, nepal, china, and vietnam / laos for such pharmaceuticals, fertility drugs, aphrodisiacs, and illegal substances, I dont think jumping on the bandwagon now is a good idea, lol.
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On August 04 2012 11:38 Caihead wrote:Show nested quote +On August 04 2012 11:35 Shady Sands wrote:On August 04 2012 10:49 Caihead wrote:On August 04 2012 04:19 Shady Sands wrote:
Doesn't this mean that there should be a gigantic market for fertility drugs? Yes, yes there is, and most of it is unproven and superstitious. Dude I should send this to my friend in Thailand who runs a pharmaceuticals factory, lol there's already a giant underground market between thailand, tibet, nepal, china, and vietnam / laos for such pharmaceuticals, fertility drugs, aphrodisiacs, and illegal substances, I dont think jumping on the bandwagon now is a good idea, lol.
Maybe then the solution is to organize "sex tours" of Tibet, like the tour packages some less-reputable firms offer for Thailand/SE Asia. With such a supply of 15-16 year old girls who are asking to get pregnant, we wouldn't even have to pay them anything lol.
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This is an awesome blog. Thanks for the time that went into it.
I'm headed to China (specifically Qingdao) in January, and I plan to travel Nepal/Tibet and experience some of those places that are so amazingly old and historic.
5/5 ofc
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On August 03 2012 18:23 felisconcolori wrote:
I would have to disagree only with the use of the word "gods" - while different Buddhist traditions have tulku and devas, they aren't "gods" in the sense that we as westerners would normally understand. Having said that, I'm not surprised when you say that some religious leaders appear to have rather expensive life styles. A tulku (mentioned above) is a way of saying a lama that gets to choose their Rebirth - and there are inheritance traditions that means a reincarnated lama can gain a substantial amount of stuff over however many reincarnations may be attributed to them. And, yeah... the top of a religious group seems to seldom follow the tenets the lower followers do, regardless of religion. (Example - The Catholic priest in my area that administers a shelter and food assistance program drives a Porsche 911. Not the cheap one.) The only thing I can think with regards to Buddhist monks in Mercedes is... maybe it was a donation to the monastery? (I can hope.)
Tulkus are part of the Tibetan theocracy. Devas are a higher state of being, but NOT a Buddha-deity. Neither of these are gods, but there most certainly are gods in the Buddhist pantheon. They're known as Bodhisattvas, ie. Avalokitesvara, Yama Lord of Death, etc.
Great write-up. About time someone changed the crappy narrative Hollywood and Western media's been trying to spew.
Also, last I heard the Tibetan zone was shut down. Did you have any issues getting in? Did you use a US passport? How long did it take you to get the visa? Was it handled by your NGO or?
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On August 04 2012 03:03 Mothra wrote:
Very interesting, thank you. It's always sad to see a culture turned into a commodity to be advertised and sold. Similar thing happened to the Native Hawaiians.
...Similar thing happens everywhere. That's what they just did to Dubstep. That's what Lady Gaga did to the Lower East Side. That's what people did to California surf culture. That's what Korea does with Kpop. That's what PSY just did with Gangnam style. People will commodify and sell anything that's not nailed down.
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Superb read. Keep us updated please!
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On August 04 2012 10:48 Caihead wrote:Show nested quote +On August 03 2012 21:33 ulan-bat wrote:
Oh I forgot to mention that no Han on this earth has a positive outlook on tibetans BUT they would die before letting Tibet take some of their land away. ... What? I'm sorry but the Chinese han general populus (not living in tibet) have some of the best perceptions of the Tibetan people and other minority groups.
Ask around you if you have the opportunity. I'm talking about any kind of people from poor farmers to educated young boys and girls. Hard to find a positive view. Neutral or negative opinions are plenty though.
Whatever, i guess "no Han on this earth has a positive outlook on tibetans" was too strong, it wasn't the point though (point being the land retrocession is unthinkable).
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I just came across this post, specifically in my research about the white tents and cultural fertility practices. I do health outreach to the Khamba Tibetans, and have for the last ten years. One of the opportunities I have been offered is to go into the schools and teach health related topics on sexuality for the young people. There is a high out of wedlock pregnancy rate. I really need to know if the white tents legend is true. I have heard stories, but have never witnessed it, nor was it verified by any of the local Tibetans I work with and know. They have lived there all their lives and never heard of such a thing. Is it in the most rural areas? I really could use verification on this, only because it will go into my documentation reports. Thanks.
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I asked earlier about verification about the White Tent issue and got no reply. If you google "tibet white tent sex", the top result is actually just this thread, and none of the other results even mention this myth (the other results are actually more prone to talk about how sexually conservative traditional Tibetan culture is).
Looks to me like some Tibetan/Chinese person thought it would be funny to prank a clueless tourist with an outlandish story.
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EPT
