Satish
2012-09-10 01:17:08 UTC
http://www.voanews.com/content/china-pushes-tibet-tourism-in-theme-park-project/1498114.html
August 29, 2012
China Pushes Tibet Tourism in Theme Park Project
By Aida Akl
Just outside Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, the Chinese government is
building a $4.7 billion theme park that critics describe as a fairy
tale universe that trivializes Tibetan culture and glosses over the
nation’s troubles.
The construction gets into high gear as Tibetans continue to
demonstrate and set themselves on fire to protests Chinese policies in
the nation Beijing invaded 63 years ago. The 50th such self-immolation
took place this week.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington refuses to comment on the theme park
project, or the self-immolations. But Beijing’s official news agency,
Xinhua, quoted the deputy mayor of Lhasa, Ma Xingming, as saying the
project “is designed to improve Tibet’s tourism credentials and be a
landmark of the cultural industry.”
Xinhua said the park, scheduled for completion in three to five years,
will be centered on the theme of a Chinese princess who marries a
Tibetan king. It said the park will include displays of Tibetan
handicrafts, medicine and folklore.
Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet in New
York, is not impressed, noting that the project comes as Tibetan
activists continue to protest Chinese dominance of their homeland.
“They are spending these billions of dollars in building a theme park
in Tibet at a time when Tibetans are setting themselves on fire for
freedom,” Tenzin said. “And this is China’s way of not addressing the
problem, not addressing any grievances.”
Tenzin also accused Beijing of trying to distort Tibetan history by
highlighting its own version of the nation’s past.
Stephanie Brigden, director of the London-based Free Tibet campaign,
is another critic of the Chinese project.
“When you look at the proposed scale of the theme park, it’s vast and
it’s … a strategy of ‘Disneyfication’ of Tibet,” Brigden said. “It’s
not one of sharing and celebrating Tibetan culture.”
She said the park’s theme, intended to showcase harmony between China
and Tibet, is insulting when so many Tibetans “have felt that their
only recourse is to set themselves on fire, underlying that it’s far
from a harmonious situation.”
But at least one Chinese commentator said it is about time for Tibet
and its culture to catch up with the times.
“Over the past decades, breaking economic isolation and stagnancy has
served as a basic prerequisite for cultural growth,” said Chen
Chenchen, opinion editor of China’s Global Times newspaper, a part of
the Communist Party’s People’s Daily group. “It’s increasingly
impossible that a bulwark can be erected to ‘protect’ the Tibetan
culture from external impact.”
"Younger generations of Tibetans are already making changes in their
traditions,” Chenchen said, adding that ordinary Tibetans do not want
to live in a backwater museum to be exhibited to foreign visitors...”
Brigden said Beijing apparently believes the theme park project will
create enough jobs that it “will reduce Tibetan demands for freedom.”
But she said previous Chinese projects “have not brought any economic
benefit to ordinary Tibetans, whether that be in terms of employment
opportunities or … money filtering down to ordinary people.”
Tom Grunfeld, professor of Central and East Asian Studies at the State
University of New York, acknowledged that the project probably would
create jobs for Tibetans, but that it was still self-serving.
“Most of the Tibetan economy is funded by the … central government of
China,” he said, “So anything that can boost the economy is going to
help the central government.”
The goal, Grunfeld added, is to boost tourism - the largest part of
Tibet’s economy.
Chinese figures put the number of tourists visiting Tibet in 2011 at
8.5 million, and estimate that the first six months of this year
brought in revenues of $381 million. And the Tibetan administration
hopes to raise that figure to 15 million visitors annually by 2015,
according to Xinhua.
But Grunfeld warned that a massive influx of tourists to a city like
Lhasa is a double-edged sword that could produce ethnic hostility as
well as make money.
“You’re flooding your 500,000 to 600,000 population – half that
population is not permanent; half that population is probably Han
[Chinese] who leave for several months a year during the coldest
months when there’s no tourism,” he said. “So you’re flooding this
with six to eight million people. It’s a tremendous strain on this
city."
“And, it increases ethnic tension. The ethnic tension in a city like
Lhasa is enormous,” he concluded, adding that so far Tibetans are
afraid to speak out against the theme park project for fear of
reprisal.
“They don’t feel secure enough to really speak their minds because of
the polarization,” Grunfeld said, “so the chance of real Tibetan input
into this theme park is zero.”
Exiles, like Tenzin in New York, do feel free to speak out. He is
calling for worldwide campaign to block the project.
“This is going to destroy our history,” he said, “and this will not
benefit the Tibetan people in the long-run.”
August 29, 2012
China Pushes Tibet Tourism in Theme Park Project
By Aida Akl
Just outside Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, the Chinese government is
building a $4.7 billion theme park that critics describe as a fairy
tale universe that trivializes Tibetan culture and glosses over the
nation’s troubles.
The construction gets into high gear as Tibetans continue to
demonstrate and set themselves on fire to protests Chinese policies in
the nation Beijing invaded 63 years ago. The 50th such self-immolation
took place this week.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington refuses to comment on the theme park
project, or the self-immolations. But Beijing’s official news agency,
Xinhua, quoted the deputy mayor of Lhasa, Ma Xingming, as saying the
project “is designed to improve Tibet’s tourism credentials and be a
landmark of the cultural industry.”
Xinhua said the park, scheduled for completion in three to five years,
will be centered on the theme of a Chinese princess who marries a
Tibetan king. It said the park will include displays of Tibetan
handicrafts, medicine and folklore.
Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet in New
York, is not impressed, noting that the project comes as Tibetan
activists continue to protest Chinese dominance of their homeland.
“They are spending these billions of dollars in building a theme park
in Tibet at a time when Tibetans are setting themselves on fire for
freedom,” Tenzin said. “And this is China’s way of not addressing the
problem, not addressing any grievances.”
Tenzin also accused Beijing of trying to distort Tibetan history by
highlighting its own version of the nation’s past.
Stephanie Brigden, director of the London-based Free Tibet campaign,
is another critic of the Chinese project.
“When you look at the proposed scale of the theme park, it’s vast and
it’s … a strategy of ‘Disneyfication’ of Tibet,” Brigden said. “It’s
not one of sharing and celebrating Tibetan culture.”
She said the park’s theme, intended to showcase harmony between China
and Tibet, is insulting when so many Tibetans “have felt that their
only recourse is to set themselves on fire, underlying that it’s far
from a harmonious situation.”
But at least one Chinese commentator said it is about time for Tibet
and its culture to catch up with the times.
“Over the past decades, breaking economic isolation and stagnancy has
served as a basic prerequisite for cultural growth,” said Chen
Chenchen, opinion editor of China’s Global Times newspaper, a part of
the Communist Party’s People’s Daily group. “It’s increasingly
impossible that a bulwark can be erected to ‘protect’ the Tibetan
culture from external impact.”
"Younger generations of Tibetans are already making changes in their
traditions,” Chenchen said, adding that ordinary Tibetans do not want
to live in a backwater museum to be exhibited to foreign visitors...”
Brigden said Beijing apparently believes the theme park project will
create enough jobs that it “will reduce Tibetan demands for freedom.”
But she said previous Chinese projects “have not brought any economic
benefit to ordinary Tibetans, whether that be in terms of employment
opportunities or … money filtering down to ordinary people.”
Tom Grunfeld, professor of Central and East Asian Studies at the State
University of New York, acknowledged that the project probably would
create jobs for Tibetans, but that it was still self-serving.
“Most of the Tibetan economy is funded by the … central government of
China,” he said, “So anything that can boost the economy is going to
help the central government.”
The goal, Grunfeld added, is to boost tourism - the largest part of
Tibet’s economy.
Chinese figures put the number of tourists visiting Tibet in 2011 at
8.5 million, and estimate that the first six months of this year
brought in revenues of $381 million. And the Tibetan administration
hopes to raise that figure to 15 million visitors annually by 2015,
according to Xinhua.
But Grunfeld warned that a massive influx of tourists to a city like
Lhasa is a double-edged sword that could produce ethnic hostility as
well as make money.
“You’re flooding your 500,000 to 600,000 population – half that
population is not permanent; half that population is probably Han
[Chinese] who leave for several months a year during the coldest
months when there’s no tourism,” he said. “So you’re flooding this
with six to eight million people. It’s a tremendous strain on this
city."
“And, it increases ethnic tension. The ethnic tension in a city like
Lhasa is enormous,” he concluded, adding that so far Tibetans are
afraid to speak out against the theme park project for fear of
reprisal.
“They don’t feel secure enough to really speak their minds because of
the polarization,” Grunfeld said, “so the chance of real Tibetan input
into this theme park is zero.”
Exiles, like Tenzin in New York, do feel free to speak out. He is
calling for worldwide campaign to block the project.
“This is going to destroy our history,” he said, “and this will not
benefit the Tibetan people in the long-run.”