A PLAYING GROUND FOR THE RED GUARDS/ Labrang /27.7. 2007

The monasteries are no exception - the 300 nuns are at the bottom. They do all the hard work. While lot of the monks do nothing. In fact many of them are quite wealthy due to a lot of donations. And when visiting the monastery we did not feel welcome.

The streets are not paved. And they have never been either. So when it rains is really a mess. And here it rains quite often. But it has been like this here ever since this monastery was built over 300 years ago. Most of this has been totally rebuilt since the Red Guard rage 30 years ago. Hard to believe – it looks like these buildings have been here for ages. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Labrang / 27.3. 1908 …. The monastery area is large and densely built – with small, white painted houses surrounded by walls. Among these there are tall and impressive temples, mostly brown with golden roofs decorated with spires, dragons, deer’s – they are in two or three levels with windows that are framed in a way so that they seem to be more narrow at the upper end. In this monastery there are 18 larger and 40 smaller temples. The amount of lamas is said to be 3000. Among them many of Mongol, Tourguts (Tibetans) and a lesser amount of Burjats – they all get their education here. This monastery is highly respected and is supposed to be very rich – due to the constant flow of gifts from pilgrims. As a proof of Labrangs importance I was told that when Dalai Lama stopped at a monastery close by, when he was on flight from Tibet – this monastery’s Gegen (Mongol, reincarnation of a Buddhist saint) sent him the following greeting – “ the saviour from Labrang invites the saviour from Lhasa to visit him and his monastery”. Dalai Lamas response was blunt – “ Tell your master in Labrang that there is only one savoiur: The great saviour in Lhasa” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The adjoining town of Xiahe is another story – just another Chinese town in rapid change. The population here is 50% Tibetan, 40% Han and 10 % Hui. That figure is slowly changing and soon the Tibetans will be a minority. Still the Tibetan feel is evident The Han population is steadily growing – as they are elsewhere too. And the Tibetan is shrinking. But the real conflicts are between the Muslim Hui Chinese and the Tibetans. Aggressive conflicts with fistfights and stone throwing are said to occur according to local sources. Of course not during the tourist season – but that period is only four months. So there is plenty of time to take off the Chinese lid and let the steam out. A conflict can start from a small incident as when a Tibetan is doing some shopping – Huis run most shops. --“ You can not afford it anyway..” is supposed to be a common answer from the shopkeeper. The nomadic traditions with Buddhism do not go well together with Chinese Muslim traditions. The Huis consider the Tibetans not clean and of the wrong belief. And I must say – my own experience during the two-month in the Gansu Province, with a lot of Huis – they are often quite arrogant. The Hans do not think highly of the Chinese Muslims either. The fierce fighting in the thirties, with attempts to brake loose and form a Muslim state is still in good memory. It feels like one has entered a different world –which in many ways is true. This is a place for pilgrimage. Every day and every hour you can see the traditionally dressed Tibetan women and men walking around the monastery, along the prayer wheels chanting… The women’s dresses are truly beautiful. Well balanced colors, nice belts and they carry themselves with dignity.’ Another story is then that the Tibetan society is anything but equal. Traditionally a woman should not speak ion front of men. That is of course changing slowly too but still there is no equality between the sexes. Not even close. That goes for the whole of China. A very male chauvinistic society with the more unequal part doing most of all work. The monasteries are no exception - the 300 nuns are at the bottom. They do all the hard work. While lot of the monks do nothing. In fact many of them are quite wealthy due to a lot of donations. And when visiting the monastery we did not feel welcome. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Labrang / 27.3. 1908 The next temple closed before my nose and all negotiations were in vain. Many lamas stood by a watched my departure. Around the temple three old lamas circulated mumbling their prayers, touching their necklaces. This procedure took place while we stood there - as if they were sent to guard the temple.. These three weary old men in their togas… Our efforts to get in to one of the temples was again stopped Followed by a large crowd of lamas our guide took us from one back street to another in his efforts to tire out the curious followers. When her finally decided to make a try again, we ere met by stones and closed doors. We did cross yet another square – red dressed monks appeared like ants from everywhere. Mumbling, whistling and stone throwing again…” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As we strolled around this amazing complex of buildings, wondering what it would have been like to see the destruction 30 years ago. That alone must have been hard work so big is this area. There are many old monks here who did experience the red guards in action.. But thy do not want to talk about it. It is their own Holocaust. One older monk – who surprisingly did not have anything against to show his simple living quarters and even did not mind that we took some photos – pointed as his heart and said that the pain is to big to talk about it. Everything was not destroyed (or killed) – in fact; quite a few of the detachable statues etc were removed and hidden in the countryside near by. Still today there is a mistrust of outsiders today. The monks are not openly hostile but one can feel their negative or mixed feelings about visitors. And it is a mixed bag – on one hand that keeps the interest up for the Tibetan culture and it bring s in money – on the other it easily destroys this beautiful place if too much exploited. And the Chinese are not masters at progressing with care.

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