not the dalai lama's tibet i

TOURISM PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT IN TIBET

Dr Trevor Sofield

Foundation Professor of Tourism

University of Tasmania

Australia

Potala Palace, Lhasa

Part IMount Namchak Barwo

PREFACE

While this presentation is focused on tourism policy and planning for the Tibet

Autonomous Region of China, it is also a refutation of generally held Western views

about Tibet.

For the vast majority of westerners the only perception they hold

of Tibet is derived from interviews by the Dalai Lama, who makes a wide

range of claims about conditions inside a country which he has not visited in

fifty years. As with anybody who has not been „home‟ for 50 years such

views will inevitably be out of date. He enjoins people to visit Tibet to see

for themselves that he is talking the truth – but I cannot find the Tibet he

describes!

PREFACE

This presentation might thus be sub-titled:This presentation might thus be sub-titled: :

Introduction

In June/July 2008 I made my ninth visit in 8 years to Greater Tibet and the Tibet Autonomous

Region (T.A.R.). Each visit has been a research planning exercise designed to gather data and

undertake analyses for the development of appropriate forms of ecotourism and cultural tourism

for Chinese (domestic) and International visitation. This has given me first-hand an in-depth

knowledge and understanding of the T.A.R. and its people.

Dr Trevor Sofield, Professor of Tourism, University of Tasmania, Australia

The Dali Lama contends that China is practising cultural genocide on his people.

Yet the Chinese Government has a transparent policy of opening up Tibet and its culture for

the whole world. Their objective is the opposite - to conserve not destroy Tibetan culture and

promote it to the world.

Further, the Tibetan Tourism Bureau recently issued a booklet (2008) for all Chinese visitors to

Tibet on Tibetan etiquette, customs and culture and how to behave in order not to be

insensitive. This is not the sort of publication one would expect following the assertions by the

Dalai Lama to the contrary.

The very reason for my visits to T.A.R. has been to assist in these endeavours.

Dr Trevor Sofield, Professor of Tourism, University of Tasmania Australia

Buddhist

Festival,

Changda,

2008

Introduction

Previous outcomes have included a tourism master plan for the „Greater Shangri-la Region‟

(which encompasses the Tibetan communities of northern Yunnan Province, western Sichuan

Province and Eastern Tibet), and various tourism plans for Tibet itself. At the highest political

level, a major commitment, supported by more than US$20 billion, has been made for the

economic development of China‟s western provinces (the Western Development Plan) because

of their relative under-development compared to the booming eastern coastal provinces. Tibet

and Tibetans are beneficiaries of this national intervention.

The objective of the latest visit was to develop a Master Tourism Plan for Linzhi Prefecture in

south eastern Tibet.


TOURISM PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT IN TIBET

Satellite photo of Tibet (NASA web site)

HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS

TIBETAN PLATEAU

LIN-ZHI

Objectives: A major component of the most recent exercise was to focus on Tibetan

ecology and culture to advise on appropriate forms of development that would safeguard

and retain the integrity of Tibetan traditions and the environment to the greatest possible

extent for international visitors and Chinese alike. The Master Plan is being formulated

under the auspices of the China National Tourism Administration, a key aim of which is to

promote Tibetan culture. In this context, as with all previous field trips, I found a resilient,

dynamic living culture being expressed and manifest on a daily basis in literally hundreds of

different ways. The total integration between Tibetan culture and their biophysical

environment thus lends itself to holistic forms of ecotourism development that have the

capacity to benefit local communities directly.


Yang Zhou Yong village Ba-rang Village

The Dalai Lama asserts that the Chinese Government is destroying Buddhist

temples, closing their teaching institutes and preventing Tibetans from practising

their religion.

But I have witnessed major rebuilding of temples all over Tibet (many were damaged

during the Cultural Revolution) and they are vibrant with active discipleship and

teaching.

Touring route development

The scenery in south eastern Tibet is stunning. When the area is opened to international

visitors the route we took will I believe become one of the most spectacular touring routes

anywhere - towering snow capped peaks adorned with numerous glaciers, deep

perpendicular gorges, thick old-growth forests in the lower altitudes, windswept grasslands

on the plateau, picturesque villages occupying tiny fragments of arable land among the

peaks and gorges, and a vibrant Tibetan Buddhist culture all around!

„First Bend‟ of the Yangtze RiverMount Gyala Belri


Yarlung Tsampo (Brahmaputra) River Silong Glacier

“The Roof of the World” - Mila Mountain and pass, 5,424metres.


I have witnessed, on a daily basis, literally hundreds of acts and aspects of Tibetan culture in all

its forms and variety. I have spent weeks at a time immersed in an extremely vibrant and

dynamic culture that is Tibetan first, Tibetan second and Tibetan last. I have spent many hours

in more than 100 monasteries and temples where monks, nuns and pilgrims have practised

their beliefs and carried out their religious activities without hindrance. The development plan

submitted for the pilgrimage town of Chamdo in central eastern Tibet, home of perhaps the

most famous Yellow Hat sect Buddhist teaching monastery in Tibet with currently more than

2000 resident monks, Qiangbaling, provides such an example. Chamdo is surrounded by eight

ancient monasteries and temples located high up in the surrounding mountains, each one at

the end of a road that radiates out from Chamdo like the spokes of a wheel. Each temple

requires a full day in 4WD vehicle to reach and return to Chamdo.

Dr Trevor Sofield, Professor of Tourism, University of Tasmania, AustraliaQiangbaling Monastery and temples

Daily activities at Qiangbaling

This configuration lends itself to a classical hub-and-spokes cluster development and the

concept incorporated in our Tourism Development Plan utilises the Tibetan prayer wheel or

circle of life to emphasize the cultural richness of the experience. Each day trip to the ancient

temple at the end of the road combines a range of nature based experiences that focus on a

village or villages en route so that ecotourism in its holistic form constitutes the foundation of

our planning. For example, the trip to the 8th century Garma Temple passes the village of

Ridung, famous for traditional Tibetan herbal medicines where there is a thriving cottage

industry; Wami, a craft village famous for its metal workers who make Buddhist idols and other

statuary for temples all over Tibet; and Wazai which hosts families of „thanka‟ artists who

specialize in producing traditional paintings and art works for temples and monasteries. The

village of Dorje is located above a fast flowing stream ideal for kayaking and rafting, and there

are many potential wilderness walks into the mountains along the entire route to Garma on yak

or pony (or on foot) with local guides and home-stays, including a high alpine forest of

rhododendrons and conifers that are home to at least one large troop (more than 250

members) of long tailed Tibetan macaques.

Annual installation ceremony for graduation of new monks,

Qiangabling Monastery, Chamdo

Dr Trevor Sofield,

Professor of Tourism,

University of Tasmania,

Australia

Garma Temple

Jiuzhaotse Monastery

Chajima Monastery

Chaya Temple

Wa La Monastery

Dalak temple

CHAMDO

Diagram showing the hub-and-spokes relationship of Chamdo to the

surrounding temples. There is no linking

road between any of the temples which are separated by

very high mountains, deep valleys and

swift flowing rivers.

Buddhist wheel of lifeDr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

Cluster Planning:

The Spokes

GARMA

Dalak Monastery

Wa-La Monastery

Chajima Monastery

Jiuzhaotse Monastery

Chaya

CHAMDO

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

Hub-and Spokes Cluster – en route community development

Each of the Chamdo „spokes‟ could be developed over a period of time as an en

route attraction, as exampled by the route to Garma Temple:

Attractions en route

GARMA TEMPLE

Dechen Patsun

Holy Mountain

CHAMDO

Ridung

Traditional

Medicine village

River recreation

Wazai

Handicraft Centre

Master artist’s

village

Tibetan traditional

heritage, living culture

Ecotourism

Tibetan rural way of life,

artefacts, living culture

Tibetan religion, religious

art, living culture

Tourism Type

Tibetan religion, built

heritage, living culture,

forests, nature & eco-tourism

Dr Trevor Sofield, Professor of Tourism,

University of Tasmania, Australia

Pilgrimage: Among many other examples of cultural diversity visible all over Tibet are the

hundreds, perhaps thousands of pilgrims on trails and roads all over Tibet slowly and arduously

making their way to Lhasa, prostrating themselves full length on the ground, rising, taking three

paces forward, and lowering themselves to the ground again to stretch out to the full, an action

repeated thousands and thousands of times, on journeys that may take two or more years. We

came across one group of pilgrims who had been on the road from Chengdu, Sichuan (where

the recent earthquake was) for 2 years, a baby had been born on the way - and they had an

Australian budgerigar in a cage!!!! (Of which I have a photo of course!). Another old couple -

both in their 60s - let me pull their handcart up and over a pass at 4,884 metres! (I was

interested to see how heavy it was). Another family group had two or three family members at

a time prostrating themselves along the road for 2-to-3 kilometres and then being replaced by

others relay-team style. Their hand cart was adorned with solar cells and a battery – there is

no firewood at high altitudes of course, often no yak or cattle dung as an alternate fuel, and so

to boil the water for their yak butter tea, they had an electric kettle! The hand carts contain a

tent, spare clothing, a few pots and pans and not much else. To protect their hands and chests

from abrasions as they prostrate themselves full length on the ground they wear wooden pads

strapped to the palms of their hands and a heavy yak leather apron.

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

On the road 400kms from Lhasa

Pilgrims approaching Jorkhang Temple, Lhasa

Dr Trevor Sofield,


University of

Tasmania, Australia

Pilgrim‟s

handcart with

solar panel

Pilgrims on Mt Meli pass

Pilgrims with budgerigar in

cageDr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

Mt Milu Pass

Me!

In terms of the integration of culture and environment, mountains in all forms of Tibetan

Buddhism are sacred, every high mountain pass in Tibet is regarded as sacred, and every pass

is adorned with literally thousands of Buddhist prayer flags and silk scarves. Buddhist belief is

that as each flag flutters in the breeze the prayer that is printed on it drifts on the wind and

blesses all those who feel the movement of the air. The scarves, hadah, are exchanged in

welcome ceremonies and in numerous other Buddhist rituals as a symbol of peace and good

wishes. At all mountain passes every Tibetan traveller stops to add more flags and scarves –

and nowadays, busloads of Chinese and other travellers engage in the same action. In some

places the fabric is metres thick. The thousands of torn and faded flags and hadah as well as

brand new ones indicate that the practice has been continuing for a long time. In addition to

prayer flags, piles of inscribed mani stones and tablets far more numerous than the many

thousands of temples dot roadsides, hillsides, riversides and other sites imbued with a spiritual

essence and are constantly added to, repainted and/or reinscribed. Often the skulls of yaks are

also inscribed with a Buddhist mantra and added to a pile of mani stones. This continuing daily

activity all around Tibet is inconsistent with claims of cultural genocide by the Dalia Lam.!

Every mountain is sacred and every pass is adorned with thousands of prayer flags

Sacred mani stones. Some are new, many of

them hundreds of years old.

A living culture: I have seen Tibetans going about their daily life ploughing their fields with

yaks while chanting the ubiquitous “Om-ma-ni-pad-ma-ni-om” as a prayer of forgiveness

because every turn of their plough is killing animals and insects in the soil in violation of the

Buddhist precept of never taking life in any form. Of women climbing cliff faces to place prayer

flags and juniper twigs in „worship power places‟. Of families tending their herds of yaks, goats,

sheep, donkeys and horses, milking them, weaving their wool, making yak butter, harvesting

barley in the lower valleys, making leather pouches, carving wooden saddles – not actors

museumized for tourists in traditional fancy dress, not Sinicized to destroy their culture, just

living as Tibetans have lived for centuries – but sometimes with electricity from micro-hydro

schemes to light and warm their homes!

Many Tibetans are pastoralists.

Bilingualism: In terms of support for the Tibetan language and traditional script, official

signage is all bilingual. Directional road signs, national nature reserves, government buildings,

clinics and schools, even government ministry vehicles, all display both Tibetan and Chinese.

Some signs were very old judging by the rust and faded colouring, some were brand new, but

combined they indicated that it has long been a policy of the Chinese Government to produce

bilingual signage and not in response to criticism arising over China‟s hosting of the Olympic

Games. In the village schools that I visited hundreds of kilometres from the town of Nyingchi,

the teaching medium is often in Tibetan for the simple reason that that is the only language

with which the teachers can communicate with their pupils. The children learn Chinese, as well

as Tibetan, just as Chinese students in many parts of China also take a second language,

often English. Once we left the two small cities in this part of Tibet, we needed Tibetan

translators because many of the local authorities and most of the people could not talk

Chinese. In short, I found a resilient use of Tibetan and a vibrant bilingualism that helps to

underpin the cultural foundations of Tibetan-ness, in stark contrast to the claim by the Dalai

Lama that the Chinese are banning the use of Tibetan..

Grand

Canyon

National

Park

signage –

Tibetan on

one side,

Chinese

on the

other.

This sign, located below a

landslip on a hillside near

Bacang, carries a clear

conservation message in

both Tibetan and Chinese:

Carry Out the “Save the Environment

Project” to benefit future generations.

The date is recorded as

March 2001 and the area is

surrounded by a large

reafforestation project.

China experiences four major tourist flows, each of which has significantly

different characteristics that planning must take into account. The needs and

expectations of Chinese domestic tourists (by far the largest market) are quite

different from those of „Overseas Chinese‟, which in turn are different from

international Asian visitors (Japan, Korea, Thailand, etc), which are again quite

different from those of international western country travellers.

My focus as part of the team was to contribute to proposals for the international

western countries‟ segment of the market, particularly ecotourism and cultural

tourism. A major characteristic of this market is that Tibet has an almost mystical

fascination for westerners, and tours need to be undertaken with interpretation

that covers history, religion, biology, geology and culture. Given the relative

isolation of Tibet, its underdeveloped tourism services sector and the reliance of

access to many parts by four-wheel drive vehicles on precipitous roads over

passes more than 5000 metres high, the type of tourism might be appropriately

described as cultural/natural heritage adventure tourism.

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

The following vignettes are

included to indicate the potential

attractions for this type of tourism.

Road to JiuzhaotseDr Trevor Sofield, Professor of

Tourism, University of Tasmania,

Australia

1. In Dege, there is a very famous Buddhist printery and monastery that for

more than 300 years has been producing hand-printed Buddhist texts on scrolls

which are also of handmade paper (from mulberry tree pulp and bark) that is

made in an annexe. A visit to this monastery today will reveal an absolute hive of

activity as perhaps 100 monks continue to hand-print 3 million copies of such

texts each year that are distributed all over Tibet. They have a „library‟ of 60,000

woodcut blocks, which were kept in safekeeping during the Cultural Revolution.

Dege has recently been opened for tourism and thousands of Chinese and

foreign Buddhists, including from Taiwan, Japan, India and elsewhere, purchase

texts from the printery each year.

Dege Monastery

Printing House

Thousands of printed texts

2. The wood-cuts used by the monastery in Dege come from a tiny village called

Sejiong about 200 miles away high up in the mountains which we approached

through the long narrow Jirong Gorge foaming with white water under precipitous

cliffs. Boys are apprenticed at the age of six to begin learning how to read and write

Tibetan sanskrit and to carve the wood blocks, using ancient templates that were

also hidden during the destruction of the Cultural Revolution years (1966-1976). After

the cultural revolution the art of template carving was resuscitated and is a thriving

cottage industry. On request you may be taken into the Sejiong monastery – largely

rebuilt by funds from India, under the supervision of a Tibetan monk who had

returned only recently from Dharmsala - and shown the ancient woodblock

templates, and some of the „books‟ of Buddhist mantras that are 300-400 years old

and black with age. The monastery is also filled with religious paintings, carvings,

accoutrements and artefacts of significant antiquity, as well as new monastic

decorations. Two artefacts did not exactly following conservation or the Buddhist

tenet against taking all life: the skins of two magnificent snow leopards. When I

queried this, I was told they were there to teach the people NOT to kill them: but one

looked very new and was being used as a 'robe' over a drum.

The point about these various activities is that they refute allegations of suppression

of religious freedom, destruction of material culture or cultural genocide. There is not

even one Chinese policeman in this remote community. Its isolation is likely to be

changed however if a new road proposed for the area runs through Jirong Gorge.

Dr Trevor Sofield, Professor of


Australia

Snow

leopard

skin

inside

Sejiong

monast-

ery

Novitiate

with

woodcuts,

Ancient

Buddhist

texts

Sejiong Monastery

Jirong

Gorge

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

3. Qiang-ba-ling monastery in Chamdo, perhaps the most famous Buddhist Yellow

Hat (Gelu) sect teaching institute – swarming with more than 2000 resident monks.

Pilgrims coming and going all day, every day of the week. Some prostrating

themselves across the huge courtyard to the inner temples, others lighting incense in

front of statues of Buddha and his guardians, throngs of Tibetans burning dwarf juniper

twigs for its purifying scent. Teaching and debating all day, with the monks shouting

and gesticulating and stomping in a walled courtyard lined with river pebbles, raising a

huge clatter as they emphasize a point - incredibly dynamic and participatory. If only

my students displayed the enthusiasm of these novitiates! The temple complex was

inscribed on China‟s list of protected heritage and cultural sites in 1962, suffered

significant damage during the Cultural Revolution, but has since been rebuilt and

expanded in the past three years, following my first visit in 2005.

Pilgrims approaching Qiang-ba-ling

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

Monks sneaking out of evening meditation

Main temple of

Qiang-ba-ling Monastery

Novitiates at class in the

“Lamaist Scripture-

Discussing-Courtyard” of

Qiang-ba-ling Monastery

4. Similarly, Wa La monastery, 1500 years old, now rebuilt after major destruction

during the cultural revolution, all its main statues, icons and artefacts hidden away

in caves for more than a decade, is enjoying rebirth with more than 500 young

novitiates, also clattering on their courtyard of pebbles as they debate esoteric

topics. One group while I was there was debating “How high is the sky?” with one of

the elderly professor monks, using Buddhist texts to substantiate their arguments. I

visited temple after temple, monastery after monastery around central eastern and

southern Tibet, some so isolated they completely escaped the turmoil of the

Cultural Revolution, all of them alive with complex ceremonies, elders teaching

younger artists the highly skilled art of thanka painting, pilgrims with prayer wheels,

monks chanting mantras, where their daily rituals were being practised without

hindrance as far as I could ascertain.

This is not the picture the Dalia Lama paints.

Wa La Monastery Thanka master at work,

Dalak monastery

A living

religion,

a living

culture

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

5. Wami village on the road to Garma temple and monastery five hours drive

up into the mountains from Chamdo where blacksmiths make their traditional

Buddhist metal masks and carvings, all handcrafted, not a single Chinese-

made percussion drill, welder or metal grinder in sight, smoke rising from

charcoal kilns where the iron is smelted, tap-tapping and ringing tones

reverberating around the valley as they shape the metal into temple artefacts.

And near Garma Temple itself a whole village of thanka artists producing

traditional paintings and decorations for Buddhist monasteries. Here we were

invited into a sunlit courtyard and enjoyed lunch of fresh barley bread, yak

yoghurt and stewed yak washed down with copious volumes of yak butter tea,

joined by many of the villagers. All local authorities were Tibetan, the only

Chinese present being members of our planning team.

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

Artists at work for Buddhist temples

and monasteries

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

6. The cave temple of a Buddhist healer in the mountains above the Nujiang

Valley, halfway between Chamdo and Bo-mi. So famous have his healings become

in the last 20 years that Tibetans and non-Tibetans, Buddhists and non-Buddhists

alike, seek his services in their hundreds. The entire mountainside where the cave

is located is draped in prayer flags and there are numerous shrines beside the trail

that leads from the gravel road for a kilometre up to the cave. As new healings are

made, more and more offerings are made and prayers and incense offered at the

shrines - active, dynamic, a living culture in open view. The cave has become a

Buddhist shrine, its caverns lined with offerings of all kinds, one cavern piled high

with the skulls of yaks, horses, oxen, sheep and goats on which are inscribed

Buddhist mantras. On descending from the cave I noticed a pile of abandoned

crutches left behind by those who had been cured, and now a shrine in its own

right as pilgrims have placed mani stones and incense next to the crutches, where

they stop and pray.

Abandoned crutches are now a shrine

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

The flag-festooned trail up

the mountainside to the

cave

Entrance to the healing

cave temple

The healer monkDr Trevor Sofield, Professor of


Australia

7. Glaciers are common in the Tibetan ranges, and we visited six along the road

from Nying-chi to Dzayul. Zeju Glacier in the Tibet Yigong National Geo-park near

Bo-mi involved a four hour 4WD trip through the Baiyu Valley, past six or seven

villages, numerous shrines of mani stones and steles, little monasteries and

temples, and flocks of yaks, sheep, goats and horses. Our planning team voted

this one of the most interesting valleys/day trips we experienced, and the following

photographs attest to its scenic qualities. Community based tourism with home-

stays and guided treks to the glaciers and montane forests is the obvious

recommendation to take advantage of the nature-based experiences on offer.

Dr Trevor Sofield, Professor of Tourism,

University of Tasmania, Australia

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

8. Perhaps most poignant of all, a visit to a sacred Buddhist valley high up in the

mountains above the Tibetan town of Po-mi, in a forest called Zha-Longou. I first

visited the site in 2005 and again in July 2008.

It is believed by some Tibetan Buddhist sects that a child under the age of one has not

been able to amass any merit for the next life and be reincarnated, and so if they die

they are condemned to be „lost souls‟ wandering in the void. Some 27 years ago –

that is, 1981 and 30 years after the Chinese moved into Tibet – a Buddhist monk

through various divinations determined that this valley had special properties that

would allow young babies to be reincarnated as humans again. Babies who have

died are brought to this sacred place by their parents, many of them coming from

hundreds of miles away. The bodies are wrapped in silk scarves and placed in tiny

boxes or baskets or blankets, their „coffins‟ hung from the branches of ancient

cypress trees that grow in this high alpine valley. The monk from his simple temple

offers prayers that never stop, day after day, week after week, his prayers guiding

the babies‟ souls on their journey to reincarnation.

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

This site is not „secret‟, it is known to the authorities and as such represents

evidence of both religious freedom and tolerance of Tibetan culture. I was taken

there to offer my views on whether it was an appropriate place for cultural tourism.

This site raises critical issues related to the emic and etic perspectives and thana-

tourism (dark tourism to sites such as Auschwitz and the Choeung-Ek genocide

killing fields in Cambodia). As a westerner my initial judgement based on my

imported („outsider‟, etic) value system rejected visitation as an invasion of privacy

and personal grief. The anthropologist in me allowed me take 6 photos before the

(western) human emotions took over and put the camera away. My initial

recommendation against this place as unacceptable dark tourism was very firm.

Dr Trevor Sofield,



AustraliaEntrance path to Zha-longou

However, in talking with two sets of parents who were leaving after having brought

their babies bodies there two days previously I was exposed to the emic („insider‟

Tibetan) perspective, and was jolted by their response to my questions about

strangers visiting the valley. It was obvious that this place gave them enormous

peace of mind. Their dead child was not condemned to eternal void: his/her soul

had been saved. While not quite a celebration, it was certainly closure. They went

to some lengths to assure me that they did not to mind that as a complete stranger I

could visit this very special place, with hundreds of tiny moss-covered boxes and

baskets and blanket bundles swaying gently in the breeze under the gnarled trees.

Part of their response may have been common Tibetan courtesy to a foreigner but

their underlying value system suggested parents at ease with this form of thana-

tourism.

As a westerner I remain of the

view that this site should not be

„developed‟ for tourism and that it

should be respected as a special

Buddhist site. Despite the

apparent acquiescence of the

parents I spoke to, I would want

to see the results of a survey with

a much larger sample than 2

before moving to any

reconsideration of this position.Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

INNOVATION is increasingly necessary in tourism development because so many

diverse attractions are available that tourists are becoming very selective in what

they will pay to see and do. ACTION as well as ATTRACTION is necessary to

provide a QUALITY EXPERIENCE that tourists will be willing to pay for. The

application of principles of Ecotourism as advocated by the EcoClub provides the

opportunity for both innovation and action to be combined as attraction for

sustainable eco- and cultural tourism.

In many countries there are tall “skywalks” (boardwalks erected on 50+ meters high

posts) that allow people to experience the forest canopy (treetops) instead of

boardwalks and trails along the ground. And there are perhaps thousands of cable

cars that have been constructed in the past 30 years to take people through forests

and up steep mountains. Both of these types of construction are:

• expensive to build;

• are often environmentally damaging;

• limited in how much money can be

charged for people to use them; and

• they have no relationship to the local

culture.

http://www.clipart.com/en/close-up?o=3981472&memlevel=A&a=a&q=cable%20car&k_mode=all&s=1&e=21&show=&c=&cid=&findincat=&g=&cc=&page=&k_exc=&pubid=

9. One of our proposals for a form of ecotourism activity new to Tibet is based on

a traditional Tibetan form of transport – their use of ropes and pulleys to transport

goods and people across the deep narrow gorges of rivers and streams. For

example, since 700 A.D. the cha-ma-trail (tea-horse trail) which runs for 2,500

kms from Lijiang in northern Yunnan Province to Lhasa has used ropes and

pulleys to transport tea across the Yangtze and Mekong River gorges en route to

Lhasa, with horses being transported across the rivers on the return journey.

In 1930 the biologist,

Joseph Rock, made an

historic mounted

exploration of the

mountainous regions

running between

Lijiang, China and

Tibet. Because he

travelled with a large

guard, Rock was able

to have his mules and

horses winched across

the raging rivers

of Tibet.

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

This proposal builds on that tradition to introduce a new way of „travelling‟

through a forest - a „zip line‟, or high wire harness ride through the

treetops. Such zip lines are becomoing common as a form of adventuyre

tourism in several countries (including Australia). Locations for such an

adventure ride could be the Tsebark Valley National Nature Preserve near

Dyazul, the Mel-dway Glacier, and the Five Cultures Villages. Such a

development would be innovative (in terms of tourism), active, and

environmentally sensitive, but culturally derived since Tibetans have been

using zip lines for centuries!

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

In Australia, an example is

the Hollybanks Treetops

Adventure in the Tasmanian

forests. The US$700,000

project takes thrill-seekers on

a 730m elevated tour in the

longest continuous treetop

cable ride in Australia.

Participants are strapped into

harnesses clipped to cables

50m above the ground,

stopping at seven special

platforms known as „cloud

stations‟ along the way.

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

This cable wire harness ride is environmentally sound. Unlike cable cars for

example which must travel in a straight line, not a single tree was cut down

to make the Hollybanks cable harness ride as it winds through the treetops.

It uses the giant trees in the forest for its „sky platforms‟, it has no steel

posts or other man-made structures to support it, and it uses gravity rather

than a form of generated power to transport „riders‟ along the cables. Its

carbon footprint is thus negligible. The fee is $150 per person to take the

ride, groups are restricted to ten at a time and are accompanied by a

trained guide who provides interpretation of the forest canopy habitat.

Forestry Tasmania supports the Hollybank Treetops Adventure with an

international mountain bike park, walking trails, signage, car parking, toilets,

picnic facilities and a café, and this model has been suggested for a range

of sites in Tibet.

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

One such site for an innovative access experience incorporates the Five

Cultures Villages, Lunang Valley.

Diagram illustrating how the cable harness ride could provide an exciting

access for adventurous tourists to the Five Cultures Villages. Instead of just

driving along the road, they could stop at the top of the hill, and slide down the

cable across the river and down the valley to the village of their choice. Their

bus would take the road.

Proposed zip line acces to Five Cultures Villages, Lunang Valley.

Dr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

Mount Namchak Barwo in the backgroundDr Trevor Sofield,



Australia

Some Final Thoughts on Planning for Tourism in Tibet.

As with all tourism planning for development in China, much of

it is top-down and driven by government as the key

stakeholder. Increasingly, however, authorities accept and

invite additional stakeholders to participate in the formulation

of planning, and slowly community based tourism among the

Minorities* is reaching out to those most directly affected, and

their views and proposals taken into account. Many Chinese

planners have trained in western countries and mixed teams

(i.e. of both Chinese and international experts) provide a

strong combination to bring global best practice into an

informed socio-cultural synthesis with Chinese values and

priorities that may be difficult for a non-Chinese to fully

appreciate. In the case of Tibet this has proved especially

important where the environment and the culture require

sound, sensible and sensitive management.

[* China has 55 officially recognised ethnic Minorities – minzu – who

collectively number more than 110 million, almost 10% of the total

population. There are about 3 million Tibetans resident in the TAR

and another 5 million living in neighbouring provinces such as

Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan.]

In posting this brief outline of recent tourism planning activities

in Tibet my hope is to better inform an often uninformed world

of aspects of Tibet that I have been privileged to see.

Trevor Sofield, 20 August 2008

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