The Economist, London - 13 April 1996

QINGHAI PROVINCE

China's economic development has given the new rich money to spend and leisure time to enjoy. The result is a boom in tourism. Young professionals have begun to venture out from the cities to explore picturesque villages and scenic mountain resorts.

Even Tibet, traditionally regarded by the Chinese as a dangerous province inhabited by hostile barbarians, has become a tourist attraction. Modernisation has made some important Tibetan monasteries easily accessible for a weekend trip, and Tibetan Buddhism has become a spectacle for curious Chinese tourists.

The Chinese government is encouraging the trend. It has been lavishing money on the restoration of Kumbum monastery, which is 25km (15 miles) from Xining, the capital of the Chinese province of Qinghai. (Large parts of Qinghai were once part of Tibet). A paved road lined with street-lamps has been built through the heart of the monastery, replacing a winding mud track. Kumbum's famous sculptures, made of butter, are now displayed behind glass casing. The two token prayer wheels out-side are used by tourists as a backdrop for their photographs.

The restoration has clearly been a business success. The place is packed with tour groups from morning to late afternoon. They pose for souvenir photographs in Ti-betan costume and chat loudly in the can-dle-lit prayer halls. Signs on the walls have been put up to remind visitors not to spit. Outside the monastery's holiest shrine, Ti-betan pilgrims prostrate their bodies on the ground. They are surrounded by a milling crowd of tourists, as a tour leader with a loud-hailer shouts historical information through their prayers.

The holiday atmosphere at Kumbum may imply a Tibetan Buddhism with the sting taken out of its tail. But Tibet's monks remain the most potent threat to rule from Beijing. The Dalai Lama, revered through-out Tibet as the head of Tibetan Buddhism, is also head of a government-in-exile and is regarded by many Tibetans as their legiti-mate head of state. Information on the Dalai Lama's activities and Chinese human-rights abuses in Tibet flow along the same routes as the Buddhist teachings. Monks and nuns have often spearheaded the peri-odic protests against Chinese rule.

Although the Chinese government is keen to make a show of religious freedom, and recognises the economic benefits of tourism, it may now be worried by the scale of the Buddhist revival in Tibet. The official news agency has referred to monasteries as 'tourist resources"; China certainly never intended them to become centres of a re-established Tibetan culture.

Yet checking the Buddhist revival would require a reversal of a decade-long liberalisation of religious policy in Tibet. It is not just the larger monasteries, which at-tract tourists, that have been restored. Hun-dreds of smaller temples have been rebuilt and reopened entirely by volunteer labour and local donations. China's opening of its international borders has allowed a steady trickle of Buddhist teachings to flow into Tibet from exiled masters in India and be-yond. Old festivals have been revived, and the monasteries are once again becoming the heart of their communities.

But if Buddhist monks become too as-sertive, they will certainly be reined in. Five were arrested recently at Labrang monastery in China's Gansu province for their in-volvement in protests against Chinese rule. Reports by the London-based Tibetan In-formation Network suggest that one monk received a seven-year prison sentence and another was partially paralysed as a result of maltreatment by police.