The Secrets of Tibet: Ancient Land, Modern World - Full Documentary

[Applause] [Music] half of china's population lives in the big coastal cities of the east like beijing and shanghai but away from the heavily populated east heading west to the alto provinces of tibet xinjiang and yunnan the more diverse and mysterious this country becomes here the harsh unforgiving landscapes forge strong resourceful people with unique lifestyles and heritage even in these remote regions the winds of change are blowing hard the future's arriving fast as china's secret lands are revealed [Music] 70 million years ago this ancient plateau lay beneath the ocean the same titanic collision of continental plates that created mount everest lifted this seabed four thousand meters into the sky tibet is the rooftop of the world a region higher than any other on the planet freezing winters strong ultraviolet rays less than two-thirds of the oxygen at sea level a place inhospitable to most life [Applause] yet for at least five millennia humans lived here in extreme isolation surviving on very little research has shown that in their seclusion they've evolved genetic traits not found in other humans to cope with this severe environment now these hearty people are adapting to another great change [Music] only three million people live in the tibet autonomous region an area almost the size of western europe just over one person per square kilometer in this vast emptiness all roads lead to one city lhasa the mecca of tibetan buddhism lassa literally translates to the place of the gods it's also a place for 280 000 residents before the 7th century the tibetan plateau was occupied by a disarray of small rival kingdoms the great sunzen gampor united the surrounding clans and became the first emperor of the vast tibetan empire it was a formative time for tibet although the empire only lasted two hundred and twenty years songs in gampor's legacy still dominates the old town of lhasa today he constructed the first buildings on the site of the grand portal palace and he's credited with bringing a major religion to tibet buddhism here is the holiest place of all the jor kang temple built 1 300 years ago [Music] every morning thousands of pilgrims perform a cora a meditative clockwise circling of a sacred site some have walked for months on a holy pilgrimage culminating in this haze of incense smoke and spinning prayer wheels thousands of kilometers on foot prostrating and reciting scripture every few steps on the bustling market so barco street surrounding the temple a tibetan entrepreneur watches the pilgrims closely scanning the distinctive styles of clothing gathered here from all corners of tibet [Music] thirty-three-year-old konchotashi has a dream to take traditional tibetan fashion into a new international era [Music] even among tibetans tashi stands out it's not just the workout gear that he wears for every occasion it's also his unmistakable [Laughter] [Music] after working as a police officer a website editor and an art curator he entered the world of fashion without any training [Music] out tonight he'll reveal the new season's designs on the catwalk in seven years conscious has grown from one staff to 13. plays a key role she balances tashi's creativity with her own practicality they rush between their converted apartments on barcour street putting together last-minute adjustments he'll need to sketch sew and accessorize his masterpiece from scratch boutique shops selling traditional chewbar robes are common on barcore street but tashi is virtually the only tibetan attempting to bring global styles into his locally inspired designs [Music] [Music] wow [Laughter] tashi has handed in his design a slick western style professional suit which will be paired with intricate tibetan accessories it's now up to the sewing team to furiously assemble the headline garment only five hours remain tashi must head to the venue without the dress he's already committed to the sin of keeping wu chien waiting for him [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] with only [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] as the models musicians and technicians do their final checks the scale of tashi's ambition becomes visible [Music] since foreign [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] um [Laughter] is since the reform and opening policy instituted by deng xiaoping in 1978 china has been investing heavily into frontier regions like tibet in the past two decades tibet's growth has outpaced the national average almost every year this modern metamorphosis can easily be seen in lhasa but the benefits spread further afield [Music] 90 kilometers to the northwest on a plateau nearly as high as the matahorn's peak is the town of yang bajing for centuries tibetan nomads have roamed these valleys grazing their yaks on the fertile grass but the ephemeral lifestyle of a wanderer is becoming a thing of the past beginning in 2006 the chinese government subsidized permanent housing to provide a more stable life for nomads though their children now attend school work is still the same for the older generation no thank you foreign foreign [Music] there's something unusual about where these nomads have chosen to settle [Music] nearby the indian and eurasian tectonic plates collide and fuel the fires of the yangbajing hot springs here the largest geothermal power station in china [Music] dominates the vista magma heated water from 000 meters underground is piped into the plant generating enough cheap and clean energy to power 50 000 tibetan households it's a reliable year-round supply for lhasa and the surrounding villages [Music] the local herders still burn yakdong for heat in winter but electricity and modern appliances have replaced their cooking fires [Music] [Music] some things never change like the daily cup of yak butter tea a salty beverage full of pungent fats it provides vital calories and nutrients and is believed to combat altitude sickness cold thin air may test the limits of human endurance but these are ideal conditions for solar panels the young bajing solar park was completed in 2012. the intensity of solar radiation in tibet is second only to the sahara desert but because a low temperature enhances the performance of photovoltaic cells this may well be the best place on earth to generate solar power but there's something else looking to the heavens at young bajing something that's helping to solve the mysteries of the universe [Music] [Music] from the institute of high energy physics at the chinese academy of sciences and her research associate are visiting one of the most cutting edge research facilities in the world [Music] one that proves science is not glamorous professor huang represents an international team of 76 researchers from japan and china on the tibet as gamma experiment their mission to uncover the puzzling origin of high-energy cosmic rays charged particles from space that bombard the earth's atmosphere these extraterrestrial particles travel close to the speed of light some with an energy millions of times greater than anything we've achieved on earth what in space could have caused such unimaginable acceleration [Music] [Music] the types of cosmic ray they're investigating are some of the most powerful and rare only a few particles hitting per square meter per year the tibet as gamma experiment is situated at the precise altitude where these rays are easiest to detect and there's no shortage of the flat open spaces needed to cast a wider net hotel [Music] building and maintaining a facility in the severe environment of young is not a job for the faint of heart professor huang may be an outsider to the plateau but she's armed with a very tibetan sense of devotion [Music] [Music] [Music] even more remarkable than her endurance at the top of the world is professor huang's climb to the top of china's academic circles women hold less than 10 percent of all professorships in china [Music] [Music] another of tibet's hidden secrets will soon be revealed the first light of dawn stirs the sleeping pilgrims at draepong monastery once the largest monastery in tibet they've endured a cold and rainy night to be at the front row of a grand monastery for the past month their reason to avoid stepping on insects as they emerge from the ground during summer they're practicing as much as possible the first buddhist precept to abstain from killing now it's about time to end their seclusions um [Music] it's a golden opportunity for young pakmutashi a postgraduate student at tibet university specializing in a centuries-old tibetan art known as tankar [Music] the emerging monks are about to share with the public one of the largest tonkar paintings in existence is a highly formalized style of painting on cotton or silk scrolls with buddhist deities as a main feature from as early as the 11th century they were rolled up and carried by spiritual teachers to spread the word of buddha across the plateau a well-made tongue car is believed to embody the deity and transmit a living presence to those who view it [Music] at the age of 22 tashi must study intensively if he's to channel these spiritual powers [Music] foreign strict rules have been set in stone centuries ago by buddhist masters they govern proportions stance shape even hand positions if you had is the greatest virtue [Music] the thick roll of cloth weighs about half a ton and must be shouldered up the mountain to the display platform the monks will need all the help they can get [Applause] foreign oh [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] the monumental tongue car is 40 meters long as large as three basketball courts combined [Music] it's only been displayed once before when it was made in 2016 30 artists toiled for two years to complete it thousands swarmed the tunka display anxious to get close before the monks roll it back into the monastery at noon [Music] silk harder scarves are a symbol of purity and respect they convey the prayers of the people who have camped out all night to be here [Music] here the shorden festival also known as the yoghurt festival [Music] in a tradition from the 11th century lay people celebrate the reappearance of the monks by holding a banquet featuring yogurt noble inca the dalai lama's summer palace is at the center of festivities its vast gardens open to a mass of holidaying families [Music] [Music] while other operas around the world have a niche audience la more or tibetan opera is still very popular among common folk today a blend of song dance acrobatics and narrative chanting heavily rooted in buddhist teachings losong tashi has been performing and teaching tibetan opera for 25 years much like tonka this is an art obtained only through uncompromising discipline over the next three days he will sing and chant almost continuously for 10 hours a day [Applause] foreign [Music] while the city of lhasa relaxes under the summer sun a tonka artist in training is about to face his most daunting task yet the university has arranged for pakmutashi to meet his teacher's teacher 76 year old dampar robtin is the oldest and most respected tonka master in tibet today a living cultural treasure [Music] sugar [Music] [Music] was the official portraitist of the previous dalai lama in the early 1900s [Music] [Music] um [Music] true tonka is a dying tradition on barcore street mass produced tonkar's emblazoned the shop walls catching the eye of tourists a far cry from the art he spent his whole life preserving [Music] the precious hour with master dampar leaves a lasting impression on pakmutashi the newest link in the chain of tradition [Music] the unique personality of lhasa lies in this interface between the old and the young but beyond the capital is an even greater contrast a descent in altitude of just 600 meters reveals a world of difference [Music] many of asia's great rivers snake through this mysterious land in southeastern tibet home to china's largest virgin forest ningxi a prefectural city straddles the craggy terrain 400 kilometers east of lhasa [Music] it's been called the switzerland of china ninji's primitive forests are still a lifeline for the villages of remote cho'gall i love is on the hunt for something as valuable as it is elusive it only appears for two months in summer hi your data oh [Music] oh yeah [Music] long used in folk medicine for its magical health properties recent studies by chinese pharmacologists have uncovered scientific proof of its antibacterial and cancer fighting effects [Music] [Music] artificial cultivation of matsutaki mushrooms is yet to be successful its sensitivity to environmental conditions and short fruiting season gives it a mythical rarity the highest grades can retail for 2 000 us dollars per kilo on the international market [Music] [Music] oh [Music] the matsutake mushroom has been collected and casually eaten by these families for generations but it's the past few decades of improved global access that has infused its lucrative value [Music] a new high-speed motorway will soon connect nyangchi and lhasa and accelerate the influx of wealth but there's one major roadblock in the way miele mountain [Music] here the world's hardest road builders are working 24 hours a day to surmount the insurmountable for his expertise in building tunnels never in his 15-year career has he encountered one as difficult as this 4 700 meters above sea level 5.8 kilometers long the miele mountain tunnel will be the world's highest road tunnel but they're well overdue two years into construction the team have only dug 70 percent of the way the oxygen level here is so low two breaths only count for 1. province is responsible for the health and safety of his fellow workers a huge weight to bear in such extreme conditions [Music] low oxygen is just one of many handicaps winters at mila mountain last for nine months with temperatures plummeting to minus 30 degrees celsius after digging the first 400 meters the team encountered a crippling problem groundwater at its worst 39 000 cubic meters of water per day flooded into the tunnel enough to fill 15 olympic size swimming pools pumps must run continuously to clear a path for the crew but the excess water also weakens the soft rock causing the tunnel to sink dangerously what is despite the monumental challenges the construction team still holds a clean safety record and work must go on fire foreign come on foreign the high worker turnover rate on this site is a challenge for zhang xin some only last two days before quitting but he and his core team have persevered from the beginning once the tunnel is complete the drive from lhasa to ningxi will be shortened from eight hours to four [Music] it's a good day for akora on the holy mountain of biri overlooking yanchi city [Music] foreign is believed to have been a meditation spot for the legendary parmasumbaba founder of tibet's most ancient school of buddhism a modern boardwalk supports the older pilgrims on their regular five kilometer cora around the religious site [Music] china has invested heavily into infrastructure financial aid and education for tibet in the past 50 years in 2017 tibet became the fastest growing region in china here on the world's highest plateau human life ventures into the extraordinary these mystical people are beginning to open up and share their secrets for them intense devotion is part of everyday life [Music] not only to religion [Music] but to unbridled creativity and world beating progress this is a place that's growing and changing as rapidly as the rest of china [Music] and in the vastness of tibet there's plenty of room for the future [Music] so [Music] you

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Keywords: Documentary, Doucmentaries, Documentary series, Full Documentary, Nature, science, history, biography, biographical documentary, historical documentary, wildlife, wildlife film, wildlife documentary, science documentary, nature documentary, Tibet, Tibet Documentary, Tibet culture, culture, cultural documentary, asia, asian culture, china, china documentary, everest, hymalayas, himalayas, Travel, travel documentary

Id: D5a8dbb39EU

Length: 50min 14sec (3014 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 09 2022