Tibet Rare Footage - Complete Version.

century there was no living European Lord seen Lhasa this Forbidden City of Tibet foreigners were not welcomed Tibet was one of the last secret places on earth a mystery that the 19th century had left for the 20th to explore it was their Buddhist religion the Tibetans wished to preserve from outside influences this and their fragile independence like a no-man's land behind the Himalayas Tibet kept apart three empires to the south will British India to the west the expanding Russian Empire to the Eastern North Imperial China the Chinese are always claimed to bear to be part of China a claim they had only rarely been able to enforce in the 1930s and 40s a few Outsiders had visited to bed mostly British political representatives come up from India these pictures from the films they talk revealed Tibet as a medieval country devoted to its spiritual and earthly leader the Dalai Lama to the British in India Tibet had been a convenient buffer along the northern frontier of the Empire Tibet's isolation had served the British well but by 1950 the British had left India the last British representative was gone from Lhasa the garden parties at the dekhi linka where the British had stayed were but a memory there was a new world order now in China I racked by war since the founding of the Republic in 1911 Mao's forces had finally triumphed the Communists were now ready to enforce the old claim that Tibet was part of China in Peking they solemnly declared that Tibet was next to be liberated there is today just one European an Austrian who had first-hand experience of what happened in Lhasa in the last days of 1950 I'd been living in Lhasa for five years after escaping from a British internment camp in India together with Peter of Schneider we had reached Lhasa became employees of the Tibetan government I also became friend of His Holiness the Dalai Lama by 1949 the Chinese threatened Tibet with what they called liberation everybody in Lhasa knew that the Chinese we are going to carry out this threat the Tibetans loved their independence and were clearly entitled to enjoy it they have no wish to be liberated the little Tibetan army was hardly reorganized under the supervision of a cabinet minister monks and officials were trained as officers new regiments were raised and the richer class is called upon to furnish and equipped another thousand men not only the material means of defense were mobilized but also the spiritual forces of the people religion the most powerful element in the life of the country had to be invoked all the monks in Tibet were ordered to attend public services offerings were doubled rare and powerful amulets brought out of old chests meanwhile radio Peking was already sending out messages in Tibetan promising that Tibet would soon be freed as the threat of liberation grew it seemed as if the entire population of Tibet had packed the narrow streets of Lhasa in pious enthusiasm for the religious festivals which in 1950s so passed in pomp and splendor anything I had ever seen despite the threat from the Chinese the ceremony's vital to the running of the state had to continue for weeks after the great New Year Festival the 20,000 monks of the monasteries around Lhasa descended once again into the city for the second prayer festival the people believed with rock-like face that the power of religion would suffice to protect their independence the main event of the second prayer festival was the chastisement of evil spirits the full force of the tantric order was mobilized in front of the central Cathedral the abbot's of the great monasteries were challenged to throw dice to decide the fate of Tibet two scapegoats symbolizing evil water challenges representatives of the Tibetan government supervised the contest they took no chances the dice were loaded the faces of the abbot's dice all marked with sixes those of the demons with ones the moment ritual victory was won for Tibet the scapegoats were driven from the town the prayers ended with a great procession to the foot of the Potala Palace the procession symbolized the dedication of his people to the Dalai Lama and the New Year appropriately unsuccessfully observed the people of Lhasa would in normal times relax on agreeing that they had good reason to look forward to another year of peace and prosperity but this year the prayers failed and the game of dice the evil omens multiplied monsters were born there was an earthquake in vain the government sent monks to the centers of ill omen to banish the evil spirits when in blazing summer weather a gargoyle on top of the Cathedral began to spout water people who are beside themselves in terror the town buzzed with the state Oracle was frequently consulted his prophecies were dark a powerful fool threatens our secret land from the north and east our religion is in danger the Dalai Lama the incarnation of Chandra is a patron god of Tibet just 15 years old was hurriedly declared of age the old Regent stepped down on October the 7th 1950 the Chinese attacked the dababneh frontier in six places simultaneously and swept aside the little Tibetan army should the Dalai Lama stay or flee the Tibetan government could not make such an important decision the gods must have the last word the state Oracle said flee I felt like a spectator at a play who foresaw the tragic dynamo and was saddened by the inevitable end but had to sit out the last act the Dalai Lama had an escort of 40 nobles an army of cooks and servants and an endless train of 1500 pack animals the curtain had run down on feudalism and they knew it they headed southwards across the sample River along the old trade routes to India news of the dalai lama's approach soon reached the tibetan town of jian see small white stones were laid along the sides of the streets to ward off evil spirits incense fires burned in welcome monks and nuns flocked from the monasteries and convents and the whole population waited for hours to receive their King and beg him not to leave them every place in which the Dalai Lama spent a night was automatically consecrated as a chapel from GMC the party carried on across the Himalayas towards India I saw the young God King riding slowly by and his grey horse the enemy was in the land and the rulers flight was only the first step towards greater misfortunes sixteen days after leaving Lhasa the caravan halted in the chumby Valley on the borders of India I stayed with His Holiness in the chumby Valley for three more months still believing that we might be able to return to Tibet that they've all would listen to the cries of Tibet to stay as an independent country but then I realized it was the end of the old Tibet so I said goodbye to the Dalai Lama now our communist country was occupying their home so my sadness was it was very very great because I knew that I won't ever see my friends in Tibet again in 1951 the Chinese Red Army entered Lhasa that summer an agreement was reached and the Dalai Lama returned for the next few years life was to continue outwardly much the same as it always had dominated by religion and the yearly cycle of ceremonies considered vital to the well-being of the country the treaty concluded between Tibetan China was the first for over a thousand years the Tibetans had no choice but to sign the country's future role was defined as being part of the Chinese motherland in return the agreement appeared to pledge no change in the status and powers of the Dalai Lama and promised protection for the Tibetan religion at first the Chinese were not much in evidence but within a year there were several thousand in Lhasa food and fuel became scarce relations between Chinese and Tibetans deteriorated in 1954 the Dalai Lama was invited on a long visit to Peking the journey to China was filmed by jing-mei Terrell a Tibetan official whose wife Mary law tells the story he's hauling his party left Lhasa accompanied by the Chinese commissioner the whole of Lhasa had come to see the Dalai Lama off on the banks of the kichu River hundreds of people burnt incense to wish His Holiness a safe journey they were afraid he might never be allowed to return we cross the river in yak high boots tied together and the people watching did their best to cheer up but they were very sad to see His Holiness go the Chinese said that this visit to Peking would help the Dalai Lama by widening his knowledge marks and about a hundred officials were also invited they had to take their own ponies and tents and servants it was very lovely on the road as we went southeast it was thickly wooded with tall pine trees draw the like Scotland though the countryside was very beautiful there was not a very happy atmosphere it was here that we heard that the whole town of Yancey had been washed away in a terrible flood that drowned more than two thousand people including many of our friends after 12 days the way became very dangerous as the Chinese were taking us along the unfinished road they were building for motor vehicles we had to work for hours the mud was about nine inches deep this region is so wet but often rain washed away the new road and once a bridge was damaged the Chinese soldiers repaired it with logs we had begun to meet a lot of Chinese soldiers on the journey the Chinese and our Tibetan officials were having discussions as we traveled relations didn't seem to be very good several Chinese that I had met in Lhasa was supervising the road building they came to see us to wish us a happy journey they said we should take an interest in learning political science and joined the Chinese then we would be much safer in the future after 24 days traveling which we organized ourselves the Chinese meta Sentinel inquiry which is still in Tibet from here it was the Chinese who arranged our accommodation and transport most of our servants went back to Lhasa with the news now there were new Russian jeeps for his holiness group about 30 jeeps for officials and about 50 trucks for the junior officials and servants in Peking the Chinese looked after us very well everyone was hoping that relations would improve we were taken to see factories and ancient places while our officials had to attend endless meetings with the Chinese they were having talks about setting up the Preparatory Committee for the autonomous region of Tibet as our country was now to be known all our officials who were concerned looked worried and tired but things seemed to go quite well after five months in Peking we started our return journey to Lhasa through Eastern Tibet His Holiness visited many monasteries and gave sermons at each important town thousands came from far away to greet him the people showed him much faith and love and was so happy they threw themselves towards him well at heart the Chinese did not like this devotion to his holiness by now the new motor road to lhasa had been completed and the journey that had taken twenty four days a year earlier could now be done in a week huge crowds gathered to see his holiness at all the stopping places along the way in Lhasa everyone turned out to welcome his holiness back they had feared that the Chinese might not allow him to come home there were now many more Chinese in Lhasa they had built a bridge across the kiju River after going to the Cathedral to give thanks for his safe return his holiness was escorted to the noble Inca he summer palace in Peking that than many speeches about the great friendship between Tibetans and Chinese but there was no great friendship at home the people kept quiet because the Dalai Lama was like a hostage in Peking but after his return fighting broke out in eastern Tibet attacks on their religion had inflamed the people the Chinese tried to be conciliatory but Tibetan resistance grew in 1958 a Chinese military post was annihilated within 25 miles of Lhasa it was clear that a serious explosion was in the making in January 1959 the Chinese again asked the Dalai Lama to go to Peking he declined explaining that he had to take important religious examinations that month although he was already the ruler of Tibet he still had to prove that his religious knowledge made him worthy of office for three months the Dalai Lama was to be questioned and examined in each of the three great monasteries of Lhasa for him it was the culmination of 18 years of study at each monastery a reception tent was put up to welcome the Dalai Lama monks queued for his blessings before he was escorted on up to the monastery religion was at the very heart of Tibet a third of the male population of Tibet were monks monks held most of the senior administrative posts jointly with leh officials the senior member of the defecting cabinet was a monk everything in Tibet was subordinate to religion the Dalai Lama himself was a God incarnate senior members of the Tibetan government accompanied the Dalai Lama to the ceremonies cabinet meetings were held at the monasteries throughout the three months of the examinations in all my years in Tibet who wrote Heinrich Harrer I never met anyone who expressed the slightest doubt about Lord Buddha's teachings it must have infuriated the Chinese Communists for whom all this religion was simply superstition a tranquilizing poison used by capitalists to oppress the people but even ten years after their takeover of Tibet religions still dominated what was supposed to be part of atheist China in the whole history of Tibet there was no record of their ever having been any popular opposition to the system the monks looked after the spiritual needs of the people and whatever the cost the people supported the monasteries in China the Revolution had grown out of the discontent of the ordinary people in Tibet it was the ordinary people who were the main opponents of the Chinese the Tibetan government and the Dalai Lama had constantly striven for accommodation and compromise they must have known it was hopeless to oppose the might of China the last stage of the dalai lama's examination took place in Lhasa in the joke hang the central Cathedral by early 1959 the situation in Tibet was deteriorating fast the guerrillas had grown so strong they were able to overthrow a large Chinese garrison at said town not far from Lhasa and there were repeated attacks on Chinese convoys tension was high but nothing could interrupt the spiritual preoccupations of the Tibetan government shortly after the successful completion of his examination early in March 1959 the Dalai Lama was invited to attend a display at the Chinese barracks in Lhasa to the Tibetans this was seen as a trap they believed that the Chinese would seize the Dalai Lama thousands swarmed the norbulinka Summer Palace to protect him it was the beginning of an uprising against the Chinese a Chinese emissary was stoned to death campers from Eastern Tibet took up defensive positions I was soon joined by Tibetan soldiers the Tibetan people had taken matters into their own hands the rebel bandits proceeded with their reckless preparations for war Loosli watched and respected the Dalai Lama was now held under duress in the Naga linka unknown to the Chinese the Dalai Lama had slipped away from Lhasa by night the last tibetan cabinet meeting had denounced all agreements with China on the grounds of persistent violations by China and had proclaimed Tibet independent their patience finally exhausted the military Area Command called an emergency meeting seven hours after the outbreak of the revolt they resolved to resolutely suppress the rebellion and safeguard the unity and territorial integrity of the motherland the counter-attack begins our troops attack and occupied the rebel positions on youon hill roubles working hand in hand with foreign reactionaries betrayed the motherland and lacking the support of the people they quickly crumbled many who were deceived or coerced into joining the ranks of the rebels are now surrendering their arms two days later the rebel units in Lhasa and its outskirts were completely crushed the dalai lama's route took him this time southeast woods across the high passes of the Himalayas towards Assam P Kings version of the Dalai Lama's escape was that the Dalai Lama had been abducted under duress by the rebels a few reaction R is manipulated by foreign powers acting against the will of the people Lhasa citizens participate in the work of clearing up the debrief telephone and power lines are repaired fools are reopened there is a sudden threefold increase in the number of students attending school examples from real life teach these children the distinction between good people and bad people in India the Dalai Lama was greeted by a tremendous popular demonstration of world concern and relief and by an embarrassed Indian government they were outstanding differences about the border between India and Tibet Niro was afraid of provoking the Chinese who were by now firmly in control of Tibet the feathers of Tibet who lived like animals through countless generations of septum has stood up the joyful days which they have long dreamed about are here at last the serfs are now free the government issue seats to the peasants as interest-free loans these are truly the seeds of happiness this is the first time in thousands of years that the Tibetan Tizen's are able to grow crops for themselves the oppression and exploitation which the Tibetan peasants suffered for centuries have now been relegated to the past in truth springtime has come to Tibet losses 20,000 inhabitants hold a grand rally on the square before the Potala Palace the five start red flag of our motherland letters I over Lhasa the first of 90000 to bettan refugees followed the Dalai Lama across the Himalayas into India and Nepal they told of the suppression of their religion and brutal treatment by the Chinese India was not anxious to publicize the camps built to receive the refugees on the hot planes beneath the Himalayan foothills the Chinese were making threatening charges about India harboring reaction r is narrow was dismayed and concerned the refugees in these camps were escaping what the International Commission of Jurists condemned as the systematic killing imprisonment and deportation of those Tibetans who opposed Chinese policies in Tibet unaccustomed to the heat and humidity of the plains the refugees were found work constructing roads in the hills of northern India there had never been much need for access to India's northern border in British times no country could have her less aggressive neighbor now things were different narrow the great believer in peaceful coexistence was about to find out why British political offices in Lhasa in the first half of this century had quietly encouraged the Tibetans to keep the Chinese at arm's length in 1962 Indian border posts on the frontier were overrun by the Chinese it was for Nehru the final disillusionment with the idea of peaceful coexistence with China in India the Dalai Lama was treated as an honored guest he gratefully acknowledged the help that had been given to his people for all the refugees the Dalai Lama continued to provide a focus for their hopes and devotion in exile the refugees were held together by their religion and the presence real and symbolic of the Dalai Lama in we under the chinese tibet was as much a mystery as it had ever been few journalists were allowed into the country and those who were committed had usually shown themselves to have been sympathetic to the chinese in the early 1960s a british journalist stuart gelda visited Tibet and filmed what he saw on the land there is no sign of mechanization being introduced the harvest is still sown and reaped as it was in ancient times and even the help of the Chinese soldiers seen here doesn't speed up the operation by very much when we are arrived in Tibet we were aware of reports of Chinese at Prophet ease but the Chinese were suppressing a Tibetan Buddhist religion not true but the Tibetan people were being brutally oppressed not true but the Chinese were killing and torturing the Tibetan people not true the Panchen Lama spiritual brother of the Dalai Lama on the ladder of reincarnation the Panchen Lama is in fact on a higher spiritual rung than his refugee brother and most abettin people now regard him as their religious leader on the other hand the Chinese have appointed him to preside over the last communist governments but the somewhat odd divergence of responsibilities seems not to worry him at all indeed he described himself to us as being a Buddhist dialectical materialist revolutionary worker for the people after the long drawn-out services to the immortal Buddha the fateful move on to their play-acting marathon performances rooted in antiquity which are performed by monks today on the top of the Maypole casting a benevolent smile and the people below is a portrait of the new face the Tibetans must now bow to the face of their new and mortal leader mounted on the Center for Tibetans in exile was in northern India at Dharamsala just across the Himalayas from Tibet by 1970 here in the mists of the Himalayan foothills the Dalai Lama had established with India's goodwill a symbolic two acre kingdom where the Tibetan religion and the spirit of the old Tibet were kept alive Oh the Oh damn Salah is a small hill station the population now mostly Tibetan in the early 1970s a trickle of refugees were still crossing the Himalayas from Tibet and armed Salah was one place they were looked after the stories they told about what they had fled from were hard to believe Nani believed that her money burning a bullet Danish on it I know two children led by Wendy hotels from gombo dog Machado yeah nah I'm [ __ ] but after great your gumbo connections do you eat it on the mood sauce of torment Hong Kong who longer Platini huh roto what any passerby torn over a loon Roger I know seduce another bunny on the pattern me to the ground I can understand why you can't turn the camera metal cheese you gonna eat any balloon dodgy colección give me a larger sonic lucky cause it's here that all there is it any con eaten it to that on the in search of a doublet indeed Lankans the game going to talk Khurana how about you talking go go yell at you that all means it's got Jackie Kennedy loom big OTT Rachel okra today line Yarnell tunic get it Yan xuetong is any hope then I'm indeed your on cooler on Thursday night you tinia steady that opposed again whatever called hello Daniel say that I'm a cocky today Tommy you need my uncle keen you mother keeping but a mini trembles on the taco day can do we had other did you know in Dom Sala Tibetans were free to teach and practice there by 1979 the Cultural Revolution in China was over the Dalai Lama was quietly asked by the Chinese to consider returning to Tibet they agreed that the Tibetans could send delegations to investigate the situation in Tibet one of the delegates was from London I was born in the east part of Tibet and when I was at the age of 8 I was admitted to the monastery that's the biggest monastery in Tibet it's a taking monastery in ASSA I went to Tibet after 21 years in exile you know last year 1982 see what is the condition there and I went as a part of the second delegation which is sent by Dalai Lama in the centre of Lhasa the delegations arrived to in front of the chicken catcher the Tibetans gained in thousands thousands and not only just came to see us you know closing their mouths they were shouting the same long live Dalai Lama may his wishes be fulfilled the Chinese could not say a word they were just a source storage and some of the Chinese even did not become after that with us you know they just left today I think who could not really resist the scene you know they could not really face the fact that feel so embarrassed I was really surprised of course that was not only in Lhasa even right in the East Tibet when we first entered wherever we went people gathered and the people came I think what the Chinese tried to do in the past 21 years that completely destroyed the culture completely Leave No Trace and then introduce a new communist culture Chinese culture in Japan I remember this now has at one point said that if you make a mistake on a blackboard while writing something don't try to rewrite it but completely remove the whole thing rub the blackboard clean and then write right up in the beginning this monastery at one time had 7,000 monks and today this is completely destroyed you know we did not come across more than three towns where we put to see someone stressed living it's not only the old people who has faith in Dalai Lama who has faith in religion but even the younger people they become poor I'm sure they don't know what religion is this will be first time for these kids to see alum and also Lama who can freely speak to them in the number of schools we visited what they teach is completely non Tibetan because till 1979 the no children can learn to better in textbooks they say history of China legend of Tibet even the music they play which is quite often actually in the morning in the midday in the evening and all these musics are Chinese musics which you can hear in Shanghai or you know some other atoms now when you go to see you know to inspect let's say to inspect the dependents are working on the field or a construction of building or wrote or Cannell you will see all the Tibetans are there but when it is comes to the deciding things like in a position in the government then you will see the Chinese the decisions and the powers always with the Chinese we had 19 to 25 Chinese always with us you know when we saw all these monasteries being destroyed and the libraries all this destroyed we were really shocked and we expressed our feeling to these officers Chinese officers and we number of times we asked why you destroy these things and I think they feel very embarrassed because they never try to defend themselves they actually admit that these destructions were done but then they say it is not our fault which means that Communist Party's fault but it's a gang of four sometimes they purposely plays religious objects where it should not be for instance the money stones the inscriptions now they were used to build toilets to use as a pavements you know to insult religion of some three and a half thousand monasteries and religious sites in Tibet only parts of 13 are believed to remain today with this destruction has gone not only one people's cultural identity but a part of the rich diversity of the world we all live in it is a tragedy not only for the Tibetans but for all of us well it is a tragedy the Tibetans have a civilization that had developed for thirteen hundred years they had an immense literature largely religious is true and they had developed a very special and very important practice of Buddhism which they kept up and still keep up in exile they are a unique people they have their own language and their own civilization and surely it's a tragedy to see any civilization dying even if it is not so long established and so literate and so I say you were polished as the Tibetans it is unlikely but the Dalai Lama will return to Tibet in the near future he believes that he can serve his people better from outside keeping alive Tibetan culture and world concern for his country the Chinese anxious to be accepted in the world today now openly admit and regret their mistakes in Tibet for which they blame the Gang of Four however a brief period of liberalisation this last couple of years appears to have taken a step back since the visits of the delegations the warmth of the Welcome for them has perhaps brought home to the Chinese the strength of Tibetan national feeling even after 30 years existence as part of China whoa if shangri-la is a state of mind a dream that we all seem to have some inner need to believe in and which we placed in Tibet then shangri-la may always exist but if shangri-la really was this old Tibet then shangri-la is gone forever change had to come to Tibet it was in today's terms backward materially undeveloped but few can believe that the destruction of this the old Tibet has benefited the Tibetan people some years after he left lotsa Heinrich Harrer wrote the story of his seven years in Tibet wherever I live he wrote I shall feel homesick for Tibet for part of my being is indissoluble linked with that dear country I often think I can still hear the cries of the wild geese as they fly high over Lhasa in a cold clear moonlight my heartfelt sympathy is for a people whose will to live in peace and freedom has won so little sympathy from an indifferent world

Channel: cenfy57

Views: 39,795

Keywords: Tibet, Seven, Years, In, Heinrich, Harrer, Lhasa, Gyantse, Shigatse, Dharamsala, Dalai, Lama, Potala, Palace, Hugh, Richardson

Id: l531heFf5y0

Length: 47min 32sec (2852 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 04 2012