|
|
NEWS ACTIVITIES
|
Lhasa Urban Poor
Preliminary analysis by Andre Alexander There are as yet still too few reliable statistics available
on the population of Lhasa, therefore, the information presented here has been
distilled out of daily contact with some of the issues described, and some of
the official bodies mentioned. The conclusions represent the private views of
the author. In the past ten years, the population of Lhasa more than
doubled, to perhaps 300.000 to 400.000 inhabitants today. This growth rate,
especially in a harsh environment where traditionally strong cultural measures
were practiced in order to avoid depletion of the land, has its cause in several
factors. Lhasa, Tibetan capital for 1300 years, has traditionally been
a centre of learning, as well as of trade, administration and pilgrimage. In the
large monastic universities of Lhasa, students from all parts of the Tibetan
cultural realm, including even Mongolia, would have come in the old days and
study Buddhism, astrology, medicine, and a variety of other subjects. Government
schools would train people for future jobs in the administration, which very
often would recruit children of poor peasants. To some extent, modern Lhasa
still has some of these opportunities, but the present spectacular growth of
Lhasa have more to do with the economic policy of the Central Chinese
government. A mix of economic reforms and massive financial investment from
Beijing, lately abetted by a growing tourist industry, has transformed 1990s
Lhasa into a Boomtown. Gone is the sleepy small town, whose ancient alleyways
were frequented by wandering monks and nuns, by storytellers and by sheep, yak
and horses. The main streets are lined by high-rises with tiled facades and
blue-glass windows (though often, these high-rises would have no plumbing).
Construction cranes line the skyline, with the UNESCO-listed Potala Palace
dwarfed by these developments. The jobs that are obviously available in Lhasa
attract annually large numbers of migrants, most of whom who settle down
permanently as a result of the open-door policy introduced in 1993 (before that,
movement into Tibet was restricted). Once they settle down, they would often
bring their extended family. The elder people perhaps hope to benefit from the
(unfortunately expensive) health services available in Lhasa. Apart from the economic migrants, another underprivileged
class exists in Lhasa: those who were not accepted to study in the monastic
universities, as the authorities have now restricted the numbers to less than a
tenth of what they once were. Also many who are admitted in one year might be
kicked out again in one of the following years, as many monk and nun students
fail the thorough annual ideological-political examinations. Some of these
people then settle in Lhasa, trying to find jobs. A large number of economic migrants come from ethnic
Han-Chinese dominated provinces that rely mainly on agriculture, such as Sichuan
and Shaanxi. The reasons why these people move so far to Lhasa lie beyond the
scope of this analysis. However, the reasons for Tibetan farmers to move to
Lhasa can be understood more easily. As often, the economic reforms in the city
do not bring about a similar productive effect in the countryside. On the thin
Tibetan topsoil, very little apart from highland barley grows, the Tibetan
staple food known as ‘tsampa’. Prices for Tsampa are still on their early
1980s level, with all other commodity prices having increased 20-fold (average
estimate) since then. The farmers are obliged to sell part of their harvest at
below market-price to the government, who supplies Lhasa with grain. The farmers
also have to buy a fixed quota of chemical fertilizer from local government
officials, at prices which spiral higher and higher every year, with the
fertilizer also rapidly ruining the fragile soil quality. This policy is seen by
many as a practical method of personal enrichment on the part of some officials. Some farmers abandon their land altogether, others send some
of their children to Lhasa, some of whom sell matches and cigarettes from little
boards hanging from their shoulders (reminiscent of Hans-Christian Andersen's
"The matchsticks-selling girl"), and many often end up as homeless
street-children. The rapid development of Lhasa has so far led to too little
opportunities for the urban poor of Lhasa, as most construction jobs and most
new shops and permanent jobs often go to migrants from Sichuan, as they cater
mainly for the Chinese part of the population of Lhasa. The lack of for example
a technical college for Tibetans, or other places for higher practical
education, make it difficult for Tibetans to compete with migrants from further
away. The poor job-seeking farmers make up an unknown part of
Lhasa’s migrant population, as in too many other Asian cities, the government
prefers to keep these people out of public sight by not allowing any
shanty-towns to spring up. Grounds outside of Lhasa where migrant visitors and
pilgrims traditionally pitched up their tents (a commodity that roughly half the
Tibetan population would possess) are now out of limits to migrants and
pilgrims. Some are able to rent very low-level accommodation at affordable
prices, very often dark and windowless storerooms. In the old city, a number of poor migrants live in such
rooms. Of the regular tenants, it is old people who have no relatives (who
perhaps either emigrated or died during the upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s)
who are the poorest. Young couples with children and the husband out of work
make up the remaining part of the underprivileged. In a very positive light
comes here the government policy, implemented by the local Neighbourhood
Committees (u-yoen-lhen-khang in Tibetan, which consist of a number of
government-appointed officials on pay-roll) to give such people, and also
handicapped people, small menial jobs, such as sweeping courtyards, to enable
them to have at least a small income. The Neighbourhood Committees would also
sometimes look after lone old ladies in their area, but on the other hands some
Neighbourhood Committees, in cooperation with property developers, had low-rent
housing demolished, with negative effects on the resident poor, for whom space
seems to be running out. In the historic part of Lhasa, it will be more easy to create
more opportunities for poor urban Tibetans. The positive role already played by
the Neighbourhood Committees could be extended in the on-going urban renewal
project in the old city of Lhasa initiated by Tibet Heritage Fund and the
municipal government. For a number of years at least, there are more chances of
employment and even training opportunities for unskilled Tibetans through this
project. |
Send mail to Maurice Leonhardt achr@loxinfo.co.th with
questions or comments about this web site.
|