Thehistoryor The,Changing,and,Unchanging,Barkor,Streetof,Lhasa

　　 　　W henever I encounter friends who have recently been to Tibet, I always seize the opportunity to catch up with them on recent change in the the Barkor Street of Lhasa. From 1956 to 1972, I was working in the Tibetan branch of Xinhua News Agency stationed in Lhasa where I formed many unforgettable memories. To answer my questions, people always tell me that in the Barkor Street, change is happening every day. The clean and tidy laneways now match perfectly with the traditional Tibetan architecture of the buildings where a hygienic drainage system and reliable electricity and fuel supply are all available. Along the laneways there are craft workshops, stores, groceries, restaurants of various cuisines, vigorous fi nancial trade centers and venues.
　　Tourists from all over the world carry cameras and shopping bags while walking with the local Buddhists who are holding prayer wheels. Such phenomena have become a symbolic part of the scenery.
　　
　　It is said that Lhasa and the Barkor Street develop along with the J okhang Temple. Some people say the J okhang Temple came first - before Lhasa and the Barkor Street. In the mid-seventh century, Songtsen Gampo of Tubo followed the proposal of Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty by letting goats carry earth to fi ll in Lake Otang Tso and then he built the J okhang Temple on the spot where the eight-year life statue of Sakyamuni Buddha was later preserved. In the meantime, on a sandy spot to the north of the J okhang Temple, where the Ramoche Temple was built containing the statue of the twelve-year old Sakyamuni Buddha brought by Princess Wenchen from Chang’an. About 70 years later, the two statues exchanged locations: i.e., the statue of eight-year Sakyamuni was relocated to the Ramoche Temple and the statue of the twelve-year old Sakyamuni was placed inside the J okhang Temple. Since then, the name of the place originally called “Rosa”(Tibetan, meaning the city built by goats) was formally changed to the name of “Lhasa” (Tibetan, meaning the area surrounding the Buhhda). Daily prayers from the believer’s daily circumambulation around the temple bring blessings to the Barkor Street.
　　
　　During the 1950s the Barkor Street was a small place although it was the most prosperous location in Tibet. The street was narrow and a total length of about 1.5 kilometers while the breadth was about f ive meters. It was muddy and buildings beside the street were mostly the very old and shabby Tibetan-style buildings (often two-or three-storey buildings), and few were Tibetan style bungalows with walls of stone and wood-framed windows. The J okhang Temple is on the west side of the street. This is a splendid looking, four-story temple. The roof is golden. The total construction area is 25,100 sq. meters. Inside the temple there are over 20 chambers. At the rear of the buildings, there were bungalows looking very shabby, being humid inside of the chambers and some big courtyards. Inside of the courtyards, on one side there were dark and low-ceiling houses where slaves lived, but at the other side where the sunlight was bright enough; there were three-story houses where the owners of slaves lived. These big courtyard houses in the old Tibet were the houses of aristocrats. But during the 1950s, these aristocrats moved to manors situated in the suburbs of Lhasa. Then such places became the accommodation of the butlers of aristocrats or business locations.
　　In 1959 before the democratic reform, the Barkor Street was without rubbish disposal or public toilets - let alone a water supply and a sewerage system. Whenever it was raining, the whole street was covered with muddy, dirty water fl owing everywhere. Panscer Chapman from England said in his book titled The Holy City – Lhasa this was not a real city but rather a center that had developed because of nearby the J okhang Temple where clerics, religious believers, aristocrats and beggars gathered.
　　In the Barkor Street in 1950s, people wandering on the street were mostly believers who might have circumambulated and prostrated around the square and groups of beggars. The total number of beggars during that period was over 4000 people, accounting for one eighth of the total population. Still, there were some criminal beggars who were begging on the street with their feet and hands in shackles and handcuffs since there was no food supplied in prisons so they came outside to beg on the street in the company of policemen. Beggars were either without a nose or ears or arms or legs. They were sufferers from unmerciful punishments infl icted by local government and the owners of slaves.
　　
　　By 1959, the Barkor Street was beginning to function as a trade and business center. It was surrounded by stores and shops selling goods from outside Lhasa and local businessmen were used to trading with Nepal and India. A few owners of stores and shops were Tibetan aristocrats - these shops and stores were taken care of by their butlers. Vendors in the street were often businessmen from Xikhang, and they mainly sold Tibetan-style ornaments and cloth. Shops and stores often had no business names and no indication to let customers know what sort of business was running inside. Nevertheless, some big shops run by Nepalese or Indian businessmen were stocked with luxury goods. In particular, there were some famous brands of watches, perfumes made in France, cameras made in Germany, Kodak cameras and films made in the USA, woolen goods produced in Australia, Indian silks, Buddhist statues and religious articles made in Nepal. On asking, it was soon evident that the prices of these goods were quite cheap. The currency in Tibet at that time was the silver dollar, called “Yuan Datou” issued in period of the Republic of China and the Tibetan silver dollar issued by the local Tibetan government. These Barkor shops and stores were playing music cassettes outside their businesses. The music was usually Tibetan folk songs and Indian music. Whenever I passed by these shops and stores, I often stopped to listen.
　　Tromsigkang is situated to the northeast of the Barkor Street where the main trade is in agricultural and foodrelated products, but Wapaling (situated at the southeast of the Barkor Street) is the location of the Grand Mosque of Lhasa. Ethnic Hui businessmen wearing white hats were producing and selling their handcrafts, including leather goods and carpet production. These ethnic Hui people had little exchange business with the owners alongside them in the Barkor Street.
　　
　　Tibetans call the Barkor Street the “Holy road”, meaning ‘the path to Heaven’. Therefore, religious activities are constant here; no matter if it rains or if the wind blows in any season. In both morning and afternoon, Buddhist believers come from all directions. They are holding prayer wheels and murmuring scriptures while circumambulating the Barkor Street three times. Their religious activity is described as“circumambulation” since they believe that walking around sacred sites could make a connection between their souls and Buddha and then their souls will rise to Heaven after death. Such religious activities showcased in the Barkor Street are much more evident during big religious festivals which happen once a year. On the third day of 1957, according to the Tibetan calendar, the Grand Summons Ceremony occurred according to convention. This was my fi rst encountering with a major religious activity after I came to Tibet in 1956. Though my organization instructed us not to go outside if there was no necessity to work, I stealthily followed several journalists to the Barkor Street. From a distance I saw all areas of the Barkor Street were covered with monks in red cassocks. What a world of monks! It was so crowded that nobody could move. Therefore, we had to ask help from “Dodu” (Tibetan for armed monks responsible for maintaining public security). The monks held a long stick and shouted at the crowd to make way. Soon they had created a narrow path to let us pass.
　　My deep impression from the scene was the groups of people lining up in the Barkor Street to prostrate their bodies on the ground. At that time, the post-offi ce of Lhasa Municipality was located in the Barkor Street. Every day I had to go to the post-offi ce to send our news by telegraph to the Beijing Offi ce of Xinhua News Agency. Sometimes, I made several visits to the post-offi ce. Whenever I passed through the Street, in particular past the front entrance of the J okhang Temple, I always saw crowds of people piously prostrating their bodies in prayer. They repeated the same prostration without stopping. For a long time, they moved slowly around the street in the same direction to complete their prostration.
　　Since Lhasa began to have its democratic reform, the people’s government paid special attention to the reconstruction of Lhasa Municipality including the Barkor Street. Firstly, the government organized people to clean up all the rubbish and animal excrement piling up in the street. Vehicles carried tons of rubbish for disposal in the suburbs- either by burial or burning. Next, the government began to invest in building public toilets and a rubbish collection center on the street. In particular, the government invested a considerable amount of money to build a drainage system and water supply. After only a few months, the hygiene standards of the Barkor Street and Lhasa City in general experienced a fundamental improvement. In the second year of the democratic reform, the people’s government again invested in building an electrical power station at Nachen in Lhasa Municipality. Since then, residents living at the Barkor Street began to enjoy a reliable supply of electricity.
　　During the period of appeasing the armed rebellion as well as democratic reform, most Nepalese and Indian businessmen left the Barkor Street to return to their home countries, only few stayed. The whole market appeared to have slumped a little. However, soon the stated-owned shops and stores revived the market and the number of Tibetans running their own shops and stores were dramatically increased. Of course, the number of businessmen from inland China began to increase their trade. Such phenomenon worked together with the increasing of purchases by local people to revive the prosperity of the markets in the Barkor Street. Due to the supply of electricity, public safety in the Barkor Street became better than ever before and night markets began. Whenever night came, the golden light shining from the rooftop of the J okhang Temple disappeared, but electric light sparkled instead. Crowds began to increase. Some of them participated in circumambulation, but others might visit restaurants and coffee bars. I still remember there were some restaurants serving Chinese cuisine, and their businesses ran until midnight. Sometimes I, together with my colleagues, visited these restaurants at night after working overtime. Interestingly, at that time, Lhasa was famous for its huge number of dogs on the streets. Whenever we had a night meal in the Barkor Street, if one dog barked, it would set off tens or a hundred dogs barking… and they even followed us with their chorus of barking.
　　After the democratic reform, Tibetan religion returned to its origins. The Barkor Street had its annual massive religious festival. The crowds of tourists and religious believers flocked to participate in this event along the“holy way”.
　　The Barkor Street, as the vehicle of and witness to history, is the shining pearl of the snow-covered highland. It is the holy place of religious activities, as well as the paradise of tourism. Most of all, it will be the place most people dream of.