Return to Tibet: Tibet After the Chinese Occupation

by Heinrich Harrer, Ewald Osers, Harrer Heinrich

Release Date: May, 1998

Edition: Paperback

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Read It As History, Not Travelogue

It is amazing that Henrich Harrer has written separate accounts on Tibet, the roof of thw world, with incredible disparity in emotions. The successor of "Seven Years in Tibets", "Return to Tibet" records the author's revisit 30 years after his departure in 1950. "Return to Tibet" is often regarded as the continuation of "Seven Years in Tibet", except that readers shouldn't read it as a travelogue. Interwoven with the once-vivid and jocund recollection of the country, Harrer contrasted the dismal Tibet under the Chinese neocolonialism. One might find the later volume dry and even disappointing because "Return To Tibet" is not really a showcase of colorful Tibetan costumes, or the rancid butter tea, or the architecture of monasteries. Instead, it is more a political review of how China had annihilated the Tibetan cultures by forcing adoption of new beliefs and ideologies. The climax of the book falls into the author's report to the Dalai Lama, with whom Harrer had built a close friendship. It is through Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet, that the author realized that Tibetans' beliefs are unshakable. "Tibetans are people of love and patience. They never value war. Yet they value religion and belief more than anything. They would value religion more than not going to war."

Return to Tibet - not a story, more a thesis.

After reading Seven Years in Tibet, this book (which I managed to pick up in Pilgrims bookshop in Kathmandu, after visiting Tibet myself in 1998) came across more as a thesis, compared to the story like format of the former book. Return to Tibet concerns Heinrich Harrer's return to Lhasa in 1982 as part of one of the first tour groups to enter Tibet after China began to open up after Mao and the Cultural Revolution. He compare the Lhasa and Tibet he knew over thirty years before with that he saw on his return. He also manages to break away from the group he was with and meet some of the people he used to know - again, the differences in these people show a sharp contrast.

Whereas Seven Years in Tibet is an easy read, this is a lot heavier going. To be honest, I felt that Heinrich Harrer spent too much time lamenting the old days which made for not one the most memorable reads. That said, if only to show how much had changed, it is still interesting from a historical point of view and what caught my attention most was the changes between the Heinrich Harrer's visit in 1982 and my own trip their in 1998 (for example, on the good side monasteries being rebuilt, easier to get around Tibet, but not so good was the development of Lhasa into a modern city with less character, with a very large influx of non-Tibetans into Tibet in general).