LETTER

I read your article (TibetanReview.net, Apr 13, 2024) about the relocation of Atsok Monastery in Dragkar Dzong (Ch. Xinhai), Amdo. I happened to be traveling around there in the area and it was easy to go (unlike Wonto monastery in Dege where it is said to be inaccessible and in lockdown) so I went to see for myself what is happening.

I arrived in Atsok monastery without any problems. It is a beautiful, isolated, “antique” as it was described, monastery surrounded by red danxia landforms and snow-capped mountains. But just before getting there, one sees several blue tents (by “civil administration to rescue disaster”) stationed alongside the road and there is a lot of litter everywhere. I walked all over Atsok; it is not a big place anyway, and took many pictures to treasure this site that is not going to be here any longer. A small shrine was open; however, the main temple was unfortunately closed. I asked the monks if they could please open the door for me since, given the relocation, revisiting the place would be literally impossible, but I was told that the key-keeper was away. How heartbreaking, really. When I asked the monks if they had pictures on their phones from the temple interiors that they could perhaps show me, their reply was “the temple has regulations”, and that they are not allowed to take pictures from the monastery and share it. Somebody showed me an odd video (bad quality) with aerial views of the area and that was all. Is there any book I can buy to read about the monastery and its history? No. Is there a webpage where I can read more about the monastery? No.

The place looked and felt unkept and abandoned and in a state of mess as people were dismantling houses and temples and loading stuff onto vehicles to be taken away. So where are they relocating to, I asked. To nearby Hainan (Tibetan Tsholo), was the reply.

After I finished my walk and was about to leave, I was suddenly stopped by five policemen who appeared in front of me out of the blue suggesting to follow them to the police station – which I refused to do. A stern-looking lama then came over and asked me in English who told me about Atsok Monastery and why I am there. They took pictures of my passport and me and my driver’s car plates, and then called their leader and, thankfully, she told them to let me go. The police car followed us all the way back to the main road.

Then, upon returning to my hotel in Dragkar Dzong, 2 policemen and 1 policewoman came to my hotel room to interrogate me, as friendly as they could, about my visit to Atsok monastery and why I took pictures, asking not just a few questions to know more details about me, my background, my work and the purpose of my visit to Atsok monastery and how do I even know this monastery – as it is not on the map. And what am I doing in Xinghai? It’s such a small place, how do I know it?

They stayed for over an hour writing a 3-page report while recording the whole discussion with two cameras.

Excuse me, but what is all this questioning about anyway, it is not a restricted area.

“We are relocating”, said a policeman.

“Oh, really? Why?” I asked, but I got no reply.

When they were finally done, they even recommended me to befriend one of them on WeChat in case I needed further help – a common practice nowadays while traveling in Tibetan areas is that police staff may ask foreign visitors to befriend them on WeChat and unless one doesn’t really mind doing so, one needs to find a polite way to decline it.

When it was, at last, time for them to leave, they somehow tried to excuse themselves for taking up so much of my time and I smilingly showed them out saying “You are very welcome. See you later”, because you see, foreigners staying in Dragkar Dzong must first register at the police station and afterwards go check in at a hotel, and then, later during the day, have the police staff pay them a visit in their hotel room for more paperwork and work-photos – at least that is my experience from all the times I’ve been to Dragkar Dzong.

Like in other Tibetan places, non-English speaking Tibetan and Chinese staff in police stations and hotels have hard time deciphering the details of my foreign passport and it takes them an awful lot of time to fill in a registration form. And so, here too, I filled in my registration form myself to save time.

My visit to Atsok monastery was a sad and disturbing experience. And yet another sobering and grounding eye-opener about the shocking reality Tibetan people are faced with on a daily basis in their own land under Chinese administration who doesn’t really like foreigners anywhere near to witness it. To witness a normalised abuse, oppression and persecution that is systematically hushed, muted, dismissed out of hand altogether.

— Vera Hue, 2024