Tibet is one of the most wonderful places on Earth. Tibet is one of the saddest places on Earth.

This week, partly because of the 50th anniversary of the Chinese invasion of Tibet and partly because of the upcoming Beijing Olympics, has seen protests, monastic suicide attempts, riots, tear gas and reportedly death in the streets. My wife, Ana Ximenes and I, along with 2 friends from Centennial Colorado, Sam Reiser and Phyllis Hammond, visited Tibet recently. We are glad we visited then, because after this recent outbreak of violence, all flights have been cancelled, all roads closed, all rail closed, electricity cut and communications blocked. It will certainly be a long while before we could ever go back. Our hotel is right in the middle of the current violence and if we were still there, we would be locked up tight,wondering where we would get food and water,without electricity or phones, breathing tear gas and watching troops and Chinese army personnel carriers ripping up the streets of Central Lhasa.

In the 50's, the Chinese invaded Tibet. Since then, they have been assimilating Tibetan culture, piece by piece. Symbolic of the oppression, strung out from the streets surrounding the Potala Palace, former palace of the Dalai Lama are Chinese car dealerships, Chinese department stores, Chinese Banks and commercial ventures of all kinds. While there have been military actions against the Tibetan people and there have been uprisings over the past 50 years, it seems that the destruction of the Tibetan culture has been coming about, up until this week, more by absorption and by overwhelming the indigenous culture than by any act of force.

Sadly, even after the intial invasion, the Chinese cultural revolution of 1967-1977 led to the destruction of some 60% of the monasteries and religious buildings in Tibet. And now, in the Potala for example, fees taken at the entrance all go into the Chinese Government's coffers, not the monastic treasuries. The Chinese flag now flies over this palace and many other religious and traditional Tibetan buildings. The Chinese government tightly controls the number of Monks. Pictures of the Dalai Lama are strictly prohibited. Though, in some of our excursions, Tibetans shared their hidden photos of the Dalai Lama with us and spoke timidly about him and politics. Clearly, even after 2-3 generations, the desire for Autonomy and Freedom still burns bright in the hearts of the Tibetan People.

Perhaps even worse than the physical destruction of monasteries and convents, the Chinese government has decided that they are going to select the Panchen Lama (second highest religious ruler after the Dalai Lama) and they are going to select the replacement for the current (14th) Dalai Lama who, since 1959, has been living in India. The Dalai Lama, now 72 years old, and other Buddhist monks actually already selected the next Panchen Lama in the late 1990's. This boy is now 14 years old. After the Dalai Lama selected this boy, the Chinese government put him and his family under house arrest in an unknown location and selected their own candidate. They will not communicate with UN officials or any other agencies about the child and his family's whereabouts nor offer any assurances about their safety. The boy and their family have not been heard of in many years.

As an example for those who are Catholic or know about Papal selection, this government intervention would be like the Italian government selecting the next Pope instead of letting the Cardinals of the Vatican make the selection. The Dalai Lama has said that as a result of this government intervention, he will either choose to be reborn outside of Chinese influence (it is Tibetan Buddhist belief that someone as spiritual as the Dalai Lama can determine where and when he will be reincarnated) or will end the succession and not be reborn at all. To retaliate, the Chinese have recently outlawed reincarnation. (Really, I am not making this up. This is true!)

There has been a big deal made about the 7 wonders of the world this past year. Between the 4 of us traveling together in Tibet, we have now visited all of the 7 listed wonders and we agree that this palace, The Potala, should well have been on the list. Different parts of the structure were built at different times, but the whole palace, pretty much as is, was completed before 1700. Now, the Chinese flag flies over the palace, monks cannot wear traditional robes when in the Palace, there are dozens of security cameras through the grounds and the government takes all revenue from admittance here.

Among all of this, the Tibetan people have remained quite resolute about continuing with their Buddhist practices. And, even if they are not allowed to worship in the palace or are now charged to get in, they come to the front of the palace and worship from the street. A new train just started taking tourists to Lhasa and it is feared that the area will simply become a Disneyland for the Chinese. Think about a country of 6 million being overwhelmed by a country of 1.3 BILLION. The odds are overwhelming.

Yet, at the same time, one has to wonder why the Chinese come here in droves and watch the Tibetans as they pray, throw themselves on the ground in prayer, unfurl huge tapestries devoted to Buddha or live in isolation at 14,000 + feet meditating for their whole lives. One would like to think that perhaps the Chinese are coming to search for something that 60 years of Communist doctrine could not completely erase.