Today we visited the Ani Sangkhung Nunery, located within the old Tibetan quarter of Lhasa. Unfortunately the Chinese government limits the number of Tibetans that are allowed to become monks and nuns, and nuns are especially closely watched and looked upon suspiciously. But the nuns here seemed happy, and their nunnery seemed active.
Lhasa is a very vibrant, interesting, and thriving city - with a diverse mix of pilgrims, monks, nuns, Chinese, small shops, and tourists. Although I’m sure it’s a completely different city from what is was before 1950, I didn’t expect Buddhism and traditional Tibetan culture to flourish as freely as it appears to. Despite the tragic results of the Chinese invasion and the destruction of the Cultural revolution, Tibetans have persevered and somehow managed to cling to their culture and tradition.
We then visited the Dalai Lama’s Summer Palace, which had some interesting artifacts.
We later visited the Tibetan History Museum (no pictures allowed) which had some interesting historical artifacts (ancient tools, bowls, leather, masks, statues, paintings, etc), as well as some annoying Chinese propaganda.
Later that evening we caught a show put on for tourists, of traditional Tibetan music. It was kind of entertaining, if you could block out the throngs of 8th graders from Seattle
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