back in chengdu.

Hi, so this is Ben's friend Kyle, continuing in the theme of not-Ben posting to Ben's blog. Ben is back in Chengdu, and safe there, but a strange thing happened when he tried to post about his experience of the protests in Lhasa: Blogger shut down and wouldn't let him post anything at all. Then, he tried to send the post to me through four different email accounts, and each time the account would freeze when he tried to send it. Finally, he was able to send it through facebook, which turns out to have a valid use after all. Crazy as it sounds, Ben's account of events is being censored by the Chinese government, so I'm posting it here for him. On that note, here it is:

hi everyone, thank you all for your messages and emails. i returned to chengdu a few hours ago after a 48 hour train ride from lhasa. i originally had planned on keeping this post short, but i've decided that for the sake of dispersing information, i'm going to put what i saw and did so everyone knows what's going on. it's long, so get ready.

i arrived in lhasa on march 13th by plane and spent the first day walking around the jokhang temple, the spiritual center of tibet. i circumambulated the temple on the barkhor circuit with thousands of other pilgrims, watching hundreds prostrating themselves outside. the situation was generally quite normal in the city, although i had been informed that i would not be able to visit most of the monasteries surrounding lhasa (drepung, sera, ganden) as there had been protests by local monks.

the morning of the 14th, i woke early (thanks 3700m) and visited the potala palace, again joining thousands of pilgrims to wander through one of the more beautiful and emotionally overpowering buildings i have ever visited. early that afternoon i went out to the train station to buy my ticket home for march 22nd. on the way back my taxi got a little lost, and dropped me off about ten minutes east of my hostel.

walking down the main road to my hostel, i encountered a huge crowd of people yelling and throwing rocks. to avoid the crowd, i moved south, cutting through the barkhor alleys to try to return to my hostel. the barkhor square was even worse, as tibetans were destroying chinese businesses, and throwing all chinese owned merchandise onto huge fires in the alleys. i cut through the crowd towards my hostel, watching people destroy building after building. after meeting an english speaking thai woman south of the jokhang temple, we pulled a young chinese police woman (19 years old, still in police academy) away from a group of tibetans that were beating her, and ran down an alley. we hid under some burlap sacks for a while, before the door across the alley opened, and we took refuge with a tibetan family.

after providing impromptu first aid to the badly injured chinese police woman, the two women left to go to the hospital, and i spent the night with the tibetan family. by the evening of the 14th, tanks were driving through the city, and i could hear the sound of gun shots and the explosion of tear gas canisters. i tried to return to my hostel a few times, but as i approached the chinese police surrounding the tibetan quarter, they only waved their guns and yelled in chinese to step back.

on march 15th, i woke early again. around 10am, two other americans (one of whom was james miles, the only foreign press correspondent in tibet) miraculously took refuge with the same tibetan family as they dodged the tanks rolling through barkhor square. he was with another young woman who had been in tibet for a while and spoke very good tibetan. the three of us left the tibetan family around 11 (they were so wonderful, their son who lives in la called my dad in minneapolis), and walked through the alleys around barkhor square. the alleys were filled with the remains of chinese businesses, and the fires still raged. a few tibetan men egged on the riot police, banging on pans and screaming for a free tibet.

we proceeded to james' hotel which was located east of the barkhor, still about 15 minutes walk from my hostel. as the protests had started in this area, the whole area was blocked off by riot police, and we couldn't move. for the rest of the 15th, we stayed in the hotel, as we frequently heard gun shots and tear gas burned our eyes. we could see groups of tibetans in the alleys throwing rocks at riot police, as the police shot off warning shots above the tibetans' heads.

that evening, the police started conducting house to house searches, entering our hotel from the roof. we were told that we couldn't leave, as anyone found on the streets would either be arrested or shot. we saw groups of tibetans being escorted by chinese police throughout the day and evening. when i left on the 18th, estimates (not supported) were that thousands of tibetans had been imprisoned in chinese jails.

from the 15th to the 17th we stayed in the hotel, under a form of house arrest, as leaving the hotel was too dangerous. the 15th and 16th were very noisy, as we heard loud explosions and gun shots intermittently. on the 17th, we were informed that tibetans could move with identity cards, and foreigners could move with passports. i left the hotel, trying to return to my hostel (i hadn't had my bag now for 72 hours) but the police would not let me leave the tibetan quarter. the police were all mostly younger than me, and some even smiled as i approached. disturbing.

on the 16th, my tour agency had been trying to contact me, but as i couldn't move, and wasn't anxious to leave, i hadn't encouraged them to come get me. on the 17th, when i couldn't get to my hostel, i asked if they could somehow get my bag. instead of getting my bag, they came to get me. four tibetans showed up in an suv to pick me up, and since they had possession of my tibetan permit, i had no choice but to go with them.

i never felt that i was in danger, as i had nothing to do with the conflict. the chinese government had required the removal of all foreigners because they were scared of the photos and videos the foreigners could (and did) collect. the chinese media has blamed this on the dalai lama. the dalai lama has nothing to do with it, and has released international statements asking for a peaceful resolution. this was a large group of tibetans (both students and otherwise) upset with the chinese because of their violent forced occupation.

the chinese news i watched on the 16th blamed the riots on the 'dalai group,' which, as far i know, does not exist. or if it does, it's not supported directly by the dalai lama. the news reported that the group of rioters was small and that by the 16th the situation had returned to normal. it showed tibetans delivering presents to the chinese to thank them for bringing safety. the same broadcast was repeated over and over again, as if hearing it twenty times would somehow make it true. in the remainder of mainland china, the tibetans are depicted (and it's largely believed to be true) as ungrateful terrorists. the protests of the last week are considered to be the biggest uprising in tibet since 1959.

i’m no longer aware of the exact situation in tibet. i left the morning of the 18th, a few hours after an ultimatum was given by the chinese to stop all rioting. i have no idea whether the ultimatum was met. there was still unrest between tibetans and muslims when i left, as the mosque (or the area around it) near the hotel i was stuck at was apparently (again not supported) lit on fire.

i'm going to keep my emotional response out of this for now, as i'm still working through what all of this means. i wanted to make sure everyone understood the situation as i saw it. i've tried to keep it as objective as possible. if anyone has any further questions, please contact me. i hope you are all well.