Vignettes of the World
I met a young man on the plane to Korea. He told me that he has already completed his mandatory service in the military. “Mind the border,” he said, “it might be dangerous.” Korea was the first solo trip I made abroad. Although this young …
By Nic Dunlop Tuol Svay Prey, the district in Phnom Penh where the prison is located, roughly translates as “The Hill of the Poison Fruit Tree” Tuol means hillock. Sleng is also the name of a tree with extremely poisonous fruit.[i] In this …
There was a time when Hong Kong was considered China’s window to the world. In Chinese, it is said that Hong Kong faces the world with China at its back. If we consider the geography, geopolitics, economy and cultures of Hong Kong, what really provides the window to the world is Hong Kong Island; what has the back of China is Sheung Shui.
Although the border district of Sheung Shui would not be commonly associated with the collective memory of Hong Kong, it is a very important part of my childhood memory. My early life was inexplicably intertwined with this part of Hong Kong.
Sheung Shui as it is now has had a sea change since my childhood. Over the years, a closer relationship with mainland China has given it the face of a bustling town with high rise buildings and big shopping malls, transforming its former identity as the provincial back country. Yet there are still traces of the past, with people rushing in and out of the border carrying luggage. The scene of legal and illegal traders buying goods is reminiscent of the old market that once prided this neighborhood.
My aunt used to live in a three storied apartment building on No. 1, San Cheung Street. My own family was city dwellers and we lived in Kowloon, but our extended family lived in the New Territories. Back then, it was still much of a countryside. Whenever school holiday came my mother would take me to my aunt’s place to stay for weeks.
When I was young, I had the typical arrogance of city dwellers and I looked down on my home in the New Territories. Although I loved my family, I was annoyed by everything in that old apartment on San Cheung Street. The toilet did not flush properly, the shower was a mere trickle of water, and there was always this strange smell in the apartment. The mosquitoes were endless. Yet this memory of an old countryside apartment stayed vividly in my memory, because only in this kind of place could children be playing in an eerily spacious apartment at night, after the adults had been asleep, and calling it an “expedition.”
In pitch dark we tiptoed into the living room, passing a long corridor, then to the kitchen. We went in a single file, with flash in our hands. The rule was no slippers. Our bare feet might feel the crawling-by of huge cockroaches or geckos. My cousin would suddenly turn and whisper, “there’s a mouse!”
In the mornings we rose and my uncle would take us to the street stalls to have rice porridge or noodles as breakfast. In the afternoon, we might get a treat of shaved ice with red beans at a deli. Summer after summer, we lived our days worry-free on San Cheung Street.
In 2007, I visited my aunt’s old address for the first time after fifteen years of being away. I walked around Shek Wu Hui, Sheung Shui’s town center, trying to probe my memory for where the apartment was. When I saw the casket shop on San Cheung Street, right below my aunt’s old apartment, I knew I found it. That was the only shop on the street that I could still recognize.
As I approached, I realized that the smell that I did not like in the apartment came from the pungency of the wood used in carving the caskets, along with the traditional incense that was always burning at these types of businesses. I saw the shop owner at the table chatting with his family, just like yesterday. I was pulled immediately back to the memory that I thought was long-forgotten. The smell recalled tears in my eyes.
I slowly walked back to the bus stop to go home, on my way passing by three big shopping malls. I sighed, seeing that this drive to remake Sheung Shui as the corridor between Hong Kong and Shenzhen will one day bulldoze the very last remnant of my memory.
I am saving this entry to the last because this boy truly, truly moved me. This young ten-year-old worked at his family’s Uighur restaurant. On one of our last days in Lhasa, a group of us went to this restaurant for dinner. When we sat …
Have you ever had the experience that, on the nth day of your trip, you have lost track of time? That was Tibet to me. It is an environment that constantly entices you away from the established routines and thoughts that structure your life in …
Unlike Lhasa, Namtso is forever frozen in time. If there is one piece of advice I have for travelers going to Tibet, it is that they must bring some warm clothing with them, at least a sturdy, layered windbreaker and a scarf. It was frigid …
No one has ever seen the dead body of a vulture. The sky burial might be one of the most fascinating and unique aspects of Tibetan culture. When I talk about the sky burial with people outside of Tibet, they often tell me, “that is …
The trip to Shigatse was the highlight of this trip, if not the highlight of my life. Shigatse’s status in Tibet is next to Lhasa. Our experience in Shigatse was second to none though, because we saw him.
The Panchen Lama!
What I thought to be an ordinary tour of the monastery, turned out to be an unplanned pilgrimage.
The Tashi Lhunpo Monastery is the palace for the Panchen Lama, the second spiritual leader of Tibet.
The Dalai’s are the political leaders of Tibet, number one in line. The Panchen’s are the scholars of Tibetan Buddhism. They belong to the “yellow” branch of the religion and are number two in line. The Dalai’s and the Panchen’s often learn from each other and support the administration of the Tibetan institutions (political and religious) together. Now that the 14th Dalai is in exile, the Panchen is in effect the leader of Tibet.
There is an established way to choose the Dalai’s and the Panchen’s. In my last entry I rambled on about “being the chosen one” and questioned such practice, but the Dalai’s and the Panchen’s are recognized by series of tests and questioning of very young children that wouldn’t have known the identities of the testers, who are the living lamas and leaders in Tibet. Furthermore, the search of the reincarnation begins with a vision at the holy lakes in Tibet, a practice since time immemorial. Either way, once recognized, both the Dalai and the Panchen have to go through high levels of education, the best that Tibet offers, and they have an education system equivalent to that of the PhD’s in the west.
Panchen, meaning “the great scholar.”
The current Panchen Lama, the 11th reincarnation, is in fact not a choosing by the Tibetan people. The Chinese government chose him, and the “real” one turned a political prisoner as soon as the Chinese government intervened. According to the Wikipedia, the whereabouts of the previously chosen 11th Panchen is still unknown today. He has not been seen since 1990, at the time he was only about 2 years old.
Despite the politics of all this, it was settled that Qoigyijabu (his Buddhist name in Tibetan) would be chosen, by the drawing of a golden urn. It was the Tenth Panchen Lama’s wish that his reincarnation be recognized by a drawing with a golden urn. Qoigyijabu was enthroned in 1995 at the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery.
We finished with the tour of the monastery within an hour and a half. As we enjoyed walking around the palace, we saw architecture and burial altars that were noticeably different from the ones in Potala. We also noticed that there were some activities by the monks on that day. I did not pay much attention, although there was a whole group of them rushing to one place or other bustling around. I heard from one of the young monks that the Panchen Lama would be making his third round of the Palace that day. The Panchen Lama is receiving a Chinese education at the Yonghe Palace in Beijing and he was back in Tibet for a ritual, to walk around his palace three times. We met him at his last round.
The tour guide told us it was impossible to see the Panchen Lama, “it is a rumor, he has already made his last round.” As we started back to our bus, we heard a commotion, “he’s coming, he’s coming!” We rushed back up the hill to see his Holiness.
I cannot quite describe that moment of a rushed intense feeling, of excitement, of curiosity, of intrigue. He came with two lamas on his sides encircling his arms. People started bowing, and I was speechless but to wow wow wow wow all the way until he was to disappear completely from my view. I might have jumped up and down trying to get that last view of him, walking so gracefully and confidently, the Leader of Tibet. A beautiful youth trapped in a complicated web of theocracy, religion and politics at home plus that which within the long arm of Beijing.
I was disappointed that I only got a view of him, and that no pictures were allowed. We finally started back to our bus, but when we reached the ground, we heard another commotion, “he’s down here now!”
Soon enough a crowd gathered, all kneeled down in a queue to receive his blessing. One by one people bowed in respect, wishing for his holy touch. Exhibiting a characteristic composure, he granted each of their wishes, touching their heads gently. The faithful people there, most of them of Han descent, receiving his holiness. It was a once-in-a-lifetime encounter with the living Buddha.
I wanted to be blessed by his holiness too, but I know my father on earth and my father in heaven would not be pleased. I stood as a Christian and watched.
He has blessed the crowd soon. When he was leaving, I seized the opportunity and yelled, “zai jian” (goodbye). He has already passed me but he noticed me. He gestured a goodbye at me with his right hand down on his waist, still walking so gracefully. The lama next to him turned around and smiled at me. My heart warmed.
To end, let me quote the Wikipedia’s entry on the Panchen Lama,
As of 2006, according to the Associated Press, Qoigyijabu “is believed to live in Beijing amid intense secrecy and is almost never seen in public.” See the current Wikipedia entry on the Panchen Lama here.
We visited the Potala Palace on our first full day in Lhasa. In the morning we went there to see the building from ground up. We were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves walking amongst an avid morning worship by the Tibetan people. They walked the …
