How National Geographic Saw the Tibetans in the 1980s
As early as 1905, "National Geographic" magazine published a report on Tibet that included numerous photographs by Mongolian explorer Tsybikov. These images introduced Lhasa—known far and wide as the "Forbidden City"—to the outside world for the first time. The report was a huge success, rescuing the magazine from the brink of bankruptcy and helping it establish its corporate identity. Tibet has long been a frequent subject of "National Geographic," as told in Lifting the Veil of the Forbidden City.
National Geographic" gained global fame from that point onward. In 1980, American photojournalist Fred Ward—who had previously had his work shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art—made a successful trip to Lhasa. He counted as one of the initial foreign reporters to visit Tibet after the reform and opening-up. Ward put together his travel notes and photos into an article called "Visit To Forbidden Tibet," and it appeared in the February issue of the magazine in the same year.
Despite the high elevation, which some attribute to altitude sickness, my first night in Lhasa was sleepless. At last, my childhood dream had been fulfilled: I had reached the ancient holy city of Lhasa. My journey involved a three-hour flight from Chengdu, China, on a Soviet-style propeller plane, touching down at Gonggar Airport, a facility completed in 1965.
Lhalu Wetland (ལྷ་ཀླུ་དགའ་ཚལ།) covers extensive territory on the northern and western outskirts of Lhasa City; a photo of it, titled "A Rainbow Over Lhalu Wetland," is credited to "National Geographic." Back in the 1940s, Lhasa in the restricted sense took in only the old town surrounding the Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Street, which was overseen by the Lhasa Municipal Hall, Langzisha (སྣང་རྩེ་ཤག). As for the Potala Palace and the Shol (ཞོལ།) citadel, they were administered by the Shol Lekhung (ཞོལ་ལས་ཁུངས།). Reaching Lhasa from this point still involves a 65-mile drive of nearly three hours.
Taken by Heinrich from the top of the Potala Palace, this photograph shows, to the left, the then-famous Jangse Shar Lingka (ལྕང་གསེབ་ཤར། "Willow Shade Garden") and the Garpa Lingka (གར་པ་གླིང་ག), which belonged to the Potala Palace's song and dance troupe. In front of the corner tower of the Shol Palace, the Drepung Manor (འབྲས་བུ་གླིང་གཡུལ་ཁ།) is also visible.
To the south, the triangular area is the Yutog Gye Tsal (གཡུ་ཐོག་སྒྱེད་ཚལ། "Yutog Garden"), granted as a fief to the aristocratic Yutog family, with the estate's main structure barely discernible among the trees. The Yutog Bridge (གཡུ་ཐོག་ཟམ་པ།), lying further south, historically delineated the judicial boundary between Langzisha and the Shol Lekhung. Ward took this photograph in 1980 from the same vantage point. In the preceding twenty years, Lhasa had undergone swift urban expansion.
At that time, the Lhasa River Valley area from Gamgongsum to Nagchu Township, lying just beyond the eastern district, was covered in vast farmlands. Countryside Paths. Lhasa and Shol City were no longer two distinct urban zones; their unification formed the heart of what is now the Chengguan District. As an extension of Shol City, new infrastructure was built on the former Drepung Manor site, while the Lhasa Department Store, known as the "Great Hall," rose to the south of Garpa Lingka.
The Various Aspects of City Life. In the 1980s, Lhasa's old town was a thriving showcase of Tibet's prosperity. Although Ü-Tsang was inland on the plateau, it still constituted a very typical agricultural zone. Barley and rapeseed grew commonly in its fields, and its orchards, traversed by winding rivulets, were the most scenic components of village scenery.
The labyrinth of narrow streets threading through the ancient residences had quietly observed countless generations of urban dwellers in their varied daily existence. Lhasa Folk Song "We are the ancient ancestors, the bedrock from the dawn of heaven and earth." This piece is a translation from the blog maintained by Shongling Phun.