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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 002719 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2029 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KIFR CH IN
SUBJECT: TA'ER TOURIST TRAP: TIBETAN CONTACTS LAMENT 
DECLINE OF ONCE-GREAT KUMBUM MONASTERY 
 
REF: A. BEIJING 2595 
     ¶B. BEIJING 2573 
     ¶C. BEIJING 726 
     ¶D. 08 BEIJING 1351 
     ¶E. CHENGDU 181 
 
Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson. 
Reasons 1.4 (b), (d). 
 
¶1. (S) Summary:  Tibetan contacts in Qinghai Province 
expressed dismay at the impact unregulated tourism is having 
on Kumbum (Ta'er) Monastery, one of the most important 
religious sites in Tibetan Buddhism.  A monk at Kumbum told 
PolOff that roughly half of the 800 monks have been 
"corrupted" by the wealth generated by entrance ticket sales 
and donations and have given up serious study of Buddhism. 
Monks responsible for key temples in Kumbum can skim up to 
RMB 1 million (USD 150,000) per year in donations, he said. 
Our source relayed that a monk was nearly killed in late 2008 
after being attacked in his sleep by a rival seeking control 
over a lucrative shrine.  A professor of Tibetan language 
based in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, said Kumbum's academic 
reputation has suffered greatly as a result of the 
monastery's focus on tourism.  A Tibetan hotel owner in 
Yushu, Qinghai Province, meanwhile, said that for Tibetans in 
the travel industry, Kumbum stands as a negative example of 
how unregulated tourism can damage Tibetan culture.  Yushu, 
he said, is trying to avoid the pitfalls of Kumbum, but he 
noted that doing so will be difficult now that a new airport 
promises to dramatically increase the number of visitors to 
Yushu.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (S) On August 18, PolOff visited Kumbum Monastery ("Ta'er 
Si" in Chinese) near Xining, Qinghai Province, and discussed 
with 39-year-old monk Tenzin Lopsang Gyaltsen (strictly 
protect), aka "Jensen," conditions in Kumbum and the impact 
of tourism on the monastery.  Kumbum Monastery was founded in 
1583 at the site where Tsong Kha-pa (1357-1419), the founder 
of the Gelug ("Yellow Hat") School of Tibetan Buddhism, was 
born.  Kumbum is also close to the birthplace of the 14th 
Dalai Lama and Qinghai Lake (Lake Kokonor), which is also 
revered by Tibetans.  The monastery is one of the six centers 
of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism. 
 
Most Monks Focused on Tourism, Not Buddhism 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (S) Jensen bemoaned the changes the monastery had 
experienced in the past decade with the dramatic increase in 
tourism to the site.  Kumbum is a 40-minute drive from 
Qinghai Province capital city Xining, which has a population 
of two million people.  A four-lane toll highway runs from 
Xining to Kumbum, which, during busy periods, can receive 
6000 tourist visits a day.  Tourists pay RMB 80 (USD 11) to 
enter Kumbum, though entrance is free for Tibetans.  Jensen 
claimed that little of the entrance fee money went to 
supporting academic study at the monastery and most went 
toward paying the salaries of monks and local officials. 
(Note:  Another Kumbum monk with whom PolOff spoke in 
February 2008 made similar comments about the damage tourism 
was causing, see ref D.) 
 
¶4. (S) Jensen said Kumbum currently housed 800 monks: 400 
registered with the local Religious Affairs Bureau and 400 
unregistered.  (Note:  Many monasteries in Tibetan regions 
accept monks without officially informing local religious 
affairs authorities.)  Jensen said that of the 800, only 
about 200 were seriously pursuing the study of Tibetan 
Buddhism.  Approximately half of the Kumbum monks, including 
those who participate in monastery's Democratic Management 
Committee (DMC) and cooperate with the Chinese authorities, 
were primarily focused on the tourism industry.  (Note: 
While theoretically a body through which monks directly 
control the management of their monasteries, in reality DMCs 
act to represent government interests and enforce government 
policies.)  The remaining 200 were seeking to pursue a 
monastic life yet often found it hard to resist the allure of 
tourism-related income, Jensen said. 
 
Informants 
---------- 
 
¶5. (S) Jensen noted that a number of monks at Kumbum were 
paid by the Public Security Bureau to act as the eyes and 
ears of the police inside the monastery and were provided 
free cell phones to facilitate their efforts.  Jensen said 
that although these informants were nominally Tibetan monks, 
they were very poorly educated and often lacked even the most 
basic knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism.  Ostracized even by the 
corrupt monks, informants were unable to provide much useful 
information to local police.  "Everyone knows exactly who the 
 
BEIJING 00002719  002 OF 003 
 
 
informants are," Jensen said. 
 
Commercialism at Kumbum 
----------------------- 
 
¶6. (S) Jensen complained to PolOff that at Kumbum, Tibetan 
Buddhism was being exploited for profit.  Outside the gates, 
visitors were assaulted by throngs of tour guides (mostly 
non-Tibetan) charging fees of up to RMB 60 (USD 9).  These 
guides, Jensen complained, knew very little about Buddhism or 
Tibetan culture and simply "spout nonsense" to unsuspecting 
sightseers.  Tourist shops outside the gates hawked souvenirs 
for astronomical prices by fraudulently claiming the trinkets 
had been touched and blessed by all 800 Kumbum monks.  Some 
monks, in collusion with tour guides, posed as "living 
Buddhas" and provided "blessings" to Han Chinese tourists in 
return for hefty "donations," which the monks and guides 
split and pocketed. 
 
Temple Keeper Violence 
---------------------- 
 
¶7. (S) Jensen said that among the corrupt monks, the position 
of temple keeper (monks charged with maintaining important 
temples by keeping lamps burning, sweeping floors, etc.) was 
highly sought after because of the opportunities to skim 
donations.  While most temples at Kumbum contained locked 
donation boxes, many Tibetan pilgrims and tourists placed 
bills directly before statues and pictures.  Many of these 
loose bills, Jensen claimed, ended up in the pockets of the 
temple keepers.  At some high-traffic shrines inside Kumbum, 
temple keepers could skim annual incomes of up to RMB 1 
million (USD 150,000), Jensen claimed.  This generated fierce 
competition for control over temples.  Jensen told PolOff of 
an incident in late 2008 in which a sleeping Kumbum monk had 
been attacked with a knife by a rival temple keeper.  The 
monk barely survived the attack, which monastery leaders 
covered up. 
 
Ethnic Tensions Remain 
---------------------- 
 
¶8. (S) Unlike many Tibetan monasteries, Kumbum did not 
experience significant protests in March 2008.  (Note: 
According to Jensen, 13 Kumbum monks were arrested in the 
wake of the March 2008 riots -- and several were subject to 
beatings at a nearby police station -- but have all since 
been released.)  However, as a result of the events of March 
2008, many Han Chinese, Jensen observed, had a false 
impression of Tibetan monks as violent and quick to anger. 
Jensen said that because of this fear, Han tourists rarely 
approached him to ask directions or to take photos.  In early 
August, Jensen said, a Kumbum monk accidentally drove his car 
into a group of Han tourists, injuring several.  The monk was 
immediately arrested, and local police began investigating 
whether the monk had purposely "attacked" the Han visitors. 
Jensen said the incident, which resulted from the monk's poor 
driving skills and was not politically motivated, showed the 
kind of Han-Tibetan tensions that continue to linger over 
Kumbum. 
 
Kumbum Moves Down in Buddhist College Rankings 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶9. (S) Duola (strictly protect), a professor of Tibetan 
language at Northwest University for Nationalities in 
Lanzhou, Gansu Province, told PolOff August 15 that 
unrestricted tourism had largely destroyed Kumbum's 
reputation as an institution of Buddhist learning.  Like 
Jensen, Duola said that most Kumbum monks had been seduced by 
the tourism industry and had given up monastic life in all 
but name.  Duola contrasted Kumbum to Gansu Province's 
Labrang Monastery, which has also become a major tourist 
site.  Duola said that the senior monks at Labrang had so far 
succeeded in maintaining the monastery's focus on academic 
study despite the growth in tourism and tremendous political 
pressure in the wake of the March 2008 unrest.  Jensen 
agreed, noting that whereas Kumbum was swarming with 
incompetent tour guides, at Labrang the monks had maintained 
more control over tourism and conducted most tours 
themselves.  (Note:  Labrang also enjoys more geographic 
isolation as it is a five-hour drive from Lanzhou, the 
nearest major city.  Gansu officials, however, are currently 
building a new highway that will shorten the drive time.) 
 
Sustainable Tibetan Tourism? 
---------------------------- 
 
¶10. (S) PolOff spoke August 21 with Nima Jiangcai (strictly 
protect), a Tibetan who recently opened a bar and guest house 
in Yushu, a majority Tibetan city in southern Qinghai 
 
BEIJING 00002719  003 OF 003 
 
 
Province.  A frequent visitor to Xining, Nima Jiangcai was, 
like our other contacts, highly critical of tourism at 
Kumbum.  For Tibetans engaged in the travel business, he 
said, Kumbum stood as a cautionary tale for how tourism could 
weaken and even destroy Tibetan culture.  Nima Jiangcai said 
Tibetans in Yushu had been both excited and apprehensive 
about the opening of the town's new airport (the first 
commercial flight landed in Yushu August 1), which promised 
to dramatically increase the number of foreign and Han 
tourists.  (Note:  Before August, the only way to get to 
Yushu was via a 15-hour car or bus ride from Xining, much of 
it over poor roads and at an altitude above 13,000 feet.) 
Nima Jiangcai told PolOff that maintaining Tibetan control 
over the local tourism industry in Yushu was essential for 
avoiding the pitfalls of Kumbum.  Doing so, he admitted, 
would be difficult given the preferences of Han tourists who, 
unlike Western tourists, did not necessarily favor Tibetan 
businesses.  Nima Jiangcai worried that Han hotel and tour 
operators would begin to move into Yushu in force and 
displace Tibetan business owners once Yushu's tourism 
industry took off. 
 
Bio Note 
-------- 
 
¶11. (S) Jensen spent four years in the 1990s living at a 
Tibetan monastery in northern India.  During his stay in 
India, Jensen met the Dalai Lama twice in Dharamsala.  In 
1999, Jensen received a scholarship from an overseas 
foundation to study for two years at Utah Valley State 
College in Provo.  While in Utah, Jensen had an audience with 
the Dalai Lama during the Tibetan spiritual leader's 2001 
visit to the state.  Upon Jensen's return to Kumbum Monastery 
in 2002, authorities confiscated his passport.  Jensen said 
local officials and the monastery leadership view him with 
suspicion because of his extended stays in India and the 
United States.  Jensen said he listens regularly to 
Tibetan-language newscasts by Radio Free Asia, Voice of 
America, and other overseas broadcasters via his computer. 
He also regularly reads articles on websites affiliated with 
Tibetan exile groups. 
HUNTSMAN