Pagoda marks home of the Dalai Lama

A year after the deadly Lhasa riots, villagers have finally completed a resplendent Buddhist pagoda in the arid and poverty-stricken birthplace of the exiled Dalai Lama to honour the one they worship as a living god. The two-storey, elaborately-decorated structure stands solemnly and silently against the yellow landscape of sub-zero temperatures and frozen rivers. The pagoda, near the farmhouse where the Dalai Lama was born in 1935, is in Hongyagou, or Red Cliff Village, in Pingan county, more than 80km southeast of Xining, the capital of Qinghai province. The area has been off-limits to foreigners since the riots and local visitors were only allowed to return after the Beijing Olympic Games. The gilded pagoda was built for the Dalai Lama. Inside sits a portrait of the Tibetan spiritual leader with an incense burner and three golden statues 1 metre tall. Prayer flags flutter outside and a scripture hall stands on the other side of the courtyard. The hall is usually kept locked unless Buddhists come to burn incense and pay their respects. Gazing at the pagoda, Gongbu Tashi, a nephew of the Dalai Lama, breathed a sigh of relief. 'During the Cultural Revolution, almost all of the old compound buildings constructed in 1943 were demolished,' he said. The construction of the pagoda took more than two years, nearly 800,000 yuan (HK$908,000) and was largely financed by Buddhists. 'The government hardly gave me a penny [for the project]. All the funds came from disciples' donations and my own contributions,' Gongbu Tashi said. All the craftsmen who worked on the building came from Regong, also known as Tongren in Putonghua, known as the 'home of Tibetan culture and art' for its coloured paintings and clay and wooden sculptures. The 63-year-old retired teacher and serving member of the Qinghai Provincial People's Political Consultative Conference has lived with his family in a small house next to his exiled uncle's former home for decades, safeguarding it for his return. Looking back, he says some of the toughest times were during the politically dominated era of Mao Zedong. 'Those old days were no good at all,' Gongbu Tashi said. 'Everybody was mobilised for, and suffered from, political struggles against each other, even though there was not enough food to support them.' 'People's lives are much better now with the proper policy put in place and carried out by the central government over the past 30 years.' Beijing's religious policies were widely considered at their most relaxed in the 1980s, during the era of respected former Communist Party general secretary Hu Yaobang. 'Up to 1986, the government offered us more than 300,000 yuan to rebuild and renovate the original building,' Gongbu Tashi said. More recently dozens, if not hundreds, of the Dalai Lama's local followers and foreign travellers started coming into the area after the Lonely Planet guidebook listed it a must-see several years ago. During its heyday in 2007, scores of Japanese and locals visited the small courtyard. But good things never last - the March 14 riots and following crackdown reversed the relatively relaxed religious atmosphere that had evolved over recent years. 'Since then, public security officers have been stationed at my home all day long, allowing neither a single domestic worshipper nor foreign visitor to approach here,' Gongbu Tashi said. 'It was not until after the Beijing Olympics ended on August 24 that the officers retreated and the ban was gradually lifted for local pilgrims who come and pay respects here. 'However, there are still limits imposed on foreigners.' Gongbu Tashi still hopes that his beloved uncle will return to his hometown and his family has set aside a spotlessly clean, fragrance-filled room for just such an occasion. After decades apart, he went to India in 1990 and saw his uncle. Three years later, he paid another visit with his wife and stayed for four months. 'Each time I met him, he [the Dalai Lama] told me that he'd soon return to his hometown [in Pingan county]. I've been waiting here day and night, but he has never arrived and his dream of returning home has not yet come true,' he said. 'I'm fully aware that the central government wanted him to come back during that time. So they let me go. But since 1997 or 1998, they changed their attitude and no longer stuck to their original strategy, until President Hu Jintao came to power.' Everything changed after the March 14 riots last year, which left hundreds of ethnic Han and Tibetans dead or injured. Relations between the central authorities and the Tibetan government-in-exile plunged to an all-time low and several talks held before and after the Beijing Olympics proved fruitless. But Gongbu Tashi still waits for his uncle's return. 'I just want to say: if today will do [for the Dalai Lama to come back home], it would be much better than tomorrow. As a 73-year old man, he doesn't have too many opportunities to come back,' he said, on the brink of tears. 'I have been particularly upset that most of my relatives, who fled with him 50 years ago, were all eager to come back for decades but almost all of them have already passed away in misery in a foreign country. 'In contrast to the older generation, the young Tibetans who are born and bred away from home do not seem to have any homesickness at all. 'They can hardly imagine what their hometowns look like.' Plagued by aching legs and stomach troubles, Gongbu Tashi said: 'I miss him so much, but I'm old and sick now and that stops me from going to India. 'I feel that they [Beijing] would like to allow me to have another trip right now, but my time has gone.'