The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 3 March 2005
by Patrick French
The author of this compelling personal history of the lost land of Tibet begins his journey with the words of Hugh Richardson, one time British representative to Lhasa, who said that each of us has his own "mind's Tibet." The idea is that each of us has his or her own mythological "Tibet", which varies in its proximity to reality. James Hilton wrote Lost Horizon which had a preposterously western romantic view of the lost land. Heinrich Harrer's famous Seven Years in Tibet is, more or less, the last record of the country before it was taken over by the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. Patrick French, who is active in Tibet's political cause in the West, took a trip across that country as a way of demystifying it in his own mind. This book is the revealing, unsentimental result of that journey, which took place over several weeks in 1999. What French reveals is the reality on the ground in Tibet, for both the Chinese and the Tibetans. What he learns there casts an increasingly complex light upon the political reality, and the real likelihood of Tibet ever gaining autonomy or independence. He finds Tibetans who argue, convincingly, that pressure from outside is only making life more difficult within Tibet. China's arrogant and stubborn stance when confronted with "internal" human rights abuses is difficult to crack, and as long as the nations of the world continue to bend over backward to gain access to China's perceived wealth and huge market, nothing will ever change in Tibet. China has no incentive for change. Change may yet come, but French discovers that it isn't as simple as boycotting Chinese goods, and protesting the regular visits Chinese leaders make to Western countries, usually to great pomp and circumstance. This book is terrifically immediate. There are excellent stories of survival, betrayal, and the balance one strikes to live in a complex and opressive environment. Patrick French's appeal to the truth must be read by anyone moved by the Tibetan cause.
Also by Patrick French: [Younghusband]