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FlorCruz: Tibetan cultural heritage endures

CNN Beijing Bureau Chief Jaime Florcruz

Jaime FlorCruz
Jaime FlorCruz

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Tibet's cultural heritage endures in the face of Chinese changes.
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CNN's Jaime FlorCruz reports on Beijing's 'Go West' program.
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A battle for the hearts of 2.5 million Tibetan between Beijing and the exiled Dalai Lama.
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CNN takes a look at how modernization is changing life in Tibet.
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Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news.

KAMPALA PASS, Tibet (CNN) -- It's been nine years since a CNN crew was last allowed into Tibet.

This time we had to join a group of reporters for an officially organized tour.

Our group was accompanied by Chinese government guides, but CNN had some limited freedom to work independently.

We often had the opportunity to talk to Tibetans out of the presence of Chinese officials, who seemed somewhat relaxed towards the reporters.

Tibet is famous for being remote and inaccessible. Just how remote became quickly apparent as we suffered lengthy bus rides along winding, single-track gravel roads, passing barren landscapes and climbing over 16,000-foot mountain passes.

In some places, even the journalists had to help push, and we often found ourselves breathless in the thin air -- and in the presence of breathtaking beauty.

For centuries, the scenic mountains separated Tibet from the rest of the world -- till 1951, that is, when China sent in its troops.

Since then, China has done its best to assimilate Tibet into the rest of country.

Chinese culture and globalization piggybacked on tourism, trade and modern communications, are breaching old barriers and radically changing the face of Tibet.

We noted clashes of the old and the new in the streets, neighborhoods and in monasteries.

We saw a monk encumbered by modern gadgetry, such as a video camera.

Still, perhaps because of Tibet's isolation, many Tibetans have managed to retain their unique culture.

Tibetans in the towns and cities we visited looked hardy and high-spirited, though life for many remained relatively austere.

Even under the China's rule, Tibet remains a land of endless prayers. Pious Tibetans enrich their lives with religious faith, twirling prayer wheels around sacred places.

Inside the wheels are scrolls of Buddhist prayers. With each turn, a prayer is sent to heaven.

Certain cultural heritage surely endures.

At the peak of the Kampala Pass, we found some men tossing prayer papers into the air -- a Buddhist tradition of acknowledging the gods and the land at the Roof of the World they call home.


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