Lhasa, the Open City: A Journey to Tibet

by Han Suyin

In October and November 1975 Han Suyin visited Tibet, the region of China which lies next to her own province of Szechuan. Her family in Szechuan had had links with Tibet for over two centuries, and Szechuan itself harbours a great many Tibetans, whose families have lived there for ten centuries or more. This was the first time since 1962, when the English journalist Stuart Gelder and his wife Roma visited Tibet, that a visitor from abroad was admitted to the region. Han Suyin's book is all the more valuable because it traces the changes which occurred during these intervening years. The photographs she took show not only the temples and monasteries of this fabulous region, but also the new industries and the countryside. Han Suyin also traces the historical background of Tibet, dating it back to the seventh century when the laws of the Chinese Tang dynasty were adopted by the Tibetan Kings. This book will clarify many issues about Tibet which have remained obscure, and also show how the Tibetan people are now actively participating, at all levels, in the running of their own autonomous region. Han Suyin's is a book for those wishing to discover what Tibet is really like today.

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Han Suyin (Pinyin: Hán Sùyīn) is the pen name of Elizabeth Comber, born Rosalie Elisabeth Kuanghu Chow (Pinyin: Zhōu Guānghú). She was a Chinese-born Eurasian author of several books on modern China, novels set in East Asia, and autobiographical works, as well as a physician. She wrote in English and French. She died in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2012.

Reviews

[Tenzin Kunsang · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt she was trying to justify Chinese occupation over Tibet. If she was live I would want to ask her how she feels about her book today? But this question will remain unanswered always for, she died last year.