The Dalai Lama is a live connection with their own souls. The Chinese in Tibet acknowledge that almost all Tibetans are devout Buddhists and are motivated to be in the presence of the living Buddha, the Dalai Lama, at least once in their lives. The Dalai Lama to Tibetans is as Mecca to the Muslim faithful. They risk frostbite, starvation, death from altitude sickness or beatings if caught by police on either side of the Sino-Nepalese border. As you land at Lhasa's civilian airport, a squadron of fighter jets is lined up next to the runway.
Armed soldiers walk the perimeter.
A military barracks is adjacent. On my exit drive from Lhasa to the airport I counted 49 army trucks, full of troops, in three convoys. The bridge halfway to town is patrolled each end and centre by soldiers with semi-automatic rifles. So are the major banks, official buildings and some hotels in town. When I tried to enter the avenue to the Tibet Autonomous Region Parliament, set up by Beijing, I was waved back by one of the Chinese soldiers at the gate.