The temple houses a lavishly brocaded Buddha, the most revered statue in Tibet. The Barkhor circuit is like a Buddhist carnival. Smiling, wrinkled ladies mumble mantras and hold out their hands for a few jiao to help fund their long journeys. Young men wearing red-tasseled braids and chunky turquoise necklaces play pool at outdoor tables. Monks and nuns in maroon robes and sneakers turn hand-held prayer wheels, sending the words into the wind.
Salesgirls snap their gum as they call out to customers.
Their tables are spread with prayer beads, silk mandalas, altar-lamp butter, oversized sunglasses and even Chicago Bulls caps. Since China opened Tibet's doors to tourism in 1984, its markets have been flooded with foreign merchandise, influences the Buddhist theocracy had managed to keep out for centuries. Shops offering email, film processing, banana pancakes and fleece jackets now ring the Barkhor. Tibetans have become a minority in their own capital. To integrate Tibet into the Motherland, China has shipped in thousands of Chinese workers.