Evening star., 1924-11-02
FORBIDDEN CITY,
SHOWS PROGRESS
Hydro-EIectric Plant Among
Modern Facilities introduce
ed in Capital of Tibet.

nel Clty. WnlCn III all ltS eAlSteuct has
been visited by only handful Of white
men, is reported about to make a jump
into twentieth century methods by con-
str1Icting a hydro-electric plant" says a
bulletin from the Washington headquar-
tiers of the National Geographic Society.
which quotes from communication to
the society from John Claude White. one
Of the few Westerners ever admitted to
the city.
"Lhasa, the Place of the Gods, weIl
deserves its name. as anything more
beautiful can hardly be imagined than
the vision of the sacred city set against
its magnificent background Of snow
CAPPED mountains. Whether seen on a
brilliant day. under a cloudleSS sky, dur
ing thunderstorm. painted in soft.
glowing tints by one of the wonderful
sunsets seen only in Tibet or by moon
light. when with outlines sofrened and
toned down, the Fotala stands out like
a phantom castle in ghostly Spiendor
from among the shadows of its sur
rounding trees. all aspects are equally
lovely.
City Dominated by PUtala.
THE Potala is by far the finest
building and eclipsss all others in the
beauty Of its appearance. The pres
ent Potala was commenced in 1S45
by the Grand Lama Nag-wang Lob
sanggya-tSho, on the same site as
former building, and there is no
doubt, l think, that the city is an
ancient one and was in existence
more than 1900 years ago. although
we can find no records giving any
authentic historical account
The Potoia dominates everything
in Lhasa- The enormous mass of
buildings, partly monastery, partly
palace and partly fortress. is built
| on rocky ridge which stands out
in the center of the valley, command
ing the Down and dominating the
landscape. Its architecture is mag
niticently grand. bold in outline and
design; it towers above everything.
with its graywhite walls and but
tresses, its immense flights OF steps
and terraces dotted with red-robed
monks ascending and descending
from religious ceremonies: its dull
madder-red temple walls, with carved
and painted windows. showing be-
hind black brown yak's hair hang
ings, surmounted by its gilded roofs
and set in almost parklike surround
lnES OF trees and meadows, with
snow-capped mountains on all sides
and the Kyi-chhu, the river of de-
light. running clear in many channels
through groves of willow or poplar
Fitting Shrine for Any Relis1s,.
ut is, indeed. fitting shrine for
the heart Of any religion. and with
such surroundings il is difficult to
understand how the present form, of
Buddhism (Lanaism), as practiced in
Tibet, could ever have sunk to the
depths Of degradation it has reached
But the interior of the Potola is
curiousfy isappointing. as it consists
principally of q mass of dark pas
sages and cells, a certain number of
halls and flights of steps
Among the larger halls were sew
eral striking ones, especially that in
which was the gilt tomb of Nag
wans-Loo-san Gya-tsho; the dome
OF this hall extended upward through
several stories. On the tomb there
was 3 great deal Of metal ornamental
ton and the whole formed a fine piece
OF work. On each side Of the princi-
pal tomb were similar ones Of smaller
dimensions, those of Dalai Lamas less
notable.
Gold Images ON View.
'In another room Of fairly large
dimensions the walls were lined with
shelves from floor to ceiling, each
shelf closely packed to it's uttermost
extent with images Of Buddha- There
must have been thousands of all met
als-gold, silver. copper, brass-and
many were of very beautiful work
manship. In another chapel there
were hundreds of golden butter
lamps.
Prom the fiat roofs Of the Potala
the whole valley lies mapped out be-
low-the town to the east, a mass of
low, two-storied, substantially built
houses interspersed with temples; the
Jo-Khang, the most holy shrine in
Tibet; the Chagpori. or school of
medicine; the Turquoise Bridge GU
tok Sampa). SO called on account of
its green-blue tiled roof: the many
channels Of the River of Delight (the
kyi-chhu), beyond which lies the ar
Senal, and to the north the Monastery
of Sera under the hills, containing
5000 monks. Further on the Debung
Monastery with 10,700 inmates; the
gilded roofs of the Na-chung- -chos-
kyong; and the Ling-Kor, the Sacred
road, along with all devout Budd-
hists PROSTATE themselves in the hope
that all their earthly sins may be for
given, could be seen in places.
There are monks everywhere in or
near Lhasa. The three large monas-
teries of Sera, Debung and Cab dan
alone contain about 10000 and with
all the other temples and monasteries
the number cannot fall far short of
10000, while tho lay population of
Lhasa only amounts to about $4,000,
of whom 5000 are women, who,
strange to say, carry on practically
the whole Of the trade done. The re-
naming 5000 males are about 5000
Tibetans and 5000 foreigners-Chi-