Shanghai, China – The director of Tibet’s Potala palace, the former home of the Dalai Lama, has rejected U.N. concerns over its preservation, saying steps have been taken to limit the impact of hordes of tourists.
Qiangba Gesang was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency Friday as saying UNESCO experts have jumped to conclusions over the massive 350-year-old palace’s condition and should come to Tibet themselves to view preservation work.
“A conclusion without an investigation is meaningless,” he was quoted as saying.
At a conference last month, UNESCO listed the Potala complex, which also includes two other sites in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, as a subject of concern, saying an “integrated urban development planning process” was needed.
That was an apparent reference to the palace becoming increasingly hemmed in by nondescript modern Chinese buildings.
Qiangba Gesang did not address the urban development issue in the Xinhua report, saying only that his administration had protected the palace’s wood and mud construction by limiting tourist numbers to 2,300 per day.
“The restriction of visitors proves our commitment to the protection of Potala palace,” he was quoted as saying.
Tourism has boomed in Tibet with the start of a railway service last year, with trains bringing more than 1.5 million visitors since the service began.
Many visitors flock to the Potala and the vast square at its base, created by communist troops after they occupied the region in 1951. The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s traditional Buddhist leader, fled Lhasa in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
