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THE OLD CITY OF LHASA
REPORT FROM A CONSERVATION PROJECT (98-99)

4.1 Preservation Activities at National Level

The state council of the People's Republic of China listed two sites in Lhasa, the Jokhang temple and the Potala palace, as nationally protected monuments in 1961.

The city of Lhasa has had the official status of being one of China's Historic Cities since the 1980s. Historic City regulations stipulate that construction in the old city area, and especially close to the two national monuments, has to have unspecified "national characteristics", and that new construction may not block the view of the national monuments. The Lhasa City 2000 Development Plan, approved in 1983, mentions that these "national characteristics" should be respected during construction in the old city. In practice, this has often meant little more than giving new facades a Tibetan-style paint-job.

4.2 Regional Level Activities

The Cultural Relics Authority of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in the late 1980s, declared several sites in the Lhasa valley "regionally protected buildings". Three of these sites are located in the old city: the Tsangkung Nunnery, Muru Sarba Monastery, and the Great Mosque. A further six sites have been listed as protected since 1991 at the Lhasa municipal level. All of these six are religious sites: the Karmashar Temple, the Northern Rigsum Temple, the Southern Rigsum Temple, the Western Rigsum Temple (which is in a new location since 1990- a road runs over the original 7th-century site), the Eastern Rigsum Temple and Murunyingba Monastery. The same office had already proposed in 1985 to list all temples in Lhasa (including the inactive ones) as protected buildings. Active monastic sites in Lhasa have enjoyed some local-level protection. Some inactive sites (such as Phurbocog Labrang in 1989 or the eastern wing of Darpoling monastery in 1996) have been demolished in recent years.

Earlier efforts (notably by the now-retired head of the TAR Cultural Relics Bureau, Mr. Sonam Wangdu, and the late Mr. Horkhang, member of the Lhasa People's Political Consultative Committee) to protect old residential buildings remained unsuccessful at the time. Instead, since 1993, the redevelopment of the old city has sharply accelerated.

A report on Lhasa compiled in 1991 by China's Central Construction and Planning Authority in Beijing recommended that the old city should be regarded as a special historic area, and that its character be preserved. Nevertheless, the report classifies the vast majority of the old buildings as "dangerous" or "unsafe" housing that need to be replaced. The report only specifically recommends that a further nine sites in Lhasa "have some preservational value". Three of these sites are not monastic in origin: the 18th-century Tromsikhang House (see chapter 9), the old Nepali embassy in Lhasa (18th century), and the Nangtseshar Court (founding date presently unknown). The latter, the former Law Court of Lhasa, was restored by the City Cultural Office in 1995 but is not open to the public yet (the municipality plans to eventually use it as a museum). The other seven suggested sites are: the 'little' mosque, the old traditional hospital and medical and astrological college, Mentsikhang; Shidé Monastic College (partly in ruins); Tsemoling Monastic College; Tengyeling Temple and the Gyumé Lower Tantric College. In February 1995, the municipality officially approved the recommendation to list the sites described as protected buildings, and chose to add the Ganden Khangsar complex. Ganden Khangsar already existed as a palace in the 15th century, but was rebuilt in the early 20th century as residential complex. One of its toilets collapsed in the mid-1970s and has not yet been repaired.

The TAR Cultural Bureau has expanded the list of protected buildings at Autonomous Region level, to include most of the important active and inactive monastic sites throughout Lhasa prefecture.

One of the houses on Barkor street, called Labrang Nyingba (bLa-brang rNying-ba) has become a precedent for successful prevention of planned demolition. The site is connected with the 15th century Buddhist reformer, Je Tsongkapa. The Barkor Neighbourhood Committee, an official local administrative unit that used to have its office in the building, announced in 1994 that the old house was going to be demolished and replaced by a new office building. However, the office was visited by many residents who suggested that the house be preserved because of its historical significance. The municipal authorities and the Cultural Office also voiced their concerns. In 1995, the Barkor Neighbourhood Committee announced that the house was definitely not going to be demolished. The Committee instead moved into new premises on the northern strip of the Barkor, built in 1996. Because of the height regulation that came into force, the new office is built in modern Tibetan style and has two storeys only, as did the old Changling House that previously stood on the site. There was no clear overall policy towards the preservation and listing of historic secular buildings in Lhasa.

In early 1998, the 2-storey Lagang house, located on Barkor north just east of the old Tromsikhang, was demolished despite objections by the cultural office and strong criticism by THF. Lagang was previously owned by Nepali merchants and housed a Nepali shrine. The Cultural Office decided to impose the height regulations existant on the inner Barkor to cover every redevelopment of a historic site, meaning that a new building that replaces an old one could not be higher that the original building. The developer, in this case the Tromsikhang Neighbourhood Committee, decided to ignore the regulation and had partially constructed the third floor already. The construction work then was frozen by direct order of the municipality, with the final outcome still undecided by the time of writing.

4.3 The 76 Listed Houses

In 1997, THF proposed to create a conservation area out of the southern part of the inner Barkor area. The municipal government departments in charge of the old city agreed, and eventually placed all old buildings located within the inner side of the Barkor under protection. Unfortunately, buildings on the wrong side of the Barkor were still demolished in early 1998, such as the Lagang House and the Tashi Lhunpo monastery-owned Thelun Khangsar.

THF submitted a long list of old houses in the old city suggesting that these be given protected status. This list contained almost all of the remaining old houses that are government-owned, and some privately-owned houses that are located in planned conservation areas. 76 houses were accepted for final inclusion in the list.

The list was approved by the Lhasa city government in early June 1998, and was read out in full on the Lhasa TV eight o'clock evening news on June 5 1998.The 76 houses are now officially listed as protected historic buildings at Lhasa City level. Each house has been marked with a special plaque (see photo).

To sum up, while there has been some action from the government to protect certain religious monuments, and some effort to influence the style of construction in historic areas of Lhasa, previously there has been no official policy to preserve individual historic residential buildings. The June 1998 decision to list 76 buildings marks a genuine shift in official policy towards preservation. Click here for a map of the 76 listed houses

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