Chinese security on the border with Nepal has been intensified in an effort to prevent Tibetans from escaping over the mountains to Nepal and on to India. Such efforts shouldn’t affect Western travelers going overland between Nepal and Tibet, but once they reach Lhasa, the colorful local Tibetans they see may be less authentic than they seem. Communist “committees,” which wield power in the Lhasa neighborhoods and control the issuing of permits for Tibetans visiting from exile in India, have been instructing locals to wear their best clothes and walk around the Potala area as a way to present positive images for tourists.
