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Lhasa still bruised by deadly riots

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-13 17:24

Wait-and-see Attitude

Since the riots the regional government has put forth a series of preferential policies to help businesses recover. Though the tax breaks, government loans, exemption of rental fees and subsidies did boost confidence to some extent, the apparent decline makes everyone uncertain about the future.

Monks arrive for the Monlam Chenmo, also known as the Great Prayer Festival, at the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa, the capital of southwest China's Tibet autonomous region Wednesday, March 4, 2009. [Agencies]

The riots were a fatal blow to Li Lin's inn, on Porgor Street, the famous market street around the Jokhang Temple. "In the busiest months of July, August and September, we receive about 10 guests a day," he says. "For the rest of the year, the place had just two or three guests."

Seeing a booming tourism market, Li leased the 30-bed inn in January2008. "Business was good in the first two months, with pilgrims from other Tibetan communities and tourists and business people coming every day."

Li had planned to refurbish the inn, but the year-long post-riots recession made him reconsider. In November he put up ads along Pogor Street hoping to lease the place out. "One person dropped in for a look, but never came back," he says.

From time to time, a foremer guest, a Tibetan businessman from Qinghai Province, calls to check the situation in Lhasa. The man sells tangka, traditional Tibetan scroll paintings, and does not plan to come back to Lhasa until next month, Li says.

Most Han business people consider themselves residents of Lhasa. "We've been here long enough to love Lhasa, and are ready to sit through the hard times with our Tibetan friends," says Jia Jun, whose Landun Market in downtown Lhasa, once the city's largest retailer of children's wear, is the only building that still bears scars from the riots.

Jia and his employees are now selling stock left from last year at discounted prices on the first floor of the charred three-story building. "Our turnover is about a third of what we used to do."

Eighty percent of Jia's employees are Tibetans. "We are like one family. After the riots, nearly everyone asked for a pay cut so that we could live through the tough time," he says.

Jia was hoping business would recover in April or May. "The Tibetans are better off nowadays. Some herders drive their cars to Lhasa for shopping and stay for days, as long as they believe it is safe and stable."

Ten years in Lhasa, Wang Ruifeng, manager of Huadu Advertisement and Decoration Co., considers Lhasa his "home away from home".

Last year's riots left Wang's wife seriously injured, their company looted and the couple penniless. "I feel safe seeing the soldiers and police on the streets. No one wants violence. I trust Lhasa will be stable this year -- I want to spend at least another 10 years here."

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