Here’s the latest on spring tourism opportunities in large and beautiful areas of Gansu, Sichuan and Qinghai provinces: Official: Tibetan areas closed to foreigners
An official at the tourism office of northwestern Gansu province’s Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, home to a major monastery and large Tibetan communities, said the region was closed to foreigners and would not be open until late March. The official, who did not identify himself as is customary in China, did not say when the restrictions were put in place.
In Sichuan province, many areas open just two weeks ago are now closed to foreign tourists until April, according to officials at the Ganzi prefecture tourist bureau. Only three counties in that prefecture will remain open to foreigners. Qinghai province’s tourism bureau also said that many areas remain closed to foreigners.
No specific projected date for lifting the ban in Qinghai, though there’s that New Oriental Express blowing its whistle about leaving Beijing station on March 27, 2009, heading right through the heart of Qinghai. But I guess if you’re paying that much money you can go just about anywhere.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Josh // Feb 13, 2009 at 12:45 pm
This must have been a VERY recent development, because my Australian friends who live here in Xinjiang with us just got back from a 2-week trip to Tibet. Not only did they get all their required paperwork to visit but they were surprised when they were never asked to show it.
They left from Lanzhou at the end of January, but they went through Qinghai on their way to Lhasa. According to what they’ve told me there were plenty of foreigners wandering the streets.
Is it possible this is just a way to keep people from trying to go? Or has this ban really been put in place yesterday?
2 jg // Feb 13, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Not sure Josh. The article, which was just pointed out to me, (tks WD) states: “Large swathes of Gansu, Sichuan and Qinghai provinces — home to large ethnic Tibetan communities — are now off limits to foreign travelers, local officials confirmed Thursday.” Are they spotting certain places in the Tib. cultural region? Very likely. And those places are probably the ones that have seen some serious (and often unreported) problems associated with last year’s ‘event.’
3 Josh // Feb 13, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Ahh! I read this a bit incorrectly. Didn’t realize that “Tib areas” includes more than just Tib. Probably a very common mistake for those who don’t know Qinghai, Gansu, etc. very well.
4 chriswaugh_bj // Feb 13, 2009 at 7:41 pm
No surprise considering the upcoming anniversary- and not just the anniversary of last year’s “incident”. I’m thinking back to ‘59 and expecting a fair bit of tension, to say the least, in that part of the country over the next month or two.
Leave a Comment