As the Dust Settles in Shangri-La: Alai's Tibet in the era of Sino-globalization

With the English translation of his novel Red Poppies published in 2000, the ethnic Tibetan author Alai has established a prominent presence outside the People's Republic, apart from the Shangri-La myth that has dominated the Western imagination of Tibet. This essay attempts to unpack the multitudes of meaning of the novel, situate it against a material history of opium in Eastern Tibet, and highlight the dilemma of a leading Tibetan author. Through further discussion of his essays unavailable in English, this essay aims at developing a cultural geography of Alai's intellectual travel, energized by a Tibetan warrior tradition in his homeland and yet detailed about contemporary social, cultural, and environmental changes. It paints a picture about a Tibet that is neither a paradise nor a human hell, alive in the moment to survive the creative destruction of Sino-globalization that began long before the People's Liberation Army marched into Lhasa.