When night falls, singer Tseten Tashi can be found in one of the many bars across Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region.
Tonight, dressed in jeans with prayer beads wrapped around his wrist, he begins a dreamy, jazz-inspired ballad:
"The home in my dream belongs to the snowy mounts,
my heart to the rosy clouds.
The prayer wheel turns,
my lotus heart blossoms,"
As the sun rises the next day, however, the 29-year-old musician can be found in a very different environment: walking around Jokhang Temple chanting sutra. After this morning ritual, he returns home and works on new songs as fragrant coils of incense smoke fill the room.
Born into a Buddhist family in Shannan Prefecture, Tseten Tashi enjoys his life as a musician in Lhasa, where monks on smart phones walk down streets lined with fast-food chains and butter tea cafes. In the regional capital, the old and the new exist peacefully side-by-side.
Rapid development in Tibet has afforded many of its residents more comfortable lifestyles. Far from causing a "demise of Tibetan culture," many locals have grasped modernity firmly by both hands while staying true to their traditions.
"I combine Tibetan songs with modern elements to introduce our music to the world," said Tseten Tashi. "My family are very supportive of the music I make."
URGE FOR MODERNIZATION
The central government, eager to improve the primitive infrastructure that once characterized the plateau, has steady-channelled funding to Tibet since the autonomous region was founded in 1965.
Every village in Tibet had been connected to telecommunication by 2014, according to the regional government, and 600,000 people now have access to solar-generated electricity, many of whom live in remote areas uncovered by the state grid.
The Lhasa-Xigaze Line means that the elderly no longer have to struggle to complete their arduous pilgrimages by foot; and the majority of Tibetan women now choose safer hospital births over home deliveries, a major contributor to the high maternal mortality rate.
