Too in thrall to an imaginary Tibet to be reasonable is the impression I got of some Westerners after I attended meetings between three Chinese scholars in Tibet studies and some US and Canadian politicians and journalists.

For example, some of them accused the Chinese government of "migrating" Han people from the interior of the country to the Tibet autonomous region, which they said threatens the integrity of Tibetan culture. Some pointed their fingers at the teaching of Putonghua as a way of sidelining the local Tibetan language. And some even claimed the improved transport links from the interior areas to Tibet were constructed just so the resources in Tibet could be exploited.

These people think Tibet should be isolated from the rest of China in order to keep its culture intact, its resources untouched and its language pure from any influence of other languages.