19

"Tell me more about this group."

I think not," Zhu says. "And 'group' is perhaps too formal a term, anyway. We do not officially exist. More a loose association of operatives with…concerns about Sino-German relations. That is all."

"Did you fight here during the war?"

"Not as an enlisted soldier, if that is what you mean," Zhu says. "But I was…involved, in more covert ways."

He averts his eyes from yours for a moment. "I have spent more time than I would like in these mountains, and it has not always been easy. I have seen things—done things—which have been difficult. I apologize, but I would speak of this no more."

"Seems to me like this treasure belongs to the Tibetans, not the Chinese."

"Indeed," says Zhu. "And the Tibetan people are Chinese."

That's a controversial statement, and many people here would reject it. Recently there was a particularly nasty war here between Tibetan nationalists and the forces of the Chinese Republic. It didn't take China long to demolish the Tibetan state, but many of the local people took to the mountains and wild places to wage a guerrilla war against the occupiers.

The fighting dragged on for so long that the British got involved (don't they always?), partitioning Tibet east-west. Eastern Tibet was recognized as Chinese territory; Western Tibet was to be an independent kingdom under the rule of the Dalai Lama, protected by the forces of the British Raj. China signed the accord but has spent every moment since vigorously denying its legitimacy and continuing to assert a claim to the whole of Tibet, consistently pushing the exact line Zhu just trotted out—that the Tibetan people are Chinese.

In the middle, caught between the great powers, are the Tibetan people. Some are reconciling themselves as best they can to foreign rule. Others continue to fight in the mountains, conducting resistance actions little different from banditry, keeping the precious dream of a free and whole homeland alive in their hearts.