I ask the Tibetans to put some fashion elements into these traditionalhandicrafts， so they look more modern. Some of the handicrafts arepurchased by tourists， others are sold abroad. In this way， traditionalculture can be promoted and at the same time， the Tibetans can makemoney. He points at the artificial tiger-skin carpet under our feet andsays， “Can you imagine that’s woven with fleece? In the past， in orderto make tiger-skin carpets， the English had to hunt tigers. Using fleeceto make such carpets not only protects endangered animals but alsocarries forward the Tibetan tradition. The Tibetan people can makeprofits， as well as take pride in their culture. Isn’t this the sustainabledevelopment of culture? He established the Shangbhala Foundation， affiliated to the Nan-Long Group， in Lhasa， and sent the Tibetan employees of his hotel toBeijing for training in business， Mandarin and English. They becamethe backbone of his company when they returned to Tibet.
Laurence also set up the Shangbhala School， providing free educationto poor children. An old Chinese saying goes， “Teaching somebodyto fish is better than giving him fish directly. Laurence spends a third of the year in Beijing， and the remainingtwo-thirds in Lhasa. He calls his Lhasa project “Himalaya Consensus”。
“With this model， I hope that the Buddhist concepts of helpingothers， protecting humanity， and conserving natural resources can beapplied to the economy， to solve the poverty problem and find a balancebetween material and spiritual civilization，” he says.
In order to promote the concepts “harmonious society” and “sustainabledevelopment of culture”， and introduce his Himalayan model，he made a newsreel Stories in the Himalayas. Recently， he has alsowritten a book， China After WTO and is making a film， The Man WhoIs Chasing the Sun. This could be said to be self-titled， since he has reached the roof of the world， the place nearest to the sun， in his pursuitof Shangri-La.
Laurence of the HimalayasSometimes Laurence travels to neighboring countries as consultant.
In countries such as Pakistan， Nepal and Bengal， he has heardpraises of his Chinese economic model. Governments and othergroups seek valuable proposals from him， the old China hand; he himselfis usually willing to provide strategic advice.
“Nowadays people like to talk about the Sino-US strategic partnership，”he says. “But China should pay more attention to formingsuch partnerships with its neighboring South Asian countries. Thesecountries are close to China geographically. In addition， they havethe same economic development needs as China， and promote similar‘harmonious society’ concepts.
“Cooperating with each together will also greatly promote theeconomy of this region. But when these countries learn from China，they also need to keep up with changing times. It doesn’t matterwhether it is socialism or capitalism; traditional models should besmashed and the experience should be emphasized. Moreover， he believes， Hinduism， Islamism， and Chinese Buddhismcan be combined together to form Asian values， because， hesays， the concept of “harmonious society” is embodied in the three religions.
Culture should retain its diversity instead of staying fixed， andnot be ”oxidized” by the integration of global economy， he says.
“Most of the religions in the world — including Chinese Buddhismand Western Christianity — have originated from the Hinduismof the Himalayan foothills”， he says， revealing his next amazingproject. “I’m currently preparing to write a book， The Dakini Code， toexplore the origins of religious schools， something which even The DaVinci Code does not dare. It will be a subversive book. His ability to come up with clever ideas and implement themsuccessfully reminds one of the movie Lawrence of Arabia， in whichthe protagonist leads his people into battle. The Himalayan Laurence，however， by guiding the Tibetans towards peace and prosperity， seemsa much more compelling figure.
Translated by Chen Bing and Gao CuimingRevised by K. Krishna
