Every city has roads that run through it, such as Chang'an Street in Beijing, Jiangyang Road in Dalian, and the road that runs through Lhasa called Beijing Road. Beijing Road is divided into three sections: the section next to Barkhor Street and Chongsaikang is called Beijing East Road, the section that reaches Potala Palace Square is Beijing Middle Road, and the section west of the Yak City sculpture is Beijing West Road.
In my memory, the section of Beijing East Road is the place with the strongest sense of life. Besides being next to Barkhor Street, which has different shopping attractions for travelers, it is also a living place for locals and Tibetan people from other regions coming to Lhasa.
Chongsaikang has always been a distribution center for butter, as well as a market for agricultural products and small goods. The agricultural market related to Beijing East Road, including the agricultural market in Barkhor Street, is usually not frequented by tourists, but it is different from any other agricultural market. The difference is that we know that any agricultural market in any city, as long as conditions permit, does not oppose selling live poultry, fish, seafood, etc., and slaughtering is usually done for the customers. Here, due to Tibetan cultural customs, the sale of live animals is not allowed, nor is public slaughtering permitted. Although the living habits of Lhasa people have changed significantly over the years, this aspect has not changed. Even now, in Barkhor Street and Chongsaikang, the practice of not killing living beings is still maintained.
Legend has it that Tibetans originally did not eat fish, and there are various explanations for this.
One explanation is that Tibetans do not eat dishes made from freshly slaughtered live fish because they only eat animals that have been spiritually liberated.
Another explanation is that Tibetans do not eat fish in spring because spring fish carry eggs, and eating one would harm many lives.
There are many beautiful stories about spring and kindness to living beings in Tibetan legends. On the Gannan grassland, there is a nearly lost flute made from the collarbone of a golden eagle. The sound of that flute is very pure, and when Tibetans describe its sound, they say: the sound of the eagle flute is too beautiful to play in spring, because that beautiful sound would attract hibernating snakes to come out early, leading to their freezing to death.
The most common explanation regarding Tibetans and eating fish is directly related to Tibetan funeral customs. The highest form of Tibetan burial is sky burial, like that of the Panchen Lama; cremation is also reserved for highly accomplished monks, and it is said that cremated monks leave behind relics. Ordinary people undergo sky burial; those who commit crimes or die by suicide are considered lower than ordinary people and are subjected to water burial, as fish in the water would consume their bodies, thus leading to the custom of not eating fish. It is said that the worst form of burial is earth burial.
However, regardless of what Lhasa people used to avoid eating, this imprint has become increasingly faint. In Sichuan-style restaurants, fish are sold as explosively as in any other city, and they are freshly slaughtered fish. Among those eating fish, there are not only travelers and Han people but also a considerable number of young Tibetans.
After the mid-1990s, live seafood in Lhasa became very common. I grew up by the sea, and seeing those things naturally makes me happy. Crabs, shrimp, and shellfish are all my favorites, and compared to my hometown, the prices are even lower.
From a nutritional perspective, in the past, it was common to see people suffering from iodine deficiency (commonly known as goiter) on the streets, but now such people are very rare. The disappearance of this condition is related not only to the consumption of iodized salt but also to the increased inclusion of fish and crab in the diet. Oh, and there’s a secret: Lhasa River fish are indeed delicious because the river water stays around zero degrees year-round, causing the fish to grow very slowly, and the flesh of cold-water fish is tender and incredibly fresh. Revealing this secret makes me uneasy; I try to control myself from eating the rare Lhasa River fish because living in cold water is very difficult for them, and they need protection.
Once, there was a kind-hearted mistake that left people unable to laugh.
Every year, during the season of releasing life, many Lhasa people go to the market to buy fish fry and release them into the Lhasa River. However, this kind act often results in the effect of killing, because the temperature of the Lhasa River is vastly different from the ponds where the fish fry can survive. After being released into the water, only a few can survive, while most freeze to death.
Sometimes, when I think of Barkhor Street and Beijing East Road, I can't help but feel a sense of loss. Nowadays, the sanitation conditions in that area are getting better and better, and with the increase of Western restaurants from Nepal and India, memories have become increasingly urbanized, and Tibetan clothing has become fashionable.