Tintin Hosts Journey Into Tibet

BRUSSELS -- Tintin, the strangely coiffed young reporter who never seemed to write a word but has been read by millions, has finally got a real job.


Until Aug. 14, the famous cartoon-strip character will act as sherpa at an unusual exhibition at Belgium's Royal Museum of Art and History.


"Into Tibet with Tintin" is a journey through Tibetan history, culture and politics made user-friendly by the presence of Belgian cartoonist Herg?'s Tintin, Captain Haddock and Snowy.


"The exhibition is there to stir the public to discover Tibet in all its facets," said the Herg? Foundation's Sophie Tchang, one of the organizers.


It is Tintin's second "visit" to Tibet. The first came in 1959 with the publication of "Tintin in Tibet," considered one of the late author's finest books and the inspiration for the current exhibition.


Visitors, who have included the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, are guided by Tintin and friends through 14 halls dedicated to Tibetan life, ranging from urban dwelling to yaks and from religion to the Chinese occupation.


One hall features a Buddhist temple with reconstructed altar and nearby prayer wheels. In another stands a chorten, a monument that must be passed on the left to respect the axis of the world.


A hall called "The Tibetan Myth" features documents and photographs from some of the early European explorers of the land that is sometimes known as the Roof of the World.


These include the Frenchwoman Alexandra David-Neel, who explored alone in the 1920s, and Heinrich Harrier, a German prisoner of war who escaped British capture in India in 1943, headed north and became a confidant of the Dalai Lama.


A final hall -- "Tibet Today" -- is much more chilling and details alleged atrocities by China against the region Beijing claims as one of its historic provinces.


China, which dates its control of Tibet all the way back to the 13th century, says that before Communist rule the region was a backward and feudal religious dictatorship presided over by a clique of lama overlords.


It accuses the Dalai Lama of trying to split the motherland.


The Tintin theme, meanwhile, is brought together in a hall taken up entirely with Herg? memorabilia, including sketches and original color prints from the 1959 book and the author's research material.


Published the same year as the Dalai Lama fled his country, "Tintin in Tibet" is considered a classic by aficionados both for its accuracy and its spiritual, almost Buddhist tone.


The book followed a rough period in Herg?'s life during which he underwent psychoanalysis and had dreams of large, white spaces, recreated as snow scenes in the Tibet book. "Tintin in Tibet" represents the author's lifelong fascination with the Far East and its religions, said Herg? Foundation archivist Bernard Tordeur.


It tells of how Tintin's friend Chang, a young Chinese, is lost in the Himalayas after a plane crash. Only Tintin, who has dreamed of seeing Chang call to him, believes he is still alive.


With his trusty friend Haddock and the dog Snowy by his side, Tintin sets off to find Chang, encountering tests of faith interspersed with Buddhist monks, yaks, Tibetan art and chorten.


The organizers of the exhibition have not hesitated to draw links between Tintin's crusade for his friend and Tibet's own struggle against China.


"Tintin does not struggle for the happiness of man," Herg? is quoted as saying at the start of the exhibition. "But each time the hazards of his adventure put him in front of a victim of poverty, injustice or violence, Tintin takes this man's side."