Plunder behind the bamboo curtain.

• Author: Denniston, Derek
• Position: Results of invasion of by China

In Chinese, the word for Tibet translates as "western treasure house," a meaning that neatly encapsulates China's historical view of its neighbor. Since it invaded Tibet in 1949, China has treated its new territory as a repository of natural riches to plunder at will. It is only in recent years that outsiders have been able to peer behind the "bamboo curtain" thrown up by China and witness one of the great heists of the century.

Verdant grasslands that before the Chinese invasion teemed with unique mammals like the Tibetan taking and wild ass are now dense with herds of sheep., and domesticated yak. These animals trample the range into desert. Lush ancient forests that blanketed mountain slopes are now stubbled clear-cuts that disgorge torrents of mud and stone into the rivers below. And, in a Buddhist country in which wheeled transport had been prohibited because it would damage the earth, open pit mines and roads scar the landscape.

As a territory annexed by China, Tibet has been little more than an extractive reserve. Fully 90 percent of the timber, meat, and minerals culled from the plateau are exported to other parts of China. Adding insult to injury, Tibetans don't even usually benefit from this activity in the way of jobs: Most of the timbering and mining is performed by ethnic Chinese laborers transferred to the region. In fact, so many Chinese now live in Tibet that Tibetans are a minority in their own country.

China has been meticulous in cloaking its activities in Tibet from the rest of the world by banning travel by most foreigners and all journalists. Abetting this effort is Tibet's physical inaccessibility. Known as the Roof of the World, Tibet sprawls across a lofty plateau between two formidable barriers: the Himalayas to the south and the Taklimakan Desert to the north.

The international community, though, is learning of Tibet's plight as accounts from refugees, Chinese government documents, and travelers are pieced together. The picture that emerges is discouraging. "It's imperialist resource extraction," says John Davenport, a Himalayan development consultant. To China, a country of 1.2 billion people whose economy is growing at better than 9 percent a year, the riches of Tibet must seem irresistible. Shortages of timber and paper pulp in its populated east have compelled China to carve up the dense stands of spruce, fir, larch, oak, maple, and pine that once dominated southeastern Tibet. According to Chinese forestry...