LINDSEY HILSUM: A living Buddha, Alak Khasutsang, now over 70 -- who was arrested and allegedly beaten in March -- remains in hospital in the Qinghai capital, Xining.TIBETAN MONK (through translator): I went to see the living Buddha in the hospital about a month ago. His head was covered in a piece of cloth; it was wounded. His foot was injured, too.
LINDSEY HILSUM: Outside the monasteries, Tibetans are retelling old stories as they do every summer. The children giggle. The old rituals are rehearsed once more.
We're 1,400 kilometers from Beijing, and the Olympics feel like a world away. But the Chinese government is still worried that large gatherings of Tibetans could spoil their party.
Tibetans will be holding these local cultural and sporting festivals all through the summer. But the big horse festival, where tens of thousands of Tibetans gather from all over the region, they've been banned. The Chinese government is afraid there could be another Tibetan uprising.
Up on the Qinghai plateau, it's raining paper blessings, the traditional opening ceremony for a horse festival. The big gatherings which were cancelled would have been the Tibetan equivalent of the Olympics. There would be hundreds of horses, but here just five are under starters' orders. And they're off.
The police and military don't bother with a remote, small festival like this, but they're in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in force, to ensure absolute security throughout the country during the Olympics.
The Chinese government has beaten its Tibetan problem for the moment, but the monks are worried about what will happen after the games.
TIBETAN MONK (through translator): We're worried. We've thought they might start arresting us again. Nothing we can do. After the Olympics, they will surely crack down on us. Nothing we can do.
Let them come. It's useless to be afraid. What can we do? We will never change our heart. It's impossible to change people's heart. In the '50s, monasteries were all knocked down. It didn't change our heart. After the reform and opening, we rebuilt them.
Buddhism is in our heart. This will not change, never.
LINDSEY HILSUM: Army trucks pass along the highway. They've been delivering supplies to troops garrisoned in Lhasa. Journalists are prevented from visiting.
High on the grasslands, nomadic Tibetan women milk the yaks. It's an unchanging scene, although some long for the modern life.
They live far from the center of power. Yet, because they all follow the Dalai Lama, the authorities regard these people as a potential threat, not just to the Olympics, but to the authority of the Communist Party and the Chinese government itself.
