ABSTRACT
Inasmuch as the beauty pageant is about women and the relation of women to nation, it is also about relations between states and nations. In the Miss Tibet pageant, women are used as both an instrument in the debate over the Tibetan nation, and as representatives of the debate. Politics in Tibet strays far from the boundaries of nationalism and nationalist discourse. Debates over Tibet center on questions of history, of cultural and political identity, and of the power to represent and the condition of being represented. Thus the task of representing Tibet does not begin or end with "Miss Tibet." Instead it is a continuous process tied into plural notions of history, culture, and political agenda. The identity that China has crafted for Tibet rests in selected readings of history and culture. Chinese views seek to legitimate Chinese rule in Tibet to both international governments and monitoring agencies, and also to Tibetans and Chinese alike. As portrayed by the Lhasa Holiday Inn, Tibetan culture, and current tensions surrounding Chinese-Tibetan relations, are marketable commodities open to appropriation and consumption. What are the motives behind these definitions? What is their salience?
