Off for new adventures in forbidden Tibet and other remote parts of the Orient, Harrison Forman, 29-year-old explorer, has just left Milwaukee after a month’s visit with his parents here, Mr. and Mrs. Morris Forman.
A lone-wolf traveller, Forman roved throughout China, lived for a long time in Shanghai, passed through settlements of Chinese Jews in the Kaifan area, and spent a year in mountainous Tibet, usually prohibited to white men.
Fight illustrated articles on his exotic Tibetan experiences appeared recently in successive issues of the Hearst Sunday newspapers. Others were published in the London Graphic and in several Chinese as well as European publications.
Narrowly escaping death at the hands of bandits in fastnesses of central China, after several companions were killed, Forman succeeded in penetrating lofty Tibet, and with the aid of an interpreter became friendly with powerful native chiefs.
Having previously spent three years in China, chiefly in Shanghai, where he directed an agency for an airplane firm, Forman knew the northern Chinese tongue with comparative fluency, and had also picked up some Tibetan.
He lieved in Lassa and Labrang, the scene of a vast monastery, housing 5,000 monks. Pressing his way to authorities with occidental gifts, such as watches, flashlights and jewels, Forman became acquainted with the so-called “Living Buddhas”, religious rulers dominating sections of Tibet and believed by the mass of people to have divine powers.
Though he stayed in Tibet for a year, Forman declared, he found no signs of any Jewish settlements in Tibetan cities or the hinterland. He is said to have made scientific discoveries as to the shape and direction of Tibetan mountains, and as to practices of the Tibetan Lamaistic religion.
A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Forman wandered away soon after graduation to Mexico, and from there on a ship direct to China. An experienced flier, he has also written a popular text book on aviation, published in English in Shanghai.
Before proceeding anew to the Orient, he is to spend some time in New York and vicinity to make arrangements for putting his explorations and part of his collection of 2,000 Asiatic photographs into book form.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
