On hearing that Liu Manqing would be traveling to Tibet, her friends and relatives attempted to persuade her not to, even resorting to tears. In spite of her serious illness, she embarked on her journey immediately.After seven months, she arrived in Lhasa, traveling through Chongqing, Chengdu, Kangding, and Qamdo. In Tibetan regions, she was welcomed warmly, entertained, and escorted all the way. However, the fact that “the roads were blocked from time to time, the snow was above the calves, and bandits were everywhere”placed her in danger many times.

Liu Manqing’s friends and relatives were so surprised to hear that she was traveling to Tibet that they all tried to persuade her to stay,as they believed that she would not return from her trip. However,they were unable to change her mind. She told to them that she would return by way of Yunnan after arriving in Xikang,but that whether or not she would go to Tibet was uncertain.

Before starting out on her long journey, Liu Manqing made a special trip from Nanjing to Peiping to say farewell to her mother, who was so overcome with sadness that she wept bitterly. Liu Manqing tried to force a smile to comfort her mother, but instead they could only hold each other and cry. She persuaded her mother by saying that,“Since I am serving this country, I must be loyal to it. I shall not defy my orders ... All I can do to serve is devote myself to the country.”

With her mother’s permission, Liu Manqing hurried to the market to buy hada, tea, bowls, silk goods, and other presents for the visit to Tibet. She left for Shanghai after being home for only a few days, taking a boat to Chongqing with over ten pieces of luggage.

On July 24, Liu Manqing set off for Shanghai from Peiping. Along the journey, she developed heatstroke and lung disease, which rendered her “too weak to move.”The doctor’s recommended that she should take a long rest. However, for Liu Manqing, who maintained that life or death was more than people should expect, was determined to continue on her journey in defiance of the doctor’s advice.

On September 4, on her arrival in Chengdu, Liu Manqing went directly to the Panchen office on Shuwa Street to visit her father. She threw herself into his arms as soon as she saw him. Stroking her hair, her father criticized her for overestimating her own strength and asked how she could think of leaving her parents behind should she encounter any misfortune on her trip. She said to him, “On this life-or-death road, I will weigh the pros and cons. If the devotion of your child’s life makes a contribution to the country, does it matter the pay that is paid, Daddy?”