Two boys play in a park near the Potala Palace in Lhasa yesterday. Fear stemming from last month's riots lingers on five weeks later.

Five weeks after the March 14 riot in the Tibet autonomous region, visual reminders of the rampage linger like the fears in the hearts and minds of Lhasa residents.

Nightmares of the unrest have produced a collective longing for peace and a return to normality.

Most of the stores which survived the March 14 riot unscathed, and some that suffered only minor damage, have reopened and peace as order prevail on the streets again.

Walking around the Potala Palace, any newly arrived visitors to the eastern part of the city are intoxicated by the blend of elegance and peacefulness synonymous with Lhasa.

Freshly greened crowns of aged willows, pink and yellow blossoms at the foot of the formidable palace, water birds frolicking in and above the Dragon King Pond behind it and the endless flow of people chanting Buddhist sutras with prayer wheels in hand, assure an otherwise perfect visit to the center of Tibetan Buddhism.

But with some suspects wanted by authorities still at large, local residents admit they're still cautious about going out come sundown.

"Nothing has really happened," said Drolma a sales clerk at a small jeweler's store a block from the Jokhang monastery.

"Still we feel a little unsure," she said, after selling two Tibetan-style silver rings to a traveler.

"It was scary on March 14. At first I thought there was a normal quarrel or fight near the square when I heard the noise. But a frightened Hui friend working in another store rushed in, saying there was a rioting mob smashing around.

"So we closed the doors and fled."

"Business has been slack ever since. We could take in thousands (of yuan) a day before - now it's hundreds at best. I sold nothing three days in a row."

"I really do not understand why those people do not want to live a peaceful and comfortable life," she said.