Independent Tibet – The Facts

[1] In 1642, the Fifth Dalai Lama issued the Rilung Tsatsik (ri klung rtsa tshig) generally translated as the Mountain Valley Edict. Another source describes it as a Decree for the Protection of Animals and the Environment. Since then, this edict was re-issued annually till 1958. Following the New Year Festivities, copies of the edict were distributed nationwide, and were displayed and read out to the assembled public by district officials. In order that its message suitably awe and instruct the document itself was physically impressive: about 3 feet wide and 6 or 7 feet in length, richly decorated with auspicious symbols and artwork around the border, and with the seal of the Dalai Lama at the bottom. French, Rebecca Redwood. The Golden Yoke, p 208, 209 & 213.

[2] According to the scholar, Tashi Tsering (director of the Amnye Machen Institute) there are references to “ Mountain Valley ” edicts being issued during the Rimpung dynasty and the Tsangpa kings.

[3] Bell, Charles. Tibet Past and Present. London: Oxford University Press, 1924. See index: “Capital punishment abolished in Tibet, 142, 143, 236.”

Byron, Robert. First Russia then Tibet. London: Macmillan & Co., 1933. pg 204: “Capital punishment was now abolished.”

McGovern, William. To Lhasa in Disguise. New York: Century Co., 1924. pg 388-389.

Kingdon-Ward, Frank. In the Land of The Blue Poppies. New York: Modern Library, 2003. pg 22.

Winnington, Alan. Tibet : The Record of a Journey. London: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd., 1957. pg 99.

Brauen, Martin. Peter Aufschnaiter’s Eight Years in Tibet. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2002. Pg 77: “There was no death penalty…”

[4] The few books available on Muslims in Tibet clearly reveal the tolerance of Tibetan government, church and society for this minority group:

Henry, Gray. Islam in Tibet . Louisville, Kentucky: Fons Vitae, 1997.

Nadwi, Dr. Abu Bakr Amir-uddin. Tibet and Tibetan Muslims, Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, 2004.

[5] The plant hunter Kingdon-Ward writing of Khampas mentions that “the men are great travellers and leave their wives behind for months at a time, and these good folk solace themselves as best they can with other travellers.” Kingdon Ward sees this contributing to the Tibetan custom of polyandry. He sees supporting evidence for his conjecture in the Lutzu who though in contact with Tibetans “…as far as I am aware, are monogamous, which adds weight of negative evidence in favour of the above theory, since the tribes are notorious stay-at-homes.”

Kingdon-Ward, Frank. (ed. Tom Christopher) In the Land of The Blue Poppies. New York: Modern Library, 2003. P175

[6] Goldstein, Melvyn. A Tibetan Revolutionary: The Political Life and Times of Bapa Phuntso Wangye. University of California Press, 2004, pg 137.

[7] Chang, Jung & Jon Halliday. Mao: The Unknown Story. London: Jonathan Cape, 2005.

[8] Ford, Robert. Captured in Tibet . London: George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd, 1957. pg 158.

[9] Bull, Geoffrey T. When Iron Gates Yield. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1955. pg 130.

[10] Goldstein, Melvyn. A Tibetan Revolutionary: The Political Life and Times of Bapa Phuntso Wangye. University of California Press, 2004, pg 139.

[11] O’Ballance, Edgar. The Red Army Of China. London: Faber & Faber, 1962. pg 189-190.

[12] Kong Fei-tsi (?), tse srog gi bhul skyes (Gift of Life) translated by Wanglag, Tibetan Peoples Publishing House, Lhasa, 2001.

[13] Norbu, Jamyang. “The Forgotten Anniversary – Remembering the Great Khampa Uprising of1956″. Thursday, December 07, 2006, Phayul.com.

[14] Tsarong, Dundul Namgyal. In the Service of His Country: The Biography of Dasang Damdul Tsarong Commander General of Tibet. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2000. pg 51.

[15] Grosvenor, Gilbert and William J. Showalter, “Flags of the World”. The National Geographic Magazine: September, 1934 – Vol. LXVI – No. 3. Washington, D.C. ” National Geographic Society, 1934.

[16] Tibet Nationalflagge, Bulgaria Zigarettenfabrik, Dresden,1933. (From a series non-European countries, pictures 201-400) From the collection of Prof. Dr. Jan Andersson of Germany, and reproduced with his kind permission.

[17] Grosvenor, Gilbert H. “The Heroic Flags of the Middle Ages.” The National Geographic Magazine: October, 1917 – Vol. Xxxii – No. 4. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1917.

[18] Lux-Wurm, Pierre C. “The Story of the Flag of Tibet.” Flag Bulletin: Vol. XII – No. 1. Spring 1973.

[19] On 23 March 1947 the Inter-Asian Relations Conference was convened in India to assess the status of Asia in the period following WWII. At this gathering, Tibet was represented as an independent nation, as evidenced by the country’s delineation on a conference map and the first appearance of the Tibetans’ national flag. The Chinese (Guomindang) were furious and protested formally to the organizers of the conference. The Tibetan flag was hoisted and also a flag emblem was displayed before the delegates on the dias. Mahatma Gandhi addressed this conference. The representatives of the Tibetan foreign bureau, Theiji Sampo Tenzin Thondup, Khenchung Lobsang Wangyal and Kyibug Wangdue Norbu (translator) also took part in the Afro-Asian Conference held in Delhi in 1948. Interestingly many of the participating states were yet to be decolonized making Tibet one of the few established independent nations at this pan-Asian gathering.

(Photograph of conference)

[20] OLD TIBETAN NATIONAL HYMN

Ghang ri rawe kor we shingkham di

Phen thang dewa ma loe jungwae ne

Chenrezig wa Kalsang Gyatso yin

Shelpal se thae bhardu

Ten gyur chik

Circled by ramparts of snow-mountains – this sacred realm,

This wellspring of all benefits and happiness.

Kalsang Gyatso, bodhisattva of compassion

May he reign till the end of all existence

(translated by Jamyang Norbu)

[21] The eminent Tibetan scholar, Tashi Tsering citing the historical work Bka’ blon rtogs brjod, says that this verse was composed by the Tibetan ruler, Phola lha nas, (in 1745/46) in praise of the 7th Dalai Lama. “Reflections on Thang stong rgyal po as the founder of the a lce lha mo tradition of Tibetan performing arts,” The Singing Mask: Echoes of Tibetan Opera, Lungta, Winter 2001 No 15, eds. Isabelle Henrion-Dourcy and Tashi Tsering)

Woodblock reproduction of Pholanas courtesy of Tashi Tsering.

[22] Audio clip of namthar (opera aria) of National Hymn sung by Techung accompanied by Nima Gyalpo, courtesy of Chaksampa Opera Company, San Francisco.

[23] Lyrics composed in 1959 by Kyapje Trichang Rinpoche, tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Mussoorie, U.P.

The Collected Works of the Glorious Master of the Dharma, Yongzin Trichang Vajradhara (yongjog tempae ngadak kyapche yongzin trichang dorjee chang chempoe sungbum), published by Mongolian Lama Guru Deva, New Delhi, Vol Gha, pg 299.

[24] (Image) A map of Asia drawn by the Dutch cartographer, Pietar van der Aa around 1680 shows Tibet in two parts but distinct from China.

[25] (Image) A map of Asia drawn by the French cartographer, Guillaume de L’isle, around 1700, where Tibet is referred to as the “ Kingdom of Grand Tibet.”

[26] (Image) “Map of Hindoostan, Farther India, China and Tibet ”. Constructed & engraved by W.Williams, Phila. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1877 by S Augustus Mitchell in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

[27] (Image) An 1827 map of Asia drawn by Anthony Finley of Philadelphia, clearly showing “Great Tibet” as distinct from the Chinese Empire.

[28] Ravenstein, Ernest George. (1834-1913) Martin Behaim: His Life and his Globe, (With a facsimile of the globe printed in colours, eleven maps and seventeen illustrations), G. Philip & Son, Ltd., London. 1908.

This globe was kindly brought to the compiler’s attention by Robert Palais of San Francisco, who provided in (JN’s blog) various sources where information on the Behaim globe could be obtained:

University of Utah

Wikipedia

Henry Davis Consulting (image)

Henry Davis Consulting (description)

[29] The Mapparium, is a thirty-foot stained-glass globe room in the lobby of the Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, which gives one a unique “inside view” of the world. The political boundries are frozen circa 1935. It was based on Rand McNally’s 1934 map of the world. At this size, the scale amounts to approximately 22 miles to the inch. In the photograph Tibet (pink) can be seen directly at the back above British India (red) and to the side of China (yellow). Check these websites for history and directions.

roadsideamerica.com

designorati.com

[30] Norbu, Dawa. China’s Tibet Policy. Richmond Curzon, 2001

Information Office. Mongols and Tibet. (Image)

[31] According to the Tibetan researcher Lugar Jam (conversation on July 2009) the names of the two Mongol monks sent by Jesuit cartographers to Tibet were Tsultrim Sangpo (churbizanbo) and Lhamo Tempa (lanbenzhanba).

[32] Hostetler, Laura. Qing Colonial Enterprise: Ethnography and Cartography in Early Modern China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.

[33] For instance we have, from the biography of Milarepa, the story of Milarepa’s mother sewing seven pieces of gold in a traveller’s cloak, to secretly send to her son.

[34] Bertsch, Wolfgang. The Currency of Tibet . Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, 2002.

[35] Bertsch, Wolfgang. A Study of Tibetan Paper Money: With a Critical Bibliography, Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, 1997.

[36] Rhodes, N.G. “The First Coins Struck in Tibet ”. Tibet Journal. Winter 1990: (LTWA), Dharamsala.

[37] Richardson, Hugh. “Reflections on a Tibetan Passport”. High Peaks Pure Earth: Collected Writings on Tibetan History & Culture. London: Serindia Publications, 1998. pg 482.

[38] Das, Sarat Chandra, An Introduction the the Grammer of the Tibetan Language, Motilal Banarasidas, Delhi 1972. Appendix 1, pg 4-5. (Reproduction of the Lhasa and Shigatse passports issued to Purangir Gossain.)

[39] Bell, Charles. Portrait of a Dalai Lama: The Life and Times of the Great Thirteenth. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1987. pg 278.

(Facsimile of 1st Everest passport; courtesy of Rinchen Dorjay who photographed it at the museum of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling.)

[40] Gould, B.J. The Jewel in the Lotus: Recollections of an Indian Political. London: Chatto & Windus, 1957. pg 210-211.

(Facsimile of Passport. Photograph of Rai Bahadur Norbu Thondup holding the passport.)

[41] Englehardt, Isrun. Tibet in 1938-39: Photographs from the Ernst Schafer Expedition to Tibet. Chicago: Serindia, 2007. pg 121. (Facsimile of Passport.)

[42] Tucci, Guiseppe. To Lhasa and Beyond. New Delhi: Oxford and IBH, 1983. pg 14-15. (Facsimile of passport.)

[43] Cox, Kennith. Frank Kingdon Ward’s, Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges. United Kingdom: Antique Collector’s Club, 2001. pg 75.

[44] Tolstoy, Lt.Col. Ilia. “Across Tibet From India To China ”. The National Geographic Magazine. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, August 1946. “This letter was a piece of red cotton cloth about 16 inches wide and two feet long, to be carried in the bosom or on a staff by an outrider who would precede the party by one or two days. It stated that two American officers were en route to visit the Dalai Lama…”

[45] Thomas, Lowell Jr. Out of This World: Across the Himalayas to Forbidden Tibet . New York: The Greystone Press, 1950. pg 79-80. (Facsimile of passport and photograph of Lowell Thomas receiving his passport at Yatung.)

[46] Bell, Charles. Portrait of a Dalai Lama: The Life and Times of the Great Thirteenth. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1987. p 420. (Bell mentions that a passport was issued to Diwan Bahadur Phala who visited England in 1925.)

[47] Facsimile of Shakabpa passport, courtesy of Friends of Tibet, India.

[48] Richardson, Hugh. High Peaks Pure Earth: Collected Writings on Tibetan History & Culture. London: Serindia Publications, 1998. Plate 10. (Photograph of Treaty Pillar of AD 821-822 within protective enclosure.)

[49] Richardson, H.E. Tibet and Its History. London: Oxford University Press, 1962. 244-245

[50] The Sino-Indian Boundary Question (Enlarged Edition). Peking: Foreign Language Press,1962. Photostat of eastern sector of original map of the McMahon line with signatures and seals of Tibetan and British plenipotentiaries, Delhi 24 March 1914. Original scale 1:5000,000.

[51] Facsimile of the Tibet-Mongolia Treaty of 1913. Translation in

Richardson, H.E. Tibet and Its History. London: Oxford University Press, 1962. 265-267.

[52] Shakabpa, Tsepon W.D. Tibet:A Political History. Yale University Press, 1967. 227.

[53] Shakabpa, Tsepon W.D. Tibet:A Political History. Yale University Press, 1967. Frontispiece.

[54] Neushar, Thupten Tharpa. bhod shung tse yiktsang dang chegyal las khung. (The “Peak” Secretariate and the Foreign Bureau of the Tibetan Government). Oral History Series No: 5, Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, Dharamshala, 1998. Neushar states that the Foreign Bureau was set up during the Taktra Regency in the iron serpent year (1941). The office was located south-west of the Tsuglagkhang, and headed by Dsazak Surkhang (zurpa) Wangchen Tseten, and Ta Lama Kunchok Jungnas. Shakabpa in his History claims that the Foreign Bureau was created around 1913.

[55] On 23 March 1947 the Inter-Asian Relations Conference was convened in India to assess the status of Asia in the period following WWII. At this gathering, Tibet was represented as an independent nation, as evidenced by the country’s delineation on a conference map and the first appearance of the Tibetans’ national flag. The Chinese (Guomindang) were furious and protested formally to the organizers of the conference. The Tibetan flag was hoisted and also a flag emblem displayed before the delegates on the dias. Mahatma Gandhi addressed this conference. The representatives of the Tibetan foreign bureau, Theiji Sampo Tenzin Thondup, Khenchung Lobsang Wangyal and Kyibug Wangdue Norbu (translator) also took part in the Afro-Asian Conference held in Delhi in 1948. Interestingly, many of the participants were yet to be decolonized making Tibet one of the few established independent nations at this early pan-Asian gathering.

(Photograph of conference)

[56] Facsimile. Letter courtesy of the Amnye Machen Institute, Dharamshala.

[57] Tolstoy, Lt.Col. Ilia. “Across Tibet From India To China ”. The National Geographic Magazine. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, August 1946.

[58] Harrer, Heinrich. Seven Years in Tibet . London: Rupert Hart Davis,1953.

Brauen, Martin. Peter Aufschnaiter’s Eight Years in Tibet. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2002.

[59] Starks, Richard & Murcutt, Miriam. Lost in Tibet: The Untold Story of Give American Airmen, a Doomed Plane and the Will to Survive. The L:yons Press, Connecticut, 2004.

[60] Waterfall, Arnold C. The Postal History of Tibet . London: Robson Lowe Ltd., 1965.

[61] Photographs of letter to Mr.A.C.Rosslier of Newark, NJ, and various Tibetan stamps.

[62] Chapman, F. Spencer. Lhasa the Holy City. London: Chatto and Windus, 1940. pg 87.

[63] Cis, Peter. Tibet , Through the Red Box. New York: Francis Foster Books, 1998.

[64] King, W.H. “The Telegraph to Lhasa ”, The Geographical Journal, Vol.

[65] (Jun., 1924). Pp 527-531. Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers).

Group photograph of officials, engineers, crew and local laborers involved with the telegraph line. Sitting from left to right: Mr. Sonam Tsering of Kalimpong (sent on deputation by Indian Postal Dept.), first telegraph master of Lhasa. Mr. Ringang, Mr. W.H. King (chief engineer), Mr.W.P.Rosemeyer (assistant engineer), and Mr Kyibuk, official interpreter. The officials Kesura and Jorgay were also employed as supervisors, but are not in the photograph.

[66] In 1948, Radio Lhasa started the first of its daily broadcasts to the outside world. At five p.m., the station would go on air. The news was read in Tibetan, and then in English by Reginald Fox or by Kyibuk, one of the surviving Rugby students and an official at the Tibetan Foreign Bureau. Finally, the news was read in Chinese by Phuntsok Tashi Takla, the Dalai Lama’s brother-in-law. Official announcements were also read over the radio, as this one prepared by Aufschnaiter: “We have the honour to announce that Radio Lhasa will broadcast an announcement of the enthronement of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the ruler of Tibet, together with a proclamation of the Tibetan government to the Tibetan people and the world, on Friday 17 November 1950, at 5.45 p.m. Indian Standard Time.” (Brauen, Martin. Peter Aufschnaiter’s Eight Years in Tibet. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2002.)

[67] David, MacDonald. Twenty Years in Tibet . New Delhi: Vintage Books, 1991. (first published1932).

[68] Harrer, Heinrich. Seven Years in Tibet . London: Rupert Hart Davis, 1953.

[69] Brauen, Martin. Peter Aufschnaiter’s Eight Years in Tibet. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2002.

[70] Richardson, H.E. Tibet and Its History. London: Oxford University Press, 1962.

Richardson, H.E. and David Snellgrove. A Cultural History of Tibet . London: George Wiedenfeld & Nicholson,1968.

Richardson, H.E. High Peaks Pure Earth: Collected Writings on Tibetan History & Culture. London: Serindia Publications, 1998.

[71] Wikipedia

[72] Bell, Charles. Portrait of a Dalai Lama: The Life and Times of the Great Thirteenth. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1987. 396.

[73] Norbu, Jamyang. “Running-Dog Propagandists” Phayul.com, [Monday, July 14, 2008 09:37]

[74] Shen, Tsung-lien and Shen-chi Liu. Tibet and the Tibetans. California: Stanford University Press, 1953.112.