Tibet Introduction(4)

(D) Ching Dynasty (17th century -- 1911)
(1) From tributary to part of Ching Empire

After the Mongolia kinglet, Gu-shri (Kusi) Khan conquered Qinghai, Kang area and Tibet, Yellow Hat (Gelug-pa) branch became dominating. However, the 5th Dalai Lama followed the traditional way, dominating but not eliminating. All branches of Buddhism were respected.

The 5th Dalai Lama was invited to have an audience with the third Emperor, Shunzhi, of Ching Dynasty. On his way to Beijing, the 5th Dalai Lama wrote several letters to the Emperor informing him that `Your subject has secret informations, and wishes a private audience'. The court decided that whatever the 5th Dalai Lama wanted to say, it would be terrible if the court did not listen to him, and it would be equally terrible if the court did listen to him. Therefore, the court threw many banquets for him, re-affirmed his title of Dalai Lama and gave him a lot gifts. In the end, Dalai Lama did not get a chance to talk.

What the court had in mind was `promoting Yellow Hat (gelug-pa) branch to pacify Mongol'. This policy was finally revealed by the great grand son (Qianlong) of that Emperor. The court had already made up its mind, there was really nothing to talk about.

The Mongolia Kings ruled Tibet through a local government led by the governor, Diba. In 1668, Mongolia King and Diba passed away. There were no successor of the King for three years. The next year, the 5th Dalai Lama assigned Sangs-gyas Gya-tsho (Sanjie-Jiatzuo) to be the next Diba (if you read the marshal-art story of Jinyun `The story of Deer Pot', you would see Sangs-gyas (Sanjie) there). Sangs-gyas (Sanjie) was a good scholar and published several books. The 5th Dalai Lama remodeled Potala palace to the present scale, and wrote many books. In 1682, the 5th Dalai Lama passed away. It was a bad news for Diba Sangs-gyas Gya-tsho (Sanjie-Jiatzuo), because the 5th Dalai Lama was on his side to balance the power of Mongolia King Ha-zang (Lhatsan) Khan. Therefore, Diba hid the news from everybody for 15 years, and behaved as if the 5th Dalai Lama were still alive. It was soon discovered by Ching Emperor Kangxi the Great. He said nothing for a while.

After Emperor Kangxi inquired the death of the 5th Dalai Lama, Diba Sangs-gyas (Sanjie). reported that the reincarnation of Dalai Lama, the 6th Dalai Lama, had been discovered. However, the 6th Dalai Lama turned out to be a poet who liked to write love poems to beautiful girls. This displeased many people.

In 1704, during a reviewing of military forces in Tibet, Diba Sangs-gyas (Sanjie) suddenly captured Mongolia King Ha-zang (Lhatsan) Khan. The monks came out to negotiate a truce, King Ha-zang (Lhatsan) Khan was released. Instead of going to Qinghai as agreed upon, King Ha-zang (Lhatsan) Khan came back with the full force of the Mongolia troop, and Diba Sangs-gyas (Sanjie) was killed.

Ha-zang(Lhatsan) Khan disbelieved the 6th Dalai Lama as the real one. Ching court ordered the (false) 6th Dalai Lama to be delivered to them, which was done accordingly. Ha-zang (Lhatsan) Khan claimed that he found the real 6th Dalai Lama who was entitled by Ching court as the real 6th Dalai Lama. What happened to the (false) 6th Dalai Lama was not clear; there were stories that on his way to Beijing he either was killed, or passed away peacefully, or ran away. Later on, another Dalai Lama was discovered, and was called the true Dalai Lama, and he was put under the protection of Ching court at once. It was generally agreed that the (false) 6th Dalai Lama was the real one, and the (real) 6th Dalai Lama was a false one and the true Dalai Lama was the 7th Dalai Lama.

In this chaotic situation, Ching court recognized the title `Panchen Lama' which was given by Gu-shri (Kusi) Khan to the reincarnations of the second disciple of Tsong-kha-pa to stablize the situation. In 1717, a Mongolia (Dzungar)kinglet who lived in northern Xinkiang sent troops to Lhasa, killed Ha-zang (Lhatsan) Khan and destroyed Buddhism in Tibet. In 1718, the imperial court sent Manchu army with the true Dalai Lama to Tibet. In 1720, Manchu army with the help of Tibetan army drove Mongolia army away, and after a few years Ching court conquered all Mongolia. A new chapter of Tibet just began.

(2) The ruling of Ching empire

The imperial court abolished the position of Diba as the governor. Instead, Ching court set up the Kaloon government consisted of 4 Kaloons, with the leader of Tibetan army, Kangjinai, as the chairman. In 1725, imperial court set up the garrisons of Kang area and the Governor of Qinghai (Tsu Xilin Dachen ). Later on, Ching court used the same model to set up Tibet Governorship, with the title `Tsu-Tsan Dachen'.

The three Kaloons made their move against the chairman in 1727. The chairman was murdered, and his troop, led by Pho-lha Sod-nams Tobs-gyas (Bolonai), advanced towards Lhasa. Both sides claimed the loyalty to the Ching court and appealed to the Ching court. The Ching court at once sent guards into Tibet to protect Dalai Lama. After the war, Pho-lha Sod-nams (Bolonai) was given the title of prince and later on was promoted to King. In 1828. the 7th Dalai Lama was moved to Litang, Szechuan by Ching court against his wishes. and possibly under the recommendation of Bolonai. The 7th Dalai Lama stayed in Szechuan until 1835. Furthermore, Ching court set up a garrison of 2,000 soldiers under Tsu Tsan Dachen (minister in Tibet, which later on became the Governor of Tibet), who in principle governed Tibet with Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. They further defined the territory of Tibet which might be called the `Tibet Proper' in some one's terminology today. Tsu Tsan Dachen shared power with Panchen Lama around Shigatze, ruled solely in Hor or Mongalian area in the North, and shared power with Dalai Lama at the rest of Tibet.

(3) The consolidation of the rule of Ching Dynasty

After the passing away of Pho-lha Sod-nams (Bolonai) in 1747, there were disputes between the eldest son of Pho-lha (Bolonai) and Dalai Lama. It developed into a very serious situation. The Tsu Tsan Dachen invited the eldest son of Bolonai to the government building and executed him on the spot. The troop revolted and Tsu Tsan Dachen was killed by them. The rebellion was crushed very quickly, the Kingship of Tibet was abolished and replaced by Gexia (Kazis) government which was essentially Kaloon government.

The Gexia government was subordinate to Dalai Lama and the Tsu Tsan Dachen (Amban). After the passage of Dalai Lama, a regent (sometimes, the regent was mentioned as the Tibetan King) would be appointed by the Ching Court. The first Regent was appointed in 1757 after the passage of the 7th Dalai Lama. One of the Regents was an Abbot of the Yon-Ho Monastery of Beijing. The Ching court sometimes fired the regents, in fact, one of them was arrested and sent to Hailungjian (in the Northeast area or Manchuria) in 1844.

Later on there were invasions by Nepal troop (Gurkha) in 1788 and 1792, the imperial army had to be dispatched to repulse Nepal army (Gurkha). In 1793, the important royal decree of 29 Article was officially published. This was the law until 1911. By the decree, Tsu Tsan Dachen would rule Tibet with Dalai Lama, however, every order had to be stamped with the seal of Tsu Tsan Dachen. Dalai Lama would not be allowed to write to the Emperor directly, instead, Dalai Lama should sent his letter through Tsu Tsan Dachen. The local government is subordinated to Tsu Tsan Dachen, all officials would be appointed by Tsu Tsan Dachen, etc. In other words, Tsu Tsan Dachen became the Governor of Tibet.




Ching court further invented the lottery system, Jinbonba (Golden Lottery Urn), for the selection of Dalai Lama from several possible candidates for the re-incarnation of the past Dalai Lama. The lottery was chaired by Tsu Tsan Dachen. This was a very clever system, which stopped the possible transmission of family powers, and consolidated the power of Tsu Tsan Da Chen. Since then, the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Dalai Lamas were chosen this way. Unfortunately, they all passed away suddenly and suspiciously at the ages of 11, 22, 18, 20 respectively. The 13th and 14th Dalai Lamas were exempted from the lottery system by special decrees of Ching government and R.O.C. government respectively.



Ching conquered Xinkiang and Mongolia in the meantime, and established the third largest empire in Chinese history. The population reached 400 million in the first half of 18th century, as against 1,000 millions for the world population at the end of 18th century. At this time, there were 2 millions Tibetans (estimate).
Ching court printed many Buddhist scriptures in Tibetan for distribution. Many temples were remodeled and constructed in this era. The traditional trade of tea-horse between farmers and nomads increased. There were peace and prosperity in general.

(4) The advancement of Western powers, from 1840-1911

The year Western power reached China was 1840, it was through the infamous `Opium War', or `Trade War' depended on your opinions. What happened then was up to interpretations. Probably, only historian several hundred years from now could assess.

One point of view was the West was trying to spread the civilization and humanity to the rest barbarians. The contacts of West and the rest of the world were largely mutual beneficial (benefactor's view). Another point of view was the West was essentially evil and greed. The only things the West wanted were land and the richness of the land (revolutionary's view). The truth was probably somewhere in-between.

The Far East (from British point of view) was the remote land, and hence the last land reached by the West. The reactions of the establishments of China and Japan were very different and worth studying. Note that traditionally, both China and Japan were influenced by Han civilizations. For many years, Chinese establishment was blind to the advantages of the West, while the establishment of Japan voluntarily started an effective program of learning from the West. By their continuous defeats at the hand of the West, the establishment of China lost its prestiges. The fringe or marginal members of China establishment started a rebellion.

At this time, British conquered India through East India Company, and fought a war against Russian in Afghanistan which was close to Tibet. Any border could be improved by either pushing it further or neutralized the neighboring area. Therefore, British showed interests in Tibet. Several times British sent troops to Tibet. Once they massacred 1,000 defenseless Tibetan soldiers (1904) and reached Lhasa. The 13th Dalai Lama had to run away to Mongolia. Instead of the traditional protection provided by the imperial court under this situation, the 13th Dalai Lama received a punishment which made him angry. The imperial court negotiated a treaty with British to settle the dispute.

The imperial court decided to establish a province `Xikang' to govern the area of West Szechuan and East Tibet which was the Xikang province in R.O.C., and no long existed in P.R.C.. The reasons were manifold; the court wanted to safe-guard the road from Szechuan to Tibet, and recognized the differences between those two areas.

The imperial court sent 1,000 soldiers from New Army (modern army) into Tibet as the garrison of Lhasa.

This is almost at the end of this article. We shall talk about the modern chapter of Tibetan history.

In this last part about the history of Tibet, I will talk about the most controversial parts of Tibetan history: (E) The state of semi-independent, 1911-1951, (F) part of P.R. China, 1951 to present.
(E) The state of semi-independent 1911--1951

(1) The revolution of China, 1911

Under the pressures of Western Powers and Japan, and domestic rebellions, Ching court lost its `Mandate of Heaven' (Tian-Min). When there was a small disturbance at a city along Yangtse river, the disturbance spread to several areas. Ching court decided to abdicate instead of fighting. Gone with Ching court was the old establishment which had helped ruling China for several thousand years.

Only after many years, did people realize that they lost not only `pig-tails' but also the central government of civilian services. China plunged into chaos. Many provinces were independent or semi-independent for one time or other.

Let us come back to the problem of Tibet. In 1911, the New Army which was the garrison of Lhasa revolt following the event of Yangtse river. Tsu Tsan Dachen was captured. Then there was a fight between Tibetan army and New Army. None wanted to fight to death. Each guarded a corner of Lhasa, and shot from a distance. It lasted a few months, and people ran back and forth to cry to each camp. Finally, New Army had enough and was bribed to leave. Since then until 1950, Tibetan army was the only force in Tibet.

Traditionally, Tibetan just wanted a peaceful land to worship Buddha. Naturally, the 13th Dalai Lama was not interested in independence which for sure would cause a lot of trouble for Tibet. Therefore, after the establishment of Republic (R.O.C.) in 1911, the 13th Dalai Lama always sent Tibetan representatives to the central government (largely in name only) of China as congressmen and managing Tibetan business as Temples managements etc.. It was impossible for the central government to send troops to a neighboring province, let alone sending troop to Tibet. There was a peaceful time as long as Tibet was concerned.

British ruled India and was very interested in the legal status of Tibet. Years ago (1907), British signed Treaty of St Petersburg with Russian to define the relation between Ching and Tibet as `suzerainty' without the knowledge of Ching court. Since then, it was used again and again by British. Tibetan sometimes used this term after 1911 which was never acknowledged by any central government of China. In 1913-14, British arranged a conference of Briton, Tibetan and Chinese central government at Simla, India to defined Tibet. The conference broke up without any common agreement.

(2) The period of Kuo-Fu  (ROC or Kuomintang)

In 1927, Kuomintang successively conquered and ruled the tributary of Yangtse river. Most provinces acknowledge Kuo-Fu as the central government with capital in Nanking. Although nothing had changed just because of it.

Kuo-Fu set up a high ranking `Commission of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs' in the government imitating Ching's `Li-Fan Yuan' (ministry of national minorities, and foreign countries). At that time, the 9th Panchen Lama (who ruled a third of Tibet) was in trouble with the 13th Dalai Lama. The 9th Panchen Lama acted in the traditional way by going to the central government. Kuo-Fu was more than happy to receive him. As usual, he was bestowed a honorable title (someone may think it is higher than a Nobel Prize), given a large sum of money and a high position in the government. The 13th Dalai Lama was not very happy, and sent missionaries to the central government to complain. It was agreed that the 13th Dalai Lama should enjoy more honors, and commissions of the central government and Tibetan government should be sent to each capital, and Tibetans were sent as congressmen of the central government.

Kuo-Fu set up the province of Xikang as planned by Ching court. The act took away the eastern part of Tibet. In 1930, Tibetan army fought in Xikang with some local warlords (some one wanted to call it a Sino-Tibetan war). The appointed governor never again tried to rule the part of Tibet, and nobody cared as long as there was no disturbance. Later on, PRC abolished Xikang, and the present Tibet was exactly the same as in Ching Dynasty. In 1931, Tibetan army fought with Qinghai troops (the so-called Ma-chia army, the army of Ma family, Moslem army). The central government did its best to arrange cease fires. In the chaotic situation of China, hardly anyone noticed the battles.

After the 13th Dalai Lama passed away (1933), Yellow Hat branch was looking for his reincarnation. In the meantime, the 9th Panchen Lama wanted to go back and was given an escort by Kuo-Fu to do so. However, Panchen Lama passed away in 1937 in Qinghai before reaching Tibet. In 1939, the chairman of `Commission of Mongolia and Tibetan Affairs', Wu Chung-Xin, went to Tibet to chair the ceremony of the 14th Dalai Lama(the present Dalai Lama) `sitting on his bed' (crowning) as the formal Tsu Tsan Dachen of Ching Dynasty would do. The regent of Tibet Radreng requested the government of R.O.C. to exempt the 14th Dalai Lama from the lottery system which was granted by a special decree . There were a lot of improvements of the relations. For instance, Tibetan congressmen wrote the Article about Tibet in the Constitution of R.O.C..

(F) Tibet is a part of P.R. China, 1951 to present.

In 1949, there was another big revolt in China, the Red army was triumphing over Kuo-Fu's army. The situation was clear to everybody, and Tibetan government decided to end the relation with Kuo-Fu by asking the commission of Kuo-Fu to leave. In the mean time, the Red army defeated Ma's Moslem army and conquered Qinghai and then conquered part of Xikang. From the fall of 1949 to the fall of 1950, there were a lot tensions between the government of PRC and Tibetan government. Naturally, Tibetan government wanted Red army to stop which was encouraged by Western Powers for the obvious reasons of disliking and distrusting the Red army.

In the fall of 1950, two sides fought a decisive battle in Chandu, located either in Eastern Tibet or Xikang province depending on your points of view. Tibetan army, some 5,000 strong, led by Kaloon Nga-Bou Nga-Wang Jig-Me was totally captured. The situation became impossible for Tibetan government. The 14th Dalai Lama took over and appointed Nga-Bou Nga-Wang Jig-Me as the leader of a delegation to Beijing to negotiate. The `Seventeen Article' Agreement signed was the same as what happened in history since the time of Yuan Dynasty. In the fall of 1951, the Red army following the tracks of Ching Emperor Qianlong advanced to Lhasa along the four fronts of Xinkiang, Qinghai, Szechuan and Yunnan.

The situation of Tibet resembled Qianlong's time (1720) of Ching Dynasty. The General of `Tibetan military zone' replaced Tsu Tsan Dachen, the government of `Autonomous Tibet' replaced Kaloon Government. However, there was a major difference. The mission of Tsu Tsan Dachen was to promote Yellow Hat branch, while the General of `Tibet military zone' was to carry out the anti-religion policy of the central government. The government of PRC gradually applying her policies in Han area to Tibet. For instance, Buddhism was largely distroyed in Han area, and was discouraged in Tibet. The landlord class (who supported Chinese civilization for several thousand years) was largely purged in Han area, and was restricted in Tibet. From the point of view of Maxists, the above policies were only the `trend of history' and the `liberation of people', and it was the Tibetan who overthrew the `three big landowner classes' (San Da Ling Tsu) and liberated herself.

However, even treated with the milder policies of Maxists, some Tibetans had a hard time. Maybe after so many years of domestic battles in the land of Han (China proper), enough stories of Red were told, Han people expected what they got. What Tibetans got was a total surprise to them.

On March 10, 1959, the tension between Dalai Lama and the General exploded. The 14th Dalai Lama ran to India.

In 1962, China defeated India along the borders.

Later on, PRC modified parts of her policies in Tibet.

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