The view of Tibetan history from what seems to be an official PROC website:
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 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.
omni.cc.purdue.edu
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 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 (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 . 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
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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