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[KarenB]

Tibet's history since turn of century:

When the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in 1911, the Dalai Lama declared Tibet an independent state and began expelling Chinese officials and troops. In 1913, officials from Great Britain, China, and Tibet met in Simla, India to discuss Tibet's borders and status. A tentative agreement was proposed in which "Inner" Tibet (Eastern part) would be considered part of China proper, and "Outer" Tibet (Western part) was to be autonomous, but with Chinese suzerainty. The Simla Agreement was never ratified, as China refused to abandon its claim to all of Tibet. Strained relations led to armed conflict in 1918, which ended in a truce negotiated by the British, but with no resolution of status.

In 1923, the Panchen Lama (the Lamaist spiritual authority) was engaged in a conflict with the 13th Dalai Lama over money and politics, and went into a self-imposed exile in China. His successor also grew up in China.

The People's Liberation Army of China, commanded by Deng Xiao Peng, initiated the "liberation" of Tibet in 1950. The Tibetans gave the 15-year-old Dalai Lama full governmental authority in an attempt to rally the Tibetans. But in 1951, Tibet surrendered, and signed a treaty with China, which gave power in domestic affairs to the Dalai Lama, but control of foreign and military affairs to China. The 12-year-old Panchen Lama returned from China to Tibet. Tibet was renamed the Xizang Autonomous Region.

In 1954, India recognized Tibet as part of China and withdrew troops from two Tibetan trading posts and turned over control of telephone, telegraph, and postal systems in Tibet.

Prior to 1950, health care in Tibet was deplorable, and the population was actually in decline due to illness, poor pre-and postnatal care, lack of food, and murders and pillaging by roving bandit gangs. There was no formal education system (aside from the religious instruction of the monks), and practically the entire population was illiterate. Even most of the monks were illiterate -- memorizing the scriptures, rather than reading them. The government was a theocracy, in which the Buddhist religious leaders were in control of internal politics. All of the agriculture was controlled by the Buddhist monks and the nobility. The Tibetan peasants were not free to leave the land, and had to turn over most of their agricultural produce to the monks and noble landlords (somewhat reminiscent of Medieval Europe) There was virtually no infrastructure whatsoever -- a non-existent road system, no air fields, no irrigation systems.

The Chinese communist government immediately took steps to improve the Tibetan infrastructure and society � introducing a healthcare system, building 3000 schools and 4 colleges and universities, and building air fields and 14,000 miles of road and the Trans-Tibetan Highway (which connected Tibet with Sichan and Xinjiang provinces, as well as Nepal and India), constructing hydroelectric and geothermal plants, introducing more efficient agricultural methods and better law and order. China broke up the estates of the landlord monks and nobility and redistributed the land among the Tibetan people.

A resistance movement, spearheaded by Buddhist monks who had lost political and economic power, raised its head from time to time. In 1956, guerilla activity against China broke out among the ethnic Tibetans in Sichuan province, aided by the U.S. CIA. A revolt led by Buddhist monks in 1959 resulting in the Dalai Lama fleeing to India; China appointed the Panchen Lama as acting head of the region. During the Cultural Revolution, Tibetan Red Guards initiated a campaign against the Buddhists, during which a number of temples and cultural relics were damaged or destroyed; the Panchen Lama was jailed, but reinstated in 1978. In 1993, more demonstrations by Tibetans included several acts of terrorism against the Chinese.

A conflict over the selection of the next Panchen Lama arose in 1995 � with 28 possible candidates. The Dalai Lama, from India, selected a 6-year-old boy. However, China pointed out its historic role in the selection of the past Panchen Lamas, and selected their own candidate, also a 6-year-old boy.

The population in Tibet has doubled since 1950, due to better healthcare, more food, and relative law and order. About 90% of the population are ethnic Tibetan. The rest are Han Chinese, along with the minorities Lhoba, Moinba, Deng, Xiarba, and Hui (Muslims). 70% of government cadres are ethnic Tibetans. Lamaistic Buddhism is practiced widely, although monasteries are monitored to prevent political activism.

[KarenB]

My sources for the above include:

Papers by Robert Ekvall, Professor of Anthropology at University of Washington.

Ekvall was born in Gansu Province, just across the border from Tibet, to Scottish missionary parents. He learned Chinese and English simultaneously in early childhood, and later learned several dialects of the Tibetan language. For eight years, from 1928-1936, he lived in tents among the Tibetan nomads, conducting anthropological studies.

Other notable sources on this time period include:

Bell, Sir Charles Alfred. Tibet, Past and Present. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1924.
Deals mostly with the political organization of Tibet with reference to treaties and contact with the powers. Has one or two chapters giving a general view of Tibetan history as drawn from Tibetan records.

Grenard, Fernand. Tibet: The Country and its Inhabitants. London: Hutch�inson and Co., 1904.
An account of the travels of Henry Dutreil de Rhins and party in Ti�bet. Gives description of the sed�entary Tibetans- their villages and their character.

Rijnhart, Mrs. Susis (Carson). With the Tibetans in Tent and Temple. New York, Chicago: P. H. Revell Co., (1911, 1901).
The account of a trip toward Lhasa through north east Tibet giving much information about the Tibetans and also interesting items about the next but last Moslem rebellion, a part of which the writer was an eye�witness.

Rockhill, William Woodville. Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1895. (2) p. 665-747. Smithsonian Institute.

Rockhill, William Woodville. "Explorations in Mongolia and Tibet," (In Smithsonian Institution Annual Report, 1892) Washington 1893, p. 659-679.

Stevenson, Paul Houston. The Chinese-Tibetan Borderland and its People. Peking: The Peking Society of Natural History, 1927.

Teichman, Eric. Travels of a Consular Officer in Eastern Tibet. Cambridge: The University Press, 1922.

Younghusband, Sir Francis Edward. Peking to Lhasa. London: Constable and Co., Ldt., 1925.

[Vince]

Why doesn't Tibet hire American ESL teachers?

[KarenB]