|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
March 8, 2014 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Little is known of the history of Tibet before the 7th century AD, when Buddhism was introduced by missionaries from India by way of Gandhara, who also developed an Tibetan alphabet|alphabet for the Tibetan language and thus began recorded history in this region. Prehistoric Iron Age hill forts and burial complexes have recently been found on the Chang Tang plateau but the remoteness of the location is hampering archaeological research. The initial identification of this culture is as the Zhang Zhung culture which is described in ancient Tibetan texts and is known as the original culture of the B?n religion. A series of List of Kings of Tibet|kings between the 8th and 10th centuries created a strong kingdom that promoted Buddhism and literacy, and waged successful wars against both China to the north and the states of India to the south. Image:King Songsten Gampo's statue in his meditation cave at Yerpa.jpg|frame|King Songsten Gampo's statue in his meditation cave at Yerpa Songsten Gampo (557? to 649 or 650 CE), was the first king to unite a number of kingdoms and conquering others, thus creating the Tibetan Empire. He was the son of the local king Namri Songsten (gNam-ri-srong-btsan), and was born at rGya-ma in Mal-dro, northeast of modern Lhasa. Although the date of his birth and some of the dates earlier in his reign are still in question, by about the middle of his reigns the dates become more certain. Songsten Gampo was adept at diplomacy as well as on the field. Sometime before 624 he married the daughter of King Amshuvarman (r. 576-621?), named Bal-mo-bza' Kri-btsun or Bal-bza', who was a Buddhist. Songsten Gampo moved the court from its traditional seat in the Yarlung valley to the site of modern Lhasa. In 634, he defeated the Tuyuhun (Tib. 'A-zha) people, who lived around Lake Koko Nur in the northeast corner of Tibet, who controlled important trade routes into China. Chinese records state that the first ambassador from Tibet arrived in 634 requesting marriage to a Chinese princess. China resisted this request for some years. It was not until 641 when the Chinese princess, Wencheng, known to the Tibetans as Kong-jo, arrived in Lhasa. She brought with her a rich dowry including many books in various langauges including Buddist scriptures and a famous large golden statue of the Buddha at age 12, known as the Jo-bo-chen-po. It was placed in the Ramoche temple in Lhasa In 645 CE, Songstan Gampo overran the kingdom of Zhang-zhung (also: Shangshung) in what is now Western Tibet. Zhang-zhung had a written script and was a major centre for the B?n religion, which has survived, although much reduced in numbers, until today. (also written: Srong-btsan-sgam-po). In 648, A Chinese envoy who had been attacked in India by Arjuna, who had taken control of Kanouj on the Ganges, and most of northern Bihar. The Chinese envoy had to flee to Nepal for safety. Srongsten Gampo sent troops who, with the Nepalese, defeated and captured Arjuna, who was sent back to China. According to the Tibetan Annals, discovered by archaeologists at Dunhuang, 'the text of the Laws" were written in 655. Songsten Gampo's reign not only saw the establishment of an empire, but the development of a script to write Tibetan and the first Tibetan literary works and translations, the creation of a constitution, and the foundations were laid for the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet. In 764, Tibetan troops occupied Chang'an for fifteen days and installed a minor emperor. At times Tibetan rule extended as far south as Bengal and as far north as Mongolia. In general the Tibetans faced and posed a greater military threat against China than India due to the protection of the Himalaya; thus China was called Gyan?a meaning the Black Empire, whereas India was called Gyag?ar, meaning the White Empire. Lamaism, the system of rule by a caste of Buddhist monks known as lamas, began to develop when the Tibetan kingdom became weak and divided in the 10th century. Indian cultural and religious influence increased, particularly through the work of the Indian Buddhist missionary Atisha, the "precious lord." As the prestige of the kings declined, that of the lamas rose. In the 13th century Tibet was conquered by the Mongol leader Genghis Khan, who ruled Tibet through a local puppet government. The loss of Tibet's political sovereignty strengthened the lamas still more, and thereafter they became the real rulers of the country. In the 13th century, Kublai Khan imposed the system of Grand Lamas on Tibet. Grand Lamas succeeded each other by rebirth (Buddhist)|reincarnation: when one Lama died, a baby boy was declared to be his reincarnation, and was raised to be his successor. There were many of these lamas, but on certain age they have to draw lots from a Holy Gold Benba Vase to chose one to be the Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama Vajradhara, or "All-Embracing Lama, the Holder of the Thunderbolt." The Chinese Emperor supported the Dalai Lamas' claims. The fifth Dalai Lama, Lobsang Gyatso, known as the Great Fifth, restored Tibetan sovereignty, and in fact established his religious authority over Tibet's former rulers, the Mongols. He built the Potala Palace at Lhasa, which became the seat of the Lamaist system of both religious and temporal power (not that the Tibetans drew any such distinction). In 1653 Lobsang Gyatso visited Shunzhi, the Emperor of China at Beijing, and had his title and status reconfirmed. The sixth Dalai Lama was deposed by lower monks for erratic behaviour and died in Chengde, the Emperor's summer palace city near Beijing, when he went to court the Emperor and to congratulate Emperor on his 70th anniversary. He left in Chengde the Holy Gold Benba Vase, from which each new reincarnation of the Lama had to draw lots. In 1713 the Emperor granted the title of Panchen Erdeni to the Fifth Panchen Lama, and declared that the older one among Panchen and Dalai was the teacher of the younger. During the rule of the Great Fifth, the first Europeans visited Tibet. Two Jesuit missionaries, Johannes Gruber and Albert D'Orville, reached Lhasa in 1661. They described the Dalai Lama as a "devilish God-the-father who puts to death such as refuse to adore him." They failed completely to win any Tibetan converts to Christianity. Other Christian missionaries spent time in Tibet, with equal lack of success, until all were expelled in 1745. After the Great Fifth's death in 1680, the power of the Dalai Lamas declined and the rising power of the Chinese Empire was increasingly felt in Tibet. By the early 18th century China established the right to have resident commissioners, called Ambans, in Lhasa. When the Tibetans rebelled against the Chinese in 1750 and killed the Ambans, a Chinese army entered the country in an effort to restore Chinese authority. As a result, the Tibetans, in the view of the Chinese, once again acknowledged themselves as subjects of the Empire of China and new Ambans were installed. However, China did not make any attempt to impose direct rule on Tibet and the Tibetan government around the Dalai Lama continued to manage day to day affairs and in their own view remained independent. In 1788 war broke out between the Tibetans and the Gurkha people of Nepal, who were encroaching on Tibetan lands. A Chinese-Tibetan army defeated the Gurkhas and invaded Nepal. This brought the attention of the Kingdom of Great Britain|British, who regarded Nepal as being within their sphere of influence. The Tibetans withdrew from Nepal, but they closed the Tibetan border and refused to allow any foreigners to enter the country. Tibet's reputation as "the hermit kingdom" dates from this time. During the whole of the 19th century no foreigner saw Lhasa, and a number were killed while making the attempt. Meanwhile the people of Tibet lived under a feudal system run by the lamas. The great monasteries owned most of the land, controlled all education and most economic activity. There was almost no trade between Tibet and the outside world, except a limited amount with India, Turkestan and China. The Dalai Lama was acknowledged as the most important of the lamas, but his power waxed and waned according to his personal abilities. The system of succession through reincarnation meant that there were long periods when the Dalai Lama was a child. During these periods the Panchen Lama was recognised as effective ruler, under overall Chinese suzerainty. In the 19th century, as the power of China declined, the authorities in British India renewed their interest in Tibet, and a number of Indians (who could travel less conspicuously than Europeans) entered the country, first as explorers and then as traders. During the period of "The Great Game", the British feared that Tibet might come under the control of Russia, which was expanding its influence in Turkestan to the north and west of Tibet. Demands that the Chinese and Tibetan authorities agree to a treaty with United Kingdom|Britain were rejected. In 1904 the British sent an Indian military force under Lt-Col Francis Younghusband, which after some fighting against the weakly armed Tibetan forces seized Lhasa. Image:gyawa.bmp|thumb|250px|The 13th Dalai Lama The Thubten Gyatso|13th Dalai Lama fled to Mongolia, so the British imposed a treaty on whatever Tibetan authority they could find in Lhasa. This required Tibet to open its border with British India, to allow British and Indian traders to travel freely, not to impose customs duties on trade with India, and not to enter into relations with any foreign power without British approval. A 1906 treaty with China repeated these conditions, making Tibet a de facto British protectorate, although there was no interference with Tibet's internal affairs. In 1907 a treaty between Britain, China, and Russia recognised Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, and in 1910 the Chinese sent a military expedition of their own to establish direct Chinese rule for the first time. The Dalai Lama once again fled, this time to India. But when Xinhai Revolution|revolution broke out in China in 1911, the Chinese troops withdrew, and the Dalai Lama was able to return to Lhasa and re-establish his power. In 1913, Tibet and Mongolia signed Treaty between Tibet and Mongolia (1913)|a treaty proclaiming their independence from China, and their mutual recognition. In 1914 a treaty was negotiated in India by representatives of China, Tibet and Britain: the Simla Convention. Chinese "suzerainty" over Tibet and Tibetan autonomy were both recognized and a boundary negotiated between British India and Tibet which was very generous to Britain. The treaty was never signed by the Chinese and thus never came into force. However the boundary established, the McMahon Line, was considered by the British and later the independent Indian government to be the boundary, until challenged by the Chinese in 1962 during the Sino-Indian War. The subsequent outbreak of World War I caused the powers to lose interest in Tibet, and the 13th Dalai Lama ruled more or less undisturbed until his death in 1934. At this time, the government of Tibet controlled all of U-Tsang as well as Kham west of the Yangtze River, roughly coincident with the borders of Tibet Autonomous Region today. Eastern Kham and Amdo were under the control of Han Chinese warlord Liu Wenhui and ethnic Hui warlord Ma Bufang, respectively. During the 1920s and 1930s China was divided by Chinese Civil War|civil war and then distracted by the Sino Japanese War (1937-1945)|anti-Japanese war, but never renounced its claim to sovereignty over Tibet, and made occasional attempts to assert it. The fact that the Tenzin Gyatso|14th Dalai Lama was a child made the assertion of Tibetan independence more difficult. He was enthroned in Lhasa in 1940, age four, but was unable to travel to Chengde because of the Japanese occupation. In 1947 a Tibetan delegation went to Nanjing to take part in drafting of a Constitution of the Republic of China|new Chinese constitution. Image:ac.dalailamamao.jpg|frame|Mao Zedong (centre) with the Dalai Lama (right), early 1950sThe Communist Party of China|Chinese Communist regime led by Mao Zedong which came to power in October 1949 lost little time in enforcing its claim to Tibet. In 1950 a People's Liberation Army|Chinese army entered western Kham and U-Tsang with little resistance, since there was no professional Tibetan army. In May 1951 a treaty secretly signed by representatives of the Dalai Lama and local government, provided for Chinese military occupation and rule by a joint Chinese-Tibetan authority. The Chinese at this time did not try to reform Tibet's social or religious system, at least not within the zone of control of the government of Tibet: U-Tsang and western Kham. Eastern Kham and Amdo, outside the control of the government of Tibet, were treated like any other Chinese province, and land reform began immediately, sparking discontent among landowners. The Chinese built highways that reached first Lhasa then later to the Indian, Nepalese and Pakistani borders. The traditional Tibetan aristocracy and government remained in place and was subsidized by the Chinese, some Tibetan aristocrats going shopping in Nepal in their jeeps. The ninth Panchen Lama got the power granted by the Emperor when the 13th Dalai fled to India. When Dalai came back Panchen had to go to Qinghai . After Chinese army went into Tibet he asked and got approval of the government to come back Tibet and died en route. The tenth Panchen was reincarnated then. During the 1950s, however, Chinese rule grew more oppressive, at least to the lamas, who rightly saw that their social power must eventually be broken by continued Communist rule. Prior to 1959, Tibet's land was worked by serfs most of whom were owned by the lamas and were sometimes subjected to cruel conditions, particularly if they tried to escape. Prior to Chinese rule, over 700,000 of Tibet's population of 1.2 million were in serfdom. By the mid-1950s there was unrest in eastern Kham and Amdo, where land reform had been implemented in full. These rebellions eventually spread into western Kham and U-Tsang. In 1959 (at the time of the Great Leap Forward in China), the Chinese authorities overstepped the mark, treating the Dalai Lama, by now an adult, with open disrespect. In some parts of the country zealous Chinese Communists tried to establish rural communes, as was happening in China. These events triggered riots in Lhasa, and then a full-scale rebellion. The Tibetan resistance movement began with isolated resistance to Chinese occupation in the late 1950s. Initially there was considerable success and with CIA aid much of southern Tibet fell into rebel hands, but in 1959 with the occupation of Lhasa resistance forces withdrew into Nepal. Operations continued from the semi-independent Mustang (kingdom)|Kingdom of Mustang with a force of 2000 rebels, many of them trained at Camp Hale near Leadville, Colorado. In 1969, on the eve of Henry Kissinger|Kissinger's overtures to China, support was withdrawn and the Nepalese government dismantled the operation. See http://www.naatanet.org/shadowcircus/map.html. The rebellion in Lhasa was soon crushed, and the Dalai Lama fled to India, although resistance continued in other parts of the country for several years. The Panchen Lama was set up as a figurehead in Lhasa and China took direct control of the Tibetan government. In 1965 the western part of historical Tibet became a Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The monastic estates were broken up, the monasteries closed and secular education introduced. During the Cultural Revolution there was a campaign of organised vandalism against Tibet's Buddhist heritage, and tens of thousands of Tibetans escaped to India. Since 1979 Chinese policy in Tibet has veered between moderation and repression. Most religious freedoms have been officially restored, provided the lamas do not challenge Chinese rule. Foreigners can visit most parts of the country and the evidence of foreign rule is kept hidden from visitors. As in China, there has been Chinese economic reform|economic reform, but no political reform. The Chinese have systematically settled ethnic Han Chinese all over Tibet, making the restoration of Tibetan independence almost impossible. In 1989 the Panchen Lama died, and the Dalai Lama and Chinese authorities recognised different reincarnations. The Dalai Lama named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama but without confirmation by the vase lot, while the Communist authorities named another child, Gyancain Norbu by the vase lot. Gyancain Norbu is being raised in Beijing and has appeared occasionally on state media. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family have reportedly "gone missing." http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGASA170071996 The Dalai Lama is now nearly 70, and when he dies a new child Dalai Lama will have to be found. In 1997, the 14th Dalai Lama indicated that his reincarnation "will definitely not come under Chinese control; it will be outside, in the free world." http://www.tibet.ca/wtnarchive/1997/6/3-2_1.html Under the lamaist tradition, however, the Panchen Lama has the duty of verifying the Dalai Lama's reincarnation and the reincarnation must be confirmed by the Vase lot, so the choice of a new Dalai Lama will be open to government manipulation. Foreign governments continue to make occasional protests about aspects of Chinese rule in Tibet. All governments, however, recognise Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, and none has recognised the Government of Tibet in Exile|Dalai Lama's government in exile in India. The Dalai Lama is widely respected as a religious leader, and is received by foreign governments as such, but few observers of Tibetan affairs believe that he will ever rule again in Lhasa.
<!-- relevance? Image:estab8.gif|The four tibetan finance ministers --> Category:Tibet Category:History of Central Asia|Tibet zh:西藏历史 This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "History of Tibet".
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
![[F]](/images/site.gif){kind=small}
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
All informatin on the site is © FamousChinese.com 2002-2005. Last revised: January 2, 2004 Are you interested in our site or/and want to use our information? please read how to contact us and our copyrights. To post your business in our web site? please click here. To send any comments to us, please use the Feedback. To let us provide you with high quality information, you can help us by making a more or less donation: |