100 Essays on Tibet from 1850-1950

1904 Lhasa group photo Sir Charles Bell, Henry Martin,
W. P. Rosemeyer, Kaziman Nepalai

By Tenzin Lekshay

Over the years, I have been collecting articles written on Tibet. Interestingly, with the growing inquisitiveness in Oriental studies over the last two centuries, few foreigners ventured into Tibet. Though Tibet was earlier known to be the forbidden land, the foreign activities inside Tibet remained diverse ranging from missionary works to political establishment. Some went explore the heights of the mountains while others visited for scientific excursions. it is therefore evident that early write-ups on Tibet are mostly travelogues. 

Here is the collection of 100 essays on Tibet within the span of 100 years in between 1850 to 1950. The purpose of making such references is to make it easy for the students and the Tibet observers to find the literatures and the source materials in a more convenient way. All the essays given below are in accordance with the years of the publication.

30 Books to Read on Contemporary China

Part of my small personal library

Yesterday, Prof. Jon Sullivan, China specialist and a political scientist at the University of Nottingham released a reading list of 30 books on the introduction of contemporary China in his website. While going through the list, I felt that he chose nearly all the issues that are essentially connected to China, but he missed a very important issue, which China believes as one of their core interest. For China, Tibet is not just merely a so called  Western Treasure House, but also holds a very important strategic position in the political field. I have requested Prof. Sullivan to include Tibet, or else the minority issues in his reading list, which I believe he is receptive of the idea. He responded to my tweet asking for some Tibet related books.

Irrespective of whether Tibet be included in the reading list or not, I think his recommendation of 30 books on the introduction of contemporary China is a great collection which consist diverse issues and hence are worth to read, especially the students and the China observers. 

Can India Provide Balanced Multipolarity in Southeast and East Asia? (AUDIO)

By Tenzin Lekshay

Maj Gen. Vinod Saighal (retd.)

On the humid evening of 21 August 2013, Major General (retd.) Vinod Saighal gave a detailed and insightful lecture on "Can India Provide Balanced Multipolarity in Southeast and East Asia?" at the Annexe Lecture Hall of India International Centre, Delhi.

As usual, the audience were mixed baggage of different professional background, which include over a dozen of foreign diplomats with few ambassadors, ranks of serving army personals, experts and some young educated Tibetans who are notably interested on that issue. As I wrote in the beginning, though Delhi weather was bit humid, the speaker makes every one attentive to this burning topic.

To layout the talk in a nutshell, he spoke about the progress of China in 3 ways i.e. 1) Implosion Model, 2) Expansion Model and 3) Dynamic Expansion Model. Later, he focussed his main talk on the basis of 4 components that are categorized into 1) China Factor, 2) ASEAN, 3) India and 4) Environmental Factor. While speaking on China, he stressed that there is a lack of governance legitimacy in China.

In his stand alone talk, he raised Tibet issue many times with concerns to environmental degradation, militarization, resource exploitation, damming, and border disputes.

The talk was jointly organized annually by Eco Monitor Society and Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Research Centre, Delhi.

For listening the full talk (94.17MB), Click here
To download the talk (94.17MB), Click here

10 Point Similarities between Indian and Tibetan Freedom Movement

By Tenzin Lekshay

Happy 67th Indian Independence Day

Yesterday, 67th Indian independence day was observed in all over India as well as in abroad. As a Tibetan, I would like to wish and congratulate this great nation for their triumph in cherishing freedom from the clutches of Great Britain. It is on this joyous moment that makes worth of all the bloods and sweats of thousands of Indian freedom fighters. I salute them for their unwavering courage, determination, and the dream of swaraj that makes them immortal in the historical chapter of Indian freedom movement. At this present moment, we, Tibetans are living in such traumatic era of foreign invasion, which resembles that of India during the British rule. Over the last six decades, thousands of Tibetans sacrificed their lives for the noble cause of attaining the sacred freedom, and continue to do so. As Subhash Chandra Bose rightly said, "Freedom is not given, it is taken". So far, while observing China's iron fist control over Tibet, it is obvious that they will not let it go easily, despite the fact that the truth is not in their favor. They continue to distort the Tibetan history and adopt policies that annihilate every bits of the existence of tibetan culture and identity.

Yu Zhengsheng on Tibet: Following the footsteps of his predecessor

Xi Jinping joins a discussion with deputies from TAR,
who attend the first session of the 12th NPC, in Beijing,
March 9, 2013. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

By Tenzin Lekshay

Over the last two years, there were lots of speculations on China's position on Tibet with the change in the Chinese leadership. As many believed that Xi Jinping, the incumbent heir of the Chinese leadership would show softness in handling the Tibet issue, because of his reformist father who had some connections with Tibet. Bao Tong, former aid of purged Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang said that “To understand what kind of leader Xi Jinping will be, one must study his father’s (policies)," and he confirmed that “No (Chinese) Communist will betray his father.”¹ Some even felt that his wife's cultural background might influence him to handle Tibet in a possibly better way. But, many remained skeptical of any ground breaking changes in Tibet due to the prevalence of hard-line party policies inside Tibet. It was however, in mid July 2011, during the 60th Anniversary of so called 'peaceful liberation of Tibet' in Lhasa, Xi Jinping declared that "We should fight against separatist activities by the Dalai group, rely on cadres and people of all ethnic groups, seek long-term policies and take measures that address the root cause, and completely destroy any attempt to undermine stability in Tibet and national unity of the motherland."² Such rhetoric statement of Xi Jinping prior to becoming the President of People's Republic of China (PRC) clearly determined that he will adhere strictly to the party line.

1989 Statement of the 10th Panchen Rinpoche (Audio)

10th Panchen Lama Choekyi Gyaltsen

By Tenzin Lekshay

Early January 1989, the 10th Panchen Lama Lobsang Trinley Lhundup Choekyi Gyaltsen visited Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, Tibet and had consecrated a memorial stupa of the past Panchen Lamas, which were earlier destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. During the ceremony, he spoke in length on the current situations inside Tibet, which were critical of Chinese government's policy on Tibet. Four days after the ceremony, Panchen Lama died mysteriously at the age of 51 on 28 January 1989.