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When the Chinese Came to Tibet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2018

Dawa Norbu
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Extract

My home town, called Sakya, is located in Western Tibet. The news about the Chinese invasion of 1950 reached us sometime in 1952. A soldier whose family lived in a house next to ours brought the astounding news. He announced that the “enemies of our faith” were advancing rapidly from the east and that there would be no peace and happiness in the land of snow.

Despite the alarming news, no one in Sakya sharpened his sword or dusted his bow and arrows. Our government neither declared a state of emergency nor conscripted the young into the army. Instead, we witnessed quite a few unusual religious rites of the sort called mangdog, meaning prevent or negate war. After the revolt against the Chinese in 1959, a number of leading monks were imprisoned, charged with mangdog, which was interpreted as treason against China.

Type
Articles
Information
Worldview , Volume 21 , Issue 9 , September 1978 , pp. 23 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 1978

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References

* Da-yuans were pure silver coins weighing twenty-five grams each, minted by China's Kuomintang regime and warlords. After Coming to power in 1949 the Communists did not use da-yuans in China. The silver coins were used in Tibet because other Chinese paper currency was not accepted by Tibetans. The exclusive use of da-yuans in Tibet in the Fifties indicates the extent to which the Chinese were willing to make concessions and give special treatment to Tibetans during the honeymoon period.