The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet

The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet PDF

Author: Yingcong Dai

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2011-07-01

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 0295800704

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

During China's last dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911), the empire's remote, bleak, and politically insignificant Southwest rose to become a strategically vital area. This study of the imperial government's handling of the southwestern frontier illuminates issues of considerable importance in Chinese history and foreign relations: Sichuan's rise as a key strategic area in relation to the complicated struggle between the Zunghar Mongols and China over Tibet, Sichuan's neighbor to the west, and consequent developments in governance and taxation of the area. Through analysis of government documents, gazetteers, and private accounts, Yingcong Dai explores the intersections of political and social history, arguing that imperial strategy toward the southwestern frontier was pivotal in changing Sichuan's socioeconomic landscape. Government policies resulted in light taxation, immigration into Sichuan, and a military market for local products, thus altering Sichuan but ironically contributing toward the eventual demise of the Qing. Dai's detailed, objective analysis of China's historical relationship with Tibet will be useful for readers seeking to understand debates concerning Tibet's sovereignty, Tibetan theocratic government, and the political dimension of the system of incarnate Tibetan lamas (of which the Dalai Lama is one).

The High Road to China

The High Road to China PDF

Author: Kate Teltscher

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2013-07-11

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1408846756

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

_______________ 'Splendid and fascinating ... Teltscher has made remarkable use of her source material, aided by the constantly perceptive and witty tone of Bogle's own writings' - Patrick French, Sunday Times 'It is hard to imagine this fascinating story being told with greater sensitivity or skill' - Sunday Telegraph 'Teltscher is a remarkable new historian ... wholly original' - William Dalrymple 'Thrilling and fascinating ... Letters, journals and documents are woven into the flowing narrative, which is wonderfully vivid and evocative' - Jenny Uglow _______________ An unlikely meeting between a young Scotsman and the Panchen Lama gives birth to a remarkable friendship In 1774 British traders longed to open relations with China so they sent a young Scotsman, George Bogle, as an envoy to Tibet. Bogle became smitten by what he saw there, and struck up a remarkable friendship with the Panchen Lama. This gripping book tells the story of their two extraordinary journeys across some of the harshest and highest terrain in the world: Bogle's mission, and the Panchen Lama's state visit to China, on which British hopes were hung. Piecing together extracts from Bogle's private papers, Tibetan biographies of the Panchen Lama, the account of a wandering Hindu monk and the writings of the Emperor himself, Kate Teltscher deftly reconstructs the momentous meeting of these very different worlds.

The Tibet-China Conflict

The Tibet-China Conflict PDF

Author: Elliot Sperling

Publisher: East-West Center

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 61

ISBN-13: 9781932728125

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The status of Tibet has been at the core of the Tibet-China conflict for all parties drawn into it over the past century. This study is a guide to the historical arguments made by the primary parties to the Tibet-China conflict, and examines the extent to which positions on Tibet issues that are thought to reflect centuries of popular consensus are actually very recent constructions, often at variance with the history on which they claim to be based.

Labrang Monastery

Labrang Monastery PDF

Author: Paul Kocot Nietupski

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2012-07-10

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 0739164457

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The Labrang Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Amdo and its extended support community are one of the largest and most famous in Tibetan history. This crucially important and little-studied community is on the northeast corner of the Tibetan Plateau in modern Gansu Province, in close proximity to Chinese, Mongol, and Muslim communities. It is Tibetan but located in China; it was founded by Mongols, and associated with Muslims. Its wide-ranging Tibetan religious institutions are well established and serve as the foundations for the community's social and political infrastructures. The Labrang community's borderlands location, the prominence of its religious institutions, and the resilience and identity of its nomadic and semi-nomadic cultures were factors in the growth and survival of the monastery and its enormous estate. This book tells the story of the status and function of the Tibetan Buddhist religion in its fully developed monastic and public dimensions. It is an interdisciplinary project that examines the history of social and political conflict and compromise between the different local ethnic groups. The book presents new perspectives on Qing Dynasty and Republican-era Chinese politics, with far-reaching implications for contemporary China. It brings a new understanding of Sino-Tibetan-Mongol-Muslim histories and societies. This volume will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate student majors in Tibetan and Buddhist studies, in Chinese and Mongol studies, and to scholars of Asian social and political studies.

Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives

Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives PDF

Author: Michael Aris

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-10-12

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1136149066

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

First published in 1989. This book includes the Tibetan Buddhist hagiography and concentrates on the lives of Pemalingpa (1450-1521) and the Sixth Dalai Lama (1683-1706). One of the main purposes of this study is to communicate the human qualities of these saints to a rather broader audience.