Tibet: A Political History

by Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa

Tibet has long captured the imagination of the world for its unique religious traditions and its awesome remoteness on the "roof of the world," but its actual history and the role it has played in the Asian political arena are less well known. In this book, the first of its kind in English by an eminent tibetan scholar, we are given the full account of the TIbetan nation, from its earliest civilizations up to the tragedy of the current Chinese occupation.

Drawing on original TIbetan documents, government archives and ancient chronicles, as well as recent Western academic research, the author relates the fascinating chapters of TIbet's history with the astute understanding of an inside observer. Beginning with TIbet's Yalung dynasty and its military domination of medieval Asia, the narrative continues through the official adoption of Indian Buddhism, Tibet's influence in the Mongol court of Kublai Khan, the rise of political power of the Dalai Lamas, and TIbet's struggles with foreign expansionism. In the final chapters the author, himself an official in the TIbetan government at that time, gives a first-hand account of the Chinese invasion in 1950, the Tibetan resistance and eventual uprising, and the mass exodus of refugees across the Himalayas into India and abroad. This is an engrossing and insightful book, presenting a vivid picture of political personalities and the characater of the TIbetan people, and is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Asian affairs.

Genres: History, Politics, Asia, Buddhism

Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa (Tibetan romanisation: tsi dpon dbang phyug bde ldan zhwa sgab pa, January 11, 1907 – February 23, 1989) was a Tibetan nobleman, scholar and former Finance Minister of the government of Tibet.
M. Shakabpa, was born in Tibet. His father, Tashi Phuntsok Shakabpa, was the steward of Lhasa. His uncle Trimon Norbu Wangyal, served as a Minister in the Cabinet of the 13th Dalai Lama. Shakabpa joined the Government at the age of 23, in 1930, as an official of the Treasury, and was appointed Minister of Finance in 1939, a position he held until 1950. His uncle, who had participated in the tripartite negotiations between Great Britain, China and Tibet in 1914, strongly encouraged him to take up an interest in Tibetan history, handing him in 1931 many documents he had personally collected from the Simla Accord negotiations,[2] in order to counter the Chinese narrative accounts concerning his country.[3]
Between late 1947 and early 1949, Shakabpa, in his capacity as Tibet's Finance Minister, was despatched abroad by the Tibetan Cabinet, or Kashag, as head of a Tibetan Trade Mission, a delegation that travelled around to world to investigate the possibilities of commercial treaties, particularly with the United States. He travelled to India, China, USA, England, France, Switzerland and Italy. The mission was intended also to strengthen claims for Tibet as an independent, sovereign nation.[4][5] The Tibetan Government in Exile argues that the official passport he was issued with at the time illustrates that Tibet was an independent country.
As Chinese forces spilled over into Amdo and Kham, Shakabpa and Tsechak Khenchung Tupten Gyelpo were appointed to serve as chief negotiators with the Chinese. The mission was aborted when the Tibetan cabinet minister in eastern Tibet, Ngapöpa Ngawang Jikmé, apparently arranged an agreement with the Chinese. When the PRC entered Tibet in 1951, Shakabpa decided to go into exile, moving to India where, from 1959 until 1966, he was the principal representative of the 14th Dalai Lama in New Delhi. It was from this time on that Shakabpa began to concentrate on a thorough study of Tibetan history.[6]
As events in Tibet deteriorated in the mid-fifties, he began to organise the Tibetan resistance together with the Dalai Lama's two older brothers, Gyalo Döndrup and the Taktser Rinpoche Thubten Jigme Norbu.[7] After China's violent suppression of Tibetan demonstrations, and the flight into exile of the Dalai Lama and 80,000 Tibetans into exile, Shakabpa played a key role in developing the infrastructure for assisting the new diaspora in India. His major work, Tibet: A Political history, published by Yale University Press in 1967, has been judged 'the most thorough explication in a western language of a Tibetan's view of their history' down to recent times,[8] His perspective views the historical relationship between China and Tibet as flowing from the model of preceptor and patron(mchod gnas dang yon bdag) established by Genghis Khan, whereby 'the lama serv(ed) as the spiritual guide and preceptor of the khan, while the khan played the role of the protector and patron of the khan,'[9] and that Tibet was 'forcibly incorporated into China under the threat of military destruction only in 1951'. This book, and in his more definitive account in Tibetan, published in 1976, have been subjected to thorough academic critique by Chinese Tibetologists.[10][11]
Shakabpa lived in New Delhi, Kalimpong and Manhattan. He died of stomach cancer, at the age of 82, in 1989 in the house of one of his sons in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Reviews

[R C · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very detailed history of Tibet. Although the author is as pro-independence as one could be on the issue of Tibet, I found the details within the book still remaining very much factual. A book I would recommend to anyone wanting to understand the history of Tibet.

[Matej · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect.

[宋云开 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes the author would distort the truth to support his political viewpoints