Lect. #2 - Tibet, the Tibet Question, & Tibet's Historical Evolution

I. Introduction
    A. Contextualizing Tibet
 

II. The Tibet Question

    A. A Question of Perspective?
               ●  The relationship of Tibet andChina
               ●  Independence vs. Integrated Part of China
               ●  PRC Perspective:  feudal exploitation
               ●  Tibetan Perspective: Land of Peace

    B. History of Denial
            1. Tibet and Tibetans are passive agents?
            2. Tibet and Tibetans as individual agents
            3. Tibet: Independent or Not?
 

    C. What is Tibet?
            1. Physical Tibet
                  a. Natural Boundaries
                        - SOUTH:  Himalayas
                        - WEST:  Karakorums
                        - NORTH: Kunlun, Astin Tagh and Nan Shan Mountains
                                ● Tsaidam Basin
                        - EAST:  Salween, Irrawady and Yangtse River headwaters

                  b. Numbers
                        - Area:  roughly 470 million square miles (1.2 million square kilometers)
                        - Elevation:  average elevation 16,000 (4,900 meters)
                        - Climate
                        - Population:  2.6 million
                  c. Neighbors:
                        - SOUTH:  India/Nepal
                        - WEST:  Afghanistan/Pakistan/Tajikistan ("Pamir Knot")
                        - NORTH: Xinjiang (Turkestan)
                        - WEST: China

                  d. "Boundaries"?
                        - Topographical, political, ethnic?

            2.  Ethnographic Tibet (map)
                  a. Regions of Tibet
                        - Amdo (NE)
                        - Kham (E)
                        - U (Central)
                        - Tsang (W)
                  b. Ethnic (or Cultural) Tibet vs. Political (or TAR) Tibet
                        - Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR
                                ● 4.6 million ethnic Tibetans in PRC
                                ● 46% within TAR
                                ● 54% outside (Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan)

 

III. Tibet:  Four Phases

            1. PHASE ONE: Tibet Emerges (7th - 10th Centuries)
                  a. Songtsen Gampo (r. 617-650)
                  b. Rival Empires (map)
                        - Nanzhao, Mongols, Uyghurs, China

                  c. Trisonog Detsen (r. - 797[804])

            2. PHASE TWO: Tibet in Transition (9th - 16th Centuries)
                  a. Genghis Khan (in Central Tibet by 1206)
                  b. Mongol Rule = Chinese Rule?
                  c. Rise of Geluk (or Geluk-pa) - Yellow Hats

            3. PHASE THREE:  Qing China and Tibet (17th-19th Centuries)
                  a. Qing China (1644-1911) [map]
                        - Manchu rulers
                  b. Key reforms
                        - Ambans
                        - Golden Urn

            3. PHASE Four: 20th Century Tibet
                 a.  Britain and Russia ("Great Game")
                 b.   Younghusband Expedition and the Anglo-Tibet Convention of 1904