Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, May 16, 2024
The Seventh Dalai Lama's residence at Gartar Monastery, which began in 1730, greatly affe... more The Seventh Dalai Lama's residence at Gartar Monastery, which began in 1730, greatly affected the relationship between the Kham region and the Tibetan government as well as the Qing court's control over Kham. The Dalai Lama's interactions with various indigenous leaders, local monasteries, monks and lay people increased the influence of the Geluk school in Kham, and also inspired their support for the Dalai Lama. Measures adopted by the Qing court to protect the Dalai Lama, such as stationing troops and inspecting checkpoints, also strengthened Qing control of Kham. After the Dalai Lama left for Tibet in 1735, Gartar Monastery continued to serve as a religious and cultural centre of northern Kham, with the purpose of "civilizing" and "enlightening" the neighbouring regions that were far away from the political centre. Successive abbots of Gartar Monastery-right up to 1920-came from Drepung Monastery in Lhasa; they and the Gartar monks influenced, interfered with and controlled the local affairs of Gartar and other regions in Kham. In particular, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Gartar Monastery, together with the Tibetan commissioner in Nyarong, was able to assist in the Tibetan government's efforts to extend its sphere of influence in Kham.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , 2024
The Seventh Dalai Lama's residence at Gartar Monastery, which began in 1730, greatly affected the... more The Seventh Dalai Lama's residence at Gartar Monastery, which began in 1730, greatly affected the relationship between the Kham region and the Tibetan government as well as the Qing court's control over Kham. The Dalai Lama's interactions with various indigenous leaders, local monasteries, monks and lay people increased the influence of the Geluk school in Kham, and also inspired their support for the Dalai Lama. Measures adopted by the Qing court to protect the Dalai Lama, such as stationing troops and inspecting checkpoints, also strengthened Qing control of Kham. After the Dalai Lama left for Tibet in 1735, Gartar Monastery continued to serve as a religious and cultural centre of northern Kham, with the purpose of "civilizing" and "enlightening" the neighbouring regions that were far away from the political centre. Successive abbots of Gartar Monastery-right up to 1920-came from Drepung Monastery in Lhasa; they and the Gartar monks influenced, interfered with and controlled the local affairs of Gartar and other regions in Kham. In particular, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Gartar Monastery, together with the Tibetan commissioner in Nyarong, was able to assist in the Tibetan government's efforts to extend its sphere of influence in Kham.
Drawing on oral and written Chinese and Tibetan accounts, this paper aims to provide a preliminar... more Drawing on oral and written Chinese and Tibetan accounts, this paper aims to provide a preliminary discussion of the role of Khampa women in political life by examining the lives of three notable women chieftains in the first half of the twentieth century. The case studies demonstrate that there were different paths or avenues for women to rise to power, since due to traditional biases against female political leaders, limitations and obstacles hindered their ability to access and exercise power. These accounts show that at the key juncture when a family was faced with crisis in the turbulent late Qing and Republican periods, it was often the female ruler who exercised power and authority and saved the family. Their assumption of power was possible because, in situations involving the absence of male heirs, both traditional customary law in Kham and the laws of the late Qing and Republican periods allowed women to inherit titles and positions. These women were caught up in power struggles between multiple forces, notably male leaders within their lineages, competing males from other lineages, sub-state agents like provincial warlords, the Chinese state and sometimes the Tibetan government. These examples demonstrate how the fragmentary, decentralised nature of interstitial polities opened up additional spaces for local leadership and particularly for female leadership.
Issues of insecurity and unruliness on the Kham frontier forced the government of Republican Chin... more Issues of insecurity and unruliness on the Kham frontier forced the government of Republican China to adopt a policy of integration. They also provided the impetus behind the work of Republican intellectuals to re-imagine a new geo-space in which frontier peoples were inscribed as co-nationals. As represented by Ren Naiqiang, these intellectuals set out to introduce the Kham periphery to policy makers and Chinese citizens such that the contested Kham region appeared an inalienable part of Chinese national space. To legitimate the civilizing projects sponsored by the state, Ren’s narrative strategies gave new meaning to the Kham periphery. By representing the culture and traditions of Kham as a historical remnant of China’s past, it was no longer an alien “other.” By employing the “rhetoric of privation,” together with elements of the “rhetoric of primitivism,” Ren presented the Khampas as stuck at a lower state of development, deprived materially, culturally, and morally.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, May 16, 2024
The Seventh Dalai Lama's residence at Gartar Monastery, which began in 1730, greatly affe... more The Seventh Dalai Lama's residence at Gartar Monastery, which began in 1730, greatly affected the relationship between the Kham region and the Tibetan government as well as the Qing court's control over Kham. The Dalai Lama's interactions with various indigenous leaders, local monasteries, monks and lay people increased the influence of the Geluk school in Kham, and also inspired their support for the Dalai Lama. Measures adopted by the Qing court to protect the Dalai Lama, such as stationing troops and inspecting checkpoints, also strengthened Qing control of Kham. After the Dalai Lama left for Tibet in 1735, Gartar Monastery continued to serve as a religious and cultural centre of northern Kham, with the purpose of "civilizing" and "enlightening" the neighbouring regions that were far away from the political centre. Successive abbots of Gartar Monastery-right up to 1920-came from Drepung Monastery in Lhasa; they and the Gartar monks influenced, interfered with and controlled the local affairs of Gartar and other regions in Kham. In particular, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Gartar Monastery, together with the Tibetan commissioner in Nyarong, was able to assist in the Tibetan government's efforts to extend its sphere of influence in Kham.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , 2024
The Seventh Dalai Lama's residence at Gartar Monastery, which began in 1730, greatly affected the... more The Seventh Dalai Lama's residence at Gartar Monastery, which began in 1730, greatly affected the relationship between the Kham region and the Tibetan government as well as the Qing court's control over Kham. The Dalai Lama's interactions with various indigenous leaders, local monasteries, monks and lay people increased the influence of the Geluk school in Kham, and also inspired their support for the Dalai Lama. Measures adopted by the Qing court to protect the Dalai Lama, such as stationing troops and inspecting checkpoints, also strengthened Qing control of Kham. After the Dalai Lama left for Tibet in 1735, Gartar Monastery continued to serve as a religious and cultural centre of northern Kham, with the purpose of "civilizing" and "enlightening" the neighbouring regions that were far away from the political centre. Successive abbots of Gartar Monastery-right up to 1920-came from Drepung Monastery in Lhasa; they and the Gartar monks influenced, interfered with and controlled the local affairs of Gartar and other regions in Kham. In particular, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Gartar Monastery, together with the Tibetan commissioner in Nyarong, was able to assist in the Tibetan government's efforts to extend its sphere of influence in Kham.
Drawing on oral and written Chinese and Tibetan accounts, this paper aims to provide a preliminar... more Drawing on oral and written Chinese and Tibetan accounts, this paper aims to provide a preliminary discussion of the role of Khampa women in political life by examining the lives of three notable women chieftains in the first half of the twentieth century. The case studies demonstrate that there were different paths or avenues for women to rise to power, since due to traditional biases against female political leaders, limitations and obstacles hindered their ability to access and exercise power. These accounts show that at the key juncture when a family was faced with crisis in the turbulent late Qing and Republican periods, it was often the female ruler who exercised power and authority and saved the family. Their assumption of power was possible because, in situations involving the absence of male heirs, both traditional customary law in Kham and the laws of the late Qing and Republican periods allowed women to inherit titles and positions. These women were caught up in power struggles between multiple forces, notably male leaders within their lineages, competing males from other lineages, sub-state agents like provincial warlords, the Chinese state and sometimes the Tibetan government. These examples demonstrate how the fragmentary, decentralised nature of interstitial polities opened up additional spaces for local leadership and particularly for female leadership.
Issues of insecurity and unruliness on the Kham frontier forced the government of Republican Chin... more Issues of insecurity and unruliness on the Kham frontier forced the government of Republican China to adopt a policy of integration. They also provided the impetus behind the work of Republican intellectuals to re-imagine a new geo-space in which frontier peoples were inscribed as co-nationals. As represented by Ren Naiqiang, these intellectuals set out to introduce the Kham periphery to policy makers and Chinese citizens such that the contested Kham region appeared an inalienable part of Chinese national space. To legitimate the civilizing projects sponsored by the state, Ren’s narrative strategies gave new meaning to the Kham periphery. By representing the culture and traditions of Kham as a historical remnant of China’s past, it was no longer an alien “other.” By employing the “rhetoric of privation,” together with elements of the “rhetoric of primitivism,” Ren presented the Khampas as stuck at a lower state of development, deprived materially, culturally, and morally.
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