Customer Reviews

A History of Modern Tibet, volume 2: The Calm before the Storm: 1951-1955 (Philip E. Lilienthal Books)

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Like his first volume on the history of Tibet, Dr. Goldstein has written the definitive account of the period from 1951-1955. Based on incredibly extensive research--including his own interviews with many of the major protagonists and primary documents in English, Tibetan, and Chinese--Goldstein has painted a fascinating and counter-intuitive account of the first few years after China's "liberation" of Tibet. Even for those steeped in Chinese politics, this account will provide surprises, insights, and anecdotes of great value. Mao's role as the principal proponent and defender of the gradual reform of Tibet is almost surreal in view of his later actions and his role in the Cultural Revolution. The impact of internal party conflicts--such as between the Northwest and Southwest armies and the role of Sichuan party secretary Li Jingquan--provide a new level of explanation for the 1959 revolt. Such documentation as the transcripts of conversations between Mao and the Panchen Lama and between Zhou Enlai and Li Jingquan are priceless. The anecdote about Zhou diverting to Chengdu to greet the Dalai Lama on the way back to Tibet shows Zhou's prototypically astute attention to detail and political sensitivity. Although I anxiously await the next volume, I hope Dr. Goldstein and his editor will choose to relegate some of the lengthy primary material to appendices or footnotes. At times, its volume gets in the way of, rather than elucidating, the fascinating story.

This is an excellent, illuminating book, in line with Goldstein's preceding volume. It is both superbly researched and highly readable, thanks to the author's admirable capacity to weave significant quotations and documents into his narrative. This said, a couple of issues may be raised. First and most important, in analyzing this chunk of Tibetan history Goldstein adopts a consistent approach, reflecting his views. This is fully acceptable, but sometimes one gets the impression that the author's perspective has become static and schematic, as if he had partially lost his previous sensitivity to the events on the ground. The previous volume's extraordinarily vivid image of Lhasa's life and society is no longer there and the author seems to have become somewhat estranged from Tibetan mentality. Second, while it is impossible for anyone to fully grasp the complexity of Tibetan life and culture, Goldstein's relative indifference to its essential religious dimension is quite apparent here. This is a book that anyone interested in recent Tibetan history should read, but other perspectives may be well worth exploring.

I feel like I have been reading a mystery story. I have the first part of the mystery in Goldstein's first volume and in the second we are shown the honeymoon between the Chinese and the Tibetans after China coerced Tibet into union. We know the eventual outcome (because we have been beaten over the head with the final chapters of the who-done-it) in Chinese repression, but the period between '51 and '55 seems like an idyll of occupation completely out of spirit with most modern conquests and what is known of later Chinese history such as the Cultural Revolution. The Chinese, as occupiers, were positively gentle towards the Tibetans, and Mao's overruling hardliners is so out of character of what we know of the later Mao, it is hard to believe.
What an odd historical period. By invading eastern Tibet the Chinese forced the Lhasa to accede to being gently occupied, and the Dalai Lama (using the exile gambit like his predecessors) returns. The Chinese arrive with overwhelming troops and the Tibetan old guard, refusing to acknowledge their defeat, constantly insult and resist them. Mao insists that the occupiers swallow it without withdrawing. His strategy is to take as long as needed to win over reactionary Tibetans to change, leaving in place Tibetan feudalism (remember this is revolutionary China) until change can come about without resistance. From where we now stand this looks like a completely cynical policy, but it wasn't in 1955. The Dalai Lama (19 years old) is almost completely won over on his trip to China (except, despite the fact the occupiers in Tibet both gave money to and placated the monasteries, being upset by Mao's one reference to religion being a poison), so much so that Mao has to constantly hold him back from changes the Dalai Lama might have wanted to make. In fact, on returning to Tibet, the monasteries and gentry stop the integration of the Tibetan into China's and the elimination of Tibetan currency. For all his vaunted god-king, living Buddha status the 14th Dalai Lama, like his predecessor, the 13th Dalai Lama, is more a prisoner of the monasteries and aristocracy than their leader. That is how this volume is left. We can see the roots of resistance growing, but their soil is more reactionary traditional Tibet rather than the result of being exploited or abused by their Chinese conquerors. The exception, of course, is seen only peripherally in the ethnically Tibetan parts of China and in occupied Kham where the changes which China is making to China effect the Chinese Tibetans. It would have been nice if Goldstein would have said more about these goings on. But then I assume he was saving that for his third volume leading up to the 1959 uprising, whose appearance is awaited. The only criticism I have of this book is that, like volume one, there is too much primary material included which the author could have summarized making the narrative read more smoothly. Despite this Goldstein has done us a great service.
Charlie Fisher author of Dismantling Discontent: Buddha's Way Through Darwin's World

Goldstein has access to Tibetan sources that other historians can only envy. Married to a Tibetan noblewoman and welcomed into the Dalai Lama's presence, he is able to paint a refreshingly human picture of tumultuous events and high drama. His account of Chinese government figures and of Chinese behavior--good and bad--in Tibet is disarmingly balanced and even sympathetic. This volume could serve as an instructional model for any large government that must deal with a smaller, dependent state. A model of diplomacy.

This book could have been written not by a Professor of a major American University but the Communist Party of China (CCP). Professor Goldstein had long been suspected of being CCP's "running dog propagandist" in the West. Well, in this book, good old professor breaks from subtle nuances of previous works and openly takes side. Here the Tibetans are the bad guys and Chinese Communist are the good guys. Read for yourselves if you want to!