Customer Reviews

Tibet Past and Present

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sir Charles Bell's book gave an interesting glimpse into parts of the Tibetan history both by first hand account and second hand reading of other sources. This alone was interesting enough.

Additionally, Sir Charles Bell added his personal involvement of the British government in the political affairs of the Tibetans and the Chinese. And this gave the interesting glimpse of things that we now know.

Specifically the chapter of Tibetan history back in 1910 involved in a British move to establish a Tibet military buffer zone. The British had hoped to use the highlands of Tibet to counter a rumored military alliance between Qing China and Czarist Russia. The rumored alliance was seen as an "intrigue", which would help strengthen China's hold on Tibet and thus threaten British Burma, which was ethnically and religiously akinned to Tibet.

Not only did the British not succeed in establishing a militarily strong Tibetan buffer zone, as a result of their military and political action, Russia in response took Chinese Mongolia and parts of Manchuria, which caused Japan to contest Russia for Manchuria, which later led to the Japanese invasion of China.

And as we now know, the stronger Japanese presence in China in WWII, eventually spilt over to British Burma, which led to a humiliating military defeat of the British troops in Burma in the hands of the Japanese.

Thus the paranoia of an "intrigue" which threatened British Burma eventually led to its self-fulfillment.

It's too bad that Sir Charles Bell never got to write a book on WWII, that might have been interesting.

To understand Tibet's history and politics there are mainly three sources: 1) Tibetan, 2) Chinese 3) Western. This book provides an account from a British political officer who spent nineteen years in the region. During his time there, Sir Bell became good friends with the Dalai Lama and in 1920 was invited by the latter to visit Lhasa where he stayed for about a year. As he stated "no other write man has been for so long in the forbidden city." (Page 4)

I was surprised to find that the cultural link between Tibet and China was significant; Sir Bell made this point clear in Chapter V. The Tibetan culture was greatly influenced by the Chinese. Among the many things, knowledge and skills imported from China were books on astronomy, astrology and medicine; the making of butter, cheese, barley-beer, pottery, water mills and the national beverage tea. Buddhism was also partly introduced by the Chinese even though it came out of India. In conclusion Sir Bell wrote: "we may in fact say that the present civilization of Tibet was taken mainly from China, and only in a lesser degree from India." (Page 25)

The arrogance of the British is hard to bear (hence the 2 stars). Sir Bell often expresses his willingness to help the Tibetans. "Let us help the Tibetans as far as we can, but in the main leave them alone to live their own life, for this is what above all they desire." (Page 72) It sounds very touching; the only problem is this sentence is the ending of a chapter titled British Military Expeditions. One of the expeditions mentioned is the 1904 expedition and the outcome of it was the 1904 convention which was signed by Tibetans at gun point. One provision says: "An indemnity of half a million pounds was to be paid by the Tibetan government in seventy-five annual installments. The Chumbi Valley to remain in British occupation until the payment was completed." In addition to demanding money the British also demanded control over Tibetan politics.
Provision IX says:
"The Government of Thibet engages that, without the previous consent of the British Government.
a. No portion of Thibetan territory shall be ceded, sold, leased, mortgaged or otherwise given for occupation, to any foreign Power;
b. No such Power shall be permitted to intervene in Thibetan affairs;
c. No Representatives or Agents of any foreign Power shall be admitted to Thibet;
d. No concessions for railways, roads, telegraphs, mining or other rights, shall be granted to any foreign Power, or the subject of any foreign Power. In the event of consent to such concessions being granted, similar or equivalent concessions shall be granted to the British Government;
e. No Tibetan revenues, whether in kind or in cash, shall be pledged or assigned to any foreign Power, or to the subject of any foreign Power." (Page 68)

The British acted like barbaric greedy robbers and yet Sir Bell believed he and his countrymen were doing the Tibetans a favor.

This is an interesting book but be aware of the author's bias.

This is an interesting and very readable account of British Diplomat Sir Charles Bell's time of service for the British empire vis-à-vis his stint in Tibet and his experience of the neighbouring countries and imperial powers: Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Russia and Japan for example. The bulk of the book deals with Tibet, its customs and people; Tibet's usefulness as a counter to Chinese and Russian interference in India; And the influence of Dalai Lama upon the effectiveness of Chinese control over the inhabitants of Mongolia and Manchuria who had much in common as per the importance of religion and as a distinct race.

Any commentary about Tibet being a feudal serfdom, as cited by Michael Parenti and contemporary China, for instance, was distinctly absent. But a good degree of detail about intra-regional trade and/or disputes was present. One prominent example being Tibet and Nepal almost coming to blows over a dispute about the Nepalese raiding of Tibetan Yak-dung. The Yak-dung war would have put WW1 into perspective :-) But, joking aside, the book does give one the benefit of distance from the ravages of WW1 and the subsequent Russian revolution, which usually feature so prominently world affairs.

Some light was also shed upon the cultural reasons that discouraged Asian states of the time from interfering overly much in each others' affairs. How much these are still a significant part of contemporary ASEAN thinking, underpinned by the dubious reasoning of Former Singapore Ambassador to the UN, Kishore Mahbubani, is open to debate.