r/tibet • u/cuteRedPandaaa • Sep 09 '26
An interesting book about Tibet-China history, beyond military only
Hi. Thank you for clicking.
I have had the pleasure of reading the book titled "The Dragon in the land of snows: modern history of Tibet since 1947" by Tsering Shakya, it's a very complex book but also an interesting one.
There is a specific part of the book when the author discusses not only armed conflicts between China and Tibet in 1950 (that's when an invasion happened), 1959 (that's when a massive uprising happened), but also social and everyday aspects of it.
Like the future of the people and their lives in the new reality.
China was eager to replace old Tibetan governors, bureaucrats, intelligence, not like only with mainland Chinese affiliated ones, but in a more outrageous way. They threw out the old ones and the defiant ones who wanted more rights for the population of Tibet. And installed new ones... Tibetans too. Picked incompetent ones specifically, on purpose. Some of the new elite were fully illiterate, could not even read, and were picked on purpose because of that. It created chaos and the Chinese government quickly stepped in to send Chinese "advisors", who were way way way more educated than the new incompetent Tibetan leaders, and practically manipulated the administration on all levels the way the regime in China desired.
In the autumn of 1987, specifically 2 years before the Tiananmen square massacre, some Tibetans were informed (by leaflets smuggled into occupied Tibetan territories), that Dalai Lama (their influential representative) would be meeting with the American president. It sparked hope for independence, so some tibetan civilians and some tibetan monks took to the streets even again. Chinese soldiers spotted them, quickly took positions on rooftops, and opened fire, 10 tibetans were executed immediately and the crowd started to panick, because Chinese soldiers threaten massive execution on even more protestors right in that moment. That was just one of many horrors.
This exact book has been the source of many, many, many wikipedia articles or at least parts of them, and I plan to maybe add new historical information mentioned in the book to wikipedia too.
It's a difficult read, because across these decades there have been many, many plot twists and complications, but it's a great book with no doubts.
I recommend to everyone and thank you for reading. I myself come from Poland, and of course, I feel empathy towards Tibet, because of historical similarities between these countries. At least in some periods. Not always
11
u/Worth_Garbage_4471 Sep 09 '26
Yes, 150 years ago, you guys were the exiles trying to get western support to free your country, like the Tibetans are now.
I understand from 1885 to 1918 the Polish language was practically not taught in the Russian-occupied parts of Poland (I don't know much about the situation in the other two occupied zones).
This is very similar to where the Tibetans are now. For example, if you watch this video from a tourist in Lhasa two years ago (2:30-3:30) you can get an understanding of what's happening there even from a short conversation. I think the Polish experience would be very relevant to Tibetans who are living through this now.
https://youtu.be/W6w4W6vnUAw