User:Lhandoa/1934 Khamba Rebellion

1934 Khamba Rebellion
Date	1934
Location	Kham (Xikang province)
Result	Rebellion Aborted
Belligerents
Khamba rebels led by Pandatsang Family	Tibet (1912–1951)
Commanders and leaders
Pandastang Togbye; Pandatsang Rapga;	14th Dalai Lama (Regency)
Strength
Khamba Tribesmen	Tibetan Army

The Pandatsang were an extremely rich Khampa trading family with enormous influence in Kham. The family leader was Nyigyal. The family's servants often said "Sa spang mda' gnam spang mda'." "The earth is Pangda's, the sky is Pangda's." and "I am connected to Pangda, what are you going to do to me?". They were behind the rebellion against Lhasa in 1934 and the Tibet Improvement Party.^[1]

The mastermind of the rebellion was Pandastang Togbye of the rich and powerful Kham Pandatsang family.^[2]

Rapga was the brother of Pandastang Togbye, who was a great friend of Thubten Kunphela who also came from Kham. Partly out of anger over Kunphela's fall from power after the death of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, in 1934 Togbye organized a revolt against the Tibetan government in areas the areas they controlled in the western part of Kham. (that was about one third of the whole Kham region). His brother had military control while Rapga was more of a "scholar". They aimed to ultimately attack Lhasa, and had to take Chamdo first.^[3]

He did so in the belief that many monks from Kham originating in the large monasteries near Lhasa would support him in this. The Tibetan government knew that the rebellion originated from within Kham. The residence of his family in Lhasa was confiscated, but ultimately negotiations ensued. The reason was that the family was the main exporter of Tibetan wool abroad, and any further incident could affect government funds. As a result of the outcome of the negotiations, the members of the family did not persecute the rebellion further.

Grey Tuttle, an Assistant Professor of Modern Tibetan studies, believes that it was possible that Rapga "was a devout believer in the political ideology of Sun Yat-sen and had translated some of Sun's more important writings into Tibetan." during this rebellion.^[4]

References

^ Lawrence Epstein, ed. (2002). Khams pa histories: visions of people, place and authority : PIATS 2000, Tibetan studies, proceedings of the 9th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000. Vol. Brill's Tibetan Studies Library, Volume 2/4 (illustrated ed.). BRILL. p. 105. ISBN 9004124233. Retrieved 12-27-2011. 296 Sa spang mda' gnam spang mda'. "The earth is Pangda's, the sky is Pangda's." I first heard this phrase from one of Pangda's former mule herders. Since then numerous Tibetans have quoted it to me, often telling me stories of how Pangda's servants would invoke it when committing an offense, saying, "I am connected to Pangda, what are you going to do to me?"297 This insolence was possible only through the power of the Pangdatsang family , one that rose seemingly from nowhere to great power, and which in the span of two generations became one of the wealthiest — if not the wealthiest — families in all of Tibet. From Kham, the family was wildly successful in Lhasa. The story of its members ranges back arid forth between India, China, Kham, and Lhasa, covering ground ranging from the Tibetan economy and trade to politics both lay and monastic, from relations with Nationalist China and British India to intrigues of all sorts of shapes and sizes. In this article I draw on an eclectic array of oral and written sources to present less well-known aspects of the family. Thus, instead of bringing new material to bear on the 1934 Pangda rebellion in Kham or Rapga's Tibet Improvement Party in 1940s Kalimpong, I focus on Nyigyal, the family patriarch, and his shepherding of the family in their rise to national prominence. Lightning Strikes: The Making of the Pangdatsang Family Our story begins in Chamdo. The rise of the Pangdatsang family from local power to regional power, and then to national power took place in a relatively short span of time and under two different names — Pangdatsang and Pomdatsang. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Pomdatsang (Spom mda' tshang) family,298 based in a Sakya 96 Interview, {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ Melvyn C. Goldstein (1991). A history of modern Tibet, 1913-1951: the demise of the Lamaist state. Vol. Volume 1 of A History of Modern Tibet (reprint, illustrated ed.). University of California Press. p. 450. ISBN 0520075900. Retrieved 12-27-2011. the form of the Tibet Improvement Party.81 Located mainly in the Indian border towns of Kalimpong and Darjeeling, this group sought not simply a change in regents, but the "liberation of Tibet from the existing tyrannical Government" and the revolutionary restructuring of the Tibetan government and society.82 The Tibet Improvement Party was founded and led by Pandatsang Rapga, a somewhat idealistic Khamba nationalist and intellectual. It included as its main members Canglocen Kung, Kumbela, and, less actively, the brilliant but dissolute monk, scholar, and rebel Gendiin Chömpel (see Figures 49 and 50). Rapga was the younger brother of Yambe, a well-known Lhasa government official from an economically separate branch of the Pandatsang family. About forty-five years old in 1945, Rapga had spent most of his life in Kham and had been involved when Pandatsang Tobgye, another brother, had launched his abortive nationalist revolt against the Lhasa government in 1934. Rapga was a devout believer in the political ideology of Sun Yat-Sen and had translated some of Sun's more important writings into Tibetan.83 Rapga wanted change to come to Tibet as it had come to China following the overthrow of the following the overthrow of the Ch'ing dynasty and was convinced that the present Tibetan government was hopelessly ill-suited for the modern world. He took the ideals and theories of the Kuomintang as models for Tibet and looked to the Kuomintang for help in creating an autonomous Tibetan Republic under the overall control of Republican China. Rapga had gone to India from Kahm in 1935, the year after the abortive Kham revolt, but he quickly returned to Chungking and entered the service of the Chinese government's Commission on Tibetan and Mongolian Affairs. He started the Tibet Improvement Party in Kalimpong in 1939, with Canglocen Kung and Kumbela.84 8 1 . The group used the name Tibet Improvement Party in its English materials, but the Tibetan (nub bod legs bats skyut sdug) is more accurately translated as Western Tibet Reform Party. The Chinese used on its letterheads translates even more strongly, as the Tibet Revolutionary Party. 82 . IOR, L/PS/ 1 2/42 1 1 , the "Concise Agreement of Tibet Improvement Party, Kalimpong." 83. Rapga translated, for example, Sun Yat-sen's "Three Rights of the People" ( in Tibetan: dangsum ring lugs). 84. IOR, L/PS/12/421 1, "Concise Agreement of Tibet Improvement Party, Kalimpong {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
^ Original from the University of Michigan George Neilson Patterson (1990). Requiem for Tibet (illustrated ed.). Aurum Press. p. 26. ISBN 1854101110. Retrieved 12-27-2011. from the faction-ridden Lhasa Government. In Kham, the two ambitious brothers, Rapga and Topgyay Pandatshang, of the greatest trading family in central Asia, organized a force of several thousand Khambas from among various tribes and, in 1934, marched against the largest city in east Tibet, Chamdo, on their way to attack Lhasa. Rapga was the scholar and organizer but Topgyay was the fighter and leader. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
^ Gray Tuttle (2007). Tibetan Buddhists in the Making of Modern China (illustrated ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0231134477. Retrieved 12-27-2011. Panchen Lama's death, so he may have shared his enthusiasm for Sun's work with his friend, Wangdii Norbu, and his uncle, ...Even if he did not, Rapga's experiences make an interesting comparison with other Tibetans in exile. The first notice of Rapga coincides with yet another attempt by the Khampas to attain autonomy, this time from Central Tibetan forces in Markham, just west of Batang. Although no Chinese influence has been linked to what Goldstein, Dawei Sherap, and Sieberschuh called this "abortive nationalist revolt," some members of the defeated Pomdatsang family fled to China to be sheltered by the Chinese. Moreover, although Goldstein, Dawei Sherap, and Sieberschuh were not specific about the date, it may be that, as early as the 1934 revolt, Rapga "was a devout believer in the political ideology of Sun Yat-sen and had translated some of Sun's more important writings into Tibetan."97 If so, the Panchen Lama may have even read Rapga's translation; at present, no such translation appears to be in circulation. Until other sources become available, it remains unclear how and just when Rapga developed a thorough knowledge of the "Three Principles of the People." In 1936 Rapga met the Chinese official Huang Musong in India and was persuaded to go to China. That same year Rapga was made a member of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.98 For the next decade Rapga would be involved with the Chinese, eventually securing their assistance in establishing a new political party to transform Tibet. Although their efforts were eventually blocked by the effective cooperation of British and Tibetan policing, Goldstein concluded that, by 1946, this new party had "a hundred or so sympathizers among Khamba traders."99 {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

[[Category:Conflicts in 1934 [[Category:Military history of Tibet [[Category:1934 in China

[1] Lawrence Epstein, ed. (2002). Khams pa histories: visions of people, place and authority : PIATS 2000, Tibetan studies, proceedings of the 9th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000. Vol. Brill's Tibetan Studies Library, Volume 2/4 (illustrated ed.). BRILL. p. 105. ISBN 9004124233. Retrieved 12-27-2011. 296 Sa spang mda' gnam spang mda'. "The earth is Pangda's, the sky is Pangda's." I first heard this phrase from one of Pangda's former mule herders. Since then numerous Tibetans have quoted it to me, often telling me stories of how Pangda's servants would invoke it when committing an offense, saying, "I am connected to Pangda, what are you going to do to me?"297 This insolence was possible only through the power of the Pangdatsang family , one that rose seemingly from nowhere to great power, and which in the span of two generations became one of the wealthiest — if not the wealthiest — families in all of Tibet. From Kham, the family was wildly successful in Lhasa. The story of its members ranges back arid forth between India, China, Kham, and Lhasa, covering ground ranging from the Tibetan economy and trade to politics both lay and monastic, from relations with Nationalist China and British India to intrigues of all sorts of shapes and sizes. In this article I draw on an eclectic array of oral and written sources to present less well-known aspects of the family. Thus, instead of bringing new material to bear on the 1934 Pangda rebellion in Kham or Rapga's Tibet Improvement Party in 1940s Kalimpong, I focus on Nyigyal, the family patriarch, and his shepherding of the family in their rise to national prominence. Lightning Strikes: The Making of the Pangdatsang Family Our story begins in Chamdo. The rise of the Pangdatsang family from local power to regional power, and then to national power took place in a relatively short span of time and under two different names — Pangdatsang and Pomdatsang. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Pomdatsang (Spom mda' tshang) family,298 based in a Sakya 96 Interview, {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

[2] Melvyn C. Goldstein (1991). A history of modern Tibet, 1913-1951: the demise of the Lamaist state. Vol. Volume 1 of A History of Modern Tibet (reprint, illustrated ed.). University of California Press. p. 450. ISBN 0520075900. Retrieved 12-27-2011. the form of the Tibet Improvement Party.81 Located mainly in the Indian border towns of Kalimpong and Darjeeling, this group sought not simply a change in regents, but the "liberation of Tibet from the existing tyrannical Government" and the revolutionary restructuring of the Tibetan government and society.82 The Tibet Improvement Party was founded and led by Pandatsang Rapga, a somewhat idealistic Khamba nationalist and intellectual. It included as its main members Canglocen Kung, Kumbela, and, less actively, the brilliant but dissolute monk, scholar, and rebel Gendiin Chömpel (see Figures 49 and 50). Rapga was the younger brother of Yambe, a well-known Lhasa government official from an economically separate branch of the Pandatsang family. About forty-five years old in 1945, Rapga had spent most of his life in Kham and had been involved when Pandatsang Tobgye, another brother, had launched his abortive nationalist revolt against the Lhasa government in 1934. Rapga was a devout believer in the political ideology of Sun Yat-Sen and had translated some of Sun's more important writings into Tibetan.83 Rapga wanted change to come to Tibet as it had come to China following the overthrow of the following the overthrow of the Ch'ing dynasty and was convinced that the present Tibetan government was hopelessly ill-suited for the modern world. He took the ideals and theories of the Kuomintang as models for Tibet and looked to the Kuomintang for help in creating an autonomous Tibetan Republic under the overall control of Republican China. Rapga had gone to India from Kahm in 1935, the year after the abortive Kham revolt, but he quickly returned to Chungking and entered the service of the Chinese government's Commission on Tibetan and Mongolian Affairs. He started the Tibet Improvement Party in Kalimpong in 1939, with Canglocen Kung and Kumbela.84 8 1 . The group used the name Tibet Improvement Party in its English materials, but the Tibetan (nub bod legs bats skyut sdug) is more accurately translated as Western Tibet Reform Party. The Chinese used on its letterheads translates even more strongly, as the Tibet Revolutionary Party. 82 . IOR, L/PS/ 1 2/42 1 1 , the "Concise Agreement of Tibet Improvement Party, Kalimpong." 83. Rapga translated, for example, Sun Yat-sen's "Three Rights of the People" ( in Tibetan: dangsum ring lugs). 84. IOR, L/PS/12/421 1, "Concise Agreement of Tibet Improvement Party, Kalimpong {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

[3] Original from the University of Michigan George Neilson Patterson (1990). Requiem for Tibet (illustrated ed.). Aurum Press. p. 26. ISBN 1854101110. Retrieved 12-27-2011. from the faction-ridden Lhasa Government. In Kham, the two ambitious brothers, Rapga and Topgyay Pandatshang, of the greatest trading family in central Asia, organized a force of several thousand Khambas from among various tribes and, in 1934, marched against the largest city in east Tibet, Chamdo, on their way to attack Lhasa. Rapga was the scholar and organizer but Topgyay was the fighter and leader. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

[4] Gray Tuttle (2007). Tibetan Buddhists in the Making of Modern China (illustrated ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0231134477. Retrieved 12-27-2011. Panchen Lama's death, so he may have shared his enthusiasm for Sun's work with his friend, Wangdii Norbu, and his uncle, ...Even if he did not, Rapga's experiences make an interesting comparison with other Tibetans in exile. The first notice of Rapga coincides with yet another attempt by the Khampas to attain autonomy, this time from Central Tibetan forces in Markham, just west of Batang. Although no Chinese influence has been linked to what Goldstein, Dawei Sherap, and Sieberschuh called this "abortive nationalist revolt," some members of the defeated Pomdatsang family fled to China to be sheltered by the Chinese. Moreover, although Goldstein, Dawei Sherap, and Sieberschuh were not specific about the date, it may be that, as early as the 1934 revolt, Rapga "was a devout believer in the political ideology of Sun Yat-sen and had translated some of Sun's more important writings into Tibetan."97 If so, the Panchen Lama may have even read Rapga's translation; at present, no such translation appears to be in circulation. Until other sources become available, it remains unclear how and just when Rapga developed a thorough knowledge of the "Three Principles of the People." In 1936 Rapga met the Chinese official Huang Musong in India and was persuaded to go to China. That same year Rapga was made a member of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.98 For the next decade Rapga would be involved with the Chinese, eventually securing their assistance in establishing a new political party to transform Tibet. Although their efforts were eventually blocked by the effective cooperation of British and Tibetan policing, Goldstein concluded that, by 1946, this new party had "a hundred or so sympathizers among Khamba traders."99 {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

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