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Kham History.Rtf The History of Kham ­ John Studley 2003 It is hardly surprising that here in this wild, forgotten land, should be found one of the most rugged races on planet earth, and an independent fighting spirit that was birthed during the reign of great Tibetan Empire of Songtsen Gampo. (AD 630-82 1) Songtsen Gampo was a Tibetan chieftain who, in AD 630 set out to unify the wild tribes of central Asia. Twenty years after taking up arms, he had raised one of the fiercest armies of all time and extended his empire over Kham and Amdo, which had been the domain of the White Wolf Qiang, as well as most of central Asia and well into China (Marshall & Cooke 1997) From the frightened Chinese emperor he demanded a daughter in marriage. The emperor was obliged to comply and also to pay an annual tribute to the Tibetan King. So powerful was Tibet at this time that when in AD 763 a subsequent Chinese emperor refused to pay the fifty thousand rolls of silk owed in tribute to the Tibetan court, Trisong Detson (741-798 AD) , Songtsen Gampo’s great-grandson, invaded China and captured the capital of the Celestial Empire (which was Xi’an (or Chang’an) in those days). The Tibetan king then deposed the Chinese emperor and replaced him temporarily with his own brother-in-law. Later when King Ralpachen converted to Buddhism the Tibetan empire began to disintegrate, and Kham became more independent. In 821 during a lull in hostilities Tibet and China made a pact of nonaggression (Snellgrove & Richardson 1986 Strauss 1992 Stein 1972) In the 1,200 years that followed, however, the history of Kham was marked by endless feuds between warrior chiefs in deadly competition for supremacy over Kham’s remote hinterlands (Lane 1994). By the end of the 12th century the Kingdom of Ling, home of the epic hero King Gesar, had expanded, to include most of Kham, if we are to believe his “super human” exploits (Samuel 1992). In the 1600’s the Naxi Kings (of NW Yunnan) felt strong enough to make incursions into Tibetan territory, resulting in recurrent fighting on the southern Kham cultural-ecological frontier. This made the Tibetans build watch and defense towers across southern Kham separating the Tibetans from the Tibeto-Burmans (van Spengen 2002 Rock 1930 Roosevelt & Roosevelt 1929). The kingdom of Ling must have declined because it apparently played no significant role by 1640 in Gushri Khan’s campaigns in Kham, when his principal opponent was the pro-Bon King of Beri. By the 17th century the kingdom of Derge had enlarged itself at Ling’s at Beri’s expense, and subsequently much of Eastern Kham became part of the extensive Derge estate. It would appear, however that Ling and Ben continued as a semi-independent states. In spite of Derge’s overlordship Eastern Kham’s nomads were notorious for their independent nature, and could hardly be considered submissive to anyone except their immediate tribal chiefs. When, as occasionally happened, a foreigner was foolish enough to challenge the Khambas, they would unite, their quarrels momentarily forgotten. When this occurred there few who could oppose the “Race of kings”, not the Chinese, or even Chenggis Khan, who eventually came to terms with them on the basis of patron-priest relationship (Peissel 1972) A Chinese toehold The Chinese were unable to get a toehold in Central Tibet until the early 1700’s. In 1717 the Dzungar Mongols were threatening Tibet and partly due to intrigue and partly due to the threat posed by Dzungars, King Lhabsang Khan, agreed to the help offered by the Manchu Emperor Kang Xi. Although the Emperor’s first army was wiped out, his second army encountered less trouble, because the Tibetans had put the Dzungars to flight. More importantly, this army was assured of a friendly reception because it had brought the Seventh Dalai Lama with it (Kang Hsi had previously captured him). This to my knowledge is the only time Tibet ever paid Tribute to China, in return for recognition and protection. Consequently, in 1728, a new boundary between China & Tibet was established, most of Kham was placed under the jurisdiction of Sichuan or Yunnan province (Kolmas 1968) a Chinese garrison was established in Lhasa, and the Tibetan Chiefs who lived to the east of the boundary were given seals as semi-independent feudatories of Manchu China, in spite of this few Chinese dared to enter Kham for fear of being murdered. The Manchu protection however was short lived. When the Gurkhas invaded Tibet in 1856 no Manchu assistance appeared and help faded altogether by the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 (Goldstein 1997 Guibaut 1949) It is not widely known that throughout most of their history neither Tibet nor Kham paid tribute to China. The true nature of Sino-Tibetan relations was obscured by attempts by the Chinese to present tribal peoples as perpetually subservient to China. Thus we hear of nomads coming to “pay tribute”, “present homage” or “sending hostages” when in fact this was a diplomatic smoke screen which disguised the payment of large bribes to the frontier peoples in order to appease them. While the biases in the sources are fairly transparent, they have often been uncritically perpetuated in modern scholarship through a process of secondary ethnocentrism (Barfield 1989). Nag-sked Mgon-po rnam-rgyal Even before the 19th century there was an emergent ethno-national consciousness among the Khambas. It was, however only as a result of Nag-sked Mgon-po rnam-rgyals campaign that the Khambas began to impact Tibetan and Chinese consciousness (See Epstein 2002) Nag-sked A-mgon was the chief of a tiny tribe of about 60 families from Nyarong (Xinlong) county who subdued over 30 years, the whole of Kham from Chamdo to Kanding. This coincided with tumult and disorder throughout China & Tibet. Kham experienced famine, China two Opium Wars (1839-1842 & 1856-1860) and the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864) and Tibet, war with the Dogras (1841) and the Gorkhas (1850-1856). While the Manchu Emperor and Tibetan Government faced turmoil A-mgon had succeeded in creating a parallel power in Kham, and was on the verge of changing the political shape of Kham and the whole of Tibet (Tsering 1985) The governor of Sichuan was unable to prevent this and Tibetan government was forced to keep an alert vigil of this man. While alive he was both hated and feared, but in death his life became a legend of epic proportions narrated by one generation to the next. The common people of Kham even swore in his name. Although he was a great conqueror A-mgon could not enjoy the fruits of his military success for long. Whether it was due to an Amban conspiracy or tribal chiefs who had been driven into exile or the need for an explicit border with China the Tibetan government intervened with a strong military force in Feb 1863 and exterminated him through deceit and treachery. With his death Tibet lost one of the last walls preventing Chinese expansion (Tsering 1985). The only legacy, however for the peoples of Kham was a change in hair style and clothing. The hair style, which is still worn by Khamba men today, comprises yak-hair, rings and red tassels, believed to prevent injury from sword blows. After the betrayal of A-mgon the people of Kham lost faith in the Central Tibetans. Although A-mgons rule had had the positive effect of uniting many provinces of Kham, in resisting any invader, that unity was lost after his death, leaving Tibet open to the last incursions of the dying Manchu dynasty. Historical studies of Tibet have taken Central Tibet as their axial focus, and there are no fine-grained studies of A-mgons attempt to restructure society and build a Khamba state. (Epstein 2002) The British Invasion of Tibet British India’s attempts to open relations with Tibet precipitated the British invasion of 1903-1904 (led by Francis Younghusband) and set in motion a host of conflicting and uncontrolled forces that have dominated Tibetan history up to the present day. In 1904 there seemed a real danger that Tibet could become a British protectorate as had Bhutan & Sikkim, so for the first time China made a concerted effort to bring Kham under their control (French 1994 Mehra 1979 Younghusband 1998) Batang Uprising In 1905 the Chinese promulgated a decree in Batang that reduced the number of monks in monasteries, reduced recruitment for twenty years, and granted land to French Catholic priests. This led to a monk-led uprising during which the Chinese architect of this programme, Feng Ch’uan was killed. In swift retaliation Sichuan provincial officials sent an army, which retook Batang and destroyed the monastery. They appointed Zhou Erh-Feng to continue the work of “consolidation”, and he was so ruthless he earned himself the nickname of “the butcher of monks”. Two thousand of his troops marched on Lhasa, although when his advanced guard arrived they found that the Dalai Lama had fled to India (Goldstein 1989 Coleman 2002) The siege of Sampeling Monastery (1906) When the principal Monastery in Batang was razed to the ground in 1905 most of the surviving monks fled southward to the Sampeling Monastery in the de facto independent Chatreng (Xiangcheng) district. The monastery controlled one of the most lawless areas of Kham comprising the mountain fastness of Konkaling (Daocheng) & Chatreng, whose peoples never acknowledged Chinese rule. Situated between Lijiang & Litang and the Jinsha Jiang & Yajiang Rivers (99.5 and 101 E and 28 and 29.5 N), with unsurpassed scenery, flora & fauna, it was peopled by “Mongfan” of Tibetan and non-Tibetan stock, who had benefited from the illegal trading, slaving caravans and limited banditry for 150 years (Edgar 1935 Du Halde et al 1741 Rock 1930 1931 Yuan Li 2000).
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