The Chinese Revolution on the Tibetan Frontier: State Building, National Integration and Socialist Transformation, Zeku (Tsékhok) County, 1953-1958 Benno Ryan Weiner Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University 2012 ©2012 Benno Ryan Weiner All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT The Chinese Revolution on the Tibetan Frontier: State Building, National Integration and Socialist Transformation, Zeku (Tsékhok) County, 1953-1958 Benno Ryan Weiner This dissertation analyzes early attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to integrate Zeku (Tsékhok) County, an ethnically Tibetan, pastoral region located in southeastern Qinghai/Amdo, into the People’s Republic of China. Employing county-level archival materials, it argues that during the immediate post-Liberation period, Party leaders implicitly understood both the administrative and epistemological obstacles to transforming a vast multiethnic empire into a unitary, socialist nation-state. For much of the 1950s it therefore employed a “subimperial” strategy, referred to as the United Front, as a means to gradually and voluntarily bridge the gap between empire and nation. However, the United Front ultimately lost out to a revolutionary impatience that demanded immediate national integration and socialist transformation, leading in 1958 to communization, democratic reforms and rebellion. Despite successfully identifying the tensions between empire and nation, and attempting to creatively resolve them, empire was eliminated before the process of de-imperialization and nationalization was completed. This failure occurred at both the level of policy and narrative, leaving Amdo’s Tibetan population unevenly absorbed into the modern Chinese nation-state. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………… ii Introduction Empire and Amdo…………………………………………………………1 Part I Pre-Liberation Amdo and the Syncretic Nexus of Authority…………………… Chapter 1 The Amdo Frontier and the Development…………………………. 57 of the Syncretic Nexus of Authority Chapter 2 Between Empire and Nation: State-Local Authority……………... 105 in Republican-era Amdo Conclusion The Syncretic Nexus of Authority Between Empire and Nation… 153 Part II Zeku County: State Building, National Integration…………………………… and Socialist Transformation Chapter 3 Liberation and Re-Imperialization:................................................. 163 The Liberation of Tongren County Chapter 4 Becoming Masters of their own Homes: National Autonomy……. 210 and the Invention of Zeku County Chapter 5 Down to the Tribes: Social Welfare, Tax Collection,....…………. 269 Patriotic Consciousness and the De-Imperialization of the Zeku Grasslands Chapter 6 Empire in Eclipse: Mutual Aid, Cooperativization……………….. 332 And Socialist Transformation Conclusion The 1958 Amdo Rebellion and the End of Empire……………………… 398 List of Abbreviations………………………………………………………………….. 436 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………437 Appendix A: Zeku’s Tribes and Leadership ca. 1953………………………………… 467 Appendix B: THL — Pinyin — Wylie Conversion Chart…………………………….. 468 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “All your hard work will pay off in the end” -Fortune Cookie, CO 89 EWK-PEK, February 6, 2008 I received the fortune cookie on a now defunct airline while flying to China to conduct research for this dissertation. At the time it seemed a serendipitous omen. However, over the following several years there were times that it appeared more likely that the fortune inside the cookie would prove false. That it did not is a testament to the tremendous support I have received in both my professional and personal lives. At Columbia University I have been blessed with advisors who are not only excellent scholars— as would be expected— but are also wonderful teachers and mentors, which is often more hard to find. Not only did Professor Robert Barnett introduce me to Tibetan studies, but he was also the first person to take an interest in me as a scholar. It is no stretch to say that without his support, guidance, and friendship I would not be here today. My principle advisor Professor Madeleine Zelin has been a constant source of encouragement, patience and sound advice. Not only did Professor Zelin allow me the freedom to pursue a topic that many would have thought a fool’s errand, but she also made sure that I had the financial support so vital to students of East Asia. From the moment he arrived at Columbia, Professor Gray Tuttle has been an inspiration, an advocate and a mentor. Professors Eugenia Lean, Morris Rossabi, Guobin Yang, and Thomas Bernstein have all been far more instrumental in my scholarly development than they likely realize. ii The number of people who have selflessly pointed me toward resources, introduced me to contacts and otherwise offered vital contributions to the researching and writing of this dissertation are too great to count. However, special thanks go to Lauran Hartley, Chengzhi Wang and Chopathar of Columbia’s Star East Asian Library. Language instructors are the unsung heroes of East Asian studies and they all deserve our appreciation. I would like to especially acknowledge Columbia University’s Tenzin Norbu, Liu Lening, Meng Yuan-Yuan and all of the instructors at Tibet University. Major research funding was provided by a Fulbright Hays DDRA grant. Write-up support was generously provided by a Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship and a V.K. Wellington Koo Fellowship, both administered by Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute. I have also been fortunate to receive a variety of pre-research, post- research and language study grants from Columbia University’s Department of History, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, and the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. Writing a dissertation sometimes seems like a solitary endeavor, one that my own predilections probably made more so than necessary. Nonetheless, throughout my graduate career I have benefitted immeasurably from the camaraderie, stimulation and advice of many colleagues including Dominique Townsend, Annabella Pinkin, Max Oidtman, Brent Haas, Brenton Sullivan, Nicole Willock, Tsehua Jia, Arunab Ghosh, Anatoly Pinsky, Stacey Van Vleet, and Douglas Kremer. The generosity, hospitality, insight and friendship of so many people in China is deeply appreciated. Thank you in particular to Gartso Kyi, Tsewang Dorje, Tsering Thar, Yang Hongwei, Jamyang Kyi, Lama Gyap, Pu Wencheng, Dawa Lopdro, Yongdrol Tsongkha, Tsetan Dorje, Gonchok iii Tsetan, Wangxiu, Dondrup, Dowi Trashi, Gerald Roche, Elena McKinley, Shamo Thar, Solomon Rino, Ma Wei, Namlha, “Steven,” “Philip,” Gyaye Trabo, Wang Wenlu, and many others. It is with great regret that due to what I hope is an overabundance of caution I cannot directly thank several of the people who were most instrumental in aiding my research and helping to frame my understanding of Amdo’s past and present. I trust that they realize that they have my unending gratitude. Special thanks go to Bill Lindeman and the staffs of Tibetan Connections and the Lete Guest House both for putting me up and putting up with me. Many of the friendships that sustained me over the years were made away from academia. In fact, I always felt that I have lived something of a double life, the zaniness of the afterhours keeping me sane for the toils and occasional celebrations of graduate life. Over many years and across continents, Alastair Hunt and Felicia Koh have been among my closest friends. Zack Waldman, all I can say is “Cowagunga!” When I was away from my family in New York, Dirk Eschenbacher and Chen Xuan became my family in Beijing. Matt Dugan, Pam Rubinstein, Jason Catron, Donald Frasier, Shannon Richter, James Gellini, and everyone at Irving Plaza and Arrow. Buster Posey. Our East Village family: the bartenders and barflies, teachers and pop stars. What a ride! My parents Dan and Ellen Weiner are two of the most generous and creative people I know. Thank you not only for your unconditional love but also your unconditional support. My siblings Joshua, Carl and Jessica have been my lifelong collaborators and comrades-in-arms. My mother-in-law Marge O’Brien, without whom I don’t know how we would have managed. To the memory of my grandparents Karl and Eva Weiner and Irving and Beatrice Kaufman. Macayla and Ava, you are the most iv amazing things that have ever happened to me. And finally, to Mary Margaret, thank you for sharing your life with me. v To Mary Margaret, Macayla Ann and Ava Rose, For all the times I was away, even when I was home. With all my love and thanks. vi Map 1 Qinghai Province vii Map 2 Hualong County viii 1 INTRODUCTION: EMPIRE AND AMDO On March 10, 2008, the first in a string of anti-state protests broke out in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Initially, the disturbances were described as the largest in China’s Tibetan regions since a series of demonstrations had shaken Lhasa between 1987-1989. However, it soon became evident that this comparison was inadequate. Like the demonstrations two decades prior, the 2008 protests began with confrontations between Tibetan monks and state security forces and then rapidly spread to the lay community. And like two decades earlier, the protests quickly turned violent. Unlike the 1980s, however, in 2008 the unrest was not limited to Lhasa and its environs. Instead, the protests spread across the Tibetan Plateau and beyond. Over the spring and summer of 2008, and in the