The Sino-Tibetan (ST) language family includes the Sinitic languages (what for political reasons are known as Chinese 'dialects') and the 200 to 300 Tibeto-Burman (TB) languages. Geographically it stretches from Northeast India, Burma, Bangladesh, and northern Thailand in the southeast, throughout the Tibetan plateau to the north, across most of China and up to the Korean border in the northeast, and down to Taiwan and Hainan Island in the southeast. The family has come to be the way it is because of multiple migrations, often into areas where other languages were spoken (LaPolla, 2001).
Frontier Tibet addresses a historical sequence that sealed the future of the Sino-Tibetan borderlands. It considers how starting in the late nineteenth century imperial formations and emerging nation-states developed competing schemes of integration and debated about where the border between China and Tibet should be. It also ponders the ways in which this border is internalised today, creating within the People's Republic of China a space that retains some characteristics of a historical frontier. The region of eastern Tibet called Kham, the focus of this volume, is a productive lens through which processes of place-making and frontier dynamics can be analysed. Using historical records and ethnography, the authors challenge purely externalist approaches to convey a sense of Kham's own centrality and the agency of the actors involved. They contribute to a history from below that is relevant to the history of China and Tibet, and of comparative value for borderland studies.
In 2001 the Chinese government announced that the precise location of Shangrila—a place that previously had existed only in fiction—had been identified in Zhongdian County, Yunnan. Since then, Sino-Tibetan borderlands in Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai, and the Tibet Autonomous Region have been the sites of numerous state projects of tourism development and nature conservation, which have in turn attracted throngs of backpackers, environmentalists, and entrepreneurs who seek to experience, protect, and profit from the region's landscapes. Mapping Shangrila advances a view of landscapes as media of governance, representation, and resistance, examining how they are reshaping cultural economies, political ecologies of resource use, subjectivities, and interethnic relations. Chapters illuminate topics such as the role of Han and Tibetan literary representations of border landscapes in the formation of ethnic identities; the remaking of Chinese national geographic imaginaries through tourism in the Yading Nature Reserve; the role of The Nature Conservancy and other transnational environmental organizations in struggles over culture and environmental governance; the way in which matsutake mushroom and caterpillar fungus commodity chains are reshaping montane landscapes; and contestations over the changing roles of mountain deities and their mediums as both interact with increasingly intensive nature conservation and state-sponsored capitalism. ; The Transformation Fund of the Kenneth S. and Faye G. Allen Library Endowment at the University of Washington Libraries
Open-access edition: DOI 10.6069/9780295805023 In 2001 the Chinese government announced that the precise location of Shangrila—a place that previously had existed only in fiction—had been identified in Zhongdian County, Yunnan. Since then, Sino-Tibetan borderlands in Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai, and the Tibet Autonomous Region have been the sites of numerous state projects of tourism development and nature conservation, which have in turn attracted throngs of backpackers, environmentalists, and entrepreneurs who seek to experience, protect, and profit from the region's landscapes. Mapping Shangrila advances a view of landscapes as media of governance, representation, and resistance, examining how they are reshaping cultural economies, political ecologies of resource use, subjectivities, and interethnic relations. Chapters illuminate topics such as the role of Han and Tibetan literary representations of border landscapes in the formation of ethnic identities; the remaking of Chinese national geographic imaginaries through tourism in the Yading Nature Reserve; the role of The Nature Conservancy and other transnational environmental organizations in struggles over culture and environmental governance; the way in which matsutake mushroom and caterpillar fungus commodity chains are reshaping montane landscapes; and contestations over the changing roles of mountain deities and their mediums as both interact with increasingly intensive nature conservation and state-sponsored capitalism.
"In 2001 the Chinese government announced that the precise location of Shangrila--a place that previously had existed only in fiction--had been identified in Zhongdian County, Yunnan. Since then, Sino-Tibetan borderlands in Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai, and the Tibet Autonomous Region have been the sites of numerous state projects of tourism development and nature conservation, which have in turn attracted throngs of backpackers, environmentalists, and entrepreneurs who seek to experience, protect, and profit from the region's landscapes. Mapping Shangrila advances a view of landscapes as media of governance, representation, and resistance, examining how they are reshaping cultural economies, political ecologies of resource use, subjectivities, and interethnic relations. Chapters illuminate topics such as the role of Han and Tibetan literary representations of border landscapes in the formation of ethnic identities; the remaking of Chinese national geographic imaginaries through tourism in the Yading Nature Reserve; the role of The Nature Conservancy and other transnational environmental organizations in struggles over culture and environmental governance; the way in which matsutake mushroom and caterpillar fungus commodity chains are reshaping montane landscapes; and contestations over the changing roles of mountain deities and their mediums as both interact with increasingly intensive nature conservation and state-sponsored capitalism. Emily T. Yeh is associate professor of geography at the University of Colorado Boulder and the author of Taming Tibet; Chris Coggins is professor of geography and Asian studies at Bard College at Simon's Rock and the author of The Tiger and the Pangolin : Nature, Culture, and Conservation in China; contributors include Michael Hathaway, Travis Klingberg, Charlene E. Makley, Bob Moseley, Rene Mullen, Michelle Olsgard Stewart, Chris Vasantkumar, Li-hua Ying, John Aloysius Zinda, and Gesang Zeren"--
In this article, I examine how Wencheng Gonghzu, the Chinese consort to the first Tibetan emperor Songtsen Gampo, served as a contentious rhetorical site for Tibetan and Chinese historiographers for over 1,000 years. I argue present exile Tibetan and Chinese propaganda on such topics as Tibetan political, cultural, and hereditary independence from China is at least analogous and possibly influenced by historiographic traditions found in texts such as the Tang Annals and post-imperial Tibetan Buddhist works like the Vase-shaped Pillar Testament. However, as Central Tibetan and Chinese historians used Wencheng to index the complex relationship between Tibet and China, Eastern Tibetan historians preserved lesser-known, potentially subversive narratives of Wencheng's travels, especially regarding her possible love-affair with the Tibetan minister Gar Tongtsen and their illegitimate child. After briefly reviewing Central Tibetan and Chinese metanarratives, I focus on Eastern Tibetan narratives, including the apparently lost Secret Autobiography of Wencheng Gongzhu, which I argue point to the former political autonomy, and cultural hybridity of areas of Eastern Tibet, especially Minyak and Powo. My investigation into Wencheng-narratives from Eastern Tibet demonstrates that her journey from China to Tibet should not be thought of a mere liminal period of her life, but rather central to debates among Tibetans and Chinese regarding the politics of national unity (minzu tuanjie) and constructions of pan-Tibetan identity.
Frontier Tibet' addresses a historical sequence that sealed the future of the Sino-Tibetan borderlands. It considers how starting in the late nineteenth century imperial formations and emerging nation-states developed competing schemes of integration and debated about where the border between China and Tibet should be. It also ponders the ways in which this border is internalised today, creating within the People's Republic of China a space that retains some characteristics of a historical frontier. The region of eastern Tibet called Kham, the focus of this volume, is a productive lens through which processes of place-making and frontier dynamics can be analysed. Using historical records and ethnography, the authors challenge purely externalist approaches to convey a sense of Kham's own centrality and the agency of the actors involved. They contribute to a history from below that is relevant to the history of China and Tibet, and of comparative value for borderland studies
Frontier Tibet: Patterns of Change in the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands addresses a historical sequence that sealed the future of the Sino-Tibetan borderlands. It considers how starting in the late nineteenth century imperial formations and emerging nation-states developed competing schemes of integration and debated about where the border between China and Tibet should be. It also ponders the ways in which this border is internalised today, creating within the People's Republic of China a space that retains some characteristics of a historical frontier. The region of eastern Tibet called Kham, the focus of this volume, is a productive lens through which processes of place-making and frontier dynamics can be analysed. Using historical records and ethnography, the authors challenge purely externalist approaches to convey a sense of Kham's own centrality and the agency of the actors involved. They contribute to a history from below that is relevant to the history of China and Tibet, and of comparative value for borderland studies.
Das Jahrzehnt zwischen 1900 und 2000 ; welches das Objekt dieser Dissertation ist ; war reich an Ereignissen in den Chinesisch-Tibetischen Beziehungen. Das Dialog zwischen Peking und Dharamsala ; welches in der frühen 1980er initiiert wurde ; ist zusammengebrochen ; China hat Wirtschaftsreformen und Infrastrukturprojekte gestartet ; die für das Überleben des tibetischen Volkes fatal sein könnten ; die Tibeter haben angefangen ihr politisches Anliegen zu internationalisieren und die Politik des Mittleren Weges wurde demokratisch von dem tibetischen Volk einstimmig akzeptiert. Es war ein Jahrzehnt von vielen hoffnungsvollen Anzeichen für das tibetische Volk – die Berliner Mauer ist gefallen ; die Sowietunion ist zerfallen und der Kommunismus in Europa war besiegt ; die chinesischen Studenten sind gegen ihre Regierung und für mehr Demokratie aufgestanden ; der Straßburger Vorschlag des Dalai Lama hat eine weltweite Unterstützung erfahren und der Friedensnobelpreis wurde Dalai Lama verliehen. Für die Kommunistische Partei Chinas war es ein Jahrzehnt ernsten internen und internationalen Herausforderungen – ihr angeschlagenes Image zu aufzubessern und das Vertrauen des Volkes zurückzugewinnen. Andererseits bekam der tibetische Nationalkampf internationale Beachtung und Unterstützung. Immerhin ; die chinesische Regierung hat nicht nur ihre Kontrolle über Tibet gestärkt ; sondern es auch geschafft die internationale Kritik diesbezüglich zu vermeiden. Das Geduldspiel von Peking und seine unverändert harte tibetische Innenpolitik ; sowie die "Wieder-Ausbildungskampagnen" ; haben Dalai Lama dazu gezwungen auf den Aufruf für Unabhängigkeit zu verzichten und statt dessen für eine "reale Autonomie" zu plädieren. Dalai Lama und seine Exilregierung formulierten die Politik des Mittleren Weges ; die von den Exiltibetern eindeutig unterstützt wurde. Sie erhielt auch einen großen Zuspruch von den westlichen Regierungen ; den chinesischen Intellektuellen und den Befürwortern der Demokratie. Bis zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt konnte jedoch diese Politik die Regierung in Peking nicht überzeugen. Strategisch gesehen war das Jahrzehnt 1990-2000 eines der günstigsten für das tibetische Volk im Nationalkampf einen großen Schritt nach vorne zu machen und hat sich dadurch eine nähere Erforschung verdient. Diese Dissertation versucht die komplexen Faktoren zu analysieren ; die den Chinesisch-Tibetischen Konflikt beeinflusst haben und die riskanten Politiken zu enthüllen – die Politiken des Bevölkerungstransfers und Unterdrückung der Glaubensfreiheit – welche von der chinesischen Regierung innerhalb des Tibetischen Autonomen Region implementiert wurden.
