A: China is a unified multi-ethnic country with d56 ethnic groups. It is a nation
that has been formed from many different ethnic groups during the course of a
long period of historical development, which has made Tibet an inseparable part
of China.
1. Friendly exchanges between the Han and Tibetan people go back
to ancient times.
According to The Book of the Later Han Dynasty of the early
5th century, the Faqiang (ancestors of the Tibetans) had exchanges with the Hans
of the central plains from 477 B. C. through to the 4th century. To date, this
is the earliest written record of Han-Tibetan contacts discovered. In the early
7th century, the Xiboye tribe flourished in Yalong, Tibet. From among its members
emerged the noted national hero in Tibetan history, Songtsan Gambo, who annexed
more than ten tribes and established the Tubo Kingdom (629-846). To consolidate
and develop the Tubo slave rule, Songtsan Gambo advocated absorbing the advanced
culture of the centralized authority of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) on the central
plains. Songtsan Gambo married princess Wencheng (?-680) of the Tang Dynasty,
and developed close ties with the Hans in politics, economy and culture. In 821,
the Tang court and the Tubo Kingdom formed an alliance. "We conferred about
uniting our countries and concluded a treaty of alliance. This will never change.
May the gods confirm it. Generations to come will forever glory in it." In
this way, a close political alliance was formed which later served as the foundation
for a united country.
2. In the 13th century, Tibet became an administrative
region of China.
In 1206, Genghis Khan (1162-1227), leader of the Mongolians,
began to expand his power, after establishing the Mongol Khan court. In 1244 Go
Dan, prince of the Mongol Khan court, sent envoy Dorta Napo to Tibet with special
instructions to invite Kongka Gyanincain (182-1241) of the Sagya Sect in Tibet
to Liangzhou (now Wuwei City in Gansu Province) to negotiate Tibet's peaceful
allegiance to the Mongol Khanate. In 1247, after Go Dan and Kongka Gyaincain hand
agreed on the conditions for securing Tibet's allegiance to the Mongols, Kongka
Gyaincain wrote to the leaders of all sects in Tibet in an effort to persuade
them to obey the Mongol Khan. These two important historical documents are included
in "The Sagya Lineal Descriptions" in Tibetan. In 1260, Kublai Khan
(1215-1294),upon inheriting the throne of the Mongol Khan, became first emperor
of the Yuan Dynasty. He conferred the title of "Imperial Tutor" upon
Kongka Gyaincain's nephew Pagba (1235-1280), Prince of Dharma of the Sagya Sect,
and presented him with a jade seal.
In 1271, Kublai Khan established his dynasty
under the name of Yuan. Later, after overcoming the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279)
and unifying China, heset up a central regime with Dadu (today's Beijing) as the
capita;. The Yuan Dynasty took Tibet as an administrative region under the direct
control of the central government and exercised jurisdiction over it.
--
Kublai Khan made Tibet a hereditary fief for his seventh son.
--The central
government founded the Zongzhi Yuan (general Council) in 1264 to handle the religious
affairs throughout China and also the administrative affairs in the Tibetan areas.
In 1288, this body was drenamed the Xuanzheng Yuan (Political Council).
--The
rank of imperial tutor was instituted and administrative and religious heads were
appointed. Pagba, leader of the Sagya Sect in Tibet, was appointed as first imperial
tutor, which along with his position as head of the Zongzhi Yuan, gave him a key
official position within the central government. Pagba, who was in charge of both
the political and religious affairs of Tibet, initiated the theocratic system
of integrating government administration with religious affairs.
--The "benqin"
system was established. The benqin, in his capacity of supreme Tibetan administrative
official nominated by the imperial tutor and approved by the emperor, assisted
the imperial tutor in handling the administrative affairs of Tibet.
--The
area was divided into administrative units and local officials were appointed.
After taking a census, the Yuan court divided Tibet into 13 wanhus (communities
of 10,000 households each). The chief of each wanhu was directly appointed by
the Yuan imperial court.
--Three Commissioner's Pacification Offices were
set up in Tibet and other Tibetan areas to lead the garrisons and handle the wanhu
administrative affairs.
--Several investigations into Tibet's population,
land, and livestock were made, and tax collection and the administration of corvee
service strengthened. Relief would also be sent to inhabitants of disaster stricken
areas.
---Courier stations and military posts were set up, and troops stationed
at strategic points.
3. Successive central governments of China have exercised
effective sovereignty over Tibet through history.
The central government of
the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) basically continued the administrative arrangements
as instituted by the Yuan Dynasty in ruling Tibet. Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398),
the first Ming emperor, dispatched envoys to Tibet with an imperial edict, acknowledging
the Tibetan officials appointed during the Yuan rule, and demanding that all the
leaders of the various tribes in Tibet give their allegiance to the Ming imperial
court. The emperor also reconfirmed the titles of the succeeding officials who
were perceived as the major powers in Tibet. Military and government organizations
were established in Tibet, and envoys were also sent to appoint and award local
administrative and religious heads. Courier stations were reopened.
The Qing
Dynasty (1644-1911) strengthened its administrative grip on Tibet. The titles
of Dalai and Panchen were officially granted by the Qing emperors, and the Qing
court set up offices for the high commissioners dispatched to Tibet and the Kasha
(local Tibetan government). It also founded the Kaloon System (the system of local
Tibetan government officials), sent troops to repulse foreign invaders, and formulated
the famous "29-Ardticle sRegulations Concerning the Administration of Tibet"
to establish clearly how the politics and economics, foreign, religious and military
affairs in Tibet should be managed. These regulations marked greater systematization
in the rule by law exercised by the central government over Tibet.
During
the period of the Republic of China (1911-1949), the successive central governments
opposed and resisted activities steering towards "Tibet independence"
plotted by imperialist powers and upheld China's sovereignty over Tibet. In 1912,
the government of the Republic of China declared the five main ethnic groups in
China (Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Hui and Tibetan) to be under its rule and proclaimed
the unification of the country. The Provisional Constitution and the Constitution
of the Republic of China stipulated that China was a unified country of which
Tibet was a part. The central government set up an administrative body in Tibet
and established an agency in Lhasa. For its part, Tibet had its own parliamentary
delegates, and its representative attended the National assembly. It also set
up representative offices in Nanjing, Beijing and Chongqing. representatives of
the central government were sent to mourn the death of the 13th Dalai Lama and
the 9th Panchen, and later approved the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and Panchen
Erdini. The official investitures of the 14th Dalai Lama and the 10th Panchen
were also presided over by envoys sent by the central government.
The above
historical facts show that, since the Yuan Dynasty, successive Chinese central
governments have practiced various political systems in Tibet, including the wanhu
system, the hereditary headmen system, the fief system, the Kaloon system and
the system of dispatching commissioners to Tibet. The local Tibetan regime has
throughout been indubitably under the jurisdiction of the central government. |
