Tibet: Why is the mysterious snowy kingdom part of China today?
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | When you say “Tibet”, many people think of adjectives such as “mysterious”, “inaccessible”, and “enigmatic”, but also words such as “Dalai Lama”, “People's Republic of China”, and the “occupation of the Tibetan territory in the early 1950s”. Many clichés and stereotypes about Tibet were created in the Western cultural space linked to the myth about the fabled “Shangri-la” valley as a paradise on Earth isolated from the rest of the world. Historical and political interpretations of the Sino-Tibetan relationship are based on different interpretations. The Chinese conception assumes that Tibet has “always” been part of China. However, there is also the opposite view in which Tibet was a sovereign and independent state, subjugated by China at some point in history. In some accounts, Tibet is even seen as having controlled China at one point. It is not our ambition to favor any of these interpretations; we aim to explain the existence of these different interpretations and try to base our conclusions on facts. In the international context, Tibet is often mentioned in regard to its position within China and the level of political rights of the Tibetan minority under the communist regime. What are the origins of Tibet, and what were the historical dynamics of Tibet-China relations? How did the Dalai Lamas become the political leaders of Tibet, and how did the system change during the 20th century? |
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