1905 Tibetan Rebellion
Encyclopedia
Attacks on Christian Missionaries and Converts
Under pressure from foreigners, the Qing DynastyQing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
government allowed Christian missionaries into Tibetan Buddhist areas in Yunnan province. The Tibetan Lama
Lama
Lama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru .Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries...
s had long defied the rule of the Qing authorities and officials, and the Qing dynasty fought against a rebellion of the Lamas around 1905. The Tibetan Buddhist Lamas attacked and murdered Chinese officials, French Roman Catholic Priests, and Christian converts in the area, in retaliation for the missionaries' success at converting the natives to Catholicism. The Buddhist Gelug
Gelug
The Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Je Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
(Yellow) Sect was primarily responsible for the revolt and deaths.
Scottish Botanist George Forrest
George Forrest (botanist)
George Forrest was a Scottish botanist, who was one of the first explorers of China's then remote southwestern province of Yunnan, generally regarded as the most biodiverse province in the country....
was the primary Western witness to the rebellion, having spent most of it trying to escape from Lamas intent on killing him. He wrote an account of the rebellion which was published in botanical related publications. In 1905, the Lamas started a revolt against the peasant converts from the monasteries. Chinese soldiers were sent to crush the revolt.
Forrest wrote that the majority of the people in the Mekong
Mekong
The Mekong is a river that runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annually....
valley in Yunnan were Tibetan. the Tibetan Buddhist Yellow Sect was the dominant power in the region, with their Lamas effectively governing the area. Forrest had a negative view of their reign, since they used "force and fraud" to "terrorise the... peasantry". The Lamas completely ignored the Imperial Qing authorities in the region.
The British invasion of Lhasa
British expedition to Tibet
The British expedition to Tibet during 1903 and 1904 was an invasion of Tibet by British Indian forces, whose mission was to establish diplomatic relations and trade between the British Raj and Tibet...
in 1904 had repercussions in the Tibetan Buddhist world. the Tibetan Lamas proceeded to revolt in 1905, massacring Chinese officials, French missionaries, and Christian Catholic converts.
The Lamas besieged Bat'ang, burning down the mission chapel, and killing two foreign missionaries, Père Mussot and Père Soulié. The Chinese Amban
Amban
Amban is a Manchu word meaning "high official," which corresponds to a number of different official titles in the Qing imperial government...
's Yamen
Yamen
A yamen is any local bureaucrat's, or mandarin's, office and residence of the Chinese Empire. The term has been widely used in China for centuries, but appeared in English during the Qing Dynasty....
was surrounded, the Chinese General, Wu Yi-chung, was shot dead in the Yamen
Yamen
A yamen is any local bureaucrat's, or mandarin's, office and residence of the Chinese Empire. The term has been widely used in China for centuries, but appeared in English during the Qing Dynasty....
by the Lama's forces. The Chinese Amban Feng and Commandant in Chief Li Chia-jui managed to escape by scattered Rupee
Rupee
The rupee is the common name for the monetary unit of account in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives, and formerly in Burma, and Afghanistan. Historically, the first currency called "rupee" was introduced in the 16th century...
s (money) behind them, which the Tibetans proceeded to try to pick up. The Ambans reached Commandant Lo's place, but the 100 Tibetan troops serving under the Amban, armed with modern weaponry, mutinied when news of the revolt reached them. The Tibetan Lamas and their Tibetan followers besieged the Chinese Commandant Lo's palace along with local Christian converts. In the palace, they killed all Christian converts, both Chinese and Tibetan.
George Forrest was residing at the Tzekou French Catholic Mission, which came under attack by the Tibetan Lamas. He fled through miles of mountains to flee the Tibetan Lamas who intended to "brutally" murder him. Along his escape route, he took refuge with Chinese soldiers, but his party was discovered when they past by the Patang Lamasary after the Tibetans heard their presence, the Tibetans blew a "signal whistle" to alert everyone to their presence in the area. Around the Mekong river every Catholic Priest was murdered by the Lamas; they even mounted a Father Dubernard's head on the Atuntze Monastery's gate. Forrest was targeted by the Lamas, who pursued him until a Naxi "King" named Lee rescued him.
On July 22, 1905, the Tibetan Lamas killed the French Catholic Missionaries Pere Bourdonnee and Pere Dubernard around the Mekong
Mekong
The Mekong is a river that runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annually....
. A Chinese military mandarin informed Forrest on how exactly the Tibetans killed his friends. The Tibetans "disembowelled, beheaded and quartered" the body of Pere Bourdonné after he was shot to death. Chinese soldiers guarded Forrest from the Tibetans pursuing him.
Dubernard had been tortured for days by the Lamas. His upper limbs were both fractured and restrained, he was secured on a stake, his eyes were gouged, his tongue, ears and nose severed, while he was living, his extremities were severed. The body parts of the French priests were sent by the Tibetans to be displayed at Lamaseries. Forrest lost a great deal of his scientific data, photographs and specimens of plants he was collecting.
At the Atuntze Monastery the Tibetans mounted the decapitated heads of the French priests.
At Cizhong Another Church was constructed after Tibetan mobs, under direction of their Lamas, wrecked the Christian mission.
Retaliatory Expeditions
The Chinese responded to the Tibetan rebellion with punitive expeditions. In the summer, the Sichuan Army under the command of Chinese General Ma Wei-ch'i launched the retaliatory "expedition" against the Tibetan Lamas and their rebels, crushing the Tibetan rebels at Batang, totally destroying their monastery. Tibetan Lamas and the Tibetan population around the area were subjected to execution, and dousing with fire. Tibetan leaders were beheaded. The bloody campaign of the Qing dynasty Han Chinese General and banner member Zhao ErfengZhao Erfeng
Zhao Erfeng was a Qing official and Chinese bannerman, who belonged to the Plain Blue Banner. He is known for being the last amban in Tibet, appointed in March, 1908. Lien Yu , a Manchu, was appointed as the other amban...
in Sichuan and Tibet was also a response to the Tibetan uprising. Zhao was killed by Chinese Republican revolutionary forces after the Xinhai Revolution
Xinhai Revolution
The Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, also known as Revolution of 1911 or the Chinese Revolution, was a revolution that overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing , and established the Republic of China...
. The Chinese military in Yunnan crushed the Tibetan rebels in Atuntze, the Chinese under Zhao took brutal measure to subdue the Tibetan population, and appoint Chinese officials to rule over them. Zhao besieged the remnant Tibetan rebels at Chantreng monastery.
In the following year in 1906, the monastery fell to the Chinese forces, who used a deception to defeat the besieged. All Lamas were executed with the entire monastery razed. The Manchu Lien Yu was finally allowed to enter into his position as Amban of Tibet at Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
, due to Zhao's campaign in destroying the Tibetan rebels. Lien Yu was despised by the Tibetan population for his policies. Zhao Erfeng replaced the Tibetan chiefs with Chinese magistrates, beheaded the remaining Tibetan chiefs and eradicated the official position of "Chief", and the power of the Lamas and monasteries was curtailed. After the Xinhai Revolution
Xinhai Revolution
The Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, also known as Revolution of 1911 or the Chinese Revolution, was a revolution that overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing , and established the Republic of China...
Lien Yu and his Chinese soldiers fled Tibet in 1912.
A Chinese commander ordered 10 Tibetan Lamas to be decapitated.
A former Tibetan Khampa soldier named Aten, gave the Tibetan account of the war in his book, which does not match up with western accounts. He claimed that the war started in 1903 when the Manchu Qing sent Zhao Erfeng to seize control of Tibetan areas, to control Batang and Lithang. Aten recounted Zhao's destruction of Batang, and claimed that Zhao used holy texts as shoeliners for his troops and that "Many Tibetans were executed by decapitation or by another typically Chinese method, mass burial while still alive." Aten also called the Manchus "alien conquerors".