Lhalu Tsewang Dorje
Encyclopedia
Lhalu Tsewang Dorje (1913-2011), commonly known as Lhalu, Lhalu Se, or Lhalu Shape, is a Tibet
an aristocrat and politician who has held a variety of positions in various Tibetan governments before and after 1951.
wa Dorje Tsegyel, an influential official in the Lhasa
government and a favourite of the 13th Dalai Lama's. His mother was Yangdzon Tsering, the Shatra family's youngest daughter, with whom Lungshar had been having an affair.
Lungshar was born into a small noble family whose ancestors lived in Tana of the Tsang region
at the time of the 5th Dalai Lama. He is famous for taking four noble youths – "the Rugby Four" – to the United Kingdom to receive a modern education (for the first time in Tibet's history).
As a child, Lhalu attended a private school at the foot of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. He then went on to a school for children of secular officials at Jokhang monastery.
; Lungshar was arrested and punished by blinding. All of Lungshar's descendants were then banned from government service. Lhalu had entered government service as a boy in 1927, but he was dismissed from his position after his father's arrest.
Lhalu was later adopted into the wealthy family of Lungshar's common law wife, the Lhalu family, which lacked a male heir. By making the public claim that Lungshar was not his biological father, and by applying in the name of Lhalu se and paying large bribes, he was able to become an official again in 1937, after which he became increasingly influential. The Lhalu family had attained nobility by producing two incarnations of the Dalai Lama but did not belong to the old nobility that traces back its lineage to ancient Tibetan kings.
In 1940, Lhalu married a daughter of the Labrang Nyingpa (Thonpa) family. In 1941, he was promoted to 4th rank and made a tsepön.
In 1946, he was appointed a shape, i.e. a member of cabinet
, by the regent, Taktra. He played an active role in the arrest of the former regent, Reting Rinpoche
, when Reting was charged with attempting to assassinate Taktra.
, with his headquarters in Chamdo
. He was serving in this position in 1949 when the People's Republic of China
consolidated its control of China proper
and began a build-up of troops in the provinces bordering Tibet. Lhalu began preparations to resist Chinese forces, but he was replaced by Ngabö Ngawang Jigme before the invasion actually occurred.
, a former British radio operator in Kham, portrays Lhalu "as typical of the more progressive Tibetan officials. They knew they were backward, and genuinely wanted to learn and to modernize their country - so long as no harm was done to their religion." Although Lhalu had never left Tibet (unlike his father, who "was one of the very few Tibetans who ever went to Britain"), he "was keenly interested in the outside world and studied the pictures in [Ford's] illustrated magazines. He wanted to know about tractors and other agricultural machinery and about industrial processes in the West."
In 1955, he headed a delegation to Beijing and met Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.
In 1957, he was appointed « governor of the grain supply ».
According to American journalist and Marxist writer Anna Louise Strong
, unlike some of the sincere signers of the 17-point agreement, Lhalu continued plotting for Tibet's secession from China.
In 1959, he participated in the Tibetan uprising
, and would later describe himself as having been the commander-in-chief of the rebel forces.
He was captured, subjected to struggle session
s (known in Tibetan as thamzing), and imprisoned in Drapchi Prison
.
At a mass meeting of ten thousand people in Lhasa circa 1959, he was implicated in the murders of former Regent Reting and living Buddha Geda, both supposedly sympathetic to the Chinese. He narrowly escaped being beaten up thanks to the protection of PLA soldiers.
With Deng Xiaoping's return to office and the abandonment of the class-struggle line, he was given a job in 1977 and was eventually politically rehabilitated in 1983, becoming one of the vice-chairmen of the Tibetan Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
. He said in an interview, "I have become disappointed with the Dalai Lama," and "[h]e does not behave like a reincarnated living Buddha but is a stooge of the Westerners."
According to English writer Patrick French
, in 1999 he took his distance from the official rhetoric, indicating that he was missing his former friends and that he wished the return of the Dalai Lama: "There is a Tibetan saying: 'Old bird misses forests and old people miss hometown'. I sincerely wish the Fourteenth Dalai Lama will return, in the interests of the motherland, at an early date and join us in socialist construction."
Lhalu's recollections of his life appear in his book, Recalling the Road I Took.
(Jagra Lobsang Tenzin) became vice-chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region government.
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
an aristocrat and politician who has held a variety of positions in various Tibetan governments before and after 1951.
Early years
Lhalu's father was LungsharLungshar
Tsipön Lungshar born Dorje Tsegyal was a noted Tibetan politician who attempted unsuccessfully to become the paramount figure of the Tibetan government in the 1930s, following the death of the 13th Dalai Lama....
wa Dorje Tsegyel, an influential official in the 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...
government and a favourite of the 13th Dalai Lama's. His mother was Yangdzon Tsering, the Shatra family's youngest daughter, with whom Lungshar had been having an affair.
Lungshar was born into a small noble family whose ancestors lived in Tana of the Tsang region
Ü-Tsang
Ü-Tsang , or Tsang-Ü, is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the other two being Amdo and Kham. Geographically Ü-Tsang covered the central and western portions of the Tibetan cultural area, including the Tsang-po watershed, the western districts surrounding and extending past Mount...
at the time of the 5th Dalai Lama. He is famous for taking four noble youths – "the Rugby Four" – to the United Kingdom to receive a modern education (for the first time in Tibet's history).
As a child, Lhalu attended a private school at the foot of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. He then went on to a school for children of secular officials at Jokhang monastery.
Earlier official positions
Following the Dalai Lama's death in 1934, Lungshar Dorje Tsegyel, a moderate reformist who advocated replacing lifelong tenure for the government ministers (Kalon) with a vote for a four-year term, was outmanœuvred by the more conservative minister TrimönTrimön
Trimön Shap-pe born Norbhu Wangyal was a noted Tibetan conservative politician and governor and a financial secretary of Tibet . He was one of the eminent officials involved in the search and recognition of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama in 1935.-Biography:He was the second son of the late...
; Lungshar was arrested and punished by blinding. All of Lungshar's descendants were then banned from government service. Lhalu had entered government service as a boy in 1927, but he was dismissed from his position after his father's arrest.
Lhalu was later adopted into the wealthy family of Lungshar's common law wife, the Lhalu family, which lacked a male heir. By making the public claim that Lungshar was not his biological father, and by applying in the name of Lhalu se and paying large bribes, he was able to become an official again in 1937, after which he became increasingly influential. The Lhalu family had attained nobility by producing two incarnations of the Dalai Lama but did not belong to the old nobility that traces back its lineage to ancient Tibetan kings.
In 1940, Lhalu married a daughter of the Labrang Nyingpa (Thonpa) family. In 1941, he was promoted to 4th rank and made a tsepön.
In 1946, he was appointed a shape, i.e. a member of cabinet
Kashag
The Kashag was the governing council of Tibet during Qing Dynasty and Republic of China. It was set by Qianlong Emperor in 1751. In that year the Tibetan government was reorganized after the riots in Lhasa of the previous year...
, by the regent, Taktra. He played an active role in the arrest of the former regent, Reting Rinpoche
Reting Rinpoche
Reting Rinpoche is the title held by abbots of Reting Monastery, a Buddhist monastery in central Tibet. The identity of the present Reting Rinpoche is contested.-History of the lineage:...
, when Reting was charged with attempting to assassinate Taktra.
Governor of Kham
Shortly after the Reting incident, Lhalu was appointed governor of KhamKham
Kham , is a historical region covering a land area largely divided between present-day Tibetan Autonomous Region and Sichuan province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces of China. During the Republic of China's rule over mainland China , most of the region was...
, with his headquarters in Chamdo
Chamdo
Qamdo , or Chamdo, officially organised as Chengguan of Qamdo County , population in 1999 about 86,280, is a major town in the historical region of Kham in the eastern Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The capital of Qamdo County and Qamdo Prefecture, it is Tibet's third...
. He was serving in this position in 1949 when the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
consolidated its control of China proper
China proper
China proper or Eighteen Provinces was a term used by Western writers on the Qing Dynasty to express a distinction between the core and frontier regions of China. There is no fixed extent for China proper, as many administrative, cultural, and linguistic shifts have occurred in Chinese history...
and began a build-up of troops in the provinces bordering Tibet. Lhalu began preparations to resist Chinese forces, but he was replaced by Ngabö Ngawang Jigme before the invasion actually occurred.
Robert W. Ford's testimony
In his book Captured in Tibet, Robert W. FordRobert W. Ford
Robert Webster Ford was a radio operator and British diplomat who worked in Tibet in the 1950s. He was one of the few Westerners to be appointed by the Government of Tibet at the time of independent Tibet, before the Chinese invasion of 1950...
, a former British radio operator in Kham, portrays Lhalu "as typical of the more progressive Tibetan officials. They knew they were backward, and genuinely wanted to learn and to modernize their country - so long as no harm was done to their religion." Although Lhalu had never left Tibet (unlike his father, who "was one of the very few Tibetans who ever went to Britain"), he "was keenly interested in the outside world and studied the pictures in [Ford's] illustrated magazines. He wanted to know about tractors and other agricultural machinery and about industrial processes in the West."
Commander-in-chief of the 1959 uprising
Lhalu returned to Lhasa in July 1951. After Tibet was incorporated into the People's Republic of China, the Tibetan government was reorganised. He was dismissed from government service in May 1952 (on account of his maladministration of Kham during his tenure as Governor) but was allowed to retain his rank.In 1955, he headed a delegation to Beijing and met Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.
In 1957, he was appointed « governor of the grain supply ».
According to American journalist and Marxist writer Anna Louise Strong
Anna Louise Strong
Anna Louise Strong was a twentieth-century American journalist and activist, best known for her reporting on and support for communist movements in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.-Early years:...
, unlike some of the sincere signers of the 17-point agreement, Lhalu continued plotting for Tibet's secession from China.
In 1959, he participated in the Tibetan uprising
1959 Tibetan uprising
The 1959 Tibetan uprising, or 1959 Tibetan Rebellion began on 10 March 1959, when a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which had been under the effective control of the Communist Party of China since the Seventeen Point Agreement in 1951...
, and would later describe himself as having been the commander-in-chief of the rebel forces.
He was captured, subjected to struggle session
Struggle Session
A struggle session was a form of public humiliation used by the Communist Party of China to enforce a reign of terror in the Mao Zedong era to shape public opinion and to humiliate, persecute, and/or execute political rivals, so-called class enemies...
s (known in Tibetan as thamzing), and imprisoned in Drapchi Prison
Drapchi Prison
Drapchi Prison, or Lhasa Prison No. 1 is the largest prison in Tibet, located in Lhasa.Originally built as a Tibetan military garrison, Drapchi was transformed into a prison after the 1959 Tibetan uprising....
.
At a mass meeting of ten thousand people in Lhasa circa 1959, he was implicated in the murders of former Regent Reting and living Buddha Geda, both supposedly sympathetic to the Chinese. He narrowly escaped being beaten up thanks to the protection of PLA soldiers.
Anna Louise Strong's testimony
In 1959, Anna Louise Strong was allowed to travel to Tibet to report on the political situation there. In a book published the following year, When Serfs Stood Up in Tibet, she described a hearing on Lhalu's treatment of his local serfs organized by the Fourth Inhabitants' Committee of the Western District of Lhasa. Lhalu, then 43 years old, was to reply to the accusations levelled at him by former serfs and slaves from one of his 24 manorial estates: mistreatment, non respect of his peasants and servants' rights, imprisonment in the manor's jail. Lhalu is forced to admit that he had been "too harsh", had "a touchy temper", had "made mistakes" or "gone to excess". The accusation meeting ends with the burning of his titles of debts (All "feudal debts" had been outlawed by the resolution passed July 17 by the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region).Political Rehabilitation
After he was set free on special amnesty in 1965, Lhalu took up farming.With Deng Xiaoping's return to office and the abandonment of the class-struggle line, he was given a job in 1977 and was eventually politically rehabilitated in 1983, becoming one of the vice-chairmen of the Tibetan Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Political stances
He has praised the Chinese government's policies in Tibet and has been strongly critical of the old Tibetan government and of the Dalai Lama14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama is the 14th and current Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas are the most influential figures in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, although the 14th has consolidated control over the other lineages in recent years...
. He said in an interview, "I have become disappointed with the Dalai Lama," and "[h]e does not behave like a reincarnated living Buddha but is a stooge of the Westerners."
According to English writer Patrick French
Patrick French
Patrick French is a British writer and historian, based in London. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh where he studied English and American literature....
, in 1999 he took his distance from the official rhetoric, indicating that he was missing his former friends and that he wished the return of the Dalai Lama: "There is a Tibetan saying: 'Old bird misses forests and old people miss hometown'. I sincerely wish the Fourteenth Dalai Lama will return, in the interests of the motherland, at an early date and join us in socialist construction."
Lhalu's recollections of his life appear in his book, Recalling the Road I Took.
His children
He has one daughter and five sons (three of which are reincarnated living Buddhas). In 2003, his son Gyai'ra Losang DainzinGyai'ra Losang Dainzin
Gyai'ra Losang Dainzin is a Tibetan politician and governor.In 2003 he became vice-chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region government. He is the son of the noted politician Lhalu Tsewang Dorje....
(Jagra Lobsang Tenzin) became vice-chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region government.
His published work
- Recalling the Road I Took (published both in Tibetan and Chinese; does not seem to have been translated into English)
- Recollections of My Father Dorje Tsegye Lungshar, Cultural and Historical Materials Office
- Collected Materials of Literature and History in Tibet, a multi-volume compilation he has spent much of his time editing and publishing
- The Purple Kasaya, coll. Tibetan People (2/4) (DVD), 2007
Death
On September 24, 2011, Lhalu Tsewang Dorje died in Lhasa at the age of 97.External links
- Captured in Tibet, Robert W. FordRobert W. FordRobert Webster Ford was a radio operator and British diplomat who worked in Tibet in the 1950s. He was one of the few Westerners to be appointed by the Government of Tibet at the time of independent Tibet, before the Chinese invasion of 1950...