An untold story that reshapes our understanding of Chinese and Tibetan history
From 1956 to 1962, devastating military conflicts took place in China's southwestern and northwestern regions. Official record at the time scarcely made mention of the campaign, and in the years since only lukewarm acknowledgment of the violence has surfaced. When the Iron Bird Flies, by Jianglin Li, breaks this decades long silence to reveal for the first time a comprehensive and explosive picture of the six years that would prove definitive in modern Tibetan and Chinese history.
The CCP referred to the campaign as "suppressing the Tibetan rebellion." It would lead to the 14th Dalai Lama's exile in India, as well as the Tibetan diaspora in 1959, though the battles lasted three additional years after these events. Featuring key figures in modern Chinese history, the battles waged in this period covered a vast geographical region. This book offers a portrait of chaos, deception, heroism, and massive loss. Beyond the significant death toll across the Tibetan regions, the war also destroyed most Tibetan monasteries in a concerted effort to eradicate local religion and scholarship.
Despite being considered a military success, to this day, the operations in the agricultural regions remain unknown. As large numbers of Tibetans have self-immolated in recent years to protest Chinese occupation, Li shows that the largest number of cases occurred in the sites most heavily affected by this hidden war. She argues persuasively that the events described in this book will shed more light on our current moment, and will help us understand the unrelenting struggle of the Tibetan people for their freedom.
Autorentext
Jianglin Li is an independent writer and researcher with expertise in Tibetan history and the Tibetan diaspora. She is the author of numerous books, including Tibet in Agony: Lhasa 1959 (2016).
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Early autumn, 1955. In the Yellow River source region of Golok, part of Amdo in traditional Tibet, life was as usual for the herder girl Ngolo and the eight-year-old boy Damcho Pelsang. It was the time to move from summer pastures to winter pastures in preparation for the long, cold winter. Around the same time, Aten, headman of a small village, was summoned to Chengu, capital of Sichuan Province, for political training. Meanwhile, Yetan, an eleven-year-old monk in the Zhichen Monastery in Garzê County, was busy studying scriptures. They had no idea that a series of major events had taken place in Beijing that would completely change their fate.
This chapter lays out the Chinese Communist Party policy-making process regarding the "democratic reform" program and cites official documents to demonstrate the nature of the reform and the methods used to implement it. Shortly after "democratic reform" started, the "first shot" of Tibetan resistance was fired in Sethar, a high-altitude pastoral area, by members of a nomad group that had never been ruled by any other outside political forces. This was the beginning of People's Liberation Army military actions that were to continue for six years, involving nearly 20% of the total Tibetan population and, to some extent, the CIA of the United States.
The "democratic reform" movement forcefully implemented by the Chinese government immediately met with armed resistance from Tibetans. The government just as quickly dispatched People's Liberation Army troops to rebellion areas to suppress the resistance. The first wave of battles between Tibetans and People's Liberation Army troops broke out in the Tibetan regions of Sichuan and Gansu provinces, part of Kham and Amdo in traditional Tibet.
On March 16, 1956, more than 2,000 Tibetans from all parts of Chatreng County congregated at Sampeling Monastery, the largest in the area. Four days later, they besieged three government fortifications, demanding that the Chinese leave their homeland. Shootings between the two sides soon started, with six killed on the Tibetan side and one wounded on the Chinese side. The Tibetans retreated to the surrounding hills and encircled the government buildings. Unable to break the encirclement, Chinese cadres cabled their superiors for help. The telegram was forwarded to Premier Zhou Enlai, who transferred it to Defense Minister Peng Dehuai.
In June 1956, Aten finished his studies in Chengdu and returned home to Nyarong, only to find out that "democratic reform" had started and his homeland was in turmoil. This chapter describes the Tibetan resistance in Nyarong County led by a young woman, the wife of the chief who was called away for "consultation." Based mostly on Chinese sources, this chapter presents the events that triggered the rebellion and the process of putting it down.
The Yellow River flows east from Yulshul and Golok in Qinghai Province, then suddenly turns northwest at the juncture of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan provinces, looping back into Qinghai in a nearly 180-degree arc that is known as the "First Bend in the Nine-Bend Yellow River." For centuries the "first bend" region was inhibited by Amdo Tibetans, most of them nomads. This chapter covers events in the Ngawa (Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in 1956.
In 1956, areas west of the Jinsha River and adjacent to central Tibet, i.e. today's Tibet Autonomous Region, were in a state of war. Thousands of People's Liberation Army soldiers engaged Tibetans in fierce battles, with bombings of monasteries killing hundreds of monks and laypeople. Refugees crossed the river into central Tibet, bringing with them news of battles in various regions. While battles were going on in Sichuan, the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee sent a large delegation headed by Vice Premier Chen Yi to celebrate the establishment of the Preparation Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Why were the policies in Tibet different than in other Tibetan regions?
Even though the area adjacent to Chamdo was in a state of war, Chinese cadres in Tibet were eager to jump-start the reform movement. It was decided that a pilot project would be set up in Chamdo, the first Tibetan city occupied and governed by the Chinese. As had been done in Sichuan, local Tibetan leaders were summoned for a meeting in which a pre-drafted "reform plan" was forced through. Tibetans rose up immediately to resist the reform. It was around this time that the Dalai Lama was invited to India for a religious celebration. Mao realized that the time was not yet ripe for reform, and he decided to delay it for a few years.
In June 1956, the Crown Prince of Sikkim visited Lhasa and hand-delivered a letter from India's Mahabodhi Society inviting the Dalai Lama to Buddha Jayanti to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary of the birth of the Buddha.
In 1957, Beijing made a series of seemingly contradictory decisions regarding social reforms in Sichuan's Tibetan autonomous prefectures and in central Tibet. Concerning the former, the decision was to …