Le jeudi 15 décembre 2022, à l’occasion de l’inauguration de l’exposition “L’armée tibétaine en vues : photographies historiques (1895-1959)”, un atelier introductif se tiendra à partir de 16h00 à l’Auditorium de l’Humathèque.
“Chinese troops”, Photography by Henry Martin, copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (1998.293.129)
Les sources tibétaines, britanniques et chinoises donnent à voir les différentes étapes de la capitulation des troupes chinoises stationnées au Tibet. Elles permettent de suivre le déroulement des événements : la mutinerie à Lhasa, les négociations entre les gouvernements britannique et chinois et la narration des difficultés rencontrées tout au long du trajet de retour vers la Chine. De registres différents, elles invitent à réfléchir sur les interprétations et les priorités que chacune des parties privilégie et à discuter de la potentialité d’écrire une histoire à parts égales de la reddition des troupes chinoises du Tibet.
In 1857 a British official engaged a Tibetan lama to produce what later ended up as “Wise Collection” in the British Library: the most comprehensive set of visual depictions of mid-19th century Tibet, but also the largest panoramic map of Tibet of its time. The map covers the areas of Lhasa, Central Tibet, Southern and Western Tibet, Ladakh and Zangskar. Topographical characteristics are depicted as well as detailed information on infrastructure. Furthermore, illustrations of monasteries, forts, and garrisons – the “three seats of power” – are shown. We can find more than 30 illustrations of garrisons on the map covering Central and Southern Tibet. But even more is included in this collection of drawings: visual narratives of several Tibetan ceremonies and rituals, detailed illustrations of selected monasteries and temples, such as a very detailed drawing of the so-called Chinese Temple – the Gesar Lhakhang in Lhasa. This talk will discuss the presence and significance of the Qing officials and garrisons in mid-19th century Tibet from a visual perspective and based on the illustrations in the Wise Collection.
Welcome to TibArmy project blog! This academic blog is dedicated to a previously unresearched subject: the Tibetan army during the period of the Buddhist government of the Dalai Lamas, known as the Ganden Phodrang, from 1642 to 1959. This government was the heir to a robust military culture with long experience in the defence of Buddhism since the Tibetan Imperial Period (7th-9th centuries); however, from its inception it decided to rely on foreign armies for its protection. On the basis of two distinctive features of this period—the creation and maintenance of the first Tibetan standing army and the limited number of the troops compared to former times—the project will explore the enduring ambivalence of the Dalai Lamas’ government towards having its own army, as well as its reasons, consequences and expressions in discourses and practices.