A Study On National Government's Policies Toward Tibet And Their Implementation(1927-1949)

Tibet lies in the borderland of southwest China. All the past central dynasties and governments had attached great importance to the administration and governance of Tibet since it formally became a part of China in the Yuan Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty in particular, had formed a complete administrative system. But with the increasing decline of Qing Dynasty in the late period, the door of Tibet was opened by the Great Britain after many aggressive wars. After the Revolution of 1911, the stationed minister and army of the Qing government, as well as the Han people were expelled from Tibet. This led to the serious separation between the Tibet and the central government, thus an abnormal political relationship was first appeared from the Qing Dynasty. Established in 1927, the Nanking Nationalist Government constituted a series of policies including political, economic, cultural and religious aspects to conquer this abnormal relationship and resume Tibet's former subordination to the central government. However, after more 20 years of endeavor, only the sovereignty over Tibet was luckily maintained, while the implementation of administrative power could not be named on the same day with that of the Qing Dynasty.This dissertation contains 8 chapters:Chapter 1 is a brief introduction and description of the Tibet-Central relations after the Revolution of 1911. The making of Tibetan policy by the newly founded Nationalist Government is also discussed in this chapter.Chapter 2 to 4 specifies the Tibetan policy of the Nationalist Government in three periods.Chapter 2 is the initial making and implementation of the National Government's Tibetan policy. The Mongolia-Tibet Committee in charge of the Tibetan affairs was established. Through such measure as sending commissioner to Tibet, helping the setup of Tibetan offices in inland, reconciling the Xikang-Tibet dispute and sending Huang Musong to Tibet, the abnormal Tibet-Central relationship was improved to some extent, and Tibet was urged to acknowledge itself as a part of China.Chapter 3 contains two parts. Part one is the policy on Banchan Lama backing to Tibet affairs and its implementation. The policy of escorting peacefully through limited force was strongly rejected by the Tibetan local government as well as protested by the British government. With the outbreak of anti-Japanese war, the National Government succumbed to the British intervention, and the policy failed at last. Part 2 introduces Wu Zhongxin's Tibet mission of presiding the accession celebration of 14th Dalai Lama。Adhering to the inherent sovereignty over Tibet, the administrative power of the Nationalist Government was somewhat resumed and the office of the central government was established in Tibet.In Chapter 4, Dazha changed the pro-central government policies after he came to power and he impeded Sino-India Road, set up Foreign Bureau, eliminated Living Buddha Reting, and so on, which led the Tibet-Central relations to the edge of deterioration. During this period, Chiang Kai-shek declared the theory of "One Ancestor", and the National Government was ready to endow Tibet with high autonomy. However, this decision turned out only to be an armchair strategist. The National Government's administration ended after accident of expelling Han people.Chapter 5 to 7 are special topics, which review the National Government's Tibetan policy horizontally, including the religious policy, economic and trade policy as well as cultural and educational policy.Chapter 5 illustrates the making and implementation of the religious policy of the government. The National Government adopted a series of policies and measures such as reinforce the management of Tibetan Buddhism, conducting the donation, encouraging the communication between Han monks and Tibetan monks, financing to acquire the degree of Gexi, and enhancing the registration and administration of Han monks, and give the religious special treatment. These measures prolonged and improved the friendship between the government and Tibet, and developed the Tibet-Central political relations to some degree.Chapter 6 is on the National Government's economic and trade policy toward Tibet. The political consideration can be found behind every economic policy. "Improving political relations through economic measures" was the theme of these policies as well as an important standard for making and measuring the government's economic and trade policy toward Tibet.Chapter 7 studies the National Government's cultural and educational policy toward Tibet. This chapter reviewed the cultural promotion policies of the National Government, with an emphasis on the establishment and development of the state-run Lhasa Primary School.Chapter 8 is the concluding part, which presents a summary and a comprehensive analysis on the National Government's policies toward Tibet and their implementation.