The American View Of Tibet In The First Half Of The 20th Century

This paper mainly discusses the historical process of production and development of Americans’knowledge on Tibet, formation and evolution of Americans’view on Tibet from early1990s to the late1950s, and through the analysis reveals the main content and features of Americans’ view on Tibet before the Tibet issue has not or not fully been internationalized, coupled with discussion on the forming process of their understanding of Tibet, in order to play the role of eradicating misconceptions and restoring correct ones. The full text is divided into five parts:The part of Introduction describes the significance of the topic of this paper, the status quo of relevant researches and existing problems.The first chapter introduces the overview of early American activities in Tibet and the main content of their view on Tibet from the late19th century to1945the end of World War Ⅱ. Through the analysis of this chapter, we see that the main purpose of these Americans entering Tibet was to meet their desire of adventure, curiosity or to collect information for academic research, and their identity at this time was mainly non-governmental personage. Therefore, their view on Tibet was relatively objective, which is mainly reflected in the view of the majority that Tibet in terms of either history or reality is part of China. This objectivity is also reflected in their objective understanding of Tibet’s politics, religions and local customs at that time.The second chapter, against the backdrop of the changing political landscape of post-war world and China’s domestic political turbulences, describes changes in the identity of Americans entering Tibet and the evolution of their view on Tibet during this period caused by U.S. Government’s adjustment of policy towards Tibet. Through the analysis, this chapter draws the following conclusions:the main reason for this group of Americans entering Tibet was most likely related to the impact of the U.S. Government’s adjustment of policy towards Tibet, and their identity and activities in Tibet therefore showed obvious official clout and political purposes. This determines that their view on Tibet had strong political overtones. At this point, although their view on Tibet in terms of Tibet’s political and religious system, economy, culture and customs still followed the view of early American entrants, their view on whether Tibet belongs to China began to undergo a significant change-voices began to emerge to support Tibet’s independence and some were actively looking for historical and legal basis in this regard.The third chapter discusses the changes of U.S. Government’s policy towards Tibet and Americans’view on Tibet from1949the founding of new China to1959before Dalai Lama fled. Through the analysis of typical texts in U.S. mainstream media, we find that during this period Americans’view on Tibet was increasingly influenced by government policies, and the U.S. mainstream media trumpeted such speeches as "Tibet has never belonged to China","Tibet has always been an independent country", etc. to keep in tune with the government’s attitude. In order to justify their views, they began to look for more evidence even by landscaping Tibet’s backward political and religious systems. As a result, Americans’understanding of Tibet is further away from the truth under such duet.The part of Conclusion is a simple summary of this paper’s main contents.