Thread by @Tashnamgyal

🧵 What happened to #Amdo region of Tibet during its early phase of “liberation” by the #PRC?
How did the collapse of #Qing dynasty transform the legacy of #Buddhist tradition in #Mongolia?
What did they have in common?

1/ To answer these questions, this thread uses @BennoWeiner's THE CHINESE REVOLUTION ON THE TIBETAN FRONTIER and Matt King's OCEAN OF MILK, OCEAN OF BLOOD to analyze their key ideas and significance.
@DavidGAtwill @prchistory @PSUHistory @NewBooksEAsia

2/ With #CentralTibet & #Lhasa at the core of most mainstream Anglophone works of modern Tibetan history, #Amdo’s role is often overlooked & underemphasized. Weiner’s book is a long-overdue scholarship that amplifies the role of #Amdo
@CornellPress @CMUHistory @eandreweditor

3/ Established Tibetan historians largely agree on the notion of Political Tibet as the territory directly governed by the Dalai Lama’s govt (mostly Central Tibet), and the Ethnographic (Cultural) Tibet to encompass the entire Tibetan plateau, including regions of #Amdo & #Kham

4/ As detailed in the book, the complex ethnic makeup of #Amdo (Qinghai) makes it a unique & crucial region. Moreover, the political unrests & self-immolations in #Amdo region has put it at the "center" of Sino-Tibetan conflicts. @degewa @nybooks @hpeaks
nybooks.com/daily/2016/01/…

5/ While #Lhasa Uprising of 1959 & the Dalai Lama’s escape to India dominates the existing Tibetan political narrative and popular imagination about the beginning of Tibet’s confrontation with the PRC, Weiner’s book instead highlights the #Amdo and the 1958 Rebellion.

6/ Through close reading of rare Chinese official archives, Weiner’s book spearheads the investigation into the political developments in #Amdo through local Tibetan elites' negotiations & settlement with the CCP in the early 1950s, culminating with the #AmdoRebellion of 1958.

7/ Suggesting that the CCP needed to first establish a "nation in Amdo," Weiner’s research profoundly enriches our existing knowledge about modern China's ethnic policy, and its transition from Qing empire to Chinese state. @EastWestCenter
eastwestcenter.org/sites/default/…

8/ Central to Weiner’s approach is his fine-grained treatment of the United Front Department (tongyi zhanxian) which played a central part in winning over local Amdo elites to the CCP-led reform efforts. @GPMonitor
geopoliticalmonitor.com/backgrounder-a…

9/ In one of the podcast discussions of his book & the idea of “Chinese Colonialism in Tibet,” Weiner notes the CCP’s relatively pluralistic ethnonational policy of early 1950s, and its gradual shift to an aggressive assimilationist movement
omny.fm/shows/the-litt…

10/ Weiner’s account reveals new paths by which future historians can explore the transition from Qing- Republican-PRC era, dramatically altering the standard ways Amdo history intersects with the standard treatment of Ma Bufang in the Republican China link.springer.com/chapter/10.100…

11/ Weiner’s choice of #Rebgong (Ch. Tongren) could be a coincidence. But it is not accidental that Rebgong is known as the “cradle of Tibetan intellectuals” as so eloquently profiled in @NicoleWillock's LINEAGES OF THE LITERARY. @daigengna @rekjong
newbooksnetwork.com/lineages-of-th…

12/ Perfectly pairing with Weiner’s book is the superbly engaging English translation of Nagtsang Nulo’s acclaimed memoir MY TIBETAN CHILDHOOD, a personalized and nuanced account of non-elite #Amdo Tibetan history. @DukePress @RobbieBarnett @BeijingNomad
dukeupress.edu/my-tibetan-chi…

13/ Moving on to #Mongolia, how much do we know about the history of Mongolian #Buddhist tradition, its relationship with the #Qing empire, as well as the tragic religious and temporal upheavals that swept Mongolia after the collapse of #Qing?
penn.museum/sites/mongolia…

14/ In OCEAN OF MILK, OCEAN OF BLOOD, through his study of the voluminous writings of Mongolian Buddhist polymath Zava Damdin, King constructs an erudite Buddhist biography that addresses most of the questions raised above.
@ColumbiaUP @UCR_religion
cup.columbia.edu/book/ocean-of-…

15/ Through the life of Zava Damdin, King's book presents valuable insight into Mongolia's chaotic transitions from a domain of Qing empire to a Buddhist theocratic state that later transformed into a socialist republic through communist revolution.

16/ Given the common historical and cultural legacy of #Buddhism in #Mongolia and #Tibet, as well as the intimate link between Tibetan and Mongolian Studies, it's worth noting some of the parallels present in King's book with similar themes and literatures on #Tibet.

17/ With the 13th Dalai Lama's periods of exile in Mongolia & China, King's analysis of historical goodwill b/w Qing emperors, Mongolians Khans, and the Dalai Lamas exhibited diplomatic ties that often transcended the spiritual realms. @treasuryoflives
treasuryoflives.org/biographies/vi…

18/ King's book also indicates strong temporal elements through its detailing of communists’ persecution of #Buddhism in #Mongolia, which resonates the Chinese atrocities committed in Tibet following its military invasion @PolygraphInfo @wlechols
polygraph.info/a/fact-check-c…

19/ During the Communists persecution of Buddhism in Mongolia, Damdin's role in "Defending the Dharma in Socialist Mongolia" has its resemblance with the role of 'Tibetan Buddhist Polymaths of Socialist China' in @NicoleWillock's LINEAGES OF THE LITERARY @columbiaUP @rekjong

20/ Account of Zava Damdin as a "wandering" scholar & cosmopolitan monk could be compared with the life of #Gendunchoephel, a maverick Tibetan intellectual of the 20th century. As chronicled in Donald Lopez's works on #Gendunchoephel.
@UChicagoPress @penguinrandom

Finally, while both Weiner and King's books offered excellent narratives about #Mongolian & #Tibetan tragedies during political transitions & revolutions, they also present promising avenues for collaboration among studies on PRC, Mongolia, and Tibet.
Thank you! @DavidGAtwill