Mr. Jamyang Norbu came to present to IU students, faculty, and the public about his new book, “Echoes from Forgotten Mountains: Tibet in War and Peace,” on January 29th, 2025. The event was co-sponsored by the IAUNRC, EASC, CSGC, and Dhar India Studies. Mr. Norbu’s lecture was also in memorial of the 8th anniversary of Professor Elliot Sperling’s passing. Mr. Norbu fought with the guerilla resistance out of Nepal for Tibet, and is known for his book, Mandala of Sherlock Holmes, as well as being director of High Asia Research Centre.
Mr. Norbu described how he wanted to write a book at the intersection of literary work and history that also inspired Tibetans. He described how he knew a lot of people personally who were part of the Tibetan resistance in the 1950s and beyond, and thought of their compelling stories, as well as his own. He then decided to begin by writing his own narrative, thinking of his parents and his childhood. During his childhood, there was a major earthquake and comets, which Tibetans saw as bad omens. In 1949, he explained, the Communists in China said they would “liberate” Tibet from “colonialists” and “imperialists.” However, Mr. Norbu said, although the Communists posited that these colonialists and imperialists were the British and the Americans, at this time there were no Americans in Tibet, and very few Brits. The Chinese invaded on October 24th, 1950, where then the author’s family left Lhasa. Mr. Norbu said his book talks about that invasion at length. He underscored that Westerners have this consistent idea that Tibetans are only peaceful, and must have not fought back, but, he said, this could not be further from the truth. Mr. Norbu emphasized the Tibetans did their best in their resistance movement, and that there was the Tibetan military during this time. The soldiers in the Tibetan military wore uniforms, flew a Tibetan flag, and were armed with British WWII rifles. The main fighting, Mr. Norbu explained, was in Chamdo, Tibet. He said that while the main Tibetan commander surrendered, there were two generals in particular, Dapon Muja and Dapon Karchang, who fought on for a long time. Another Commander General, Lhalu, was known for collecting the Tibetan troops who were scattered, getting weapons, blowing up a bridge, and then proceeding with a methodical retreat. Commander General Lhalu radioed Lhasa so they knew was what happened, and then withdrew slowly to a permanent station outside Lhasa. There, the troops set up defense, and were able to hold out the Chinese troops for 5 months. This 5-month period gave the Dalai Lama time to escape and appear to the U.N., Mr. Norbu explained.
On the international scale, Mr. Norbu described how the Americans were partially supportive of Tibet, especially around the time of the Korean War. In addition, he taught the audience that El Salvador took up Tibet’s case, and brought it up to the UN General Assembly. There, the British rejected the case, as they had a treaty with the Tibetans. The last British representative to come to Lhasa defended Tibet, but from there on never received titles or recognition. From this point, the author explained, the Tibetans had no choice but to sign the 17-point agreement, which gave away their sovereignty. Meanwhile, the Tibetans had employed a British radio operator who had been in the British army, but who upon the British leaving Tibet said that he could not leave his Tibetan colleagues. Mr. Norbu met this man, and described how the British radio operator was imprisoned by the Chinese for 5 years.
In 1951, the Chinese Communist troops entered Lhasa. They bombed a monastery. In 1956, many Tibetans rose up against the Chinese rule, mostly, Mr. Norbu said, because of economic reforms and the Communists’ plans to destroy the Lamas and chieftains. The fighting during this time was tremendous, and the Chinese continued to bomb monasteries. There was a chieftain, explained the author, whose name was Lithong Yunru Pon, who fought until the end and never surrendered. This chieftain told the Chinese troops that he would only talk to their leaders when he was caught. Those leaders came, and although they had told him to drop his weapon, he had an American gun up his long sleeve and shot the leaders. He died thereafter. Mr. Norbu wrote a play about him.
Other important Tibetan military figures at this time were Markham Phupa Pon and Reting Limga. Markham Phupa Pon fought for a very long time, as his region of Markham was heavily forested, thus providing protection. Reting Limga was the body guard of a noble in his area and fought hard to protect this chief. He eventually went back to his hometown, but was famous for his height of 7 feet. Women were involved as leaders in the Tibetan resistance too, the author emphasized. Gyari Dorje Yudon of Nyarong was the younger wife of a chieftain. He and his older wife were arrested, so when letters from another chieftain came to their region about the fight, Gyari Dorje Yudon was the one who received them. She joined the resistance, and was known to be especially ruthless. However, Mr. Norbu explained, one had to be ruthless during this time. Another woman, Ani Pachen Lemdatsang of Gonjo, had wanted to be a nun but took up the fight of her father who had died. Mr. Norbu taught the audience that she actually whipped her troops into shape. She was imprisoned after she was caught carrying her grandmother over a pass to escape, but later got to Dharamsala and became a nun.
Mr. Norbu explained that the fighting in Amdo was immense. He said there is little documentation about this time in the area, as there were not many refugees to India from there. Battles were fought intensely in Amdo for around 2 years and then put down. The Chinese told the Tibetans that they would not hold the fighting against them and that they would set up something like Taiwan in Tibet. A Chinese official, Xi Zhongxun, the father of Xi Jinping, was one of the officials that set up these negotiations with the Tibetans.
In 1956, there was an uprising in Eastern Tibet. However, Mr. Norbu said, the international media paid almost no attention to it, due to the emphasis on the Hungarian uprising in the same year. At this time, there was a man named Rev. Dorje Tharchin who was a Moravian Christian, and who was a pastor for the Tibetan Church in Kalimpong. He started a newspaper called the Tibetan Mirror, to which the Dalai Lama gave some money in order to start it up. The pastor also published some Bible stories, but the newspaper became more nationalist. Rev. Tharchin held the unique position of being both Christian and Tibetan. He was from Spiti, on the western borderlands between Tibet and India.
When the fighting in Eastern Tibet petered out, Mr. Norbu explained, thousands of Tibetans left their homeland and went to Lhasa, the center of Tibetan culture and religion. So many people arrived that people were sleeping in parks. At this time, the PLA was in Lhasa, and the population was very dense. Jamyang Norbu described how there was much crime in Lhasa due to the dense population, and a lot of underground organizations existed there. However, Tibetans still wanted to do something. One Tibetan who was moved to do something after the war was Andrugtsang Gonpo Tashi. He knew informers were everywhere, as the Tibetan Cabinet has been infiltrated due to the surrender of the Governor General. Gonpo Tashi kept a low profile, but managed to get teaching from Dalai Lama. This resulted in the Dalai Lama giving a teaching about the Kalachakra. In this chakra, Mr. Norbu underscored, the bad guys are defeated. Tibetans then got together and rose money for a golden throne for the Dalai Lama. This throne gave the Dalai Lama the ability to meet people. A resistance organization was started that was inspired by the way people raised money for the golden throne. Within this resistance organization was a Chinese colonel who had defected to Tibet and fought with the Tibetans. Meanwhile, Gonpo Tahsi was badly wounded and died at a British hospital.
Mr. Norbu also pointed out that the Dalai Lama, at this time, thought the Chinese would indeed create a Tibet Autonomous Region but his generals said that he must leave, as they did not believe an autonomous region would be created. The author explained that it was very difficult to get the Dalai Lama to leave at this time, as he was only 17 years old. A famous Tibetan aristocrat, Tsarang Dasang, left Tibet but then returned in order to rescue the Dalai Lama. When the Dalai Lama refused, Dasang stayed and led an uprising. He was arrested and put in a main military prison. However, Norbu said that Dasang was in high spirits and entertained everyone at the prison. Because of this, Mr. Norbu argued, the Chinese prepared a large trial for him, even preparing accusers, but Dasang died in his sleep before the trial could take place.
The author also described how Tibetans in the United States were deeply involved in the resistance. Thubten Jigme Norbu was from Bloomington, IN and contacted the Office of Strategic Services. Thubten Jigme Norbu spoke for Tibet at many anti-communist events. In addition, Gyalo Thondup, the Dalai Lama’s brother, was a CIA contact. This position was passed down to him from Thubten Jigme Norbu. The Tibetan fighters associated with the CIA were given cyanide pills so that if they were captured, they would not reveal their CIA training to their captors. These fighters were not paid. The CIA did provide Tibetans weapons, but these were old weapons. Mr. Norbu taught the audience that the CIA funded successful raids and guerilla groups from the mountains. One specifically successful one was where a group attacked a convoy of documents from Beijing. These documents were brought to a general, and this is how America learned of the Great Famine. Mr. Norbu argued that this destroyed an idea that had previously existed in American academia that Mao was an agrarian reformer who couldn’t make mistakes with his agricultural reforms. To the US, China was a still a mystery at the time. To conclude his talk, Jamyang Nobu shared that today, one can see a painting in the CIA art collection of the Tibetan operation with the “secret pouch”. One can also see a plaque dedicated to Tibetans who were trained in Colorado.