Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme Explained

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme
Native Name:
Office:Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Term Start:27 March 1993
Term End:23 December 2009
1Blankname:Chairman
1Namedata:Li Ruihuan→Jia Qinglin
Term Start1:29 April 1959
Term End1:5 January 1965
1Blankname1:Chairman
1Namedata1:Zhou Enlai
Office2:Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region People's Congress
Term Start2:February 1983
Term End2:January 1993
Predecessor2:Yang Dongsheng
Successor2:Raidi
Term Start3:August 1979
Term End3:April 1981
Predecessor3:new position
Successor3:Yang Dongsheng
Office4:Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region
Term Start4:1964
Term End4:1968
Predecessor4:Choekyi Gyaltsen
Successor4:Zeng Yongya
Term Start5:1981
Term End5:1983
Predecessor5:Sanggyai Yexe
Successor5:Doje Cedain
Office6:Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
Term Start6:3 January 1965
Term End6:27 March 1993
1Blankname6:Chairman
1Namedata6:Zhu De→Ye Jianying→Peng Zhen→Wan Li
Office7:Delegate to the National People's Congress
Term Start7:September 1954
Term End7:December 1964
1Blankname7:Chairman
1Namedata7:Liu Shaoqi→Zhu De
Office8:Kalön of Tibet
Term Start8:1950
Term End8:1959
Alongside8:Thupten Kunkhen (until 1951), Kashopa Chogyal Nyima (1945–1949), Lhalu Tsewang Dorje (1946–1952), Dogan Penjor Rabgye (1949–1957), Khyenrab Wangchug (1951–1956), Liushar Thubten Tharpa (since 1955), Sampho Tsewang Rigzin (since 1957), and Surkhang Wangchen Gelek
Monarch8:14th Dalai Lama
Office9:Governor of Domai
Term Start9:August 1950
Term End9:October 1950
Predecessor9:Lhalu Tsewang Dorje
Successor9:title abolished
Monarch9:14th Dalai Lama
Birth Date:1 February 1910
Birth Place:Lhasa, Tibet, Qing Empire
Death Place:Beijing, People's Republic of China
Spouse:Ngapoi Cedain Zhoigar
Allegiance: Tibet
Branch:
Commands:Deputy Commander, PLA Tibet Military District
Kalön (minister), Kashag
Commander-in-chief, Tibetan Army in Chamdo
Battles:Battle of Chamdo
Rank: Lieutenant General of the PLA
Awards: Order of Liberation (First Class Medal)

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme (; ; February 1, 1910 – December 23, 2009[1]) was a Tibetan senior official who assumed various military and political responsibilities both before and after 1951 in Tibet. He is often known simply as Ngapo in English sources.

Early life

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme was born in Karma Gorge of Lhasa as the son of a leading Tibetan aristocratic family descended from former kings of Tibet, the Horkhang.[2] His father was governor of Chamdo in Eastern Tibet and commander of the Tibetan armed forces.[3] After studying traditional Tibetan literature, he went to Britain for further education.[4] He was married to Ngapoi Cedain Zhoigar, Vice President of the Tibetan Women's Federation,[5] hence his name Ngapoi.

Career

Upon returning in 1932 from his studies in Britain, he served in the Tibetan army. Ngapoi began his career as a local official in Chamdo in 1936. As a cabinet member of the former government of Tibet under the Dalai Lama, he advocated reform. In April 1950 he was appointed governor-general (commissioner) of Chamdo, but took office only in September, after the previous governor, Lhalu, had left for Lhasa.[6]

Commander-in-chief of the Tibetan Army at Chamdo

While serving as governor-general of Chamdo, he also became commander-in-chief of the Tibetan Army.

While his predecessor, Lhalu, had made elaborate military plans and fortifications and asked the Kashag for more soldiers and weapons to stop the People's Liberation Army from entering Tibet, Ngapoi had the fortifications removed, refused to hire Khampa warriors and to install two portable wireless sets as he thought it was better to negotiate.[6]

In October 1950, his forces confronted the People's Liberation Army. The battle was quickly over. As he had warned before his departure for Chamdo, "the Tibetan forces were no match for the PLA who [...] had liberated the whole of China by defeating several million Kuomintang soldiers".[7] Ngapoi surrendered Chamdo to the Chinese. The PLA surprised him by treating him well and giving him long lectures on the New China's policies toward minor nationalities. Within a year, he was the deputy commander-in-chief for the PLA forces in Tibet. He became a leader not only of Tibet but also the Chinese Communist Party in Tibet.[8]

Head of the Tibetan Delegation to the Beijing Peace Negotiations

As a delegate of the government of Tibet sent to negotiate with the Chinese Government,[9] he headed the Tibetan delegation to the Beijing peace negotiations in 1951, where he signed the Seventeen Point Agreement[10] with the Chinese Communist government in 1951, accepting Chinese sovereignty[11] in exchange for guarantees of autonomy and religious freedom.

The validity of his acceptance on behalf of the Tibetan government has been questioned. The Tibetan exiled community claims that his signature of the Agreement was obtained under duress, and that, as only the governor of Chamdo, signature of the agreement exceeded his powers of representation and is therefore invalid.[12]

In his biography My Land and My People, the Dalai Lama claims that in 1952, the acting Tibetan Prime Minister Lukhangwa told Chinese representative Zhang Jingwu that the Tibetan "people did not accept the agreement".[13]

However, according to Sambo Rimshi, one of the Tibetan negotiators,[14] the Tibetan delegation, including Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, went to Beijing with the Dalai Lama's authorization and instructions[15] [16] As Sambo Rimchi recalled, Dalai Lama's instruction to the negotiators clearly states:

According to Sambo, the young Dalai Lama also told the negotiators to use their best judgment according to the situation and circumstances and report back to the Kashag in Yadong. Sambo recalled that the negotiators brought a secret codebook so that they could establish a wireless link with Yadong and discuss issues as they arose.[17] According to historians Tom A. Grunfeld, Melvyn C. Goldstein and Tsering Shakya, the young Dalai Lama did ratify the Seventeen Point agreement with Tsongdu Assembly's recommendation few months after the signing.[18] [19] [20]

In 1959, the Dalai Lama on his arrival in India after he fled Tibet repudiated the "17-point Agreement" as having been "thrust upon Tibetan Government and people by the threat of arms".[21]

An advocate of reform

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigmé was one of a small number of progressive elite Tibetans that were eager to modernize Tibet and saw in the return of the Chinese an opportunity to do so. They were in a sense a continuation of the movement for reform that emerged in the 1920s with Tsarong Dzasa as its main proponent but was stopped short by the 13th Dalai Lama under the pressure of conservative clerics and aristocrats.[22]

Implementing the Seventeen Point Agreement (1951–1952)

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme was instrumental in solving the food problems of the People's Liberation Army in 1951 - 1952 by creating a Kashag subcommittee tasked with inventorying grain stores with a view to selling some to the PLA in accordance with point 16 of the Seventeen Point Agreement ("The local government of Tibet will assist the People's Liberation Army in the purchase of food, fodder, and other daily necessities").[23] [24]

A Kashag minister trusted by both the Chinese and the Dalai Lama (1953–1954)

Ngapoi was appointed by the Tibetan government to head the newly formed Reform Assembly. He was the Kashag minister (Kalön) most trusted not only by the Chinese but also by the Dalai Lama. The latter, who was in favour of reforms and modernization, frequently discussed political issues with Ngapoi in private. As a result, in 1953–1954, the Reform Assembly crafted new laws reforming interest rates, old loans, and the administration of counties.[25]

Administrative, military, and legislative responsibilities

After 1951, Ngapoi's career continued within the ranks of Chinese Communist administration of Tibet. He served as the leader of the Liberation Committee of Chamdo Prefecture until 1959.[26] He was also a member of the Central People's Government's State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee between 1951 and 1954.

He was Deputy Commander of the Tibet Military District between 1952 and 1977, and a member of the National Defence Council from 1954 through the Cultural Revolution. He was appointed as lieutenant general and awarded the "Order of Liberation" first class in 1955.[27]

Secretary General of the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region

When in April 1956 a Preparatory Committee for the Establishment of the Autonomous Region of Tibet was set up in accordance with the central government's decision, Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme was appointed its secretary general.[28] He was appointed vice-president of the Committee in 1959, the 10th Panchen Lama being its president.[29]

Chairman of the People's Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region

After his appointment as acting chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1964, Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme became the chairman of the People's Committee of the newly established Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in 1965.[30]

Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress

He represented Tibet in seven National People's Congresses as a Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee from the 1st National People's Congress in 1954 to the 7th in 1988. He was head of the NPC delegations to Colombia, Guyana, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Nepal in the early 1980s.

In 1999, he became a member of the Preparatory Committee for the Special Administrative Region of Macau.[31]

From 1979 to 1993, he was Chairman of the National People's Congress Ethnic Affairs Committee.[32]

Other roles

He was an honorary president of the Buddhist Association of China beginning in 1980. He was also an honorary president of the Tibetan Wildlife Protection Association, which was founded in 1991[33] He was also president of the China Association for the Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture, which was established on June 21, 2004.[34]

Death

Ngapoi died at 16:50 on December 23, 2009, from an unspecified illness in Beijing at the age of 99 (or 100 according to East Asia's custom of counting a person's age by starting from 1 at the time of his or her birth). His funeral was held at the Funeral Parlor of the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery on the morning of December 28.[35]

He was described as "a great patriot, renowned social activist, good son of Tibetan people, outstanding leader of China's ethnic work and close friend of the CPC", by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

Almost all the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party turned up to pay him respects at his funeral, including CCP general secretary Hu Jintao, ex-general secretary Jiang Zemin, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, He Guoqiang, Zhou Yongkang, etc.[36]

The Tibetan government in exile headed by Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche called him an "honest and patriotic" person who made great efforts to preserve and promote the Tibetan language. "He was someone who upheld the spirit of the Tibetan people."[37]

As journalist Kalsang Rinchen observes, both Beijing and Dharamsala appear saddened by the demise of the man who signed the 17-point agreement. "[The] Chinese state run news agency Xinhua hailed him for ushering in 'major milestones in Tibet, such as the democratic reforms and the founding of the Autonomous Regional Government,' while the Tibetan government in exile remembered him for calling on the Central Government in 1991 'to implement articles of the 17-point Agreement in general and specifically those articles which state that Tibet's political status will not be changed'."[38]

A rare comment on Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme can be found in the memoirs of Phuntsok Tashi, a Tibetan who served as an interpreter in the 1951 peace negotiations and signing of the Seventeen Point Agreement: Ngapoi is portrayed as "an honest, clever, intelligent, experienced and far-seeing man."[39]

Depiction

In the 1997 film Seven Years in Tibet, based on the memoir of the Austrian explorer and mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme is played by the actor BD Wong. In the movie he is depicted as being responsible for destroying a Tibetan ammunition depot, thus sealing the defeat of the Lhasa loyalist army at Chamdo.

Quotations

Published works

References

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: 2009-12-23 . Senior Chinese legislator, political advisor passes away . https://web.archive.org/web/20140224233723/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/23/content_12694956.htm . dead . February 24, 2014 . Xinhua .
  2. Book: Tsering Shakya . The Dragon in the Land of Snows. A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947 . Columbia University Press . 1999 . 15 . 9780231118149 . He was the illegitimate son of a nun from one of the leading aristocratic families of Tibet, Horkhang, who had acquired the surname of Ngabo by marrying a young widow of Ngabo Shape..
  3. Jacques de Goldfiem, Personnalités chinoises d'aujourd'hui, Éditions L'Harmattan, 1989, pp. 189–190.
  4. http://www.tibetsun.com/archive/2009/12/23/ngapoi-ngawang-jigme-1910-2009/ Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme 1910–2009
  5. Mackerras, Colin. Yorke, Amanda. The Cambridge Handbook of Contemporary China. (1991). Cambridge University Press. . p. 100.
  6. Bhuchung D. Sonam, Ngabo — Yes Tibetan, No Patriot, Phayul.com, December 26, 2009.
  7. Puncog Zhaxi, La libération pacifique du Tibet comme je l'ai vécue, in Jianguo Li (ed.), Cent ans de témoignages sur le Tibet: reportages de témoins de l'histoire du Tibet, 2005, 196 p., pp. 72 - 82, esp. p. 72: "[...] il a conclu que les troupes tibétaines étaient incapables de faire front à l'APL (l'Armée populaire de libération) qui [...] avait libéré l'ensemble du pays en triomphant de millions de militaires du Kuomintang."
  8. Gary Wilson, It was no Shangri-La: Hollywood Hides Tibet's True History, in Workers World Newspaper, December 4, 1997.
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20071013180003/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/30/content_3422747.htm Ngapoi recalls the founding of the TAR
  10. Web site: Tibet: Proving Truth From Facts, The Invasion and Illegal Annexation of Tibet . 2007-09-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071012195620/http://www.tibet.net/en/diir/pubs/wp/tb96/data/cp2.html . 2007-10-12 . dead .
  11. Goldstein, Melvyn C., A History of Modern Tibet  - The Demise of the Lamaist State: 1912 - 1951, 1989, p. 813.
  12. Tsering, Shakya (1999). The Dragon in the Land of Snows. A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947. Columbia University Press., pp. 70 - 71.
  13. According to Dalai Lama's My Land and My People, (New York: 1992), p. 95, acting Tibetan Prime Minister Lukhangwa said: "It was absurd to refer to the terms of the Seventeen-Point Agreement. Our people did not accept the agreement and the Chinese themselves had repeatedly broken the terms of it. Their army was still in occupation of eastern Tibet; the area had not been returned to the government of Tibet, as it should have been."
  14. Goldstein, Melvyn C., A History of Modern Tibet  - The Calm before the Storm: 1951 - 1959, 2007, p. 87, p. 96 n 32.
  15. Goldstein, Melvyn C., A History of Modern Tibet  - The Demise of the Lamaist State: 1912 - 1951, 1989, pp. 758 - 759.
  16. Goldstein, Melvyn C., A History of Modern Tibet  - The Calm before the Storm: 1951 - 1959, 2007, pp. 87, 95 - 98.
  17. Goldstein, Melvyn C., A History of Modern Tibet  - The Calm before the Storm: 1951 - 1959, 2007, pp96 - 97.
  18. Gyatso, Tenzin, Dalai Lama XIV, interview with Grunfeld, A. Tom, 25 July 1981. see Grunfeld's The Making of Modern Tibet, chapter 6, note 22.
  19. Goldstein, Melvyn C., A History of Modern Tibet  - The Demise of the Lamaist State: 1912 - 1951, 1989, pp 812 - 813.
  20. The History of Tibet: Volume III The Modern Period: 1895-1959, edited by Alex McKay, London and New York: Routledge Curzon (2003), p. 603.
  21. http://www.tibet.net/en/diir/pubs/phri/17point/data/17ptsfs.html "The 17-Point Agreement" The full story as revealed by the Tibetans and Chinese who were involved
  22. Melvyn C. Goldstein,, A History of Modern Tibet  - The Calm before the Storm: 1951 - 1959, University of California Press, 2007, p. 87, p. 191: "(...) there were a few others who had very modern and progressive ideas. In particular, a small number of elite Tibetans genuinely favored working closely with the Chinese to implement the agreement and modernize Tibet. (...) They were, in a sense, a continuation of a movement for reform and change that began after (...) 1914, when a group of young aristocratic officers led by Tsarong (...) sought to create a modern and effective army. They had been thwarted by clerics and conservative aristocrats who (in the middle 1920s) persuaded the 13th Dalai Lama that they were a threat to his rule and to religion."
  23. Melvyn C. Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon, online version: "The dire food problems of the Chinese led Ngabö to push successfully for one interesting innovation in Lhasa  - the creation of a subcommittee of the Kashag whose mission was to deal effectively with matters concerning the arrangements and accommodations of the Chinese, including food for the PLA."
  24. Melvyn C. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, vol. 2: The Calm Before the Storm: 1951 - 1955, Asian Studies Series, University of California Press, 2007, p. 639: "Point 16 (...) stated, 'The local government of Tibet will assist the People's Liberation Army in the purchase and transport of food, fodder, and other daily necessities'."
  25. Melvyn C. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, vol. 2, The Calm before the Storm: 1951-1955, op. cit., chap. 22, p. 547: "On the Tibetan government's side, a reform organization headed by Ngabo was begun. He was not only the Kashag minister most trusted by the Chinese but also the one most trusted by the Dalai Lama, who frequently discussed political issues with him privately and who himself was in favour of reforms and modernization for Tibet. In 1953-1954, therefore, the Tibetan government's Reform Assembly crafted new laws reforming interest rates, old loans, and the administration of counties."
  26. Web site: Who's Who in China's Leadership . China Internet Information Center . .
  27. https://web.archive.org/web/20110707040938/http://eng.mod.gov.cn/Database/MilitaryFigures/2009-08/01/content_4017117.htm Lieutenant General - Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme
  28. http://www.china-un.org/eng/zt/xzwt/t418896.htm White Paper 1998: New Progress in Human Rights in the Tibet Autonomous Region
  29. http://chinatibet.people.com.cn/6850788.html Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme passes away at 100
  30. http://chinatibet.people.com.cn/6850788.html Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme passes away at 100
  31. http://www.chinavitae.com/biography/Ngapoi_Ngawang%20Jigme|800/career Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme
  32. http://chinatibet.people.com.cn/6850788.html Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme passes away at 100
  33. http://www.himalaya-trek.com/tibet/flora_and_fauna.php Himalayan Waves Trekking
  34. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/28/content_12718269.htm Body of senior Chinese legislator, political advisor cremated in Beijing
  35. http://chinatibet.people.com.cn/6854629.html Funeral for Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme held in Beijing
  36. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/28/content_12718269.htm Body of senior Chinese legislator, political advisor cremated in Beijing
  37. Kalsang Rinchen, United by Ngabo's death, Dharamsala and Beijing mourns, December 25, 2009 (reprinted from Phayul).
  38. United by Ngabo's death, Dharamsala and Beijing mourns, op. cit.
  39. Puncog Zhaxi, La libération pacifique du Tibet comme je l'ai vécue, op. cit., p. 72: "un homme honnête, habile, intelligent, expérimenté et clairvoyant."
  40. Lodi Gyari, 'Seeking unity through equality', Himal, January 26, 2007, reproduced in www.phayul.com.
  41. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/ealac/barnett/pdfs/link2b-ngapo.pdf When did Tibet come within the sovereignty of China?
  42. Tempa Tsering, China's highest Tibetan official excluded from selection meeting, www.tibet.com, 10 November 1995: "Official communist Chinese documents and media report that the envoy of the nationalist Chinese, Wu Zhongxin, gave the official Kuomintang recognition of the 14th Dalai Lama in 1940 and had presided over his enthronement, and to support this claim re-produced a photograph of the Chinese official with the young Dalai Lama, saying that this was taken during the enthronement ceremony. But Ngapo is on record saying that this photograph was taken a few days after the ceremony when Wu had the privilege of having a private audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama."
  43. http://www7.esc.edu/tgrunfeld/tgrunfeld.tibetfilms.html Films and videos in Tibet

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