User:Lhandoa/Pandatsang Rapga

The following was translated with a few modifications from Dutch Wikipedia here. The majority of the content is the same as the Dutch version.

Pandatsang Rapga ) (born c. 1900) was in a Khamba revolutionary in the first half of the 20th century in Tibet. He was pro Kuomintang and pro Republic of China, anti feudal and fought against the Dalai Lama. He believed in overthrowing the Dalai Lama's feudal regime and driving the British Imperialism out of Tibet, and acted on behalf of Chiang Kai-shek in countering the Dalai Lama.

Backgound
He belonged to a branch of the large Pandatsang clan ), who hailed from Kham. He was the brother of Pandastang Togbye, who was a great friend of Thubten Kunphela who also came from Kham. Partly out of anger over the collapse of Kunphela after the death of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, in 1934 Togbye organized a revolt against the Tibetan government in areas the areas they controlled in the western part of Kham. (that was about one third of the whole Kham region).

He did so in the belief that many monks from Kham originating in the large monasteries near Lhasa would support him in this. The Tibetan government knew that the rebellion originatingn with the Kham. The residence of his family in Lhasa was confisticated, but ultimately negotiations ensued. The reason was that the family was the main exporter of Tibetan wool abroad, and this could affect government funds. As a result of the outcome of thenegotiations, the members of the family did not persecute the rebellion further.

In India
In 1935 Pandatsang Rapga left to India. Some time later, he went to Chongqing, which served as the wartime capital for the Kuomintang Republic of China government during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He joined the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission of the Republic of China government. In 1939 he left again to return to Kalimpong in India.

The Tibet Improvement Party
He then founded the Tibet Improvement Party in Kalimpong and, Gendün Chöpel, the exiled Thubten Kunphela, and the poet Canlocen joined the party.

The party considered the then government of Tibet as totally outdated, religious and feudal. It sought a modern, secular government which would pay attention to improvinv infrastructure, such as the introduction of more technology, better education, and a modern standing army.

Pandatsang Rapga was strongly influenced by the ideas of Sun Yat-sen, especially his Three Principles of the People. He believed that change in Tibet would only be possible in a manner similar to when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in China. He borrowed the theories and ideas of the Kuomintang as the basis for his model for Tibet. The party was funded by the Kuomintang and by the Pandatsang family.

The ultimate goal of the party for the future of Tibet was that Tibet would become an autonomous Republic within the Republic of China. )

Pandatsang hailed the three principles of Dr. Sun for helping asian peoples against foreign imperialism and called for the feudal system to be overthrown.

There was some tension regarding financing. A section of Pandatsang's family saw the party as an instrument to create an independent Kham state equally independent of both China and the Dalai Lama's Tibet.

The activities of the party were eventually noticed by the British. That led to the Tibetan government becoming aware of the existence of the party and in particular, Pandatsang Rapga. The Tibetans demanded that he be extradited to Tibet, however, it was not possible, due to Rapga possesing a Chinese passport. In 1947, British India expelled him to Shanghai.

Back in Kham
In 1950, Rapga appeared in Chamdo, the border between the part of Kham controlled by the Tibetan government, and the part which was not controlled by them.

The People's Liberation Army had occupied Kham without much oppossition from the Khampa's. The relationship between the Khampa and the Tibetan Dalai Lama government in Lhasa was extremely poor at the time. Rapga offered the governor of Chamdo, Ngabo Ngawang Jigme, some Khampa fighters in exchange for the Tibetan government recognizing the independence of Kham. Ngabo refused the offer.

After the defeat of the Tibetan Army in Chamdo, Rapga started mediating in negotiations between the People's Liberation Army and the Tibetans.

Rapga participated in raising Khampa rebels to fight against the Communists during the 1959 Tibetan Rebellion.

As late as the 1970's, Rapga believed that Sun Yat-sen's three principles were the best hope for Asian people's against feudalism and foreign imperialism.