Flag of Tibet

The Tibetan flag, (Standard Tibetan: བོད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་དར།, lit. 'Tibetan national flag') also known as the "snow lion flag" (gangs seng dar cha),[1] was[2] the flag of the de facto independent polity of Tibet from 1916 to 1951. It was adopted by the 13th Dalai Lama in 1916.[3] Banned by the Chinese government since 1959, the flag has not been in official use by any region in the world since 1951; however it is used by the Tibetan Government in Exile, based in Dharamshala, India.[2]

Tibet
UseCivil and state flag, national ensign
Proportion5:8
Adopted1916 (1916)
DesignTwo snow lions holding a flaming blue, white and orange jewel and a blue and orange yin-yang symbol on a white mountain with a gold sun rising over it, all over 12 red and blue alternating rays with a gold border around the upper, lower, and hoist side of the flag.

The Government of the People's Republic of China considers it to be a symbol of separatism; however, the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan government in exile, said in recent years that he hoped that Tibet would achieve true autonomy and would not ask for independence. He believes that the symbolism of the flag is similar to that of the Hong Kong regional flag and does not represent the Tibetan independence movement, but the concept of pursuing religious freedom and pursuing national equality and mutual respect.

Design and early use
The Tibetan army waves the Tibetan flag at a military parade in Lhasa, 1938.

In February 1913, shortly after the fall of the Qing dynasty, the 13th Dalai Lama, Tibet's political and spiritual leader, declared independence from China and began modernizing the Tibetan army.[4] According to Tsarong Dasang Dadul, the commander-in-chief of the modern Tibetan army, in 1916, a new national flag was adopted by the Dalai Lama and all army regiments were ordered to carry the flag in its present form.[5] Gyalten Namgyal, tailor to both the 13th and 14th Dalai Lamas wrote, "When I was fourteen, the Dalai Lama decided he wanted a Tibetan national flag made, and designed it himself. When a prototype was approved and the first flag commissioned, I was the one to execute the work."[6]

Two Tibetan delegates (front right) during the Asian Relations Conference in Delhi in 1947 as Mahatma Gandhi speaks (far left). A circular version of the Tibetan flag is seen in front of them along with flags of other participating countries.

In addition to being carried by Tibet's army, the flag was displayed on public buildings of the Ganden Phodrang government. Historical footage shows the flag flying at the foot of the Potala Palace, the site of the Dalai Lama's government in Tibet.[7] The snow lion flag motif was also used on a flag seen by English diplomat, Sir Eric Teichman, flying above a Tibetan government building during the 1917-1918 hostilities between Sichuan and Tibet: “Over the Kalon Lama’s residence...floats the banner of Tibet, a yellow flag bearing a device like a lion in green, with a white snow mountain and a sun and moon in the corner."[8]

The 14th Dalai Lama with Tibet's flag in Zurich, Switzerland 10 April 2010

Outside of Tibet, the flag was featured in publications by foreign governments, reference books, academic journals, and in politically and culturally significant works up until 1959.[9] One of its first official international appearances was in a British Crown publication in 1923, "Drawing of The Flags of All Nations.[10]It was also included in the German Ministry of Defense's Naval Command, "Flaggenbuch," in 1926[11]and in the Italian Naval Ministry's "Raccolta delle Bandiere Fiamme e Insegne in uso presso le Diverse Nazioni" in 1934.[12]National Geographic Magazine featured the flag in their 1934 “Flags of the World” edition. The caption reads, "Tibet.- With its towering mountain of snow, before which stand two lions fighting for a flaming gem, the flag of Tibet is one of the most distinctive of the East."[13] Beginning in 1928, images of the flag were also widely published by companies in Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, and Oceania in national flag collections on various forms of trading cards.[14]

The flag's first appearance at an international gathering was in March-April 1947 at the Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi. The Indian Council of World Affairs, an Indian think-tank established in 1943, had invited Tibetan delegates to the conference which hosted Asian states and anti-colonial movements[15] The leaders of each of the thirty-two delegations sat on a dais behind a plate with the name and flag of their country.[16] American historian A. Tom Grunfeld asserts that the conference was not government-sponsored, and so Tibet's and the Tibetan flag's presence had "no diplomatic significance", adding that the flag was removed after representatives from the Republic of China protested to conference organizers who then issued a statement that Jawaharlal Nehru had invited the Tibetan delegates "in a personal capacity".[17][18] A Tibetan delegate who attended the conference claims that this did not occur and the only existing photos from the conference show the flag displayed along with other participating countries' flags.[19]

Tibetan flag in Tibet in the 1940s

After the People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet and the 17-Point Agreement was signed, the flag continued to be used in the 1950s under the although the flag's status was unclear. Many in the Communist Party of China felt that the usage of the flag indicated separatism, but the Tibetan local government at the time stressed that the flag was an army flag (the Tibetan army continued to exist parallel to People's Liberation Army infantries) and not a national flag. Phuntso Wangye claims that Mao Zedong discussed the flag in 1955 conversation with the 14th Dalai Lama. According to the story, Mao told the Dalai Lama that Zhang Jingwu, Zhang Guohua, and Fan Ming told him that Tibet had a "national flag". The Dalai Lama replied that Tibet had an army flag. Supposedly Mao replied that "you may keep your national flag". There is no official recognition of this conversation in Chinese documents however.[20]

Even while it was used by the army, few Tibetans in Tibet knew about the 'snow lion' flag, and so when they wanted to protest against the government, they would use a flag that imitated the flag of Chushi Gangdruk instead.[21]

Pro-independence symbol
Hsiao Bi-khim, a Democratic Progressive Party Taiwanese politician, wears the flag in a Free Tibet demonstration in 2008

After the 1959 Tibetan Rebellion, the 14th Dalai Lama left his position as governor of Tibet, denounced the 17-Point Agreement with the PRC, and established the exile Central Tibetan Administration in India. As part of his project to inculcate pan-Tibetan nationalism (of all Tibetan people and not just those in his previous domain of the Tibet Autonomous Region), he standardized and adopted symbols as nationalist symbols, such as the Lhasa dialect of Tibetan, a Tibetan national anthem, and the flag.[22] According to the Central Tibetan Administration website, the symbolism of the flag includes the mountain representing Tibet, the snow lions of "a unified spiritual and secular life", three-coloured jewel of the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.[23] The flag is popularly known as the Snow Lion Flag due to the presence of the two snow lions.[24] The flag was adopted as a symbol of the Tibetan independence movement, and has become known as the "Free Tibet flag".[25][26] Through the diaspora's and international protesters' use of the flag, it became known and used in protest by the Tibetan public.[22] The flag is banned in mainland China.[24][25]

Controversy
Tibetan flag on faces of Tibetan youth

Tibetan Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay was photographed with the flag of Tibet in Ladakh, India and the Communist Chinese government made a statement. "Chinese media is criticizing a reported move by the Tibetan government in exile to unfurl a flag representing its idea of 'Tibetan national flag' on the shores of Bangong Lake, known as Pangong Lake in India, in Ladakh." The Global Times of China is quoted that "New Delhi publicly promises not to allow any anti-China political activities by Tibetan exiles on Indian territory. But it has long used the Tibet question as a diplomatic card in dealing with Beijing,".[27]

See also

References
  1. Goldstein, Melvyn C. (2009). A History of Modern Tibet: The Calm Before the Storm: 1951-1955. 2. University of California Press. p. 203.
  2. Administration, Central Tibetan. "The Tibetan National Flag". Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  3. Dundul Namgyal Tsarong (10 October 2000). In the Service of His Country: The Biography Of Dasang Damdul Tsarong Commander General Of Tibet. Shambhala. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-55939-981-4.
  4. Sheel, R. N. Rahul. "The Institution of the Dalai Lama". The Tibet Journal, Vol. XIV No. 3. Autumn 1989, pp. 20.
  5. Tsarong, p. 51.
  6. Johnson, Sandy (1996). "Palace Intrigues". Written at New York. The Book of Tibetan elders : Life Stories and Wisdom from the Great Spiritual Masters of Tibet. New York, NY: Riverhead Books. p. 66. ISBN 9781573226073. OCLC 34191822. When I was fourteen, the Dalai Lama decided he wanted a Tibetan national flag made, and designed it himself. When a prototype was approved and the first flag commissioned, I was the one to execute the work.
  7. Cruickshank, Dan (Director) (November 15, 2006). The Lost World of Tibet (Motion picture). Tibet: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Cruickshank. Event occurs at 38:16.
  8. Teichman, Eric, Sir (1922). Travels of a consular officer in Eastern Tibet. London: Cambridge University Press. p. 116. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  9. Flag, Tibetan. "Tibetan Flag in Reference Books". Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  10. Admiralty, By Authority (1923). Drawings of the Flags of All Nations. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office. p. 66.
  11. Marineleitung, Germany (1926). Flaggenbuch. Berlin: Druck und Verlag der Reichsdruckerei.
  12. Direzione Generale Armi e Armamenti Navali, Ministero della marina (1934). Raccolta delle Bandiere Fiamme e Insegne in uso presso le Diverse Nazioni. Rome: Ministero della Marina. p. 82.
  13. Grosvenor, Gilbert; Showalter, William J. (September 1934). "Flags of the World". The National Geographic Magazine. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. LXVI – No. 3.
  14. Gulotta, Nick; Yangzom, Dicky. "Tibet on the Cards of History: Revisiting the Tibetan National Flag". Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  15. Claude Arpi, Tibet, le pays sacrifié, Bouquineo, 2011, p. 225: "À la fin de 1946, la rumeur circula à Lhassa qu’une délégation du gouvernement tibétain allait être invitée en Inde pour participer à une conférence panasiatique. Le représentant britannique à Lhassa, Hugh Richardson, transmit l’invitation officielle du Conseil indien pour les Affaires mondiales au gouvernement [tibétain]." (The British representative in Lhasa, Hugh Richardson, conveyed the Indian Council of World Affairs' official invitation to the [Tibetan] government).
  16. Arpi, Claude. "Fifty Years Ago: The Asian Relations Conference". Phayul. Phayul.com. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  17. Grunfeld, A. Tom (1996). The Making of Modern Tibet. p. 78.
  18. Garver, John W. (2001). Protracted Contest: Sino-Indian Rivalry in the Twentieth Century. University of Washington Press. p. 44.
  19. Sampho, Tenzin Thondup (1987). The Violent Waves of My Life (In Tibetan) metse balap trukpo. Dehradun: self-published..
  20. Melvyn C. Goldstein, Dawei Sherap, and William R. Siebenschuh, A Tibetan revolutionary : the political life and times of Bapa Phuntso Wangye, University of California Press, 2004, pp. 174-175, 194-195
  21. Goldstein, Melvyn C.; Jiao, Ben; Tanzen Lhundrup (2009). On the Cultural Revolution in Tibet: The Nyemo Incident of 1969. University of California Press. p. 209.
  22. French, Patrick (2009). Tibet, Tibet. Random House. pp. 24, 230.
  23. "Tibetan Flag | International Campaign for Tibet". The Internet Archive. The Symbolism of the Tibetan Flag. 2013-04-12. Archived from the original on 12 April 2013. ... the political administration of the Tibetan government and so forth. History attests to the fact that Tibet is one of the most ancient nations of the world. Therefore, in all the three regions of Tibet, irrespective of caste and creed, this national flag inherited from our ancestors is universally accepted as a common, peerless treasure and even today still continues to be highly respected and esteemed as in the past.CS1 maint: others (link)
  24. Lama Jabb (10 June 2015). Oral and Literary Continuities in Modern Tibetan Literature: The Inescapable Nation. Lexington Books. p. 35. ISBN 9781498503341. Employing symbols that reinforce Tibetan national identity, he begins by invoking the banned Tibetan national flag.
  25. BBC News: 'Free Tibet' flags made in China, 2008-04-28
  26. Nugent, Helen (2009-02-01). "Five pro-Tibet demonstrators arrested in clash outside Chinese embassy". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  27. Dasgupta, Saibal (10 July 2017). "Unfurling Of Tibetan Flag On The Shores Of Ladakh's Pangong Lake Riles Up Protests In China". India Times. India Times. Archived from the original on 25 November 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017. Chinese media is criticizing a reported move by the Tibetan government in exile to unfurl a flag representing its idea of "Tibetan national flag" on the shores of Bangong Lake, known as Pangong Lake in India, in Ladakh.
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