Kritik am Buch „The Shadow Of The Dalai Lama ... - Neues von Shi De

eciprocated with counter-presents, the Tibetans saw the relationship as one between equal partners.
The Chinese countered with the establishment of a kind of Chinese governorship in Tibet under two
officials known as Ambane. Form a Chinese point of view they represented the worldly administration
of the country. So that they could be played off against one another and avoid corruption, the Ambane
were always dispatched to Tibet in pairs.
The Chinese also tried to gain influence over the Lamaist politics of incarnation. Among the Tibetan
and Mongolian aristocracy it was increasingly the case that children from their own ranks were
recognized as high incarnations. The intention behind this was to make important clerical posts de
facto hereditary for the Tibetan noble clans. In order to hamper such familial expansions of power, the
Chinese Emperor imposed an oracular procedure. In the case of the Dalai Lama three boys were to
always be sought as potential successors and then the final decision would be made under Chinese
supervision by the drawing of lots. The names and birth dates of the children were to be written on
slips of paper, wrapped in dough and laid in a golden urn which the Emperor Kien Lung himself
donated and had sent to Lhasa in 1793.
Mao Zedong: The Red Sun
But did the power play between the two countries over the world throne end with the establishment of
Chinese Communism in Tibet? Is the Tibetan-Chinese conflict of the last 50 years solely a
confrontation between spiritualism and materialism, or were there “forces and powers” at work
behind Chinese politics which wanted to establish Beijing as the center of the world at Lhasa’
expense? “Questions of legitimation have plagued all Chinese dynasties”, writes the Tibetologist
Elliot Sperling with regard to current Chinese territorial claims over Tibet, „Questions of legitimation
have plagued all Chinese dynasties”, writes the Tibetologist Elliot Sperling with regard to current
Chinese territorial claims over Tibet, „Traditionally such questions revolved around the basic issue of
whether a given dynasty or ruler possessed 'The Mandate of Heaven’. Among the signs that
accompanied possession of The Mandate was the ability to unify the country and overcome all rival
claimants for the territory and the throne of China. It would be a mistake not to view the present
regime within this tradition” (Tibetan Review, August 1983, p. 18). But to put Sperling’s interesting
thesis to the test, we need to first of all consider a man who shaped the politics of the Communist
Party of China like no other and was worshipped by his followers like a god: Mao Zedong.
According to Tibetan reports, the occupation of Tibet by the Chinese was presaged from the
beginning of the fifties by numerous “supernatural” signs: whilst meditating in the Ganden monastery
the Fourteenth Dalai Lama saw the statue of the terror deity Yamantaka move its head and look to the
east with a fierce expression. Various natural disasters, including a powerful earthquake and droughts
befell the land. Humans and animals gave birth to monsters. A comet appeared in the skies. Stones
became loose in various temples and fell to the ground. On September 9, 1951 the Chinese People’s
Liberation Army marched into Lhasa.