From: wing@pegasus.com (Wing Ng)
Subject: [FWD] Sikkim
Organization: The Ohio State University; Department of Phyiscs
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 09:09:38 GMT

Below is forward of a forward which appeared on China Net, having
to do with the generalized-Tibetan-speaking people in Sikkim
being oppressed by the country of India, which flagrantly
annnexed Sikkim in 1975.
 
I recall that event in 1975.  P.R. of China protested and made
noises, but did not do anything.
 
The article keeps mentioning "Sino-Tibetans", as if that is a
race that has something to do with Chinese.
 
Sino-Tibetan is only a linguistic concept, being a group of
related languages that include Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese, among
others.
 
Nevertheless, it made the succinct POINT that people do not seem
to notice the colonial oppression perpetrated on Tibetan people
by the country of India after its independence in 1947.
 
Stuff in [...] are my explanations or transliterations in Chinese.
 
---------------------------------------------------------------
 
>From CHINA-NT@uga.cc.uga.edu  Wed Sep 30 16:05:24 1992
Reply-To: "(Xiaowen Li)" <lix@CRSA.BU.EDU>
From: "(Xiaowen Li)" <lix@CRSA.BU.EDU>
Subject:      Forward for Mr. Anonymous, Old post about Sikkim -- No.1
 
This is a forwarding upon the request of Mr. Anonymous.
My standard disclaimer for forwarding applies.
==================================================
 
 
   Sino-Tibetan Trivia     Section V -- Part B
 
Have  you  ever wondered why the gents who are raving  about  the
supposed  disasters  befalling  Tibetan culture and  the  Tibetan
language in the T.A.R.  hate to touch exactly the same issues  in
         [Tibetan Autonomous Region]
the   traditional  Tibetan-speaking  areas  to  the  south,   the
southeast  and the southwest of the present Himalayan borders  of
China?
 
For example,  they will avoid telling you about Sikkim.  They are
deafeningly  silent  about the Sino-Tibetan  population  of  that
place.   Place?   Well,  I would have liked to call it a country,
except that it ain't no country no more.
 
Sikkim  was the old ZheMengXiong,  a part of Tibet during much of
                    [~{U\COP[~}]
the Qing dynasty.  It was populated by Tibetan-speaking folks who
were  followers of Red Hat Lamaism ever since the  16th  century.
Sonam  Gyatso's  close contacts with the Ming Court  and  Ngawang
Lobsang   Gyatso's   acceptance   of  Qing  titles   from   ShiZu
ZhangHuangDi  led  to the supremacy of  the  Yellow  Hats.   Many
measurYn  taken by the Qing Court made the Yellow Hats reasonably
happy and secure so there would be no more disgraceful  incidents
like  Ngawang  Lobsang Gyatso's death being kept secret from  the
rest of the Chinese Realm, and his reincarnation scandalously put
on hold, for as long as 15 years.
 
As  you  can  imagine,  the Yellow  Hats'  successes  in  winning
Imperial  favors  were often at the expense of the Red  Hats  and
Black  Hats.  Areas where Red Hats were concentrated thus  became
natural   targets  of  British  intrigues.    Thus  in  1816   CE
ZheMengXiong  became  the first piece of Chinese territory  under
direct Western assaults.   But it held true and refused to yield.
That  was some 24 years before Lin Wen2- Zhong1 Gong1  burnt  the
         [that's Lam Chuck-Chui ~{AVTrPl~}  the opium burner]
opium nYZ/v  from the Scottish peddlers,  leading to the  First
Opium War.  It was during the reign of Jia-Qing.
 
Two  Opium Wars later in 1889 CE (the 15th Year of Guang-Xu)  the
British tried again.   This time they were able to take advantage
of the "generous" nature of Thupten Gyatso,  the preincarnate  of
Tenzin Gyatso.   They grabbed ZheMengXiong in 1890 CE, four years
before the War of Jia-Wu.   The "generosity" of Thupten Gyatso in
giving  up  originally Sino-Tibetan-speaking areas did  not  stop
here. Future items included the notorious McMahon Line.  But that
would be another long story.
 
The British ran ZheMengXiong,  now going only by the name Sikkim,  
with  a puppet and had a couple of spies living near  him.   When  
sweet talks became a bit stale,  threats carried the day,  backed  
by the presence of British troops nearby.  Meanwhile thousands of  
people  who  did not speak a word of Tibetan were shipped in  and  
dumped on the place.  By the time the British left India in 1947,  
Sino-Tibetan  speakers  native to Sikkim were  in  the  minority.  
Tibetan  culture and the use of Sino-Tibetan languages were  both
already in sharp decline.
 
lix>>:
Another  part of Mr.  Anonymous' article.  My standard disclaimer
applies.  In  addition,  it took me sometime to realize  what  is
"Pi3Fu1Wu2Zui4  Huai2Bi4QiZui",  which is a quite old  saying.  I
[~{F%7rN^Wo#,;31ZFdWo~}]
haven't heard it for long times. It means: What is the crime of a
common folk?  His crime is that he has a jade in his pocket,  and
he  can't protect himself,  then he has to die.  Sorry sometime I
simply  can't help showing off I know something also:-)  Here  it
goes:
 
 
    Sino-Tibetan Trivia    Section V -- Part C
 
Worse,  Pi3Fu1Wu2Zui4 Huai2Bi4QiZui,  Sikkim, now supposedly free
of  the  greedy  British,  came under heavy Indian  pressures  to
become a "protectorate."  If you have some idea of the  potential
wealth of Sikkim,  which is 35% covered with forests and contains
large reserves of valuable minerals including copper,  lead, iron
ore,  and  zinc,  you will understand why Britain was so eager to
detach  it  from China and why India was equally  eager  to  keep
Britain's  stolen  goods.    At any rate,  the illegal  immigrant
population  of  Sikkim was growing rapidly.  If  Sikkim  did  not
accept  Indian protection,  there was always the threat of  riots
and  the  predictable Indian invasion that would follow.   So  in
1950 Sikkim's ruling family,  Tibetans all,  signed a treaty with  
India  and  became  the  protectorate  of  a  country  supposedly   
dedicated to anti- colonialism.
  
The CCP made perhaps its first major mistake in Tibet by  failing  
to openly challenge Indian domination of Sikkim.   While Tibetan- 
speakers  in  the T.A.R.  continued to climb,  the percentage  of  
Tibetans in Sikkim kept shrinking.   While Lamaist monks in Tibet  
got  richer  and  more  numerous  during  1951-1959,   with  many  
monasteries renovated and expanded,  including the Sera Monastery
which was badly damaged during the brief but bloody Tibetan Mini- 
Civil War instigated in 1947 by human rights advocates like  Hugh  
E. Richardson, Sikkim Lamaism continued its not-so- slow and sure
downfall.
  
Meanwhile,  despite  his  status of being the number one  Tibetan  
spokesperson  and  savior in the world and despite his  claim  to  
have been appointed by Mao to be vice president of the mysterious  
"steering" committee of the PRC, Tenzin Gyatso, also known as His  
Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV,  did and has done little to help the  
people of Sikkim,  either before or since his break with the  CCP  
in 1959.
 
The  net result has been disastrous for the Sino-Tibetan speakers   
in Sikkim.   Its ruler was both unable and unwilling to stand  up  
against  the  Indians.   Instead of escaping the fate of being  a
dumping ground for India's poor,  hungry,  and  thirsty,   Sikkim  
became  something of an international curiosity when its  Chogyal  
(ruler) married a New York socialite, who seems to have exhausted  
the  hapless  Tibetan  country's  cash reserves  before  a  well- 
publicized  divorce  finally  put an end to a  sorry  chapter  of  
Sikkim's miserable modern history.  
  
In  the mean time,  Sikkim continued with its assigned role of  a  
human  dumping  ground  for the benefit of the  Union  of  India.   
Lamaism/Buddhism  continued its irreversible decline.   More  and
more  monks left more and more run-down Red Hat  monasteries,  to
the apparent pleasure of almost everyone who is now shouting  for  
self-determination  in  Tibet  and angrily pointing a  finger  at  
alleged cultural oppression there.  
  
The  Indians quickened their pace of annexation.   In June  1974,  
there was a huge riot sponsored by non-Sino-Tibetans.   Non-Sino-
Tibetan  troops  moved in.   Now it's about time for  the  "self- 
determination" business. Events were happening with breath-taking
speed.   By August and September 1974, India had virtually gotten
rid  of the ruler,  while denying any territorial  ambitions  and
blaming  the  "troubles" on others.   It was all  over,  bar  the
shouting.   In  a  May 16 Notice (516 Tong1zhi :-)),  the  Indian
Government  announced to the world on 5/16/1975 that the  Tibetan
country Sikkim was no more.  It would be known thenceforth as the
22nd  state of the wonderful country whose name is the  Union  of
India.   In  1981,  the estimate was:   there were about  300,000
souls  in  Sikkim and only 25% of them were  Tibetan.   In  other  
words,  here's one true case of Tibetans reduced to a minority in  
their own country.   Did any of the cultural-heritage-protectors,  
from  Richardson  the  Scottish "historian" to  US  congressional  
grandstanders, say anything in protest?  Absolutely not.  Did the  
very source of much of compassion and generosity in Asia,  namely
His  Holiness himself,  do anything to help fellow  Sino-Tibetan-
speakers?   If you don't have the answer by now,  don't bother to  
read on.  
  
Of course,  it is quite true if you take the King's shilling  you  
have  to  do the King's bidding.   Small wonder His Holiness  has  
been effectively put under a gag order on this major  development  
concerning  his fellow Tibetan-speaking Lamaists,  their heritage  
and culture,  except, perhaps, an occasional, sheepish folly like
marking  a place named Sikkim on some of his maps without  daring  
to offer any elaboration.  
  
If  you understand the full implications of how  a  predominantly
Sino- Tibetan-speaking  country  with almost everybody a  Lamaist
could  be subverted culturally,  linguistically,  and  ethnically
until  it  became overwhelmingly  non-Buddhist  and  non-Tibetan- 
speaking with only the ruling family put on occasional display on  
the  shZ7^HH\XV6.$DKyNational Geographic,   you will  have  some  
inklings of what would happen if some famous Sino-Tibetan  leader  
and  his  Western  sponsors should  have  their  way.    A  Tibet  
detached  from China would very much likely meet the same fate as  
that once Sino-Tibetan state to the south of the  Himalayas.  For  
one thing,  Thupten Gyatso's "generosity" seems to have passed on
to his reincarnation.  All in the genes, you know.
  
Of   course  to  those  who  refuse  to  face  the  realities  of  
international geopolitics,  either historic or modern or  future,  
I'll  say  no  more.  I  can only let  them  keep  sucking  their  
moralistic pacifiers for self- consolation.  
  
Next  section  in  this series will deal with  the  extraordinary  
story   of Bhutan,  a country which saw through the raves'  games  
early on,  stood up with some success to Indian pressures and put  
Tibetan  traitors   and raves alike  in  their  places.   Further  
section  will discuss another Sino- Tibetan place called  Ladakh,  
which has had a fate not  entirely unlike Sikkim's.