The Life and Times of George Tsarong of Tibet, 19201970: A Lord of the Traditio [Paperback]

Centuries have passed since the demise of many precapitalist agricultural states. Despite the British invasion of 1903 and the Chinese invasion in 1950, the Tibetan state continued to fully function until 1959. For this reason, this biography of George Tsarong not only provides new and in-depth perspectives on the life of an official of the Tibetan state, but it will also contribute to the comparative study of precapitalist states. This book weaves together history and biography to narrate the life of an aristocratic state official, his education and social life, his registration and entrance into a civil service career. It also describes the various personal and state political intrigues he was involved in and the many grand ceremonies that dominated the life of a state official. George Tsarongs story is also the story of the fall of this traditional state and the complex social and psychological aspects of occupation, resistance, and exile.Paljor Tsarong received his PhD in anthropology from the University of WisconsinMadison.

One of the glaring gaps in our understanding of traditional Tibet in the twentieth century is what life was like for the ruling elite, especially the lay, aristocratic elite who formed roughly half of the government bureaucracy. Paljor Tsarong has written a fascinating and important book that helps to redress that gap by writing about his father, the well-known English-speaking aristocratic official known widely as George Tsarong. Paljor Tsarong is one of the most knowledgeable scholars, Tibetan or Western, of the traditional Tibetan political system and in this book he not only presents an insiders view of the world of his fatherwho was one of the elite Tibetans most interested in creating a modernized Tibetbut also gives us an important exposition on the workings of the Tibetan government and about major events in modern history. Tibet was more than lamas, monks, monk-officials, and mass monasticism; there were also nationalistic al#7