Early Tibetan History and Culture

Author: Gler
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-05-01
Features: From 1983 to 1986, I pursued my Ph.D. in anthropology at the Department of Anthropology, Sun Yat-sen University, under the personal guidance of the renowned Chinese anthropologist and archaeologist Professor Liang Zhao-tao. There, I received comprehensive training in archaeology, ethnology, linguistics, historical literature, physical anthropology, and the theories and methods of cultural anthropology. Based on this foundation, I completed my doctoral dissertation titled On the Origin, Formation, and Relationship of Tibetan Culture with Surrounding Ethnic Groups, which was published by the Sun Yat-sen University Press in 1989. At that time, Tibetan studies in China were gradually recovering, so although the book was published with only 800 copies, it gained widespread circulation in society. Some of its basic viewpoints, data, and annotations were frequently cited and even plagiarized by many people. As a result, many classmates and colleagues suggested that I revise and republish it. Since transferring to the China Tibetan Studies Center, I have been burdened with both administrative and research responsibilities and have never had the time to reread and revise the book. It wasn’t until 2000 that I made up my mind to carefully review and revise it word by word, supplemented by some new content. Today, while reading the manuscript under the blue sky and white clouds in the holy city of Lhasa, I once again recalled my supervisor Professor Liang Zhao-tao’s evaluation of me and my doctoral dissertation. I reproduce it here as a way to express my longing and remembrance for him:
Comrade Gler is a graduate student in cultural anthropology who was trained in China to pursue a Ph.D., and he is also the first Tibetan doctoral student in the New China. His doctoral dissertation titled On the Origin, Formation, and Relationship of Tibetan Culture with Surrounding Ethnic Groups was approved by the Department of Anthropology at Sun Yat-sen University on July 4, 1986, after his defense. In 1983, Comrade Gler was recommended by Professor Yang Jian and others from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to pursue a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology at the Department of Anthropology, Sun Yat-sen University. I was his supervisor. Over the three years of his enrollment, he underwent comprehensive training in anthropology, with courses including archaeology, ethnology, linguistics, historical literature, physical anthropology, and the theories and methods of cultural anthropology. Due to his diligent learning and strong spirit of perseverance, he achieved excellent results in all subjects and published a series of course papers with independent insights. Building on this foundation, he adhered to the fieldwork methods required of anthropologists, combining theory with practice. Under the favorable conditions of being "familiar with people, places, language, and the situation," he conducted a comprehensive academic investigation in the northwestern Sichuan Tibetan, Qiang, Yi, and other ethnic areas for a year, collecting a large amount of firsthand materials and accomplishing work that was difficult for predecessors to achieve. Thanks to his proficiency in both Tibetan and Chinese languages and scripts, as well as his solid background in Chinese historical studies, he achieved outstanding results in collecting and utilizing various materials. From this dissertation, we can see that Comrade Gler has a solid theoretical foundation in anthropology and a comprehensive knowledge of cultural anthropology. In particular, he not only deeply grasps the regional structure and multiple developmental principles of ancient ethnic cultures in China but also provides a specific and in-depth theoretical elaboration in cultural anthropology. Guided by dialectical materialism and historical materialism, he strives to apply anthropological theories and the comprehensive research methods of ethnological archaeology to systematically argue the origin, formation, and development of the Tibetan people, as well as their historical and cultural relationships with ethnic groups both within and outside China. The dissertation contains many original insights and is the only anthropological work based on the culture of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.
As Comrade Gler’s supervisor, I have read this dissertation repeatedly, and what impresses me most is that the author, with deep national sentiments and patriotic ideals, uses ample scientific evidence to refute the academic errors and political fallacies of some foreign scholars regarding the "Tibetan foreign origin theory." He demonstrates that the Tibetan people, with a long history and splendid culture, have been an integral part of the Chinese nation since ancient times. At the same time, he explains from a macro perspective the close relationship between the formation of the Tibetan people and the formation of the Chinese nation, as well as the formation of their strong sense of national cohesion. This undoubtedly holds significant practical meaning for today’s national unity and unity of the country. A young scholar from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, using the written materials of several ethnic groups and applying the theories and methods of multiple disciplines, comprehensively explores the origins of his own ethnic group and argues the historical and cultural relationships of ancient ethnic groups over a thousand years ago. Such a work, despite some shortcomings, is truly rare and valuable.