Yadong is not very far from Sikkim and is well known since it was the place through which the British colonial army had to pass while invading Tibet on two occasions.

Sikkim was occupied by the Great Britain early in the 19th century and became an Indian state in 1975.

Early in 1887, the British colonialists initiated the first invasion of Tibet on the excuse that the Tibetan government built a barbette to hinder trade. Tibetan soldiers and people strove to fight against the enemy and engaged in the Battle of Lungtushan from February 7th to 10th, but finally lost Lungtushan and Ngatang in succession. The British army marched on to the north and began to attack Nyianladona on June 12th. But they were encountered hard resistance from Tibetan soldiers and people and the battle continued into October. However, the Court of the Qing Dynasty deprived Wen Shu, who had helped the Tibetan army to fight against the enemy, of his position as High Commissioner, and ordered the other commissioner, Sheng Tai, to negotiate peace with the British army. This resulted in the loss of large tracts of Chinese territory.

Part of oil painting: Resisting British invaders in Gyangze.

NGABO

 In Yadong, I met once Bema Gyibo (which symbolizes the king of peony), aged 83, who is a Tibetan hero and once participated in the war against the British colonialists. He was in sound health and told us about the situation in the hard war against the British when the Tibetan army only had the most inferior weapons.

In July 1981, Jambian Gyaco and I went in the reverse direction along the route once used by the British army to invade Tibet, and found many relics of the war. Among them, Zongshan of Gyangze is the most integrated. We deliberately stayed for two days at Gyangze and visited Zongshan Castle in particular.

Zongshan was once the location of the government of Gyangze County and is a group of castles located on a solitary hill in the urban area. It is grand and splendid and it is easy to defend while being difficult to attack. Gyangze is well known as a Hero Town, because Tibetan soldiers and people once took part in a fierce battle to defend it.

In 1903, the British army used the delay of negotiations with the central government of Qing Dynasty as an excuse to initiate the second invasion of Tibet and its commander said “it is impossible to solve the problem without coming to Lhasa”. From December 12th, the British army began to march north. On March 21st 1904, the Tibetan army and people who had taken many opportunities of negotiations without any result initiated a large-scale battle against the enemy in the Qumeixiankuang area, which resulted in a bitter defeat. More than 1,400 Tibetan soldiers died or were injured. From April 11th, after the British army occupied Gyangze, Tibetan soldiers and people held their ground at Zongshan. They sometimes attacked the enemy and sometimes defended resolutely. This battle lasted for over 80 days and nights until July 6th, when Zongshan was finally occupied. In this period, they sufficiently showed their bravery, faithfulness and wisdom and once compelled the British army to ask for reinforcements from India. If the Tibetan powder store on mountain had not exploded by accident, this battle would have lasted longer. The battle resulted in the death of four heroes who jumped down the cliff facing Baiju Monastery. Their deed will even move the heart of the gods!

At that time, the British army had foot soldiers, cavalry, sappers, good logistics and even hospitals. They were equipped with various weapons such as cannon, mountain artillery, machinegun and over 2,700 rifles. Meanwhile, the Tibetan army was equipped with primitive weapons, such as broadsword, pike, crabstick, rolling log, stones and harquebus. People could not help recalling the great disparity in the battle strength between Yihetuan and the Eight-Nation Imperialist Allied Force years earlier.

One week after the occupation of Zongshan, the British army marched north and entered Lhasa on August 3rd. On September 6th, the British army compelled the Chinese side to accept the Lhasa Convention, although Qing High Commissioner You Tai rejected signing it under orders. On September 23rd, the British army returned to India.

Several men of letters who once worked in Tibet have dabbled in the historical documentation of this period. Early in the 1950s, Wei Ke collected many stories about the fighting against the British colonialists along the roads and composed and printed “Unyielding Tibetan People”. This book totals at 27 pages without any appendix.

In the mid-1950s, Liu Ke, a writer, created a film script “Gun Sound in 1904” which was published in “People’s Literature”, but it was a pity that he did not take any photos. Early in the 1960s, Gao Ping created the epic “Old Castle” totaling thousands of lines. The manuscript was regained after being lost in the “Cultural Revolution” and was eventually published. In the mid- 1980s, Jambian Gyaco, a Tibetan writer, published a full-length novel The 13th Dalai Lama that focused on the fight against the British in 1904, as well as a film Red River Valley on the same subject.

On the evening of December 16th 2003, I was standing on a sightseeing ship in Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong.

The seawater was dyed bright by lights of Hong Kong. It seems that the history still dips in the sea bottom. The British fleet once entered Hong Kong from here and, when Hong Kong returned to the motherland, the British colonialist organs also withdrew from here. I could not help recalling the British colonialist’s deeds in Tibet long ago. For several centuries, colonialists and imperialists expanded so much and caused so much bloodshed and tears in the history of bitterness of Chinese people.

We cannot forget the history forever if for no other reason than to ensure such things never happen again.