Event

The focus of the talk will be the 1950s/1980s PRC survey work that generated a figure of somewhere between 100,000-200,000 Chinese adherents to Tibetan Buddhism in the Qinghai-Gansu borderlands. While these populations claim that they converted to Tibetan Buddhism under the Tibetan imperial expansion under Tri Songdetsen (r. 755-797/804), historical records of Chinese parishioners of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries only date back to the Ming dynasty. Dr Tuttle will also discuss his research trip to this area in 2006. What is especially interesting about this population is that it was never accorded ethnic minority status (shaoshu minzu) despite the recognition of other similar minority groups recognized in their close vicinity ("Yellow" Yugur Tibetan Buddhists, pop. 14k; Mongol/Monguor converts to Islam: Bonans, pop, 17k, Dongxiang, pop. 621k; Salar Muslims, pop. 130k; Tu/Monguor 290k, and of course the local Hui Muslim population). The talk  will end with some discussion of the current Han Chinese interest in Tibetan Buddhism as manifested at major sites such as Larung Gar in Sichuan, and in much more modest form throughout Tibet, China, Taiwan. 

Gray Tuttle is Leila Hadley Luce Associate Professor of Modern Tibetan Studies at Columbia University. He received his Ph.D. in Inner Asian Studies at Harvard University and has a research focus on the history of twentieth century Sino-Tibetan relations and Tibetan’s relations with the China-based Manchu Qing Empire. The role of Tibetan Buddhism in these historical relations is central to all his research.

This event is sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies.