The definition of “Tibet”

What Tibetans and the Chinese government consider “Tibet” is very different.  The areas of historic Tibet that are outside the so-called “Tibetan Autonomous Region” are incorporated into the provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Gansu.  That is why some confused news reports right now are describing Tibetan protests far outside of “Tibet.”  They’re not outside of Tibet at all, just what the Chinese government considers Tibet!

The Chinese government itself recognizes those parts as being Tibetan “autonomous counties or prefectures.” So there is really no question even from Beijing that they are Tibetan.

In the early 20th century, Tibet and China were consistently fighting border wars. Sometimes Tibet would gain land, sometimes China would (for example, Tibetan and Chinese forces signed a border truce in 1932). But the people on the ground were Tibetan, and gave their loyalty to the Dalai Lama.

Then when China invaded Tibet in 1951 and set up the “Tibetan Autonomous Region” in 1965, it re-drew the borders of Tibet so that the MAJORITY of Tibetans now live outside of the “Tibetan Autonomous Region.”

Why is that? In the Xinjiang “Uyghur Autonomous Region,” almost all the Uygurs live there, rather than spread over many provinces. That is actually how China’s autonomy law is supposed to work: areas where “minority peoples” live in “compact inhabitancy” were supposed to get an “autonomous region” (autonomous in name only, of course).  But Tibet was different…

China was especially worried about Tibet breaking free, since in 1951 Tibet had a fully functioning government and army. Tibet is the only “part of China” that had a surrender treaty (the 17 Point Agreement), which shows how special was Tibet’s incorporation into China. So in order to forestall Tibet breaking free, Beijing broke Tibet apart into five parts. Tibetans consider this a tragedy.

The BBC takes a good look at the dispute:

Commentators usually consider “Tibet” to be the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) - which has Lhasa as its provincial capital.

The borders of the TAR, as defined by the Chinese government, are administrative boundaries and have no ethnic basis.

But currently about half of Tibetans are estimated to live outside the TAR - many of them in nearby Chinese provinces or surrounding countries like Nepal and India.

Tibet’s government-in-exile, based in northern India, has a very different concept of its homeland.

A term often used is Greater Tibet, which covers the TAR, the whole of Qinghai province, western parts of Sichuan, areas of Yunnan and a corner of Gansu. [...]

Dr Andrew Fischer from the London School of Economics explains that many Tibetans still feel that their homeland is much bigger than the TAR.

“From the Tibetan point of view, it is all an integrated region. It does not have a politically unified history, but definitely a socially integrated history.”

He says it is a mistake to regard the TAR as Tibet, and cites the Chinese government’s designation of 97.2% of the area of Qinghai province as Tibetan autonomous areas.