Hostage of Beijing: The Abduction of the Panchen Lama - Hardcover

Van Grasdorff, Gilles

4.44

9 ratings by Goodreads

9781862045613: Hostage of Beijing: The Abduction of the Panchen Lama

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1862045615 ISBN 13: 9781862045613

Publisher: Element Books Ltd, 1999

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

In May 1995, six year old Gendun Chokyi Nyima was officially recognized by the present Dalai Lama as the eleventh incarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibet's second most important spiritual leader. A few days later, he and his family were removed from their village by the Chinese authorities, and disappeared from public view. Shortly after his kidnapping Beijing produced its own Panchen Lama, another boy from the same village. Both these children are effectively 'Hostages of Beijing'. According to Tibetan tradition, the Panchen Lama plays a key role in identifying the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama. Will Gendun Chokyi Nyima, the world's youngest political prisoner, be allowed to fulfill this pivotal role? Or, in a move calculated to give them control over the spiritual and temporal leadership of Tibet, will the Chinese use their puppet Panchen Lama to nominate the next Dalai Lama? Drawing on a deep understanding of Tibetan affairs and many years' contact with leaders in exile, Gilles van Grasdorff gives fresh and illuminating insights into the recent history of Tibet and its ambiguous relationship with China. In doing so, he helps us to understand why the stability of the region and the future of the Tibetan people in inextricably linked with the future of these two young boys.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Gilles van Grasdorff is a French journalist specializing in Tibetan affairs who has close links with the Tibetan communities in exile. He is the author of many books on Tibet, including 'Tibet: My Story', co-written with Jetsun Pema (sister of the Dalai Lama).

From Library Journal:

Since the 17th century, reincarnated Panchen Lamas have administered the famous Tashilhunpo monastery and shared with the Dalai Lamas the forefront of the dominant Dge-lugs-pa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. This translation of the previously published Panchen-Lama: Otage De Pekin (Paris: Ramsay, 1998) relates the Byzantine interrelationships among the Panchen Lamas, Dalai Lamas, Tibetan aristocracy, and various Chinese regimes beginning with the Ninth Panchen Lama in 1900 and ending with the alleged Chinese abduction of the Eleventh in 1995. Van Grasdorff's telling, intended to spur action against the Chinese, is marred by awkward presentation (perhaps owing to translation), quoted conversations from private meetings without citation to a source, and this reviewer's inability to establish the author's credentials. Not recommended.AJames R. Kuhlman, Univ. of North Carolina Lib., Asheville
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.