Building Nationalism in Inner Asia: The Empowerment of the Tibetan Revolution in the early 20th century – NATINASIA

The approach is guided by the will to carry out analyses at several levels (historical, anthropological, and philological), to shift perspectives (by Tibetan provinces: Central Tibet, Kham, Amdo) and Inner Asian geographical areas (mainly Mongolia, Manchuria/China, and Buryatia) and to combine different scales (Tibetan actors’ and travelers’ testimonies, observations by diplomats and archival documents), in order to reveal links between the Tibetan context and the situation in Inner Asia from 1901 to 1918. Fieldwork and data collection lie at the core of the current project and is essential for its completion and success. Each participant will fully contribute to this crucial task by working on travel accounts and archival material according to the relevant methods used in the fields of history and anthropology.project intends to base its research on the accounts (travel diaries, war stories, notes) and archival documents related to the context of the 1911 Chinese Revolution in Tibet.

The documentation, some already collected by participants and in several languages (European, Chinese, Japanese, Manchu, Mongolian, Russian and Tibetan), will bring together the project’s scientific partners as well as their highly professional skill on the history of Tibet, China and Inner Asian countries (EFEO) as well as on digital humanities (IAO). The EFEO team will work towards answering two main research questions: Was Tibet at the core of the building of nationalisms in Inner Asia? Did the actualization of the 1911 Chinese Revolution in Tibet prove to be the specific dynamics at the origin of the transfers of political ideas within Tibet and Inner Asia? Technically, the EFEO team members will supplement a database that contextualizes sources (authors, date, publication) and will compile the plurilingual vocabulary related to the transfer of political ideas, toponyms, actors as well as Tibetan contacts with the partner team (IAO).

Following a monthly online seminar and four study days, it is possible to identify several results:

- the travel diaries and personal accounts, as the main sources for the project, provide an observational dimension that is much more than participatory. The travellers described the situations they encountered, which gave them a better understanding of the forces at work and Tibetan culture, but very little about the personal exchanges and conversations they might have had with Tibetans or Mongolians, which could have contributed to a better understanding of the circulation of ideas. The lack of a command of the language was certainly a handicap for these travellers. However, this weakness in these sources is strongly counterbalanced by the reports of diplomats and missionaries, which provide extremely precise information about the situations they encountered and the conversations they were able to have with local officials, both Chinese and Tibetan. In this way, the forces involved, in this case the British and Russians, but also the French, were extremely well informed. These sources are also supplemented by reports from officials, travellers, explorers and the curious who sought to meet the 13th Dalai Lama during his exiles (in Mongolia, China and Amdo from 1904 to early 1910 and in India from 1910 to early 1913). Thus, information from meetings between the highest Tibetan authorities and travellers or visitors that I had not thought of when drawing up the project is proving extremely useful in understanding the origins of the 13th Dalai Lama's desire for independence, as well as his understanding and formulation of the very idea of independence.In the same way, the 13th Dalai Lama's observations during his travels helped him to draw up his plan for the modernisation of Tibet from 1913 onwards.A first book entitled "Emerging Consciousness of State-building Needs in Inner Asia in the early 20th c." is currently being written on this subject.

A second volume entitled "Himalayan and Inner Asian Geopolitical Discourses after the Xinhai Revolution", to be published in the journal Inner Asia, is also in preparation.It proposes to answer the following questions:How did the Chinese revolution of 1911 change the geopolitical order in Central Asia and how did it lead to the definition of new territorial boundaries?

The final conference, which will be organised in December 2025, will continue the reflection as defined in the proposal submitted to the ANR. Its theme has already been discussed collectively and invitations extended to Tibetan, Mongolian and Buryat researchers that we have selected collectively. Its title is 'Imagining the State: International Law and Political Concepts in Tibet and Mongolia in the Early Twentieth Century', and the call for papers is as follows: The interaction between international law and the transition from the Qing Empire to the Republic of China has received considerable attention. However, the declarations of independence of Outer Mongolia and Tibet are less widely acknowledged. The dominant academic discourse, largely influenced by Chinese perspectives, often portrays these movements as secessionist in nature, the product of instigation from outside, in this case from the British and Russians. This conference aims to change the angle of analysis in order to recognise and explore more closely the action of the Mongolian and Tibetan peoples in shaping their own destiny during the first decades of the twentieth century.

The understanding of this key period for Tibet and its nationalist awakening by Tibetans in exile from the 1960s onwards is also at the core of our discussions, and we analyse how Tibetans in exile tried to convey to foreigners the vision of an independent Tibet from 1960s through their literature.

The objective of the project is to analyse the context of the Chinese Revolution of 1911 in Tibet (Central Tibetan, Kham and Amdo) through “crossed glances”. This period of Sino-Tibetan relations is particularly important because it determines the end of the privileged relationship that linked the hierarchs of Tibet to the emperors of China, generally described as “spiritual master to lay protector” (chöyön). The research carried out within the framework of this project will cover the period from 1901, marked by a Russian-Tibetan rapprochement, to 1918, when the last Manchu and Chinese civil servants and soldiers left Tibet. The studies will be based on documents and archives, but also on published accounts, reports and notebooks left by Tibetan and foreign travelers, clerics, diplomats, military officers and civil servants. Our intention is to confront the official point of view with the standpoint of the actors and witnesses of the revolution while taking into consideration the influence played by the circulation of these writings. The aim will be not only to retrace the premises, the course and the consequences of the Chinese Revolution of 1911 in Tibet, but also to identify how Tibet, by breaking off its relations with China, could have been a vector of political change in Inner Asia. The approach envisaged will be guided by the will to carry out analyses at several levels (historical, anthropological, political and philology), to shift perspectives (by Tibetan and Inner Asia geographical areas) and to combine different scales (testimonies of Tibetan actors and travelers, observations by diplomats and archival documents), in order to reveal links between the Tibetan context and the situation in Inner Asia in general, through a comparative approach, at a time when the Manchu empire (1644-1912) was breaking up and the rise of nationalism was being confirmed.