History of Tibet - Songtsen Gampo and Buddhism

In ancient times, the ancestors of the Tibetans lived along the both sides of the Yarlung Tsanpo River. The chieftain of the Yarlung tribe attacked and conquered several nearby tribes to become king in the 6th century. He established the Po dynasty and this king was known as Zanpu. In the early 7th century, his grandson (Songtsen Gampo, the 33rd king of Yarlong tribe) unified the whole of Tibet and then shifted the capital to Lhasa. Tibetan power spread so rapidly that it created a large and powerful empire. This is known to Chinese history as the Tupo kingdom.

It is traditionally considered that Bhrikuti, the Princess of Nepal, was his first wife and she played an important role in establishment of Buddhism in Tibet. To further strengthen his power, Songtsen Gampo married Princess Wencheng (the niece of emperor Taizong of Tang China) in 641. Together with her were not only the advanced technologies of medicine, agriculture and calendar development, but also Buddhist sutras, statues and the wish to promote Buddhism. From here, more and more people in Tibet converted to Buddhism and the indigenous religion of Bon which had dominated Tibet for one thousand years, began to decline. The contacts between central China and Tibet had a great influence on Tibetan society in the fields of economics, politics and culture.

In the 13th – 14th century, during the Yuan dynasty, the central government appointed a department to control and manage affairs in Tibet as well as brought Tibet under their direct management. A local government was set up by Ming dynasty and the Qin dynasty subsequently appointed a ministry in order to deal with affairs in Mongolia and Tibet. In 1653, the central government officially approved the title of Dalai Lama and the title of Panchen Lama in 1713. A resident minister in charge of the Tibetan affairs was also appointed in 1728, followed by the creation of the “Gexia” in 1751.

In 1934, a resident agency was set up by the Government of China in order to administer affairs in Tibet. In 1959, Tibet Autonomous Region was established.