![[Kampba flag]](../images/x/xt_kham.gif)
image by Corentin Chamboredon, 23 March 2007
Last modified: 2015-08-13 by zoltán horváth
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image by Corentin Chamboredon, 23 March 2007
I found a black-and-white photograph of a group of Khampa (or Khamba) guerillas,
a band of Tibetans fighting the communist occupation forces in the eastern regions
of Tibet. In the background is a flag, partially obscured by the soldiers. I don't
know what exactly what it represents, but it looks like two crossed swords on
a light background, with a dark border, with five round symbols of some kind.
I'm not sure, but it looks as if at least one of the swords is surrounded by flame.
There is some Tibetan writing on the right side (I can't see the left).
Thomas Robinson, 10 August 1998
(Editorial Note: a photo of this flag is in Dragonflags, No. 2 [dfs] attributed to the book In exile from the Land of Snows, John F. Avedon, New York, 1984.
The history of the Khamba (not Khampa) struggle is very complex. Several feudal
principalities exist in the zone, and some of them probably have their own flag.
The principalities armies joined the Khamba revolt. The colour of the Khambas soldiers
is yellow.
Jaume Ollé, 11 August 1998
After the Chinese invasion of 1950, two resistance movements rose: the Chushi
Gangdruk (four rivers, six ranges, the traditional name of Kham) and the Tensung
Danglang Maggar (Volunteer Freedom Fighters for Tibet). The first one was a group
of Khampa, the people who live between Tibet and China. Before 1950, there were
still several kingdoms which turned Tibet against China in order to remain "independent".
Those kingdoms decided that Chinese were too dangerous for them and that they
must fight the Chinese.
They finally joined the Tibetan resistance essentially made up of the Tibetan
army and led by Andrug Gompo Tashi. They harassed Chinese troops from the kingdom
of Mustang, Nepal, with the help of the CIA until 1974 when China forced Nepal
to expel them. The CIA stopped help to them because the Sino-US relations improved.
Their flag was yellow with two crossed blue swords, one of them being in fire.
I saw another version in a book with 4 animals on the corners and two letters
on both sides of the swords. I don't know what it is.
Corentin Chamboredon, 17 May 2005
Last year I had found a good picture of the Tibetan resistance flag, which
show two blue crossed swords on a yellow field, but I had once seen another version
of it with animals in the corners. And today, I found it! This a photograph showing
Tibetan resisters during the 50's. The flag they display is still yellow with
two swords, one of them being in fire. The animals are: on the upper fly, perhaps
a tiger (or a mythical animal that I don't know) and the famous snow lion on the
upper hoist. A dragon with clouds in the lower fly and a garuda in the lower hoist.
The hoist is on right and there is a khatag on it. The original page is at:
http://www.chushigangdrug.ch/geschichte/geschichte_formation.php
Corentin Chamboredon, 26 June 2005
I found new information
in Buddha's Warriors: The Story of the CIA-Backed
Tibetan Freedom Fighters, the Chinese Communist
Invasion, and the Ultimate Fall of Tibet by Mikel
Dunham.
Chapter VI explains that in 1957 the founder of the
group, Gompo Tashi Andrugtsang (a rich khampa trader),
had called several leaders of the Tibetan resistance
together in his home. After having chosen their name,
the participants created a new flag. "On a yellow
field, two drawn and crossed swords, one of them
burning."
The yellow field is the color of their religion,
Buddhism, and represent their will to protect it from
the Chinese. The burning sword is Manjushri's weapon
(he is the bodhisattva of Wisdom), who destroy the
roots of ignorance. Ignorance is seen as the origin of
communism. The drawn sword shows the bravery of
Khampas warriors and their hereditary legacy: it is
the only weapon they can make by themselves.
Corentin Chamboredon, 23 March 2007
![[Bathang flag]](../images/x/xt_cglth.gif)
image by Corentin Chamboredon, 24 March 2014
This second flag appears in Dunham's book Buddha's Warriors: The Story of the CIA-Backed Tibetan Freedom Fighters, the Chinese Communist Invasion, and the Ultimate Fall of Tibet (in black and white) and in Dalai Lama, My Son: A Mother's Story by Diki Tsering (in color). It is the same flag with red Tibetan script on it, and four mythical animals on the corners (a tiger, a snow lion, a garuda and a dragon). Dunham describes it as the regimental flag of Bathang, but a Tibetan-speaker translated the text for me. The text is Jha (on the left) and Lithang (right). It might rather be the Lithang regiment. Jha is the Tibetan name of the crane. These words could refer to a famous old poem written by the VIth Dalai lama, who could refer to the place of his future incarnation (Lithang) when he was taken away to China by Mongol soldiers.
White crane!
Lend me your wings
I will not fly far
From Lithang, I shall return
Corentin Chamboredon, 23 March 2007
![[Chushi Gangdruk flag]](../images/x/xt_cg2.gif)
image by Corentin Chamboredon, 24 March 2014
I found a small color photograph of a flag of the Chushi Gangdrug, the
Tibetan Resistance. According to its desciption, this is the flag
mentioned by Thomas Robinson in 1998. It is quite similar to the main flag : a
yellow field, two crossed blue swords, one in flame, and there is the same text
as shown on the Bathang flag. There is a red border which
runs on the four sides, unlike the Tibetan "national" flag (whose yellow border
doesn't run on the fly side). There are five white circles in the middle of the
top border. I have no more details about this flag, and the contact form of the
website doesn't seem to work.
Sources : http://glimpses-of-tibet.ch/images/Resistance_sm.jpg
and http://glimpses-of-tibet.ch/chin_administr_.htm
Corentin Chamboredon, 10 August 2010
I believe the correct spelling is Chushi Gangdruk, as mentioned on their
official website:
http://www.chushigangdruk.org/
Also, Chushi Gangdruk is Tibetan a phrase meaning "land of four rivers and six
ranges". Chushi Gangdruk was an organization of Tibetan guerrilla fighters who
attempted to overthrow the rule of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Tibet
that began with the People's Liberation Army invasion of Tibet (1950-1951).
Chushi Gangdruk now supports survivors of the Chushi Gangdruk resistance,
currently living in India. The formation of the Chushi Gangdruk Defend Tibet
Volunteer Force was announced on June 16, 1958. "Chushi Gangdruk" is a Tibetan
phrase meaning "land of four rivers and six ranges," and refers to Kham. The
group included Tibetans from the Kham and Amdo regions of eastern Tibet, and its
main objective was to drive PRC occupational forces out of Tibet. While central
and western Tibet were bound by a 17-point agreement with the People's Republic
of China, the PRC initiated land reform in eastern Tibet (including Kham and
Amdo) and engaged in harsh reprisals against the Tibetan land-owners there.
Under the direction of General Andruk Gonpo Tashi, Chushi Gangdruk included 37
allied forces and 18 military commanders. They drafted a 27-point military law
governing the conduct of the volunteers. Their headquarters were located at
Tsona, then later moved to Lhagyari.
Initially militia members purchased their own weapons, mainly World War II-era
British .303 in, German 7.92 mm, and Russian 7.62 mm caliber rifles. Chushi
Gangdruk contacted the US government for support. However, the State Department
required an official request from the Tibetan government in Lhasa, which was not
forthcoming. State Department requests were made and ignored in both 1957 and
1958.
Eventually, the US Central Intelligence Agency provided the group with material
assistance and aid, including arms and ammunition, as well as training to
members of Chushi Gangdruk and other Tibetan guerrilla groups at Camp Hale.
Chushi Gangdruk also received aid from the government of the Republic of China
in Taiwan, led by Chiang Kai-shek.
From 1960, Chushi Gangdruk conducted its guerrilla operations from the northern
Nepalese region of Mustang. In 1974, guerrilla operations ceased after the CIA,
given the realignment of Sino-American relations initiated by President Richard
Nixon, terminated its program of assistance to the Tibetan resistance movement
and the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the previously ruling Gelugpa, taped
a message telling the Tibetans to lay down their weapons and surrender
peacefully.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chushi_Gangdruk
Some other flags are seen here:
http://www.chushigangdruk.org/gallery/photo05.html
http://www.chushigangdruk.org/gallery/photo11.html
http://www.chushigangdruk.org/gallery/photo10.htm
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30167500&op=1&o=global&view=global&subj=19708497479&id=1148475164
(b/w photo)
http://www.chushigangdrug.ch/geschichte/images/formation_2.jpg (color
photo of the previous image)
http://www.chushigangdruk.ca/photos/march_10.html
The coat of arms of the Chushi Gangdruk is seen here:
http://www.chushigangdruk.ca/images/logo.JPG
For additional information please refer to:
http://www.chushigangdruk.org/history/index.html
Esteban Rivera, 10 August 2010
In fact, when dealing with Tibetan words, one learns quickly that spelling is
very relative. The pronunciation of a letter can vary according to the tone (if
the dialect has tones...) or the position in the word. In this case, the final K
may be in fact pronounced as a very light G. See the following links for more
details (and/or headaches...). But that's quibbling.
http://www.thlib.org/reference/transliteration/#essay=/thl/phonetics/all/
http://www.thlib.org/reference/transliteration/#essay=/thl/ewts/all/
Corentin Chamboredon, 10 August 2010
The roundish objects that form the handles of the sword are dorjes. The dorje
is a thunderbolt weapon, a spiritual weapon important in Buddhist iconography,
and especially so in the Vajrayana school followed in Tibet. Here is a link to
the very informative Wikipedia
article, which uses the Sanskrit term vajra for this weapon. As noted there,
it appears in the arms of Bhutan.
David Phillips, 19 January 2014
I didn't mention the dorjes on the handle, because I wasn't really sure if
the swords actually had them. The photos I saw were not clear enough. Those
crossed swords are a religious symbol and I found a depiction of it in a book,
which I used to make the gif, but did they really appear on the Tibetan
resistance flag ? I can't be sure.
Corentin Chamboredon, 25 January 2014
![[Chushi Gangdruk flag]](../images/x/xt_cg3.gif)
image by Corentin Chamboredon, 24 March 2014
I found another flag of the Tibetan resistance on
Michael Dunham's website.
The flag is a mix of the different flags shown above. It uses the same layout as
the main flag : a yellow field with two blue crossed swords (one surrounded by
flames), except that the burning sword is directed toward the fly. There are
four animals in the corners : what I think to be a garuda in the upper left, a
dragon in the upper right, a tiger in the lower right and probably a snow lion
in the lower left. Between the dragon and the tiger, there is a symbol. I think
this is the kalachakra symbol. The flag has a red border except on the fly side,
so maybe the flag wasn't fully displayed, but if that was the case I think the
animals would be partially hidden. Above the swords, there is a red "Ka" letter
(ཀ).
You can see some of these flag in a
video where Michael
Dunham also speaks.
In Carole McGranahan's book, Arrested histories: Tibet, the CIA and Memories of
a forgotten war (2010, Duke University Press) we can read :
"there were thirty-seven organized units of varying size, grouped by pha yul (Lithang,
Derge, Nyarong, and so on) names corresponding to the letters of the Tibetan
alphabet - for example, "ka", "kha", "ga", "nga"." The pha yül (Tibetan for
country / homeland) units grouped people who came from the same places.
Corentin Chamboredon, 13 March 2014
![[Tibetan resistance veterans associations]](../images/x/xt_cg4.gif)
image by Corentin Chamboredon, 27 March 2014
The veterans associations also use a slightly different flag. It is orange with
a decorated scroll beneath the swords, which contains the words "Dokham Chushi
Gangdruk" in Tibetan script (མདོ་ཁམས་ཆུ་བཞི་སྒང་དྲུག་). Dokham is an older word for
the whole Eastern Tibet area.
Sources :
http://belgium4tibet.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/wanneer-de-dalai-lama-opriep-de-wapens-neer-te-leggen-betekende-dat-het-einde-van-de-guerillastrijd/
http://belgium4tibet.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/dsc_0033.jpg
http://www.chushigangdruk.org/gallery/conferencealbum/photoindex01.html
http://www.chushigangdruk.ca/apps/photos/
Corentin Chamboredon, 13 March 2014
The swords are black and their hilts have the same color as the field.
Corentin Chamboredon, 27 March 2014
A final word about the different names one can encounter when reading about the
Tibetan resistance.
- The Chushi Gangdruk, as I have already explained in previous contributions,
arose in 1956 in Eastern Tibet, an area which had experienced communist reforms
before they reached central Tibet. The first resistants were mainly traders.
This organisation couldn't maintain its position in its homeland because of the
increase of Chinese military and heavy losses. Lots of its fighters retreated to
Lhasa. It formally ceased its operations in 1959.
- The Mimang Tsongdu (People's Assembly) was an organization made up of
non-elite Lhasa inhabitants who protested against the Chinese forces and their
occupation in 1952. The Tibetan government had to disband it this same year in
order to avoid a severe Chinese repression.
- The Tensung Danglang Magar (Volunteer Freedom Fighters for Tibet / Voluntary
Force for the Defence of Dharma) included parts of the two previous
organizations. This organization continued to fight against the Chinese after
1959 and until 1974 with help from the CIA, even if the name Chushi Gangdruk
was, and is still, better known.
Corentin Chamboredon, 13 March 2014
