Flag of Tibet

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The flag of Tibet, also known as the snow lion flag, was introduced by the 13th Dalai Lama using the design motif of Japanese military flags - a rising sun surrounded by sun-rays[1] - as the background.

Exactly when the flag was introduced is unknown.^{[citation needed]} It was used as the Tibetan army flag in Tibet at least until 1959. Later, it became a symbol of the Tibetan independence movement.

Contents 1 Tibetan Flag under China 2 Symbolism 3 See also 4 External links 5 Notes

[edit] Tibetan Flag under China

The flag continued to be used after the incorporation of Tibet into the People's Republic of China, although its status was unclear. Many in the Communist Party of China felt that the usage of the flag indicated separatism, but the Tibetan government at the time stressed that the flag was an army flag (the Tibetan army continued to exist parallel to People's Liberation Army infantries) and not a national flag. Phuntso Wangye claims that Mao Zedong in a 1955 conversation with the 14th Dalai Lama had approved of the usage of the flag as the Tibetan national flag, conditioned that it would be used together with the Chinese national flag. According to Wangye's account, the Dalai Lama had agreed to this. There is no official recognition of this in Chinese documents, though.^[1] After 1959, the usage of the flag was banned in the People's Republic of China.

It remains the emblem of the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan government-in-exile headquartered in Dharamsala, India. As a symbol of the Tibetan independence movement, it is banned in the People's Republic of China, including the Tibet Autonomous Region which corresponds to the former area of control of the Tibetan government at Lhasa, as well as other areas in greater Tibet.

Hong Kong has its own judiciary apart from the rest of the People's Republic of China. The government has regarded public display of the Tibetan flag a freedom of expression.^[2] Similarly, the flag of Tibet is allowed in Taiwan.

During the era between 9th and 18th century, Tibet did not have an official army. In late 18th century, after the Qing government defended Tibet from the Nepalese invasion, they created a twenty-nine points resolution called "Twenty-Nine Regulations for Better Government in Tibet".^[3] The fourth clause of this decree stated "The lack of official military in the region of Tibet has led to emergency drafts in time of crisis, which has proven to be harmful to the Tibetan people. (This reform package included the selection of top incarnations (hutuktus) like the Dalai and Panchen Lamas through a lottery conducted in a golden urn, the aim being to prevent the selection of incarnations being manipulated to fall in politically powerful lay families.) The emperor has approved for Tibet to form an official troop of three thousand men. One thousand each will be stationed in front and back Tibet, five hundred in Shigatse and five hundred in Dingri." These three thousand troops became what is commonly known as the Tibetan Infantry.

The Tibetan Army received training from the British and Japanese after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, when it then adopted an army flag.

According to the scholar Alexander Berzin,

Aoki Bunkyo, a Japanese Buddhist priest...also helped design the Tibetan National Flag by adding to traditional Tibetan symbols a rising sun surrounded by rays.[2] This motif comprised the Japanese cavalry and infantry flags of the day and later became the design for the Japanese Navy and Army Flag during World War II[3].

This tradition is continued down to present day, where the Tibetan government in exile still uses the "snow lion flag" as their official representation.

[edit] Symbolism

The official site of the government-in-exile of Tibet explains the significance of the flag as follows:

• In the centre stands a magnificent thickly snow clad mountain, which represents the great nation of Tibet, widely known as the Land Surrounded by Snow Mountains.
• Across the dark blue sky six red bands spread representing the original ancestors of the Tibetan people: the six tribes called Se, Mu, Dong, Tong, Dru and Ra which in turn gave the [twelve] descendants. The combination of six red bands (for the tribes) and six dark blue bands for the sky represents the incessant enactment of the virtuous deeds of protection of the spiritual teachings and secular life by the black and red guardian protector deities with which Tibet has had connection for a very long time.
• At the tip of the snow mountain, the sun with its rays brilliantly shining in all directions represents the equal enjoyment of freedom, spiritual and material happiness and prosperity by all beings in the land of Tibet.
• On the slopes of the mountain there proudly stand a pair of snow lions blazing with the manes of fearlessness, which represent the country's victorious accomplishment of a unified spiritual and secular life.
• The beautiful and radiant three coloured jewel held aloft represents the ever-present reverence respectfully held by the Tibetan people towards the Three Supreme Jewels (the Buddhist objects of refuge: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha).
• The two coloured swirling jewel held between the two lions represents the peoples' guarding and cherishing the self discipline of correct ethical behaviour, principally represented by the practices of the ten exalted virtues and the 16 humane modes of conduct. The swirling jewel coincidentally shares some appearance resemblance with the yin and yang symbol from Taoism.
• The surrounding border of yellow adorning the perimeter represents the spread and flourishing in all directions and times of the purified gold-like teachings of the Buddha.
• Furthermore, the side without a yellow border represents Tibet's openness to non-Buddhist thought.^[4]

[edit] See also

• Coat of arms of Tibet

[edit] External links

• Tibet flag page on Flags of the World

[edit] Notes

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