Legitimating Authority In The Sino-Tibetan Borderlands

In the Sino-Tibetan borderlands, small kingdoms rubbed elbows with chiefdoms that remained independent of both central Tibet and imperial China for long periods. Both China and Tibet designed flexible and pragmatic policies in this frontier region, characterized by diverse forms of political formations and patterns of authority. The talks will explore the limits of Chinese and Tibetan power in this region, as well as varied attempts to establish and legitimize authority. 

Presentations:

Settling Kham: Colonization and the Legitimation of Authority in the Early Twentieth Century, by Scott Relyea

Debt and Imposed Sovereignty in 19th- and 20th-Century Tibet, by Stéphane Gros

Taxes and Temples: Village-level Authority on the Late Imperial Sino-Tibetan Borderlands, by Wesley Chaney

Moderator:
Tom Mullaney, Associate Professor of Chinese History, Stanford University