A new exhibit shows what Tibet looked like in 1904. The photos are on display at a museum in Dharamsala, India.
Dr. Emma Martin, senior curator, lecturer of the University of Manchester And National Museums Liverpool, talked about the significance of the exhibit, “For the first time it brings these photographs into the Tibetan community. Many of the photographs have never been on display before. They have never been seen before, and I think what it does is to widen out the archives, the material that is available for Tibetans to use as they see fit to think about Tibetan history, particularly, Tibetan history in the early 20th century.”
The exhibit’s photos deal with an English mission to Tibet. The photos are already helping some Tibetans clarify history, particularly in relation to China.
Tashi Phungstok, director of the Tibet Museum, had a realization while observing the photographs, “Definitely, China has, since their occupation of Tibet in 1959, China is always claiming that Tibet is historically a part of China. But this event proves them wrong, because the Younghusband led a military expedition to Tibet in 1904 and he fought with the Tibetan army. And later Tibet and British-India signed a convention in Lhasa in 1904. And the representative of the Tibetan government was the main person who signed this convention.”
