Made in the 1940s, this portrait of Tibet the “land of isolation” begins with images of the Himalayas, with the “deepest valleys still 11,000 feet above the sea”. At 1:10, yaks are seen being used as transport animals, and at 1:36 a small village is seen. The narrator notes that the country has a population at this time of 3 million (today’s population is roughly double this figure). At 1:55, a Buddhist shrine is seen, and at 2:11 a traditional house. At 2:25, a yak is milked. At 2:40, yak dung is used to plaster a house. At 3:00, a yak skin sack is used to make yak butter. Butter tea is made at 3:55 in a churn. At 4:20, a woman is seen weaving cloth and taking care of the household. At 4:40, traditional Tibetan dress is seen, including earrings and a necklace. At 5:00, a man sticks out his tongue and shows his hands are empty of weapons, a traditional greeting. At 5:28 some of the challenges in transportation are described in a country without many roads. Horses are seen, and at 5:53 small boats and at 6:00, a long rope across a bridge used to ford a river. At 7:18, a monastery is shown and the role of the Dalai Lama is described. 1/3rd of the nation serve as priests.
The historical era of Tibet from 1912 to 1951 followed the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1912, and lasted until the incorporation of Tibet by the People’s Republic of China. The Tibetan Ganden Phodrang regime was Protectorate of the Qing until 1912, when the Provisional Government of the Republic of China replaced the Qing dynasty as the government of China, and signed a treaty with the Qing government inheriting all territories of the previous dynasty into the new republic, giving Tibet the status of a “Protectorate with high levels of autonomy as it was Protectorate under the dynasty. At the same time, Tibet was also a British Protectorate.However, at the same time, several Tibetan representatives signed a treaty between Tibet and Mongolia proclaiming mutual recognition and their independence from China, although the Government of the Republic of China did not recognize its legitimacy. With the high levels of autonomy and the “proclaiming of independence” by several Tibetan representatives, this period of Tibet is often described as “de facto independent”, especially by some Tibetan independence supporters, although most countries of the world, as well as the United Nations, recognized Tibet as a part of the Republic of China.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
