Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

ariel · 6th March 2016, 06:12 PM

I agree. Tibet was always "forbidden place" for the Westerners. For centuries, their only outside contacts were essentially with China and Mongolia. The Younghusband expedition opened a small crack into it, but Japanese occupation of China and following civil wars once again made Tibet a very unattractive place to venture in.
And, finally, Chinese occupation...

All in all, real Tibetan antiques and especially weapons are almost unobtainable.

BTW, Tibet had very aggressive military policies centuries ago, but the current Dalai Lama conducted a brilliant PR campaign to re-market Tibet for the Western consumption as a peaceful paradise.
Had it not been for LaRocca's book, most of us would have never known that there are such things as Tibetan weapons.

6th March 2016, 06:12 PM	#6
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	I agree. Tibet was always "forbidden place" for the Westerners. For centuries, their only outside contacts were essentially with China and Mongolia. The Younghusband expedition opened a small crack into it, but Japanese occupation of China and following civil wars once again made Tibet a very unattractive place to venture in. And, finally, Chinese occupation... All in all, real Tibetan antiques and especially weapons are almost unobtainable. BTW, Tibet had very aggressive military policies centuries ago, but the current Dalai Lama conducted a brilliant PR campaign to re-market Tibet for the Western consumption as a peaceful paradise. Had it not been for LaRocca's book, most of us would have never known that there are such things as Tibetan weapons.