1942 Chinese Map with Tibet from US government

The following map of China was published in "Pocket Guide to China"



issued to all American troops that were to fight on the Pacific after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. It was published by the War and Navy Departments in Washington, D.C.
Please note that the booklet was published in 1942, long before the so-called "Chinese invasion of Tibet" in 1951 after the founding of the People's republic of China in 1949.


The line on the above image reads: "U. S. Government Printing Office: 1942 - O-494184."


Please look at the first map of China:


In this map, China and America were put in the same picture. The entire Tibetan region, which is the Southwest part of China, is included in China.


Now, let's look at the second map:


The map reads "China and the Pacific". Again, in this booklet which taught American troops what China looks like, Tibet is included as part of China.

In fact, one can easily pick any encyclopedia published in the United States before 1951, the year of alleged "Chinese invasion of Tibet", and search for China, and he would find out that Tibet was included as part of China.


For those who knew little about Tibet, here are some facts to remember:

• Tibet officially became part of China around 1288, the year when Chinese government set up the Ministry of Xuan Zheng ( 宣政院）to rule over Tibet and be in charge of the Buddhist issues in entire China, including Tibet.
• From then on, Tibet was under Chinese rule for three imperial dynasties, Yuan, Ming and Qing, and two republics, Republic of China and People's Republic of China.
  
• It was the Chinese Qing dynasty (1644-1912) which promoted Dalai Lama and Pancheng Lama to the status of de facto religious leaders of Tibet. After that, every Dalai Lama and Pancheng Lama had to be confirmed by the Chinese government to assume their official titles.
• The Chinese Qing government had the authority to abolish the title of Dalai Lama, and did this at least once in the 18th century, when the Dalai Lama was found to be raping several hundreds of Tibetan women.
  
• China also defended its Tibet from the invasion of Nepal in the 18th century. The great Chinese army led by general Fu Kangan (福康安) rescued the Dalai Lama and restored him back to Lasha after fighting the army from Nepal.
  
• The current 14th Dalai Lama was confirmed by the government of Republic of China. His crowning festival was presided over by the Chinese official Wu Zhongxin (吴忠信） of Republic of China in 1940.
  

To sum up, Tibet before 1951 was part of China. The Americans before 1951 also thought it was part of China. During the chaotic years after 1912, China was controlled by many war lords, each have effective control over a certain region. For instance, China's ShanXi province (山西省） was ruled by warlord Yan Xishan (阎锡山）， Guangxi province (广西省） was controlled by Li Zhongren (李宗仁）， and Tibet by the Dalai Lama. All these warlords, including the Dalai Lama, controlled a piece of Chinese land. But they were not ruling over a separate country.

Such a situation started to change since 1945. The victory of the allied forces of America, USSR, China and England tilted the balance between the warlords. During the ensuing civil war, one by one, the areas controlled by different warlords fell to either the Nationalist government led by Chiang Kai-shek (蒋中正） or the Communist government led by Mao Zedong (毛泽东). In 1949, Chiang was defeated, and took his remaining troops to China's Taiwan province (台湾省）. In 1951, the last warlord on mainland China, the current Dalia Lama, sent a telegram to the Beijing, admitting the leadership of the central government over Tibet, and swore to "protect the unification and sovereign of our motherland" ... "under the leadership of ... Central People's government." (in the original words of the current 14th Dalai Lama).