© Columbia University Press
Tibetan Buddhists in the Making of Modern China
Paper, 352 pages, 12 photos
ISBN: 978-0-231-13447-7
$24.50
/ £14.50
May, 2005
Cloth, 352 pages, 12 photos
ISBN: 978-0-231-13446-0
$75.00
/ £44.00
"Tuttle's extensive original research lends itself to a lively and detailed account... Essential Reading." — Benjamin Bogin, BUDDHADHARMA
"This book offers a nuanced examination of a complicated relationship... Recommended." — Choice
"Tuttle approaches this complicated history with courage and clarity of perspective... Tuttle has done us a great service." — Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, American Historical Review
"Gray Tuttle's scholarship is of the first order, and he provides a model other historians of the region would do well to emulate." — Derek F. Maher, Journal of Chinese ReligionsEast Carolina University
"A welcome addition... [that] will serve as an important reference in the related fields for some time to come." — Hsiao-Ting Lin, China Information
"A scrupulous piece of historical scholarship... [that] should be compulsory reading for every journalist or academic working in this area." — Timothy Barrett, Asian Affairs
"An excellent piece of scholarship that definitely deserves reading by anyone interested in the history of either Tibet or China." — Andrew Fischer, Nations & Nationalism
"[A] stimulating and rich book... an important landmark in the field of both Tibetan and Chinese studies." — Margherita Zanasi, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
"As the vanguard of a coming wave of new research, Tuttle’s work raises the bar for a reinvigorated field of inquiry." — Charlene Makley, Journal of Asian History
"In Tibetan Buddhists in the Making of Modern China, Gray Tuttle sheds welcome light upon the relations among Chinese and Tibetan religious masters, seekers and warlords during the crucial period spanning the decline of the Manchu dynasty and the foundation of the People's Republic. The compelling history that Tuttle relates here, on the basis of extensive original research in Chinese and Tibetan sources, is of fundamental importance for the study of modern China and Tibet, and above all, for an understanding of the complex religious relationship that at once both unites and divides Tibetans and Chinese." — Matthew Kapstein, the University of Chicago Divinity School, author of Reason's Traces: Identity and Interpretation in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Thought
"The events of the past half century have led many to conclude that relations between Tibet and China have always been marked by mutual suspicion and acrimony. However, as Gray Tuttle documents in this impressive study, networks of close connection existed between the two nations as recently as the first decades of the 20th century, with Chinese monks studying in Tibetan monasteries and the Panchen Lama performing tantric rituals to protect China from Japanese invasion. If past is in fact prologue, there is much to be learned from a careful reading of the fascinating story that Gray Tuttle tells." — Donald S. Lopez, Carl W. Belser, University of Michigan, author of Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West
"In this learned and sympathetic work, Tuttle reveals a fundamentally important slice of history showing how Tibetan and Chinese Buddhists during the Republic built a relationship of mutual respect and interests between the two societies. Perhaps this vision can, once again, serve as the basis for a hopeful re-engagement." — Prasenjit Duara, University of Chicago, author of Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China
"This book makes a surprising claim: in 1900, Tibet, though part of the Qing empire, was as foreign to the Chinese as the most remote countries on earth. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Chinese policy-makers knew hardly anything about Tibet. Only a handful of books (but no dictionaries and no grammatical guides) written in Chinese existed. Drawing on both Chinese and Tibetan sources, this meticulously balanced account of who learned how much when, and from which Tibetans, makes for gripping reading, even for those knowledgeable about Tibet." — Valerie Hansen, Professor of History, Yale University and author of The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600