Mirror of News

Mirror of News

Type	Monthly newspaper
Owner(s)	Gergan Dorje Tharchin
Founded	1925;99 years ago (1925)
Political alignment	Anti-communist
Headquarters	Kalimpong, India

The Mirror of News (Tibetan : ཡུལ་ཕྱོགས་སོ་སོའི་གསར་འགྱུར་མེ་ལོང, Wylie : yul phyogs so so'i gsar 'gyur gyi me long, ZYPY : Yulchog Soseu Sargyour Mélong) or Mirror of News from All Sides of the World was a Tibetan-language newspaper published in Kalimpong, India, from 1925 to 1963 ^{[1] [2]} and circulated primarily in Tibet but eventually with subscribers worldwide. Its founder was Gergan Tharchin who was at the same time its journalist, editor, and manager.

History

Creation (1925)

In 1925, The Tibetan language Mirror of News was founded at Kalimpong in West Bengal, India. Published after The Ladakh Journal (Ladakh Kyi Akbar), it is the second Tibetan language newspaper to have been started, per available records. Its founder was one Gergan Dorje Tharchin, a Tibetan of Christian denomination who was a pastor at Kalimpong, at the time a border town that acted as a centre for the wool trade between Tibet and India. He was born in 1890 in Himachal Pradesh, in a village named Poo (Wylie: spu), and he was educated by Moravian missionaries. ^{[3] [4]} He did not use his newspaper as a platform for proselytizing Christianity to his readers. ^[3]

Periodicity and circulation

Published on a monthly basis, the journal first came out in October 1925 under the title Yulchog Sosoi Sargyur Melong (Mirror of News from All Sides of the World) ). ^[5] All 50 copies that were printed were sent to Gergan Tharchin's friends in Lhasa, including one for the 13th Dalai Lama who sent a letter encouraging him to continue with the publication and became an ardent reader. The 14th Dalai Lama was to inherit the Dalai Lama's subscription. ^[6]

Gergan Tharchin, founder

Tharchin, also known as Tharchin Babu ^[7] was at the same time journalist, chief editor and publisher. He would select the news from the newspapers of which he was a subscriber, and translate them into Tibetan for the journal. ^[8] He had assigned to himself the goals of awakening Tibetans to the modern world and opening up Tibet to the outside world. ^[9] The journal reported on what went on in the world at the Chinese Revolution, at World War II, during the Indian independence movement, and covered events in Tibet, India, and in Kalimpong itself. ^[10]

Influence

Despite its minuscule circulation, the journal exerted a huge influence on a small circle of Tibetan aristocrats, as well as on a smaller circle of Tibetan reformists. ^[11] As the journal was an advocate of Tibet's independence, Tharchin's place became a meeting place for Tibetan nationalists and reformists anxious to modernise their country to counter China. ^[12]

According to the opinion of Barun Roy, Tharchin was in close touch with the British intelligence agents operating out of Kalimpong, a town Roy says was a nest of political intrigue involving spies from India and China, refugees from Tibet, China, India and Burma, plus Buddhist scholars, monks, and lamas. Tharchin was acquainted with Hisao Kimura, a Japanese secret agent who had visited Mongolia on an undercover mission for the Japanese government, then travelled across Tibet to gather intelligence for the United Kingdom ^[13]

In the 1950s, the Chinese Communists attempted to buy Tharchin's silence through an offer presented by a Tibetan aristocrat: The Chinese promised to order 500 copies of the newspaper, and gave the assurance Tharchin would not to go bankrupt. In exchange, he was requested not to publish anymore "anti-Chinese" articles, and to concentrate instead on the "progress" made by China in Tibet. Tharchin refused. ^[3]

Bombing of monasteries

Tharchin continued to report on China's atrocities. The Tibetan resistance against the brutal socialist policies of the Chinese Communist Party led to a witnessed battle at the Lithang Monastery where monks, civilians, and Tibetan fighters tried to escape from a full-scale Chinese bombing assault and airstrike. ^[14] As the Tibetan army had already been destroyed in China's initial invasion of 1949-1950, all the Tibetans in Kham and at Lithang were civilians whose casualties were reported to be in the hundreds to the thousands, ^[15] while other bombings and massacres of Tibetans in Kham and Amdo were also widely reported. An illustration in Mirror of News dated 01 July 1957 includes a count of monks murdered by these air assaults on Tibet's monasteries: "At Cha-phreng, 1,400 monks before the attack, it is said that there are not more than 7 now; at Brag-mdo, 1,000 monks before the attack, there are none afterwards; at Ba-thang, 700 monks before the attack, not more than one monk remains." ^[7] .

From 1956 to 1957, the Mirror of News printed several depictions of this attack at Lithang Monastery and the aerial bombing by the People's Liberation Army, including the following English caption: ^{[16] [17]}

They are killing several thousand of our freedom-loving, brave, ill-armed Khampas, with modern weapons; and distroying monasterees [sic]. The world is protesting the aggressor in Europe and W. Asia, but alas! There is no voice for Tibet.

Publication ends (1963)

The Mirror of News ceased publishing in 1963 ^{[1] [2]} when the exiled Tibetan community began publishing their first newspaper – Tibetan Freedom – founded by Gyalo Thondup ^[3] from Darjeeling. ^[18] Tharchin's son said his father was too old to continue his publication. Tharchin Babu died in 1976. ^[19]

As of 2005, the small house in Kalimpong on Giri Road, where the Mirror of News was based, is still standing with a sign board reading "The Tibet Mirror Press, Kalimpong, Est. 1925" in English, Tibetan and Hindi ^[20]

References

1. "Yul phyogs so soʾi gsar ʾgyur me loṅ". www.columbia.edu. Archived from the original on 23 June 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
2. "Tibet Mirror | Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library". beinecke.library.yale.edu. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2017. Tibet Mirror A digital archive of the Tibetan-language newspaper, published from 1925 to 1963.
3. Thubten Samphel, Virtual Tibet: The Media, in Exile as challenge: the Tibetan diaspora (Dagmar Bernstorff, Hubertus von Welck eds), Orient Blackswan, 2003, 488 pages, especially pages 172-175 - ISBN   81-250-2555-3, ISBN   978-81-250-2555-9.
4. Lobsang Wangyal, The Tibet Mirror: The first Tibetan newspaper, now only a memory, Lobsang Wangyal's personal site, 12 May 2005.
5. Lobsang Wangyal, op. cit.: Yulchog Sosoi Sargyur Melong (Mirror of News from All Sides of the World) was the original Tibetan name of the Mirror of News. The first issue of the newspaper came out in October 1925. The issues came out at irregular intervals.
6. Lobsang Wangyal, op. cit.: Of the fifty initial copies, most were sent to his friends in Lhasa, including one to the 13th Dalai Lama. The 13th Dalai Lama became an ardent reader of the paper and encouraged Tharchin to continue with the publication (...). The current 14th Dalai Lama inherited the subscription of the late 13th.
7. Françoise Robin, "Le monde au reflet du Tibet : le journal Le Miroir des nouvelles au Collège de France", La lettre du Collège de France, 36 | décembre 2013, mis en ligne le 03 février 2014, http:// journals.openedition.org/lettre-cdf/1683
8. Lobsang Wangyal, op. cit.: "It was my grandfather who did all the work of the newspaper. He selected the news from the newspapers he subscribed to and translated them for the paper."
9. Lobsang Wangyal, op. cit.: Tharchin (...) made much effort to report on affairs of the world, to educate Tibetans and to encourage the opening up of Tibet to the changing modern world.
10. Thubten Samphel, op. cit., p. 173: The Mirror published articles on world events and especially reported what was taking place in India, Tibet and in the region of Kalimpong.
11. Thubten Samphel, op. cit., p. 173: Despite its minuscule circulation, the impact of Tibbet Mirror, though confined to a small circle of Tibetan aristocrats and an even smaller circle of Tibetan reformists (...) was enormous.
12. Thubten Samphel, op. cit., pages 173 and 175: Tibetan nationalists, scholars and dissidents held regular conclaves at Babu Tharchin's place to discuss how Tibet could best avoid the gathering political storm, Tharchin Babu and the office of Tibet Mirror became the meeting point of intellectuals and reformists who wanted to modernize Tibet so that it would effectively counter the challenges posed by a resurgent China.
13. Barun Roy, op. cit. : In the late 1940s, Kalimpong (...) could be rightly described as a nest of political intrigue, involving British, Indian and Chinese spies, refugees from Tibet, China, India and Burma, with a sprinkling of Buddhist scholars, monks and lamas.
14. Goldstein, Melvyn C. (2014). A history of modern Tibet. Volume 3: The storm clouds descend, 1955-1957. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 116–138, 228–281. ISBN   978-0-520-27651-2.
15. Li, Jianglin (2016). Tibet in agony : Lhasa 1959. Wilf, Susan. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. Photo# 11 between pages 82 and 83. ISBN   9780674088894. OCLC   946579956.
16. Li, Jianglin (2016) [5 October 1956]. Tibet in agony : Lhasa 1959. Translated by Wilf, Susan. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. Photo# 11 (of original drawing) between pages 82 and 83. ISBN   9780674088894. OCLC   946579956. They are killing several thousand of our freedom-loving, brave, ill-armed Khampas, with modern weapons; and distroying monasterees [sic]. The world is protesting the aggressor in Europe and W. Asia, but alas! There is no voice for Tibet.
17. Tharchin, Dorje (1956). Yul phyogs so soʾi gsar ʾgyur me loṅ (Tibet Mirror) (in Tibetan and English). Columbia University Libraries. Kalimpong, India: The Tibet Mirror Press. pp. Volume XXIII, Number 11, page 4.
18. Thubten Samphel, op. cit., p. 175: Tibet Mirror ceased publication in 1962 when the Tibetan refugees brought out their own newspaper called Tibetan Freedom from neighbouring Darjeeling.
19. Lobsang Wangyal, op. cit.: the paper came to an end in 1962, and Tharchin died in 1976. "My grandfather was getting too old to continue the paper."
20. Lobsang Wangyal, op. cit.: "The Tibet Mirror Press; Established 1925", reads the sign board on the crumbling tinned house (...) on Giri road.

Further reading

• Paul G. Hackett, Kalimpong, Gergan Dorje Tharchin, and his Mirror newspaper, Columbia University, retrieved 24 March 2021.
• Tashi Tsering, The Life of Rev. G. Tharchin: Missionary and Pioneer, Amnye Machen Institute, Dharamsala, 1998
• H. (Herbert) Louis Fader, Called from Obscurity: The Life and Times of a True Son of Tibet - Gergan Dorje Tharchin, Tibet Mirror Press, Kalimpong, Vol. 1, 2002 ; Vol. 2, 2004 ; Himalayan Ecosphere Publisher, Vol. 3, 2009 (Long Title: Called from Obscurity: The Life and Times of a True Son of Tibet, God's Humble Servant from Poo, Gergan Dorje Tharchin, with Particular Attention Given to His Good Friend and Illustrious Co-Laborer in the Gospel Sadhu Sundar Singh of India, with a foreword by His Holiness Dalai Lama XIV of Tibet and an introduction by Dawa Norbu)

External links

• Digitized access to 224 issues of the Tibet Mirror, archival holdings published between the years 1927–1963, through Columbia University Libraries, including collections at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University.
• Digitized access to seventy-one issues of the Tibet Mirror, published between the years 1927–1963, through the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University.