TIBET

Tibet is currently a high plateau region of the Peoples Republic of China, However many Tibetans believe that Tibet is a country occupied by the peoples republic. The capital city is Lhasa. It is also the Spiritual homeland of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1578, the Phagmodrupa dynasty gave the high lama of the Gelugpa school of Buddhism the title of Dalai Lama or Great ocean (of wisdom) and the title was given to Sonam Gyatso as the 3rd Dalai Lama - the previous two lamas were given the title retrospectively. The Chinese  Qing Dynasty took over Tibet in 1724 and incorporated some of the provinces into Chinese ones. In 1750, after a riot and most of the Chinese Han and Manchu people being massacred the Qing military cracked down on rebels all over Tibet. The Military was also to repel invasions from the Nepalese in 1792 and again in 1834 when the Sikh empire annexed Ladakh. from the mid 19th century Tibet was all but an independent country governed by its parliament - the Kashag. In 1912, the chinese withdrew from Tibet and the 13th Dalai Lama declared himself ruler of an independent Tibet. In 1950 the Communist Peoples Republic of China annexed Tibet and declared it the Tibetan Autonomous Region of the peoples republic. The 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet and set up a government in exile in Dharamsala, India

Monetary Unit:

7.5 Srang = 50 tam up to 1959

This rather wonderful, if delicate note is the 100 Srang note issued between 1942 and 1959. If you look at the scans in large formats (click the pictures above) you can just about see 2 snow lions in the centre strip and on the reverse there is a man (Buddha ?) meditating under a tree.