Rinchen Lhamo, a remarkable Tibetan woman in the 20th Century. She was born on 18 August 1901 at Rayaka,in Kham. In a precise location, Rayaka is seen at their Dartsedo county(དར་རྩེ་མདོ་རྫོང་།) of Sichuan Province. Dartsedo, a predominantly Tibetan region which carries historical significance of its own role as the border between eastern Tibet and China from the other side. She has an encouraging life story like her own name;Rinchen Lhamo, “the jewel of the Goddess,” and some writers have translated it into “the jewel of the Goodness”that also might be correct if they had focused on her charming character.
Roughly with a bad chronological record, it has shown in many writings that Rinchen Lhamo was the first Tibetan woman to marry an Englishman,Louis Magrath King in 1919. By the time, Louis Magrath King , an Englishman had worked as British Consul on the Chinese frontier of Tibet;therefore,they met during his second visit to Dartsedo. Their love and relationship became very strong, and kept struggling, to overcome all the challenges of their differences in the way of life and culture. In 1925, they had officially decided to sail from Kobe to Britain, and they crossed more than four countries, and finally reached London on August 11th 1925. It was a complete new life, Rinchen Lhamo had to embrace it with her husband.
I didn’t get any document that gives detailed information about her family in Tibet, but her real brother Namkha Tendruk was also with her in Britain. Interestingly, he had studied engineering,and converted in Christianity during his stay with his sister. I think I would have written more about him, if I had found more written records on his personal life because I wanted to know whether he had continued studying or not.
In addition, the book “We Tibetans”, written by Rinchen Lhamo was recognized as one of the most significant works in London. Tim Chamberlain, a writer from London, and in his article about Rinchen Lhamo’s book; which was published in 1926. In his lengthy review, he has concluded that it is the first English book written by a Tibetan, or a Tibetan woman. After the publication, it had attracted a large number of people from Europe, and started reading more about Tibet. Rinchen Lhamo has beautifully described many things: Tibetan culture, landscapes, architecture and traditional Tibetan games. On the other hand, the book consists of fascinating narrative styles of literature which differentiates Tibet and the West in a realistic approach based on the truth and experiences. Most importantly, Rinchen Lhamo has written her thoughts, and reasons for writing the book on Tibet; particularly Tibetan culture and life.
In the book’s Preface, “some of the statements made about us display great ignorance, and other’s malice. Some are wrong but harmless; others made me laugh at the absurdity of them; still others made me angry. Why should people write falsehoods about us, why should they write at all of the things they do not know? And I urged my husband to write but he said it would be no use. Many books would have to be written by many kinds of people before my country was justified and appreciated abroad. But that would come in time, Tibetans would write about themselves as the Chinese and the Japanese have done long ago. Why should I not write a book ? I should say what I wanted to say, and my husband would write it down and arrange it. I know very little English like he speaks little Tibetan, and it has not been easy as it sounds. There was for instance, the language difficulties, we usually talk in Chinese, in which we both are fluent. That was the medium through which this book passed”.
There were also some partial criticisms related to her book, and one of them has written like,“ she was clearly a resourceful woman of singular character;she left her homeland to accompany her foreign husband into a life entirely removed from much of what she would have taken granted growing up in Kham, Tibet. Why should she not wish to write a book about what she knew of such a singular and remarkable life?”. However, her book is a powerful portrait of Tibet in the eyes of western people, and it had created a complete picture of Tibet in the early 1900s, and before Tibet was occupied by China in 1959. When she was in London, her pride of being Tibetan had always been in her mind, and even though her husband was an Englishman. In 1929, she was buried in a Christian grave but the name written on her gravestone was a Tibetan name,and it still is. In an interview,“We are like yourself, a people with highly developed culture,spiritual, social and material. Our minds are no less active, our wits are no less keen, than yours. We are neither primitive nor bizarre”. She said. Louis Magrath King and Rinchen Lhamo were often described as the first Tibetan-British marriage, but she didn’t lose her faith in Buddhism, and they had four children before Louis got a second marriage,or after the death of Rinchen Lhamo at the age of 29, due to the illness of Tuberculosis.
However, Rinchen Lhamo, a Tibetan woman, lived her life in a meaningful lifestyle even though he had left her own family and homeland since 1919. “ Like most great personalities she was somewhat shy and retiring, but to those who were fortunate enough to be included in her circle of friends she was a revelation. A devout Buddhist, her outlook on life in its totality was characterised by a quiet conviction that induced reality in both worlds. In manner she was charming and could never be surprised by any situation. Her brilliancy and quiet powers of repartee and her insight into human nature made her an exceedingly bright and imposing personality. She lifted the curtain on a whole world of veiled experience, and if she was typical of her own people there must be a wealth of essentially fine traits of character waiting exposure.” Tim Chamberlain said. In my opinion, after reading several articles about them, I had also felt that Rinchen Lhamo was a writer, remarkable and brave woman with the secret of patriotism within her mind.
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