Name: Ngawang Lobsang
(Alias: No)
Gender: Male
Interview Age: 77
Date of Birth: 1930
Birthplace: Gatho, Kham, Tibet
Year Left Tibet: 1959
Profession: Dairy Farming
Monk/Nun: No
Political Prisoner: No
Interview No.: 13
Date: 2007-07-02
Language: Tibetan
Location: Lugsung Samdupling Settlement, Bylakuppe, Karnataka, India
Categories: Resistance and Revolution
Keywords: Chinese army -- invasion by , Chushi Gangdrug guerrillas, CIA training, Dalai Lama, escape experiences, guerrillas in Mustang, Kham, monastic life, refugee in India -- life as, thamzing/struggle sessions, trade
Summary:
Ngawang Lobsang led a multi-faceted career--as a monk, a trader and, later, as a guerrilla fighter. He joined a monastery at age 7 or 8 and as a young adult left the monastery seeking revenge for his father's death. Then he became trader, transporting food, cooking utensils and clothing on yaks, which he traded for butter and cheese with nomads in Bhutan.
Ngawang Lobsang became a member of the Chushi Gangdrug Resistance Force around age 20. In spite of their limited man power and weapons, the Chushi Gangdrug fought the Chinese successfully over 20 times. Ngawang Lobsang provides detailed accounts of some of these encounters and pays tribute to Chushi Gangdrug's leader, Andrug Gonpo Tashi. He believes he and his companions escaped death as a result of the protective amulets they wore and their modus operandi of fighting during the day and changing camp locations at night.
After fleeing to India, Ngawang Lobsang soon traveled to Mustang in Nepal, where other soldiers had regrouped to form a fighting unit. After training for two or three years, lack of food and weapons eventually forced many guerrillas to return to India. Before coming to Bylakuppe, India, where he started a family, Ngawang Lobsang served in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
Interview Team:
- Martin Newman (Interviewer)
- Lhakpa Tsering (Interpreter)
- Tsering Dorjee (Videographer)
