waves the Tibetan flag at a military parade in Lhasa, 1938. In February 1913, shortly after the fall of the
Qing dynasty, the
13th Dalai Lama, Tibet's political and spiritual leader, declared independence from China and began modernising the
Tibetan army. According to Tsarong Dasang Dadul, commander-in-chief of the modern Tibetan army, a new national flag was adopted by the Dalai Lama in 1916, and all army regiments were ordered to carry the flag in its present form. Gyalten Namgyal, tailor to both the 13th and 14th Dalai Lamas, wrote: "When I was fourteen, the Dalai Lama decided he wanted a Tibetan national flag made, and designed it himself. When a prototype was approved and the first flag commissioned, I was the one to execute the work." in Delhi in 1947 as
Mahatma Gandhi speaks (far left). A circular version of the Tibetan flag is seen in front of them, along with seals of other participating countries. In addition to being carried by Tibet's army, the flag was displayed on public buildings of the
Ganden Phodrang government. Historical footage shows the flag flying at the foot of
Potala Palace, the seat of the Dalai Lama in Tibet. The snow lion motif was also used on a flag seen by English diplomat, Sir
Eric Teichman, flying above a Tibetan government building during hostilities between
Sichuan and Tibet in 1917–1918: "Over the Kalon Lama’s residence... floats the banner of Tibet, a yellow flag bearing a device like a lion in green, with a white snow mountain and a sun and moon in the corner." with the Tibetan flag in
Zürich,
Switzerland 10 April 2010 Outside of Tibet, the flag was featured in publications by foreign governments, reference books,
academic journals, and culturally significant works up until 1959. One of its first official international appearances was in a
British Crown publication in 1923, "
Drawings of the Flags in Use at the Present Time by Various Nations." It was also included in the
German Ministry of Defense's
Naval Command "Flaggenbuch" in 1926 and in the Italian
Naval Ministry's "Raccolta delle Bandiere Fiamme e Insegne in uso presso le Diverse Nazioni" in 1934.
National Geographic Magazine featured the flag in their 1934 “
Flags of the World” edition. The caption reads: "Tibet.- With its towering mountain of snow, before which stand two lions fighting for a flaming gem, the flag of Tibet is one of the most distinctive of the East." Beginning in 1928, images of the flag were also widely published by companies in Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, and Oceania in national flag collections on various forms of
trading cards. The flag's first appearance at an international gathering was in March–April 1947 at the
Asian Relations Conference in
New Delhi. The Conference, organised by
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, hosted Asian states and
anti-colonial movements. The representative of the government of
British India in Lhasa,
Hugh Richardson, personally shared the invitation from the
Indian Council of World Affairs with the Tibetan Foreign Office, and advised the Conference was a good opportunity to show Asia and the world that Tibet was
de facto independent. At the Conference, leaders of the 32 delegations sat on a daïs, each identified by a plate with their country’s name and their respective flags. American historian
A. Tom Grunfeld asserts the Conference was not government-sponsored, so Tibet’a presence and its flag had "no diplomatic significance", adding the flag was removed after representatives from the
Republic of China protested to Conference organisers, who then issued a statement that
Jawaharlal Nehru had invited the Tibetan delegates "in a personal capacity." A Tibetan delegate who was in attendance disputes this, and extant photos from the Conference show the flag displayed along with other participating countries' flags. After the
People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet and the
17-Point Agreement was signed, the flag continued to be used in the 1950s under the Chinese government, although its status was unclear. Many in the
Chinese Communist Party usage of the flag indicated
separatism, but the Tibetan local government of the day stressed the flag was an army flag (the
Tibetan Army continued to exist parallel to
People's Liberation Army infantries) and was not a national flag.
Phuntso Wangye claims that
Mao Zedong discussed the flag in a 1955 conversation with the
14th Dalai Lama. According to his story, Mao told the Dalai Lama that
Zhang Jingwu,
Zhang Guohua, and
Fan Ming informed him Tibet had a "national flag". The Dalai Lama replied Tibet had an army flag, then Mao reportedly said "you may keep your national flag". There is no official recognition of this conversation by the Chinese government, however. American anthropologist
Melvyn Goldstein argues that while the Tibetan flag was used by the army, few Tibetans in Tibet knew of it so when they wanted to protest against the Chinese government, they would instead use the flag of
Chushi Gangdruk. Tibetan historian Jamyang Norbu has challenged this assertion, citing incidents of the Tibetan public’s regard for the flag as their national symbol. == Pro-independence symbol ==