Dpon-chen

Tibet within the Yuan dynasty under the top-level department known as the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs (Xuanzheng Yuan).

The dpon-chen or pönchen, literally the "great authority" or "great administrator", was the chief administrator or governor of Tibet located at Sakya Monastery during the Yuan administrative rule of Tibet in the 13th and 14th centuries. In the Mongol Empire the office of the dpon-chen was established in the 1260s and functioned for all practical purposes as the Tibetan government at the pleasure of the Mongol emperors of the Yuan dynasty, unlike the Sakya Imperial Preceptors (Dishi) who were active at the Yuan court.

The Mongols set up a government agency and top-level administrative department known as the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs in Khanbaliq (modern Beijing) that supervised Buddhist monks in addition to managing the territory of Tibet; one of the department's purposes was to select a dpon-chen to govern Tibet when the Sakya Lama (e.g. Drogön Chögyal Phagpa) was away. The dpon-chen was invariably a Tibetan nominated by the ruling Sakya Lama and approved by the reigning emperor. His function was, apart from being the chief executive head of the Sakya government, to appoint a tripön for each of the 13 myriarchies, and to act as liaison between the Yuan government and Tibet.^[1] Nevertheless, this system also led to conflicts between the Sakya leaders and the dpon-chens. While dpon-chens had a small army in Sakya itself, their major military support came from the Mongols or Yuan dynasty when an internal rebellion or external invasion occurred. As Yuan declined in the mid-14th century however, in Tibet, Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen toppled the Sakya and founded the Phagmodrupa Dynasty, marking the end of the dpon-chen system.

References

↑ China's Tibet Policy, by Dawa Norbu, p55-56

Tibet articles

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Overviews	Timeline List of rulers European exploration Historical money

Chronology	Prehistory (Neolithic) Zhangzhung Pre-Imperial Empire (7th–9th century) List of emperors Great Ministers Relations with Tang (618–907) Era of Fragmentation (9th–11th century) Guge kingdom Yuan dynasty rule (1270–1350) Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs Phagmodrupa Dynasty Relations with Ming (1368–1644) Rinpungpa Dynasty Tsangpa Dynasty Ganden Phodrang Kashag Qing dynasty rule (1720–1912) Lifan Yuan List of imperial residents Post-Qing to 1950 Tibetan Army People's Republic of China (PRC) rule PRC incorporation political leaders

Wars & conflicts	Tibetan attack on Songzhou Battle of Dafei River Mongol conquest of Tibet Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War Battle of Dartsedo Battle of the Salween River Chinese expedition to Tibet (1720) Lhasa riot of 1750 Sino-Nepalese War Sino-Sikh War Nepalese–Tibetan War Sikkim Expedition British expedition to Tibet 1905 Tibetan Rebellion Chinese expedition to Tibet (1910) Xinhai Lhasa turmoil Sino-Tibetan War Qinghai–Tibet War 1938–39 German expedition to Tibet 1939 Japanese expedition to Tibet Battle of Chamdo Protests and uprisings since 1950 1959 Tibetan uprising 1987–89 Tibetan unrest 2008 Tibetan unrest Self-immolation protests by Tibetans in China

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Society and culture	Yuan poetry Chao (currency) History of Liao Jin Song Menggu Ziyun Wenxian Tongkao Zhongyuan Yinyun The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars Zaju The Chalk Circle The Injustice to Dou E The Orphan of Zhao The Story of the Western Wing Semu Islam during the Yuan dynasty

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Dpon-chen

See also

References