The Treasury of Lives

Lobzang Yampel Pangdatsang (blo bzang yar 'phel spang mda' tshang) was born around the 1900, the second son of Nyigyel Pangdatsang (nyi rgyal spang mda' tshang, d. 1921), a Kham-based trader who built the Pangdatsang family into one of the largest firms of early twentieth century Tibet, and his wife Nyi Karma (nyi kar ma) of the Drongmetsang (grong smad tshang) family of Markham (rmar khams). He had three brothers: Nyima (nyi ma spang mda' tshang, 1883-1940s), Rapga Tendzin Lhundrub (rab dga' bstan 'dzin lhun 'grub, 1902-1976) and Tobgyal (stobs rgyal, 1904-1972/3). He also had at least one sister, Chime ('chi med).

Within the span of two generations, the Pangdatsang family accrued great wealth, power and influence, rising to become one of the wealthiest families in all of Tibet such that there was a saying: "The earth is Pangda's, the sky is Pangda's" (sa spang mda' gnam spang mda'). When people spoke of the Pangdatsang family, they often spoke of "the three brothers" (bu gsum), meaning Yampel, Rapga and Tobgyal; Nyima was seventeen years older and was born to a different mother.

After their father was murdered in 1921 by an unknown assailant at a picnic in Lhasa, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tubten Gyatso (ta la'i bla ma 13 thub bstan rgya mtsho, 1876-1933) was greatly sympathetic to the family, and gave Nyima Pangdatsang, in his late thirties, the title of Letsenpa (las tshan pa) of the sixth rank. Nyima received a monopoly on the wool market, wool being Tibet's chief export, from the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, and the family became very wealthy. After Nyima retired and became a monk, Lobzang Yampel became the head of the Pangdatsang family and brought the Pangdatsang trading firm to new heights.

The Pangdatsang family united with the Jangling family (byang gling), a family of traders from Lhasa. Lobzang Yampel and Tobgyal married two Jangling sisters, Sonam (bsod nams) and Tsedon (tse sgron); to tie the families together more closely, the husbands also married each other's wives and the two families lived together as one. From the union of the two sets of parents, only one child was born, a daughter named Pema Chokyi (pad ma chos kyi). Pema Chokyi died when she was young but left behind one daughter, Wangmo (dbang mo).

The death of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in 1933 led to a power struggle in Lhasa during which the Kashag and the Assembly arrested and exiled Kunpel (kun 'phel, 1905-1963), the Dalai Lama's favorite, who had enjoyed enormous influence and power. The Pangdatsang family had enjoyed a close relationship with both the Dalai Lama and Kunpel. The younger Pangdatsang brothers Rapga and Tobgyal were in Markham when they heard the news; they also were erroneously informed that Lobzang Yampel was in trouble.

Tobgyal was not only head of the Pangdatsang territories in Markham, he was also a captain (ru dpon) in the Tibetan army. In response to the false news about their brother, he and Rapga staged a rebellion. Tobgyal gathered five hundred of his private troops and attacked the government's regimental headquarters in Markham. Tobgyal and Rapga managed to capture a one hundred-troop regiment, one hundred rifles and three mountain guns. Then under threat of attack by a large Tibetan government force, they fled to Batang ('ba' thang) where they set up a base. Some accounts state that Tobgyal's intention was to set up a separate Khampa state, while others, including British colonial accounts, stress that the rebellion was part of their general dissatisfaction with the status quo in Lhasa as well as anger at Kunpel's arrest.

In Lhasa, the government sent a force to seal the Pangdatsang house in the Barkor (bar 'khor) but Lobzang Yampel managed to evade their efforts. Like his father Nyigyel and his brother Nyima, Lobzang Yampel had cultivated good relations with powerful people in Lhasa, especially the monastic segment; his friends convinced Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo (pha bong kha 01 bde chen snying po, 1878-1941), one of the most influential Geluk teachers of the time, to petition the Kashag on Lobzang Yampel's behalf. Lobzang Yampel was held financially responsible for the damages caused by his brother and for the replacement of the guns and ammunition that Tobgyal had captured, but he escaped further consequences.

In November 1940, Lobzang Yampel was given the rank of Rimshi (rim bzhi), fourth rank in the Tibetan government. There were rumors in the streets and parlors of Lhasa that Lobzang Yampel obtained this rank through the back door (ltag sgo), with liberal donations of gold to members of the Kashag, the National Assembly and the Foreign Ministers. His appointment to Rimshi included the post of Tibetan Trade Agent in Yatung, and the title of Dromo Chikyab (spyi khyab), or Governor of the Chumbi valley. This post, which Lobzang Yampel had specifically requested, allowed him to fully control trade between India and Tibet, levying and collecting taxes, and creating and lifting various trade restrictions (such as the bans on cotton cloth and tobacco).

In a 1955 article in National Geographic Heinrich Harrer (1912-2006) called Lobzang Yampel the richest man in Tibet. He was the first Tibetan Trade Agent to make improvements in the area – he built a proper house and an office and improved the road to Gyantse (rgyal rtse), a public works project in which he arranged for the local people to be paid for their labor rather than just requiring free labor.

Like his father Nyigyel, Lobzang Yampel kept up close relations with the Sakya Khon ('khon) family, to which his mother was a member. He took responsibility for the general upkeep of Sakya Monastery (sa skya dgon) and undertook restorations of the monastery. In 1945, Hugh Richardson (1905-2000) noted that Lobzang Yampel's name was suggested as a possible candidate for the post of Tibetan Representative to India, a post that was never created.

Lobzang Yampel was one of the four delegates of the Tibetan Trade Mission of 1948 to the United States. The Mission was a Tibetan attempt to strengthen the country's economy and to bolster political relations with the United States and England, as the political situation in China continued to deteriorate. Lobzang Yampel's goals for the mission were to import American goods, ensure that Tibetan wool had a market in the US and to acquire gold for both himself and the Tibetan government. In the US, Lobzang Yampel purchased gold and opened a bank account for himself, depositing dollars gained in part through his brother Tobgyal's money-changing services for missionaries stationed in Dartsedo.

In 1951, when the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tendzin Gyatso (bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho, b. 1935) fled Lhasa for Dromo, Lobzang Yampel was involved in Tibetan-American negotiations about what the Dalai Lama should do in response to the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The US State Department pressed hard for the Dalai Lama and his retinue, including the Pangdatsang family, to relocate to the US. But Lobzang Yampel was staunchly against this plan, believing that it was important for the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet. The Dalai Lama returned to Tibet, and on October 24, 1951, Tibet was incorporated into the People's Republic of China.

Kalimpong, India, was Lobzang Yampel's main base of operations outside of Lhasa, as the trade agent of the government of Tibet. He enjoyed good relations with the royal houses of Sikkim and Bhutan, and local political and business powerhouses and most everyone else, with the significant exception of the former British colonial officers who tried to control trade in and out of Tibet. The Pangdatsangs had an especially close relationship with the Fourteenth Dalai Lama's family. In Kalimpong, the best room in the Pangdatsang house was reserved for Gyalyum Chenmo Diki Tsering (rgyal yum chen mo bde skyid tshe ring, d.1981), the Dalai Lama's mother. Lobzang Yampel paid the school expenses of the Dalai Lama's siblings in India. He also arranged and paid for the lodgings of the Dalai Lama's older brother Gyalo Thondup (rgya lo don grub,  b. 1928) in China.

In the mid 1950s, Gyalo Thondup left Tibet for Kalimpong. In Kalimpong, Gyalo Thondup was active in building a political resistance to the Chinese inside Tibet and he attempted, unsuccessfully, to engage Lobzang Yampel in the work. According to John Kenneth Knaus (b. 1923), a former CIA operative and a colleague of Gyalo Thondup, Gyalo attempted to recruit Rapga and Lobzang Yampel but they refused. Things deteriorated into serious disagreements between Gyalo Thondup and Lobzang Yampel, centering on issues of gold, money and power. At the time the two remaining Pangdatsang brothers were still in China. Tobgyal was publicly working with the Chinese leaders in eastern Tibet, proclaiming the standard line that Tibet was an inalienable part of China but secretly, he was meeting with resistance leaders in the area. Rapga, after being given a minor post in Chamdo, later left Tibet for India.

Lobzang Yampel continued in his post as Tibetan Trade Agent in Kalimpong, returning from India to Lhasa in 1955 for his daughter's wedding. In November 1956, he was awarded the post of Dzasa (dza sag), third rank. He was then appointed to the Education Committee and to the post of Chinese trade agent in Kalimpong, but he remained in Lhasa until late 1958, when in the face of increasing tensions in Tibet he decided to leave for India. He told the Chinese he had to make a trip to Sakya to check on a restoration project, and headed off with a small group so as to not arouse any suspicion. Upon reaching Sakya, he borrowed mules and headed for India via Bhutan.

Lobzang Yampel did not stay in India for long. He had been branded a Communist Chinese sympathizer by Gyalo Thondup, and in the early 1960s, on Gyalo Thondup's advice, the Government of India ordered Lobzang Yampel to leave India. The Tibetan exile community forced several other prominent Tibetans, such as former Kalon Surkhang Wangchen Gelek (zur khang dbang chen dge legs, 1910-1977) and former Kalon Yutok Tashi Dondrub (g.yu thog bkra shis don grub, 1906-1984), to also leave India, on suspicion that they were Chinese agents. Lobzang Yampel went to England with his wife and his grand-daughter Wangmo. In London, they stayed at the home of George Patterson, the Scottish missionary who spent time in Tibet and had a close friendship with the Pangdatsang family. Unable to relocate his family to the US and unable to stay in England, Lobzang Yampel traveled to Hong Kong where the Pangdatsangs had property and an accessible bank account.

Lobzang Yampel disappeared soon after his arrival in Hong Kong. He failed to attend an appointment with a lawyer, Brian Tisdall of Johnson, Stokes, and Master, and what happened next remains disputed. According to Hong Kong records Lobzang Yampel left Hong Kong for Macau, and some stories have it that he was kidnapped aboard the boat and brought to China by force. According to the Pangdatsang family, however, Lobzang Yampel was at a loss for what to do in exile, and he willingly returned to China. Jigme Dorje, the Prime Minister of Bhutan and one of his closest friends, had invited him to Bhutan but he declined. He also had an open invitation to go to Taiwan, an option chosen by some of his compatriots including Zurkhang and Yutok, but he disliked the Guomindang. Thus, after writing to Premier Zhou Enlai, he was invited to Beijing and then made his way to Lhasa where his brother Tobgyal and other family members were living.

During the Cultural Revolution, Tobgyal was arrested, tortured and struggled against. Lobzang Yampel was spared under the orders of Zhou Enlai but was made to watch his brother being tortured. Both brothers died in Lhasa around the year 1972-73. Tobgyal of a stroke and Lobzang Yampel of a heart attack.