Page 32 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
P. 32
– A Different Drumbeat 32
"I was using a projector with carbon points, the current being supplied by a small,
portable generating plant. I was fully occupied adjusting the carbon points with one
hand and working the projection crank with the other, at the same time giving
explanations in Chinese of the films I was showing."
He had an interpreter on either side of him, putting his Chinese into Tibetan and into
Uighur.10
The other part of his role as an agent of Britain was to keep an eye on the movements of
suspicious enemy nationals in the north-west. Lampson often communicated with him in
code, asking him to check up on travelers known to be moving in the area whose motives
were uncertain.
BRITISH LEGATION, PEKING. May 30th, 1918.
Dear Mr Andrew,
A certain Madame A. David-Neel, probably of French nationality, left Peking for
Kansu and Hsin Chiang11 last February, the object of her journey being unknown.
She is not a missionary, and whilst here stayed at the Yung Ho Kung, the big Lama
Temple in the north of the City. A letter in Tibetan from Gyantse12 has recently come
into the hands of our Censors, and we are anxious to find out about her.
Did you by chance hear of her arrival in Lanchow or glean anything as to what the
object of her journey was? It seems curious that she should travel so far afield.
10 The language of the Uighurs, a Turkish people dominant in Mongolia and eastern Turkestan from the 8th
to 12th centuries and now living mainly in western China.
11 Hsin Chiang, literally means "New Frontier" or "New Border," In 1912, the Ching Dynasty was replaced by
the Republic of China. Yuan Ta Hua, the last Ching governor of Hsin Chiang, fled. One of his
subordinates, Yang Cheng Hsin took control of the province and acceded to the Republic of China in March
of the same year. Yang maintained control over Hsin Chiang until his assassination in 1928.
12 Gyantse is a town located in Gyantse County, Tibet, halfway between Lhasa and Mt Everest. It was
historically considered the third largest and most prominent town in Tibet (after Lhasa, and Shigatse). It is
strategically located on the ancient trade routes
"I was using a projector with carbon points, the current being supplied by a small,
portable generating plant. I was fully occupied adjusting the carbon points with one
hand and working the projection crank with the other, at the same time giving
explanations in Chinese of the films I was showing."
He had an interpreter on either side of him, putting his Chinese into Tibetan and into
Uighur.10
The other part of his role as an agent of Britain was to keep an eye on the movements of
suspicious enemy nationals in the north-west. Lampson often communicated with him in
code, asking him to check up on travelers known to be moving in the area whose motives
were uncertain.
BRITISH LEGATION, PEKING. May 30th, 1918.
Dear Mr Andrew,
A certain Madame A. David-Neel, probably of French nationality, left Peking for
Kansu and Hsin Chiang11 last February, the object of her journey being unknown.
She is not a missionary, and whilst here stayed at the Yung Ho Kung, the big Lama
Temple in the north of the City. A letter in Tibetan from Gyantse12 has recently come
into the hands of our Censors, and we are anxious to find out about her.
Did you by chance hear of her arrival in Lanchow or glean anything as to what the
object of her journey was? It seems curious that she should travel so far afield.
10 The language of the Uighurs, a Turkish people dominant in Mongolia and eastern Turkestan from the 8th
to 12th centuries and now living mainly in western China.
11 Hsin Chiang, literally means "New Frontier" or "New Border," In 1912, the Ching Dynasty was replaced by
the Republic of China. Yuan Ta Hua, the last Ching governor of Hsin Chiang, fled. One of his
subordinates, Yang Cheng Hsin took control of the province and acceded to the Republic of China in March
of the same year. Yang maintained control over Hsin Chiang until his assassination in 1928.
12 Gyantse is a town located in Gyantse County, Tibet, halfway between Lhasa and Mt Everest. It was
historically considered the third largest and most prominent town in Tibet (after Lhasa, and Shigatse). It is
strategically located on the ancient trade routes
