1941: Tibet

There were further signs in 1941 of a political rapprochement between China and Tibet, increasingly evident since the death of the old Dalai Lama in 1933 and enthronement of the Chinese candidate as the new Dalai Lama in 1940. In January two representatives of the Reting Hutukhtu, Regent of Tibet, after making the long overland journey from Lhasa, conferred with China's government leaders in Chungking for several weeks. In September it was announced at Chungking that the postal service connecting West China with Lhasa, which had been suspended in 1918, would shortly be restored. The Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission of the Chinese government ordered its offices in Changtu (Chamdo) and Tehko (Gonchen) to purchase horses and hire couriers in readiness for resumption of the mail service to Lhasa. From Chungking, on July 1, also came news that the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, second most important Tibetan spiritual dignitary who had died late in 1937, had been discovered at Lihua, 90 miles west of Tachienlu. A special council of Tibetan lamas had formally notified the Lhasa government of this event. The child, named Tuden Dochi, was reported to have been born on Dec. 2, 1937, the approximate date of the former Panchen Lama's death, which occurred at Kantse on the Tibetan-Chinese border during his attempted return to Tibet after an exile of 13 years.