A Life Unseen: A Memoir of Service to Tibet - Softcover

The only government official in pre-Communist Tibet to have been educated in English recounts the pivotal events that changed his homeland, and the fate of his people, forever

Rinchen Sadutshang was born in 1928 near the Tibet-China border to a well-off trading family, educated in a Jesuit school in the Himalayan foothills of British India, and served in the Dalai Lama’s government both before and after the 1959 Communist takeover of Lhasa. A refugee alongside tens of thousands of his countrymen, he played a crucial role in bringing the plight of the Tibetan people to the world’s attention and establishing institutions for preserving the Tibetan culture and way of life.

In this memoir, the author recounts his long, fascinating career in service to the Tibetan cause. From meeting British viceroy Lord Waverly in India and General Chiang Kai-shek in China in 1946 to being part of the delegation that successfully pled Tibet’s case before the United Nations in the 1960s, he offers a first-hand perspective on a number of memorable historical events.

 

Rinchen Sadutshang served in the Tibetan government in exile in the late 1970s. Now retired, he lives in India.