The Rise of Gönpo Namgyel in Kham

The Blind Warrior of Nyarong

This book presents a case study of the ascendancy of Gönpo Namgyel, a minor Tibetan chieftain in Kham who had a great impact on Sino-Tibetan relations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The author looks at how Kham attempted to create its own identity and space and argues that frontier regions are not mere peripheries but form an integral part of history.