Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 140 (Color Image)

0140	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

106 PEKING TO LHASA

The average for a family in Sining is five. For

instance, five years previously 995 families con-

sisted of 10,083 persons. Now 2009 families have

9971 persons. Though it is generally stated that

the children of Chinese-Tibetan marriages become

Tibetan, Père Schram said it depended on place

and influence whether the children became Chinese

or Tibetan. In villages where Chinese predomin-

ated or possibly where the chief ruler was Chinese

they usually become Chinese, and vice versa.

The " Gurong ", an important Buddhist Abbot

of the red sect, lives between Kweite and Sunhwa

on the Yellow River in Kansu. In or about 1919

he went to Lhasa to try and arrange certain

matters with the Dalai Lama. Ma Ch'i did not

approve of this and sent two Chinese ahead to

Lhasa to report. He also sent a third man to Lhasa

to spy on the Gurong. The Gurong could not get

an interview with the Dalai Lama, and on making

inquiries discovered he was hindered by the spy.

So he invited the spy to dine with him and then

had him tied up by the fingers till he confessed.

After the spy had confessed the Gurong murdered

him. When the Dalai Lama heard of this he

fined the Gurong. And the two Chinese also

hearing of it returned ahead of the Gurong to

Sining-fu and told Ma Ch'i, who took away his

arms from the Gurong when he arrived at Jye-

kundo and fined him when he arrived at Sining.

The Gurong then retired to his monastery.

Pereira found Père Schram to be a most

energetic man. When he first came to Sining the

only Catholic was his boy. In five years he had

made nearly 10,000 converts of whom about

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books