Pioneer in Tibet / Douglas A. Wissing.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wissing, Douglas A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shelton, A. L. (Albert Leroy), 1875-1922--Travel--China--Tibet Autonomous Region.

Shelton, A. L.

Shelton, A. L. (Albert Leroy), 1875-1922.

Travel.

China--Tibet Autonomous Region.

Tibet Autonomous Region (China)--Description and travel.

Tibet Autonomous Region (China).

Physical Description:

xiii, 334 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Life and perils of Dr. Albert Shelton

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

Summary:

Dr. Albert Shelton was a medical missionary who spent nearly twenty years in the Tibetan borderlands at the start of the last century. Raising his family in a land of banditry and civil war, caught between a weak Chinese government and the British Raj, Shelton proved to be a resourceful frontiersman. During the course of his work in Tibet, he was praised by the Western press as a family man, revered doctor, respected diplomat, and fearless adventurer. Driven by his goal of setting up a medical mission within Lhasa, the seat of the Dalai Lama and a city off-limits to Westerners for hundreds of years, Shelton acted as a valued go-between for the Tibetans and Chinese. Tragically, while finalizing his entry into Lhasa, Shelton was shot to death on a remote mountain trail in the Himalayas. Set against the exciting history of early twentieth century Tibet and China, "Pioneer in Tibet offers a window into the life of a dying breed of adventurer.

Contents:

Prologue: The Trail to Tibet, 1922 1

1. Blood or Bread: The Early Life of Albert Shelton, 1875-1880 7

2. Strange Country: The Frontier Education of Albert Shelton, 1880-1893 17

3. Good Towns and Tibetan Dreams: Respectability and Romance, 1895-1903 33

4. Journey to the Borderlands: From the Midwest to the Himalayas 47

5. The Portal: Tachienlu and the Challenge of Kham 61

6. Bayonets to Kham: Chao Erh-feng and the Christian Missionaries 79

7. The Doctor in Kham, 1908-1909 95

8. Conquests, Curios, and Conversions: Batang, 1909-1910 105

9. This Great Awful City: Furlough, 1910-1913 117

10. Shattered Charms and New Perspectives: Batang, 1914-1917 129

11. The Next Livingstone: Shelton in Kham, 1918-1919 159

12. The Devil's Own Cauldron: Yunnan, 1919-1920 183

13. The Hero Returns: Furlough, 1920-1921 199

14. Back to Batang, 1921 217

15. The Thorn Bush, 1922 225.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [245]-326) and index.

ISBN:

1403963282

OCLC:

52806214

Online:

Publisher description