The Archives of the Tibet Autonomous Region have in their keep photos taken by the first generation of Tibetan photographers.

As the archive curators sorted them, they began to inquire into the lives of the three foremost photographers Demo Dainzin Gyamco, Charong Dongdui Namgyi and Cherin Jigmei Songtsan Wangbo whose lenses captured parts of the region's recent history.

Holy man

In the early part of the 20th century, Demo Dainzin Gyamco, the 9th Living Buddha and a nephew of the 13th Dalai Lama Demo, lived in the Daingyiling Monastery in Lhasa.

As the story goes, Demo first saw a camera when he was 13, during a meeting with a visiting European one day in the autumn of 1912.

The visitor proposed taking a photograph of the young living Buddha. But to do so he insisted on the boy being tied to a chair to make sure he kept perfectly still during the lengthy process then needed to take a photograph.

As a Living Buddha, the boy was revered and the idea of his being manhandled in so undignified a way caused such outrage, the visitor was unceremoniously driven out of the monastery.

In later life, Demo came to regret having missed the opportunity to have his picture taken as a boy. The incident, however, sparked an enduring interest in photography.

In the 1920s, a Nepalese photographer arrived in Lhasa and opened a small photographic studio. It seems he failed to do his homework, however. The highly superstitious locals shied away from having their picture taken, believing it would take their soul away.

His business venture an unmitigated failure, and depressed, the Nepalese fell ill, but before he died, he sent a Caybin camera made in Britain to the Living Buddha as a gift. Thus began Demo's sideline career as a photographer.

Over the years he took a great many pictures in Lhasa, the Xigaze area and his hometown of Gongbo, using both the Caybin and later other high quality Western made cameras, including the famed Leica.

He set up his own dark room, and installed enlarging and printing equipment. Over the years, many of his works have been lost and today only about 300 photographs survive.

In his pursuit to record the lives and land of Tibet, Demo, even with his highly respected status, had to overcome people's fear of being photographed.

Once, as he was about to secretly photograph a Buddhist ritual, he was discovered by lamas in charge of discipline, who chased him through the streets.

But as superstition gave way, many nobles and wealthy families in Tibet began to follow Demo's example and bought cameras from overseas.

Indeed, taking photographs of friends and family became something of a fad among the ruling elite of the time.

Father's gift

In September 1924, Charong Dasang Zhamdui journeyed to India, where it is believed he bought a complete set of photographic equipment for his son.

By 1935, the photos young Charong Dongdui Namgyi had taken in the preceding years filled his family home.

They featured well-known monasteries, castles, palaces and Buddhist halls in Lhasa, and various religious objects from Kham, Xigaze, Gongbo, Moinba and Ngari.

His camera captured the traditional Tibetan garb and adornments of herders, the variety of costumes worn by monks from different sects, and yaks grazing on the fabulous pastureland.

In 1937, a bridge was destroyed by a flood in Doilung Gully and Charong Dasang Zhamdui was charged with overseeing its reconstruction by the local government. He arranged for his son Dongdui Namgyi and a relative, Cherin Jigmei Songtsam Wangbo, to photograph the whole process.

They duly documented the transportation of materials, digging and building and the moment the bridge reopened to traffic.

Over the years both father and son recorded various aspects of life in Lhasa, from cultural activities to exchanges between the Charong family and the 5th Living Buddha Razheng.

In the 1920s, two saloon cars were imported, with some considerable difficulty, into land-locked Tibet one for the Dalai Lama. Father and son were there to capture the moment.

Thanks to their amateur passion, they left an invaluable historic record of their times and homeland.

Official chronicler

Among the archives is a photograph of a Tibetan youth, dressed in traditional costume, a camera slung around his neck, leaning against a white marble ballustrade and smiling into the camera.

This young man is Cherin Jigmei Songtsan Wangbo, one of Tibet's best-known early famous photographers.

As a royal descendant, Cherin Jigmei studied abroad as a child.

During a period of study in neighbouring India, he became interested in photography and took it up as a hobby. In 1932, he returned home after completing his studies and was appointed as a Tibetan local officer in 1933.

His amateur love of photography led him to capture a multitude of images, including construction of a family house in Lhasa, from start to finish, a complex procedure which also involved various religious ceremonies.

From the mid-1930s to the end of the 1950s, Cherin took many pictures, all of which are now preserved in the region's archives. They include a group shot of Tibetan youths who studied in India in the early 1920s, a number recording construction of Palkor Monastery, Zongshan Hill in Gyangze and Gandain Monastery.

Others captured important religious and political activities attended by Panchen Erdeni and the Dalai Lama.

Cherin traveled far and wide with his cameras, at first regarding it no more than his own personal hobby. Later on, as photographic technology improved, more and more people sought his skills, and one day he came to the attention of the Gaxag government.

At one time he was described as the official photographer of the Dalai Lama's palace.

That was something of an exaggeration, but came about because, although the palace was equipped with a camera and cinematographic equipment, few people knew how to use them. So, every time the Dalai Lama presided over some important religious or political event, Cherin would be summoned to record the moment.

Later Cherin led a small group of cinematographers to document the activities of the Tibetan local government and the Dalai Lama.

The first cinematographer in Tibet's history, Cherin also filmed delegates of the central government and the Chinese People's Liberation Army just after they entered Tibet.

(China Daily May 26, 2005)