26 February 2008
Death of sole Tibetan Long March veteran
(Associated Press; TibetInfoNet) China’s state-run CCTV reported the death of Tian Bao, who passed away aged 92 due to illness on 21 February in Chengdu, Sichuan. Born as Sangye Yeshi in eastern Tibet (Kham), now part of Sichuan province, Tian Bao joined Mao's army as it pushed through Western on the flight from the nationalist Guomingtang forces, an episode known in Chinese history books as the ‘Long March’. The Chinese name Tian Bao, literally 'Heavenly Treasure', was given to him by Mao Tse Tung personally, thus underlining the great importance he attached to having a Tibetan join the Red Army. Tian Bao became 1965 a deputy secretary of the regional Communist Party in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Although not considered a man of great ability, Tian Bao enjoyed fame and privileges as the only Tibetan veteran of the Long March (chang zhing gan bu).