Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai

11th Pagbalha Hutuktu [fr]Assumed office
1942Preceded byLobzang Tubten Mipam Tsultrim Gyeltsen [zh]Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
(3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th)Assumed office
March 2003ChairmanJia Qinglin→Yu Zhengsheng→Wang Yang→Wang HuningIn office
April 1959 – March 1993ChairmanZhou Enlai→Deng Xiaoping→Deng Yingchao→Li XiannianVice Chairman of the National People's Congress
(8th, 9th)In office
March 1993 – March 2003ChairmanQiao Shi→Li PengChairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative ConferenceAssumed office
January 1993Preceded byRaidi Personal detailsBornFebruary 1940 (age 84)
Litang County, Kham, ChinaPolitical partyIndependentChinese nameSimplified Chinese帕巴拉·格列朗杰Traditional Chinese帕巴拉·格列朗傑

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Pàbālā Géliè Lǎngjié

Tibetan nameTibetanའཕགས་པ་ལྷ་དགེ་ལེགས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་

Transcriptions
Wylie	vphags pa lha dge legs rnam rgyal
Tibetan Pinyin	Pagbalha Gêlêg Namgyä

Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai (Tibetan: འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་དགེ་ལེགས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་; Chinese: 帕巴拉·格列朗杰; born February 1940) is the 11th Qamdo Pagbalha Hutuktu of Tibetan Buddhism and a politician of the People's Republic of China. He is a Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and the Honorary President of the Buddhist Association of China. He also formerly served as a Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress, Vice Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and Vice President of the Buddhist Association of China.^[1] As a Tibetan tulku (incarnate lama), he is notable for his willingness to work in the Chinese government, except during the Cultural Revolution.^[2]

Biography

Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai was born in February 1940 in Litang County, in present-day Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province. In 1942, he was recognized as the 11th incarnation of Pagbalha Hutuktu.^[1][2] He is a member of the Qangdin Monastery in Qamdo, Tibet.^{[citation needed]}

Following the Battle of Qamdo in 1950, Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai was appointed Vice Chairman of the Qamdo Liberation Committee at the age of 10.^[1][2] From 1952 to 1956 he studied Buddhist sutras at the Sera Monastery in Lhasa.^{[citation needed]} In 1956 he became a member of the Tibet Autonomous Region Preparatory Committee, and appointed its Vice Chairman in 1960.^[2] He also served as Chairman of the Religious Affairs Committee from 1956 to 1965, and visited Beijing several times, together with the 10th Panchen Lama.^[2] In 1959, he became a Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (3rd CPPCC National Committee).^[1]

As a Tibetan tulku, he is notable for his willingness to work in the Chinese government since boyhood, except during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976),^[2] when he was sent to perform manual labour.^[1]

After the end of the Cultural Revolution, he resumed his position as Vice Chairman of the CPPCC, and was most recently re-elected in 2013 to the position in the 12th CPPCC National Committee.^[1] From 1993 to 2002, he served as Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) Committee, Vice Chairman of the TAR People's Congress Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the TAR People's Government, and Vice President of the Buddhist Association of China. From 1993 to 2003 he also concurrently held the post of Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress.^[1] Since 2002 he has been the Honorary President of the Buddhist Association of China.^[1]

Family

Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai had an elder brother named Kamqoin Soinam Gyamco [zh]. According to Chinese sources, he was killed by the rebels during the March 1959 Tibetan uprising, in front of Lhasa's Norbulingka.^[3]

References

Religious titles
Preceded by Lobzang Tubten Mipam Tsultrim Gyeltsen [zh]	Pagbalha Hutuktu [zh] 1942–present	Incumbent
Assembly seats
Preceded by Raidi	Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference 1993–present	Incumbent
Government offices
Preceded by K. H. Ting	President of China Committee of Religion and Peace [zh] 2009–present	Incumbent