The frequency of the use of the word "Tibet" in the Russian-language discourse of the 18th and 20th centuries.

Lo Syue Postgraduate student at Moscow State University 7 Kravchenko str., Moscow, 119415, Russia syue.lo@yandex.ru

With the continuous development and popularization of Tibetan culture in Russia, more and more attention is being paid to describing the image of Tibet, and there are more and more works dedicated to Tibet, advertisements for Tibetan clinics, and blog texts about Tibet. These texts, which are the main sources of knowledge about Tibet in the Russian language, played an important role in the process of creating the image of Tibet. The image is an object of study of several sciences: philosophy, psychology and philology ^[1-5]. G. V. F. Hegel notes: "The image turns out to be in the middle between direct sensuality and thought belonging to the field of the ideal and represents in the same integrity both the concept of the object and its external being" ^[3]. V. A. Kanke points out that "any concrete scientific consideration will not be effective enough without philosophical analysis, since in this case it loses its necessary basis" ^[6]. The study of the image of a foreign country, another people is the field of research of such a young branch of science as imagology. A.R. Oshchepkov defines imagology as "a field of research in various humanitarian disciplines engaged in the study of the image of a "stranger" (a foreign country, people, etc.) in the social, cultural and literary consciousness of a country, epoch" ^[7]. Imagology in the book "Comparative Literature" is designated by the French researcher I. Chevrel as an actual vector of modern comparative studies, systematically studying the ideas of one people about another ^[8].

"In the conceptual apparatus of imagology, the concept of image has both a broad, generalizing meaning, and a narrower, specific one, as one of the "tools" (or "mechanisms") of reception and representation," notes V.B. Zemskov ^[9]. The image of the country and its inhabitants is embodied mainly in the combination of the word – the name of the country – and in the metaphors with which it is described. In this article, we will focus on the word compatibility.

In the national corpus of the Russian language (NKRL), the word "Tibet" is mentioned in 521 texts. From 1762 to 2021, we can see three peaks in the use of the word "Tibet".

The purpose of the article is to analyze the frequency of use of the word "Tibet" and the reasons for the appearance of three "peaks".

Ideas about Tibet began to form in the Russian language picture of the world starting from the middle of the 18th century. Initially, Tibet was perceived through the prism of landscape and ethnographic descriptions. Their appearance was due to the fact that from the middle to the end of the 18th century, the Russian Empire was actively exploring new trade routes in the eastern direction.

From the end of the XIX to the beginning of the XX century, Tibet began to feel pressure from two new forces that arose in Asia: Britain, which ruled India, from 1833 methodically extended its influence north towards the Himalayas, meanwhile Russia absorbed the lands of central Asia, expanding its empire in the east. The imperialists intensified their aggression against China, and Tibet, located on the southwestern border, became an important target for Russia, England and other countries. Being the vanguard of aggression against China, tsarist Russia sent as many as 13 branches of expeditions. At this time, there are many references to Tibet in various sources.

Most of the texts about Tibet tell about a journey to this previously unknown region. In contexts, verbs such as go, go, go, move, go, wave, go, drive are frequent, which set the vector of movement to a new country for Russians: 

The initial plan was to go to Lob-nor, explore this lake and its surroundings as much as possible, and then return to Kulja, hand over the collected collections here and, taking the rest of the reserves, move to Tibet. ^[13]

You can't go to Tibet through Lob-nor: 1) there are no camels, 2) a bad road, 3) there are no guides, 4) there are not enough forces to experience all the nastiness again. ^[13]

Today I decided, if I do not recover by December 2, I will go back to the Zaisan post to be cured in the hospital and go back to Guchen and Tibet healthy. ^[13]

Sick now, I almost certainly could not go to Tibet. ^[13]

We will be treated, and then in the middle of February we will fly back to Tibet. ^[13]

Bogdyhan ordered his arrest, but Kutukhta escaped from arrest and went to Tibet. ^[13].

"Well, that's a bit tricky," I grinned angrily, "I can't afford to go to Tibet. ^[13]

He traveled from Beijing through Tibet, arriving in Darjeeling at the time when we were there in 1891, and, according to our new acquaintance, who returned only a few weeks ago from there, he still lives in Darjeeling, since the Chinese and British governments have not had time to come to Darjeeling in all these years. agreement. ^[13]

The difficulty of traveling is described using the verb to get through:

Przewalski set out from Kalgan with the intention of making his way to Tibet and reaching Khlassa. ^[13].

A difficult journey requires serious preparation, which is indicated by the verb to equip and the verbal noun equipment:

Having sent all these collections, Nikolai Mikhailovich began to equip himself in Tibet. ^[13]

Chapter IV   Equipment for Tibet.   — From Kuldzhi to Guchen. ^[13].

Tibet as an important destination is actualized in combination with such nouns as path, journey, expedition:

On the advice of his colleague on the General Staff, Pevtsov, who traveled through China, he chose the path to Tibet through the cities of Guchen and Hami, and from there to Tsaidam, to the upper reaches of the Blue River and finally to Hlassu, the cherished goal of aspirations.^[13]

However, this cloud has already passed; our sky has cleared up a little, but there are new, perhaps more threatening clouds on the horizon — this is the upcoming trip to Tibet. ^[13]

No matter how hard it is for me, but I need to submit to necessity — and postpone the expedition to Tibet until more favorable circumstances.^[13]

Tibet is still an unknown country. This quality of Tibet is expressed in combination with the adjective unknown, the participle untouched:

We are going to explore unknown Tibet, to make it the property of science. ^[13]

Now the job is only half done: the Forehead has been explored, but Tibet remains untouched. ^[13].

There are many rumors about this region, which is supported by the introductory word they say, the verb to dream, the noun imagination. The future benefits of the development of Tibet are supported by expressions such as the wealth of Tibet, the benefits of exploitation, the possibility of protectorate:

It is said that Tibet is rich in minerals, but this has so far been little proven, and in general the "riches of Tibet" and the benefits of exploiting them are problematic, so, I repeat, the imagination of those who dream of the possibility of a Russian protectorate over Tibet goes beyond the probable. ^[13]

Tibet is located in the southwest of the Tibetan plateau, bordering several countries such as Burma, India, Bhutan, Nepal, etc. In some contexts, the peculiarities of these countries are mentioned, for example, the Mongolian language.

To begin with, after moving from Kyakhta, we headed all the way to Tibet with acquaintances, twice, sometimes even three times, we had traveled, therefore, in extreme cases we could do without leaders; then, until Gan-su itself, we did not meet Chinese anywhere, with demoralized soldiers whom we could easily have a clash, following in Eastern Turkestan; further, we acquired the best camels in Northern Mongolia, accustomed to constant caravan movements; in Transbaikalia, we could personally choose escort Cossacks, many of whom know the Mongolian language used in Tibet; finally, following from Kyakhta, we aroused less suspicion in the Chinese authorities, even in Beijing, than heading to Tibet from the areas of our border closest to it through the Muslim population of Kashgaria hostile to the Chinese. ^[13]

In many contexts, the features of the route to Tibet are described: through deserts, wooded mountains, and the sources of the Yellow River. Guides help in a difficult journey: Pundits and Gygens.

This path lay across the desert, 120 centuries across, to the oasis of Sa-Jeu, beyond which stood the wooded mountains of Gan-su; then there was Tsaidam and northern Tibet. ^[13]

Finally, recently, in 1881, one of the Pundits (an Indian trained in surveying) passed through the sources of the Yellow River, whom the East Indian Geodetic Bureau secretly equips to Tibet at times. ^[13]

From Zaisan via Hami to Tibet and the upper reaches of the Yellow River ^[13]

Then he found another Gygen boy in Mongolia in the same way and, holding him in his arms, took him to Tibet. ^[13]

The Tibetan terrain has a complex relief, it is very diverse. The average height of Tibet above sea level is 4000 meters. There are more than 50 peaks in the Tibetan region at an altitude of 7000 meters, of which 11 peaks are at an altitude of 8000 meters. In contexts, the nouns mountain, valley, swamp and the adjectives mountainous, high, impassable, inhospitable are used to describe Tibet.

Tibet is an inhospitable country in the sense that its average altitude above sea level can be considered as 14 000 — 15 000 of course, there are lower places, but in general, with the peaks of this highest mountain node in the world, the average height of the entire plateau is very high. ^[13]

Our guides, who hunted more than a dozen times on the other side of the described mountains, informed us that if we go south along the old road that the Kalmyks used to go to Tibet (before the Dungan uprising), then immediately after Altyn Tag there is a high plain, fifty versts wide. ^[13]

In addition to hunting trails, there are two roads in the described mountains: one leads from Lob-nor to Tibet, the other to the city of Sha-zheu [apparently Su-zhou]. ^[13]

At the beginning of the last century, the Chinese emperor Kang Xi sent his uncle with a convoy of soldiers to Tibet to describe this country. ^[13]

The abundance of the latter was so great that the whole of Northeastern Tibet, not only in the valleys, but even on the mountains, often represented impassable swamps. ^[13]

The club-footed beast gorges on these berries for two autumn months and then returns to hibernate in Tibet; it probably also lies in the Tibetan mountains adjacent to Tsaidam. ^[13].

Tibet is popular as a summer vacation destination for the king and the lama, as indicated by the phrase summer cottage:

Through the ridge blocking the road from Tomlonga, the king of Sikkim, his entourage and the Kupgen Lama himself annually move to Tibet as to a summer cottage, and I confess I really wanted to look there: there are only a few small crossings to Lassa. ^[13].

In addition, Tibet is known as the birthplace of a special breed of dog:

The homeland of bristly-breasted dogs should be considered the Central Asian highlands of Tibet and the Himalayas. ^[13]

The development of Tibet can contribute to the development of trade, which is spoken about by the words goods, tea, coin, serve, trade, trader, names of yamba fabrics, calico:

Meanwhile, the Chinese government annually released several million to this region for the salaries of troops and officials who did not need the products of the nomadic people; this was what our Russian merchants, preceded by the Tatars, took advantage of; they began, so to speak, to hire sultans to pass them off as their envoys, and thus in Russia, which always paid extra in hard currency in trade with all other countries, the famous yambs (yuanbao) and cheap calico began to be exported from this region alone, with which the Turkestanis paid their taxes to the Chinese; Russian goods even penetrated from here into inner China and Tibet. ^[13]

The Chinese also manufacture brick tea, which goes mainly to Tibet and Mongolia. ^[13]

Travel to Tibet contributed to cultural exchange, at the end of the 19th century, Russians began to learn the religion of Tibet, this is indicated in the texts by the words Lama, Dalai Lama, Batyr Lama, Buddhism, Gygen, which are characteristic of the Tibetan religion:

When such a solemn day comes, the lamas, with various ceremonies appropriate to the occasion, go to Tibet, find some rich pious family there and announce to them that the Hutuktu, as can be seen from the sacred Tibetan books, has migrated into the soul of their son. ^[13]

Taxes are also paid to this lama, some of which, once every three years, are sent to Tibet. ^[13]

Many years ago, the Dalai Lama sent his batyr lama (bogatyr lama) to the north to find two gygens (incarnate deity) and leave one of them in Bogdo-kureni (Urga), and bring the other to Tibet. ^[13]

Then the batyr lama cut off the upper half of the torso with a saber and took it with him to Tibet. ^[13]

The main center of northern Buddhism is Tibet, followed by China, Japan, Nepal, Mongolia, and it is also widespread among the Buryats and Kalmyks.^[13]

Buddhism, as a religion unknown to Russian people, is often perceived as a mystical revelation, and Tibet itself is like a sacred land full of miracles.

He was not able to make her ghost a permanent phenomenon, nor to spiritualize it: for this he needed a Fiery Color.  He went to Tibet.  Being late for the flowering of the Fiery Color on the spot, he dug up several bushes of precious fern and transported them to Russia with the greatest precautions, hoping, after a seven-year period, to master the color without new labors and trials.^[13]

The second peak of the use of the word "Tibet" can be associated with the expedition of Nicholas Roerich to Tibet in 1924. One of its goals was to establish friendly relations with the Dalai Lama and the Tashi Lama. N. K. Roerich describes in detail the local conditions and customs in Tibet in the form of diaries. The result is the book "The Heart of Asia". ^[10]. The events of the first Central Asian expedition were reflected in the diaries of N. K. Roerich "Altai-Himalayas" and Y. N. Roerich "Along the trails of Central Asia". In the 1990s, diaries of other participants of the Tibetan journey were published, which drew attention to the special "Buddhist mission" of the expedition to Lhasa (Ryabinin, Portnyagin, Kordashevsky). The background of the image of Tibet described in the novel "The Heart of Asia" is such that during the economic crisis after the First World War, Westerners generally felt depressed, and the development of Western culture was in a period of fluctuation. In such a turbulent social environment, a "spiritual holy land" like Chinese Tibet appeared to Westerners, thereby awakening the endless longing of Westerners for China ^[11].

During the second peak of word usage (around 1926), Russians constantly travel to Tibet, this is indicated by the nouns hike, flight and the verbs come, go, fly:

The latter was a very famous fighter for the red-capped doctrine and acted vigorously not only in Khalkha or in Mongolia in general, but even made trips to Kukunor and Tibet and everywhere defended his old faith from the rapidly spreading new, yellow-capped sect of Tsonghava. ^[13]

After all, now all the world records in this regard: both across the seas and oceans, and overland have been achieved, there remains one for our share — this is a flight to Tibet! ^[13]

Laying a route along the diagonal of Urga-Lhasa, South-South, through Chatsering-huduk, Sogo-nor, Su-zhou, Anxi, Tsaidam, Mur-usu, etc. After the pilots came the envoy to Tibet (Buryat), with whom I had a long, long conversation about his mission. ^[13]

And if only it were possible to fly by airplane to the mental centers of your native country for three months, live there, submit scientific material, communicate with friends of science, with specialists, share information with the general public from departments of large audiences, write at least a brief report and then, after the gentle caress of exclusively native friends, go again to the transcendental Tibet, to the focus of the forces of Buddhism. ^[13]

In this context, the adjective cloudless is mentioned, combined with the word Tibet, which speaks about the perception of this country as mountainous, hiding behind clouds. In other contexts, the impression of Tibet is expressed with the help of adjectives harsh, charming, original, peculiar and prepositional constructions with pleasure:

I loved and love harsh Tibet, I love its original nature and a peculiar person. ^[13]

How long has it been since I first saw Gan-su with Tatung at Chorten-tong and charming Kam or Eastern Tibet? ^[13]

With great pleasure, I would give you Mongolia for Tibet! ^[13]

Tibet as a new territory is very interesting to Russians, as its attention and popularity prove:

My last and penultimate ("Hara-hoto" and "Tibet") books enjoy great attention and popularity. ^[13]

The nouns dream, dream speak about the perception of Tibet as a fabulous country, where many people strive to get to:

Always, sitting at home, in my homeland, I dream and daydream away to Tibet — to the nature and culture of Tibet. ^[13]

Descriptions of Tibet at this time are no longer a simple enumeration of facts, but a striking detailed description.

Like N. M. Przhevalsky, I admire Gan-su, but more than that, one can admire the wondrous beauty of gorges with rattling, fast rivers, their waterfalls, their lawns, the forest, under the shade of which white—eared pheasants, green vsears, kulans roam, where the voices of all kinds of small and small birds are heard - this is all Eastern Tibet, or Kam, which, as well as Sichuan, was always dreamed of by my unforgettable teacher, who deeply loved and deeply understood the beauty and life of the wild, virgin nature of Central Asia and distant Tibet. ^[13]

Nevertheless, one of the most frequent epithets for the word "Tibet" remains the adjective distant:

The life of the wild, virgin nature of Central Asia and distant Tibet. ^[13]

He knows best not only our Mongolia, but also Western China, Eastern Turkestan and distant Tibet. ^[13]

As during the first peak, during the second peak, the words Lama, Dalai Lama, showing interest in the religion of Tibet are also frequent:

The lama and the woman turned out to be nice people, they behaved politely, with tact, and showed great interest in my book "Tibet and the Dalai Lama"; they looked through it from beginning to end, asking for explanations to the drawings.^[13]

When I found out that I had the book "Tibet and the Dalai Lama" with me, I asked to show it to him. ^[13]

He quickly picked up "Tibet and the Dalai Lama" and began to examine it with fervor. ^[13]

In addition, in the texts Tibet is called the focus of the forces of Buddhism:

And if only it were possible to fly by airplane to the mental centers of your native country for three months, live there, submit scientific material, communicate with friends of science, with specialists, share information with the general public from departments of large audiences, write at least a brief report and then, after the gentle caress of exclusively native friends, go again to the transcendental Tibet, to the focus of the forces of Buddhism. ^[13]

Tibet is a region of China with numerous earthquakes, characterized by high intensity and wide distribution. At the beginning of the 21st century, a series of strong earthquakes occurred in the central part of Tibet and on the eastern outskirts, a number of which occurred on the periphery of the Bayan-Khara lithospheric block. At this time, the third peak in the use of the word "Tibet" appeared.

During the third peak (2009), Russians continue to choose the path to unknown Tibet as their travel route, which is shown by the verbs to go, move, pass and equip:

The melancholy narrator takes a loan from a bank and embarks on a trip around the world — St. Petersburg, Egypt, Europe, South America, Oceania, China, Tibet, India, Tuva and Khakassia; transit through fourteen countries. ^[13]

They naturally need money to one day move together to India or Tibet (although there is also socialism there, even more profound). ^[13]

Arias, Sanskrit, Sacred Laws according to which humanity must be forced to live, shrines through which one can gain power over people, and perhaps over time, telepathy and hypnosis — these are the lures that later forced the NKVD and Hitler to equip expeditions to Tibet. ^[13]

Barchenko's expedition to Shambhala was approved, it was supposed to go to Tibet in 1925; a gigantic sum of 600 thousand dollars was allocated for its financing.^[13]

In September 1925, he caught up with N. K. Roerich's expedition and traveled with it all over Tibet and Western China. ^[13]

As during the first peak and the second, in 2009 (during the third peak) the word lama was mentioned in the national corpus of the Russian language.

At the last moment, Barchenko was refused to organize the expedition, and a trusted Bolshevik cadre, Yakov Blumkin (the same one who killed the German ambassador to Russia Count Mirbach in 1918), went to Tibet under the guise of a lama for the secrets of Shambhala. ^[13]

A greater understanding of the Tibetan religion is indicated by the use of the word shrine, the phrase Sacred Laws. The importance of Buddhism as a new trend of religious thought for Western culture is indicated by such combinations of words as power over people and time, the nouns telepathy, hypnosis, bait indicate what people are willing to do in order to possess secret mystical knowledge.

Arias, Sanskrit, Sacred Laws according to which humanity must be forced to live, shrines through which one can gain power over people, and perhaps over time, telepathy and hypnosis — these are the lures that later forced the NKVD and Hitler to equip expeditions to Tibet. ^[13]

Russians' understanding of Tibet at this time can be seen in texts with expressions such as the supreme truth, voluptuous obscurity:

Abih's idol and patron is Blumkin, a terrible man, a lover of the revolution, a heretic full of brutal lust and imposture — along with a fierce desire for the highest truth, the voluptuous obscurity of which led him to Tibet, to the Ismaelites, and to Palestine... ^[13]

German scientist Hugo Dieserink in his work "Comparative imagology. On the political importance of literary studies in Europe" (1988) develops the idea that imagology plays an important role in the development of humanities, i.e. it stimulates the recognition of peoples of each other ^[12]. During the third "peak", a mission travels to Tibet for a political purpose, as evidenced by the noun mission, the participle visited, uniting, in addition, the word Tibet is constantly combined with the names of different countries, for example, Uyguria, England, China, etc.:

Ufa ophthalmologist E. Muldashev, who has visited Tibet several times these days, decided to please the world with his tall tales about Shambhala. ^[13]

Only after that, the mission went further through Tibet and Uyguria to Russia. ^[13]

What information this mission obtained can be judged by the headlines of Khomutnikov's report to the NKVD: "The Dalai Lama and his moods", "The Dalai Lama's ministers", "Tibet and England", "Tibet and China", "The Tibetan Army" and so on. ^[13]

The expedition, or rather, the diplomatic mission of N. Roerich had two goals: the explicit one was to reach the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, and proclaim N.K. Roerich the head of Western Buddhists, the embodiment of Rigdan—Jano (as N. Roerich called the 25th ruler of Shambhala), and the secret one was to unite the Buddhist peoples of Asia in the name of the future the Buddhas of Maitreya and create a "New country" uniting Siberia, Mongolia, Tibet and even Kalmykia.^[13]

In addition, the reason for the increase in the number of mentions of Tibet could be the large-scale unrest in the spring of 2008 (evidence of another crisis in the Sino-Tibetan conflict) ^[13].

Tibet is becoming the focus of global media attention. The article "The Olympics are out of danger" mentions: Many media outlets confidently declare that there is no danger of disrupting the Olympics in Beijing and there cannot be, no matter what protests Tibet, its supporters, and human rights activists may make ^[13].

Relations between Tibet and Russia have a long history, and these friendly relations are reflected not only in the cultural, but also in the economic and political spheres. The three peaks of the use of the word "Tibet" clearly show the dynamic change in the image of Tibet in the Russian language picture of the world.