ncessant fighting in the north had drained the Song Dynasty of its supply of horses there. To acquire enough horses for both military and other purposes, the dynasty established horse markets in the Xizhou and Hezhou Prefectures in the northwest (present-day Lintao County and Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province) and the Yazhou Prefecture in the southwest (western part of today's Sichuan Province)--traditional trading places between Tibetans and Hans.

By a government stipulation, only the tea produced in the Yazhou Prefecture could be used on these markets to barter for Tibetan horses. The scattered Tibetan-Han trade was thus turned into well-organized tea and horse barter, which not only strengthened the economic exchanges between the two nationalities but also put their cultural contact and day-today relations on a more intimate footing.

An Integral Part of China

In the early 13th century, Tibet was still locked in internal fighting among different religious sects.

In 1206, when Genghis Khan arrived at Lake Kokonor (in today's Qinghai Province)with his Mongolian troops, he was met by representatives of local Tibetan forces who came to pledge their allegiance to him and solicit his support.

In 1244, at a written invitation from Hudan,grandson of Genghis Khan, Sagya Bainchida sent two nephews, Pagba and Qagna Doje, to Liangzhou (in today's Gansu Province) for a discussion on Tibet. He himself met the Mongolian leader in the same place two years later. Political negotiations between the two leaders resulted in an agreement to annex Tibet into Mongolia.

In 1253, Mengke Khan dispatched his troops into Tibet and unified Tibet, thus putting an end to nearly 400 years of internal fighting.

In 1271, Kublai Khan, the founding emperor of the Yuan Dyansty, unified China (which he called Yuan). Thereafter the Yuan Dynasty's central government adopted a series of important measures by which it shored up its administration of Tibet.

Integration of State With Religion. After he took the throne, Kublai Khan established the Zongzhiyuan (later it was changed into Xuanzhengyuan), a government department in charge of the nation's Buddhist affairs and Tibet's military, government and religious affairs.Imperial Tutor Pagba was put at the head of it.

The Yuan emperor also put Tibet under the rule of the Sagya Sect, the Sagya King of the Law. Thus for, the first time in Tibet, state and religion was integrated, a system which lasted until 1959.

The Yuan Dynasty set up courier stations and military posts in Tibet and dispatched pacification commissioners and armies there. It also conducted censuses and popularized the corvee system. Local officials were examined at regular intervals. All these measures helped re-establish order in Tibetan society.

Pagba himself was an outstanding linguist. In 1270, he created a new Mongolian written language patterned after Tibetan. Known as the written language of Pagba, it was vigorously promoted by the Yuan court and he was promoted to the "Dabao King of the Law" and "Tutor of the Great Yuan Emperor."

After that, the Yuan Dynasty continuously installed Tibetan Buddhists as Imperial Tutors at the head of the Xuanzhengyuan.

Ming-Tibet Relations. In the mid-14th century, the Yuan Dynasty fell and in its place rose the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). However, the Yuan system remained basically intact in Tibet. The Xian Military Headquarters, for example, set up two sub-headquarters in Dokam and Wuizang to control Tibet assisted by a hierarchy of local officials: Wanhu, commanding 10,000 households, Qianhu, commanding 1,000 households, Baihu, commanding 100 households, and so on.

During this period, leaders of the various religious sects and local forces vied with one another for establishing direct relations with the Ming Dynasty to gain awards and support from the central authorities. Leading Tibetan rulers who once ruled the greater part of Tibet,including Pagmo Zhuba of the Gagyuba Sect, Rinbungba of the Gama Gagyuba Sect and leaders of the Xingxagba Sect, were bestowed titles of honour by the Ming Dynasty.

Relinguishing the Yuan policy of favouring the Sagya Sect, the Ming Dynasty undertook to appease all the religious sects in Tibet by conferring title on their leaders. To cite a few of these titles: Three Kings of the Law, Five Religious Kings, Disciple of the Buddha in the West and Great Imperial Tutor. The administration of Tibet at the time was carried out through making contacts with local religious leaders and conferring titles on them.

According to records of Ming Dynasty's Board of Rites, in the 1450s, every year 300- 400 Tibetans arrived at the capital city to offer tributes to the emperor and pay homage to him. By the 1460s, the figure was 10 times larger.