In l888, Tibetan troops and militia fought fiercely against British invaders, but were defeated at the battle of Mount Lungdo in l888. As a result, first Sikkim and then Bhutan were lost to the imperialists. The Qing Dynasty was weak, and the fate of the country was at stake. Just at this juncture, in Lhasa a serious incident known as the "Demo Incident" took place. Whatever the truth of the matter, the young l3th Dalai Lama made this incident an excuse to start an internal crackdown. A century later, the people of Tibet are still divided about what happened, and there are some who say that the misfortunes that befell Tibet afterwards were retribution for the death of the ninth Demo.

During the 200 years from the sixth Dalai Lama to the l2th Dalai Lama, all the Dalai Lamas except for the seventh and eighth, who lived into their early forties, all died either in childhood or not long afterwards. It is likely that they were victims of power struggles involving regents.

For nine years until the 13th Dalai Lana was of age to assume the throne, the ninth Living buddha Demo Hutuktu succeeded Living Buddha Gundeling as regent. During his years in power, the ninth Demo accumulated wealth exceeding even that of the Gaxag, the Tibetan.
When the Dalai Lama cane of age and assumed the throne, Demo Hutuktu's political rivals saw their chance to topple him. They accused his nephew Norbu Tsering of a plot to murder the Dalai Lama. The crime Norbu Tsering was accused of was said to have been concocted in typical Tibetan fashion by resorting to primitive witchcraft: The name and date of birth of the Dalai Lama had been written on a piece of paper over which an evil incantation had been pronounced. The piece of paper had then been sewn into the sole of one of a pair of boots presented as a gift to the Dalai Lama. As a result of this charge, all the property of the Demo Hutokty, including monasteries and over 50 manorial estates, was confiscated. His title of Living Buddha Demo Hutuktu was abolished. He himself, his nephew and others of his clan all died in prison. The wife of Norbu Tsering was pilloried in Barkor Street for seven days before being went in exile. This latter incident was witnessed by a Japanese monk named Ekai Kawaguchi, who also reported seeing some 20 other people in shackles and hearing o the executions of 16 others and much more people exiled, all apparently involved in the plot.

However, the title of Living Buddha Demo was resurrected later. In fact, one of the 10th Living Buddha Demo's nephews worked with me as a photographer for more than 20 years, and he assured me that the whole incident was a scheme to wrest the wealth of the ninth Living Buddha Demo.

The 13th Dalai Lama bestowed the title on Dainzin Gyatso, one of his cousins. Dainzin Gyatso later became Tibet's first native photographer.

It was at the decree of Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong in 1746 that the seventh Living Buddha Demo began to exercise power on behalf of the Dalai Lama in the capacity of regent. From that time on, the Living Buddha Demo remained close to the Qing Court. But after the Qing Dynasty came to an end in 1911, the 13th Dalai Lama once more abolished the title of Living Buddha Demo, and Dainzin Gyatso lost everything overnight. Penniless, he continued his religious studies, and acquired the Lha-rams-pa (the highest degree among doctors of divinity) at the Drepung Monastery.

A turning point in his life came when he met a photographer from Nepal. This man had fallen severely ill, and had been carried to the rock on the northern outskirs of Lhasa on which corpses were dismembered and left for the vultures to eat. He miraculously revived, but, as Tibetan custom decreed that a person who came back from the dead was not allowed to enter his home again, he became a vagabond. He was taken in by Dainzin Gyatso, to whom he taught the art of photography. This was in the 1920s, when a typical camera was as long as half a meter and very heavy. Its body was made of wooden planks, while the lens consisted of three thick pieces of glass. The lens and the body were connected by a leather tube. Attached to the body was a film compartment which could hold a 15cm x 15cm sensitive sheet. The sheet had to be changed for each shot. There were only two speeds: B and 1/15 of a second.

There was not much business for photographers in Tibet in those days, as the local people were very superstitious and thought that a photograph of a person captured his or her soul. It was not until the 1930s that Dainzin Gyatso had the opportunity to photograph the people of Tibet as well as the scenery and examples of everyday life. With a Carbine camera, the most advanced camera at that time, he visited towns and villages all over Tibet. The small copper-and-wood camera was very handy, and its speed reached 1/250 of a second.

Dainzin Gyatso took pictures of people of all social strata, and caught life from various angles and at different periods. Eventually, he had four cupboards full of negatives. Unfortunately, they were set on fire during the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976). Luckily, his son Bangphyug Dorje rescued more than 400 negatives from a pile of ashes and rubbish. Bangphyug Dorje himself became a photographer.