Areas of Further Research

There is a huge amount of data in the Water Sheep Survey. Already, a team of researchers conducted a deep dive into historical population:

谢永康, 扎雅·洛桑普赤, 王海港. 《藏南门隅地区历史人口研究——基于藏文档案〈水羊清册〉的量化分析》. 西藏大学共同体基地, 2025.

Xie Yongkang, Zhaya Lobsang Butri, and Wang Haigang. A Historical Population Study of the Menyu Region in Southern Tibet: A Quantitative Analysis of the Tibetan Document 《Water Sheep Register》. Xizang University Community Research Base, 2025.¹

The Water Sheep is not a well-studied document. Deep statistical analysis is a good place to start. Corroborating original contemporary sources regarding the behavior and motivation of the Chinese government, the Tibetan government, and the British Raj would be in order.

China-based researchers have conducted a sophisticated study on fertility rates. A Historical Population Study of the Menyu Region in Southern Tibet is a very detailed analysis of the population using accepted statistical methods. However, they only looked at the census information detailing household residents. This is about 20–25% of all the data in the document, but it is quite likely that this is the most accurate subset (table) given that it is not open to much interpretation.

A closer translation of the Water Sheep preface is likely to yield additional insights. Given that the above paper tries to cover many topics and sub-topics, there was not sufficient attention to this complicated document. The geographic names would require a great deal of effort to sort out, given that the editors indicated there were misspellings. Also, there is a lack of detailed Tibetan-language maps, and the Survey of India maps are in English and do not use Wylie transliteration.

The data regarding the primary residence might also yield insight into how families lived in Mon Yul. The Building Information table is in my raw data but was not included in the above study. This table was too inconsistent between dwellings to be of much use without a great deal of further study. To undertake this analysis, a deep understanding of buildings, culture, and Mon Yul lifestyle is required. The Building Information table might yield a whole new area of research for a scholar willing to devote resources.

There are Chinese and Tibetan versions of the Iron Tiger Survey. Kalsang Norbu examined different copies of the Iron Tiger Survey as Ganden Phodrang copied and distributed sections, but the study references Tibetan documents. No Chinese or English language sources were available.² Should these be found, they would further demonstrate that copies may have been sent to neighboring countries to further the Ganden Phodrang's claim of sovereignty.

Likewise, greater analysis of the land inventory would yield an understanding of wealth, land use, and possibly economic activity. These data alone will probably be of limited use, but coupled with additional research, they are likely to develop greater comprehension.

The current database for the Iron Tiger Survey summarizes and aggregates data. Using a different prompt would yield more granular data that might have additional analytical value. It might also be possible to organize the qualitative data regarding collection with further study and translation.

In conclusion, there are a number of avenues available to researchers in the data-rich Water Sheep Survey.