When the Ninth Panchen Lama died in 1937, two simultaneous searches for the tenth Panchen Lama produced two competing candidates, with the Dalai Lama's officials selecting a boy from Xikang and the Panchen Lama's officials picking Gonpo Tseten.[40] The Republic of China government, then embroiled in the Chinese Civil War, declared its support for Tseten on June 3, 1949.[41] Chinese Nationalist governor Ma Bufang allowed Kumbum Monastery to be totally self-governed by Tseten, now called Gyaltsen,[42] while the 14th Dalai Lama's government refused to recognize him.[43]