1951 Chinese annexation of Tibet

1950–1951 annexation in Asia Persistent disruptive editing yes January 2023 1951 Chinese annexation of Tibet 解放军在康定.jpg PLA troops advancing through Kangding (Dartsedo) 6 October 1950 – 24 October 1951 Tibet Chinese victory Ü-Tsang and Chamdo of Kham come under Chinese control. Tibet (1912–1951) China Tibet Ngawang Sungrab Thutob Tibet Ngapoi Ngawang JigmeMackerras, Colin. Yorke, Amanda. The Cambridge Handbook of Contemporary China. [1991]. Cambridge University Press. 0-521-38755-8. p. 100. Tibet Lhalu Tsewang DorjeGoldstein Melvyn C. A history of modern Tibet, 1913–1951, the demise of the lamaist state 1991 University of California Press 639 China Mao Zedong China Liu Bocheng China Zhang Guohua China Fan Ming Tibet (1912–1951)14th Dalai Lama (1990). Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama. London: Little, Brown and Co. 0-349-10462-X. China 1949Laird 2006 p. 301.Shakya 1999, p. 43 180 killed or wounded894 captured4,317 surrenderedClodfelter Micheal Warfare and armed conflicts: a statistical encyclopedia of casualty and other figures, 1492-2015 2017 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-7470-7 4th Jefferson, North Carolina 673 2,000 killed3,000 missing2,000 frozen to death3,000 dead of diseaseClodfelter Micheal Warfare and armed conflicts: a statistical encyclopedia of casualty and other figures, 1492-2015 2017 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-7470-7 4th Jefferson, North Carolina 673 Central TibetAs well as the western part of Kham corresponding to the Chamdo Region was annexed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) after the government of Tibet signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which the 14th Dalai Lama ratified on 24 October 1951.A. Tom Grunfeld The Making of Modern Tibet https://books.google.com/books?id=odyxWQGD2eoC&pg=PA107 30 July 1996 M.E. Sharpe 978-0-7656-3455-9 107– The Chinese government calls the signing of the agreement the "Peaceful Liberation of Tibet".2021-05-28 China confirms 'peaceful liberation' of Tibet – archive, 1951 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/28/china-confirms-peaceful-liberation-of-tibet-1951 2026-09-24 The Guardian en-GB 0261-3077Dawa Norbu China's Tibet Policy https://books.google.com/books?id=jHXUqP4ukgEC&pg=PA301 2001 Psychology Press 978-0-7007-0474-3 300–301Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, Vol. 1 1989 679 740 The events are called the "Chinese invasion of Tibet" by the exiled Central Tibetan Administrationhttp://tibet.net/2017/05/china-could-not-succeed-in-destroying-buddhism-in-tibet-sangay/ China could not succeed in destroying Buddhism in Tibet: Sangay Central Tibetan Administration 25 May 2017 16 August 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20180921210552/http://tibet.net/2017/05/china-could-not-succeed-in-destroying-buddhism-in-tibet-sangay/ 21 September 2018 dead and much of the Tibetan diaspora.Siling Luo 2016-08-14 A Writer's Quest to Unearth the Roots of Tibet's Unrest https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/world/asia/china-tibet-lhasa-jianglin-li.html 2026-09-24 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 Tibet has a complicated relationship with China. After the fall of the Qing dynasty, Ü-Tsang and surrounding areas began operating autonomously. The Republic of China (ROC) had inherited claims to the region but was not able to exert full control on the ground. Meanwhile, the Tibetan government failed to quickly modernize its military. Its negotiations with the PRC stalled, and the Tibetan Army was eventually defeated by the People's Liberation Army.Anne-Marie Blondeau Katia Buffetrille Authenticating Tibet: Answers to China's 100 Questions https://books.google.com/books?id=B6_FKtkYhdgC&pg=PA61 2008 University of California Press 978-0-520-24464-1 61 It was evident that the Chinese were not prepared to accept any compromises and that the Tibetans were compelled, under the threat of immediate armed invasion, to sign the Chinese proposal.Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa One Hundred Thousand Moons: An Advanced Political History of Tibet https://books.google.com/books?id=lGyrymfDdI0C&pg=PA955 October 2009 BRILL 978-90-04-17732-1 953, 955 The Tibetan government and local social structure remained in place under the authority of China until they were dissolved after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when the 14th Dalai Lama fled into exileLatson Jennifer How and Why the Dalai Lama Left Tibet https://time.com/3742242/dalai-lama-1959/ 21 February 2021 Time March 17, 2015Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 54–55; Feigon 1996 160–161; Shakya 1999 p.208,240,241. (all sources: fled Tibet, repudiated agreement, dissolved local government). and repudiated the Seventeen Point Agreement, saying that he had approved it under duress.18 April 1959 The Dalai Lama's Press Statements - Statement issued at Tezpur http://www.archieve.claudearpi.net/maintenance/uploaded_pics/590418_Tezpur_Statement.pdf live https://web.archive.org/web/20221029012204/http://www.archieve.claudearpi.net/maintenance/uploaded_pics/590418_Tezpur_Statement.pdf 29 October 2022 Since 2005 he has advocated for greater autonomy for Tibet as part of China.2005-03-15 Dalai Lama: "Tibet is a Part of the People's Republic of China" http://www.cecc.gov/publications/commission-analysis/dalai-lama-tibet-is-a-part-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china 2026-09-24 Congressional-Executive Commission on China en Background Political status of Tibet Qing dynasty Tibet under Qing rule Tibet came under the rule of the Qing dynasty of China in 1720 after the Qing expelled the forces of the Dzungar Khanate from Tibet.Lin, Tibet and Nationalist China's Frontier 2011 7–8 Emperor Kangxi then wrote an edict for the Imperial Stele Inscriptions of the Pacification of Tibet.https://www.academia.edu/125527070 《御制平定西藏碑》The Imperial Stele Inscriptions of the Pacification of Tibet in Four Languages 西北民族论丛Northwest Ethnology Series January 2015 Yangang S. H. I. His successor Emperor Yongzheng went on to establish new boundaries between what are now the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan.Kolmaš Josef 1967 Tibet and Imperial China: A Survey of Sino-Tibetan Relations Up to the End of the Manchu Dynasty in 1912 https://books.google.com/books?id=7JpCAAAAYAAJ Occasional Paper Centre of Oriental Studies, Australian National University, Canberra 7 41 Republic of China and de facto independence Central Tibet remained under Qing suzerainty until the 1911 revolution.Lin, Tibet and Nationalist China's Frontier 2011 9 The succeeding Republic of China claimed inheritance of all Qing territories, including Tibet,Tanner Harold China: A History 2009 https://books.google.com/books?id=VIWC9wCX2c8C&q=republic+of+china+inherit+all+territories+qing+dynasty&pg=PA419 419 Hackett 978-0872209152 described in the Imperial Edict of the Abdication of the Qing Emperor as an integral republic comprising different ethnic groups.Esherick Joseph Kayali Hasan Van Young Eric Empire to Nation: Historical Perspectives on the Making of the Modern World 2006 https://books.google.com/books?id=reKxAAAAQBAJ&q=complete+territories+of+manchu,+han,+mongol,+hui,+tibetan&pg=PA245 245 Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 9780742578159Zhai Zhiyong 憲法何以中國 2017 https://books.google.com/books?id=ziEwDwAAQBAJ&q=仍合滿、漢、蒙、回、藏五族完全領土為一大中華民國&pg=PA190 190 City University of HK Press 9789629373214Gao Quanxi 政治憲法與未來憲制 2016 https://books.google.com/books?id=P46rDAAAQBAJ&q=仍合滿、漢、蒙、回、藏五族完全領土為一大中華民國&pg=PA273 273 City University of HK Press 9789629372910 This is also reflected in the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China adopted in 1912.Zhao Suisheng A Nation-state by Construction: Dynamics of Modern Chinese Nationalism 2004 https://books.google.com/books?id=nhkweJozrS0C&q=complete+territories+of+manchu,+han,+mongol,+hui,+tibetan&pg=PA68 68 Stanford University Press 9780804750011 Suisheng Zhao By 1917 the area comprising the present-day TAR eventually became a de facto independent polity.Shakya 1999 p. 4Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, Vol. 1 1989 815: "Tibet unquestionably controlled its own internal and external affairs during the period from 1913 to 1951 and repeatedly attempted to secure recognition and validation of its de facto autonomy/independence."Feigon 1996 p.119 Some border areas with high ethnic Tibetan populations (Amdo and Eastern Kham) remained under the Nationalist government or local warlord control.Shakya 1999 p.6,27. Feigon 1996 p.28 The TAR region is also known as "Political Tibet", while all areas with a high ethnic Tibetan population are collectively known as "Ethnic Tibet". Political Tibet refers to the polity ruled continuously by Tibetan governments since earliest times until 1951, whereas ethnic Tibet refers to regions north and east where Tibetans historically predominated but where, down to modern times, Tibetan jurisdiction was irregular and limited to just certain areas.The classic distinction drawn by Sir Charles Bell and Hugh Richardson. See Melvin C. Goldstein, 'Change, Conflict and Continuity among a community of Nomadic Pastoralists: A Case Study from Western Tibet, 1950–1990,' in Robert Barnett and Shirin Akiner, (eds.,) Resistance and Reform in Tibet, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1994, pp. 76–90, pp.77–8. At the time Political Tibet obtained de facto independence, its socio-economic and political systems resembled Medieval Europe.Shakya 1999 p.11 Attempts by the 13th Dalai Lama between 1913 and 1933 to enlarge and modernize the Tibetan military had eventually failed, largely due to opposition from powerful aristocrats and monks.Feigon 1996 p.119-122. Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 34–35Shakya 1999 p.5,11 On 12 August 1927, the Republic of China mandated that before the publication of new laws, all laws in history regarding Tibetan Buddhism should continue unless there were conflicts with new doctrine or new laws of the Central Government.https://www.sohu.com/a/461098896_523177 16 April 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20221001024741/https://www.sohu.com/a/461098896_523177 1 October 2022 live 【边疆时空】喜饶尼玛 李双国民政府管理藏传佛教活佛措施评析 Sohu zh The Tibetan government had little contact with other governments of the world during its period of de facto independence, with some exceptions; notably India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.Shakya 1999 p.7,15,16Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 37 This left Tibet diplomatically isolated and cut off to the point where it could not make its positions on issues well known to the international community.Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 36 The ROC's 1931 provisional constitution stated, "The territory of the Republic of China includes all the provinces, Mongolia, and Tibet."Wang Frances Yaping The Art of State Persuasion: China's Strategic Use of Media in Interstate Disputes Oxford University Press 2024 9780197757512 10.1093/oso/9780197757505.001.0001119 People's Republic of China In July 1949, in order to prevent Chinese Communist Party-sponsored agitation from spreading to Central Tibet, the Tibetan government expelled the Nationalist delegation in Lhasa.Shakya 1999 p.5,7,8 The (Nationalist) Chinese approved a request to exempt Lhamo Dhondup from lot-drawing process using Golden Urn to become the 14th Dalai Lama on 31 January 1940.Goldstein 1991 328–http://www.livingbuddha.us.com/view-d59c6c9eba6e4beb842b893f40fdec75.html Museum of Tibetan Culture of China Tibetology Research Center Report to Wu Zhongxin from the Regent Reting Rinpoche Regarding the Process of Searching and Recognizing the Thirteenth Dalai lama's Reincarnated Soul Boy as well as the Request for an Exemption to Drawing Lots The Reincarnation of Living Buddhas 1940 28 September 2022 31 March 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190331204451/http://www.livingbuddha.us.com/view-d59c6c9eba6e4beb842b893f40fdec75.html dead 1940 Executive Yuan's Report to the National Government Regarding the Request to Approve Lhamo Thondup to Succeed the Fourteenth Dalai lama and to Appropriate Expenditure for His Enthronement http://www.livingbuddha.us.com/view-a4a452dadc42426184aa073f08dd26fb.html The Reincarnation of Living Buddhas Museum of Tibetan Culture of China Tibetology Research Center 28 September 2022 30 September 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220930211113/http://www.livingbuddha.us.com/view-a4a452dadc42426184aa073f08dd26fb.html dead In November 1949, Tibetan government sent a letter to the US State Department and a copy to Mao Zedong, and a separate letter to the British government, declaring its intent to defend itself "by all possible means" against PRC troop incursions into Tibet.Shakya 1999 p.20; Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 42 In the preceding three decades, the conservative Tibetan government had consciously de-emphasized its military and refrained from modernizing.Melvin C. Goldstein,A History of Modern Tibet:The Calm Before the Storm: 1951–1955, University of California Press, 2009, Vol.2, p.51. Hasty attempts at modernization and enlarging the military began in 1949,Shakya 1999 p.12 but proved mostly unsuccessful on both counts.Shakya 1999 p.20,21; Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 37, 41–43 By then, it was too late to raise and train an effective army.Goldstein, 209 pp.51–2. India provided some small arms aid and military training.Shakya 1999 p.26 However, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was much larger, better led, trained, equipped and more experienced than the Tibetan Army.Shakya 1999 p.12 (Tibetan army poorly trained and equipped).Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 41, 45Feigon 1996 p.142 (trained). In 1950, the 14th Dalai Lama was 15 years old and had not attained his majority, so Regent Taktra was the acting head of the Tibetan Government.Shakya 1999 p.5 The period of the Dalai Lama's minority is traditionally one of instability and division, exacerbated by the recent Reting conspiracyShakya 1999 p.4,5 and a 1947 regency dispute.Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 37thumb|Approximate Line of Communist Advance (CIA, February 1950) thumb|Map of the Far East from the Time magazine showing the situation of the Chinese Civil War in late 1948. Tibet is listed as part of China, while Outer Mongolia is listed outside of China since it was recognized as an independent country by that time, unlike Tibet. Both the PRC and their rival predecessors the Kuomintang (ROC) had always maintained that Tibet was a part of China. The PRC also proclaimed an ideological motivation to "liberate" the Tibetans from a theocratic feudal system.Dawa Norbu, China's Tibet policy,Routledge, 2001, p.195 In September 1949, shortly before the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) made it a top priority to incorporate Tibet, Taiwan Island, Hainan Island, and the Penghu Islands into the PRC,Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 41Shakya 1999 p.3. peacefully or by force.Goldstein 1997 p.44 China viewed incorporating Tibet as important to consolidate its frontiers and address national defense concerns in the southwest.Singh Swaran The new great game : China and South and Central Asia in the era of reform 2016 Stanford University Press Thomas Fingar 978-0-8047-9764-1 Stanford, California 149 China Engaged its Southwest Frontiers 939553543 Because Tibet was unlikely to voluntarily give up its de facto independence, Mao in December 1949 ordered that preparations be made to march into Tibet at Qamdo (Chamdo), in order to induce the Tibetan Government to negotiate. The PRC had over a million men under arms and had extensive combat experience from the recently concluded Chinese Civil War. Negotiations between Tibet and the PRC Talks between Tibet and China were mediated by the governments of Britain and India. On 7 March 1950, a Tibetan delegation arrived in Kalimpong, India, to open a dialogue with the newly declared People's Republic of China and to secure assurances that the Chinese would respect Tibetan territorial integrity, among other things. The onset of talks was delayed by debate between the Tibetan, Indian, British, and Chinese delegations about the location of the talks. Tibet favored Singapore or Hong Kong (not Beijing; at the time romanized as Peking); Britain favored India (not Hong Kong or Singapore); and India and the Chinese favored Beijing.December 2020 The Tibetan delegation did eventually meet with the PRC's ambassador General Yuan Zhongxian in Delhi on 16 September 1950. Yuan communicated a 3-point proposal that Tibet be regarded as part of China, that China be responsible for Tibet's defense, and that China be responsible for Tibet's trade and foreign relations. Acceptance would lead to peaceful Chinese sovereignty, or otherwise war. The Tibetans undertook to maintain the relationship between China and Tibet as one of priest-patron: "Tibet will remain independent as it is at present, and we will continue to have very close 'priest-patron' relations with China. Also, there is no need to liberate Tibet from imperialism, since there are no British, American or Guomindang imperialists in Tibet, and Tibet is ruled and protected by the Dalai Lama (not any foreign power)." Tsepon W. D. ShakabpaA History of Modern Tibet. Volume 2: The Calm Before the Storm, 1951–1955 Goldstein Melvyn C 2009 University of California Press Goldstein, Melvyn C. 9780520249417 Berkeley, California 76167591 registration https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernt00melv46 They and their head delegate Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa, on 19 September, recommended cooperation, with some stipulations about implementation. Chinese troops need not be stationed in Tibet. It was argued that Tibet was under no threat, and if attacked by India or Nepal, could appeal to China for military assistance. While Lhasa deliberated, on 7 October 1950, Chinese troops advanced into eastern Tibet, crossing the border at five places.Melvin C. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet: The Calm Before the Storm: 1951–1955, University of California Press, 2009, Vol.2, p.48. The purpose was not to invade Tibet per se but to capture the Tibetan army in Chamdo, demoralize the Lhasa government, and thus exert powerful pressure to send negotiators to Beijing to sign terms for a handover of Tibet.Melvin C. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, vol.2, p.48-9. On 21 October, Lhasa instructed its delegation to leave immediately for Beijing for consultations with the Communist government, and to accept the first provision, if the status of the Dalai Lama could be guaranteed, while rejecting the other two conditions. It later rescinded even acceptance of the first demand, after a divination before the Six-Armed Mahākāla deities indicated that the three points could not be accepted, since Tibet would fall under foreign domination.Shakya 1999 p.27-32 (entire paragraph).W. D. Shakabpa,One hundred thousand moons, BRILL, 2010 trans. Derek F. Maher, Vol.1, pp.916–917, and ch.20 pp.928–942, esp.pp.928–33.Melvin C. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet: The Calm Before the Storm: 1951–1955, Vol.2, ibid.pp.41–57. Battle of Chamdo Battle of Chamdo After months of failed negotiations,Shakya 1999 p.28-32 attempts by Tibet to secure foreign support and assistance,Shakya 1999 p.12,20,21 PRC and Tibetan troop buildups, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) crossed the Jinsha River on 6 or 7 October 1950.Feigon 1996 p.142. Shakya 1999 p.37.Shakya 1999 p.32 (6 Oct); Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 45 (7 Oct). Two PLA units quickly surrounded the outnumbered Tibetan forces and captured the border town of Chamdo by 19 October, by which time 114 PLA soldiers and 180 TibetanJiawei Wang et Nima Gyaincain, The historical Status of China's Tibet, China Intercontinental Press, 1997, p. 209 (see also The Local Government of Tibet Refused Peace Talks and the PLA Was Forced to Fight the Qamdo Battle https://web.archive.org/web/20120318085306/http://www.china.com.cn/ch-xizang/tibet/historical_status/english/e0703.html 18 March 2012 , china.com.cn): "The Quamdo battle thus came to a victorious end on October 24, with 114 PLA soldiers and 180 Tibetan troops killed or wounded."Shakya 1999, pg. 45.Feigon 1996, p.144. soldiers had been killed or wounded. Writing in 1962, Zhang Guohua claimed "over 5,700 enemy men were destroyed" and "more than 3,000" peacefully surrendered.Survey of China Mainland Press, no. 2854 p.5,6 The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) estimated that 2,000 PLA and 2,000 Tibetans were killed including noncombatants.Lacina Bethany 2009 PRIO battle deaths dataset, 1946-2008, version 3.0: Documentation of coding decisions https://www.prio.org/data/1 Peace Research Institute Oslo 129 Active hostilities were limited to a border area northeast of the Gyamo Ngul Chu River and east of the 96th meridian.Shakya 1999 map p.xiv After capturing Chamdo, the PLA broke off hostilities,Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 45 sent a captured commander, Ngabo, to Lhasa to reiterate terms of negotiation, and waited for Tibetan representatives to respond through delegates to Beijing.Shakya 1999 p.49 Further negotiations and annexation thumb|right|PLA soldiers marching toward Tibet in 1950 thumb|right|PLA marching into Lhasa in October 1951 The PLA sent released prisoners (among them the governor-general of Kham, Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme), to Lhasa to negotiate with the Dalai Lama on the PLA's behalf. Chinese broadcasts promised that if Tibet was "peacefully liberated", the Tibetan elites could keep their positions and power.Laird, 2006 p. 306. One month after China invaded Tibet, El Salvador sponsored a complaint by the Tibetan government at the UN, but India and the United Kingdom prevented it from being debated.Tibet: The Lost Frontier, Claude Arpi, Lancer Publishers, October 2008, 0-9815378-4-7; UN General Assembly Resolutions https://savetibet.org/advocacy/united-nations/un-general-assembly-resolutions/ 2021-06-21 International Campaign for Tibet en-US; United States State Department, "Foreign Relations of the United States," see https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950v06/pg_577. Tibetan negotiators were sent to Beijing and presented with an already-finished document commonly referred to as the Seventeen Point Agreement. There was no negotiation offered by the Chinese delegation; although the PRC stated it would allow Tibet to reform at its own pace and in its own way, keep internal affairs self-governing and allow religious freedom; it would also have to agree to be part of China.July 2025 The Tibetan negotiators were not allowed to communicate with their government on this key point, and pressured into signing the agreement on 23 May 1951, despite never having been given permission to sign anything in the name of the government. This was the first time in Tibetan history its government had acceptedalbeit unwillinglyChina's position on the two nations' shared history.'The political and religious institutions of Tibet would remain unchanged, and any social and economic reforms would be undertaken only by the Tibetans themselves at their own pace.' Thomas Laird, The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama,Grove Press, 2007, p.307. Tibetan representatives in Beijing and the PRC Government signed the Seventeen Point Agreement on 23 May 1951, authorizing the PLA presence and Central People's Government rule in Political Tibet.Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 47Shakya Tsering The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947 1999 Columbia University Press 978-0-231-11814-9 https://books.google.com/books?id=dosnYnxzTD4C en The terms of the agreement had not been cleared with the Tibetan Government before signing and the Tibetan Government was divided about whether it was better to accept the document as written or to flee into exile. The Dalai Lama, who by this time had ascended to the throne, chose not to flee into exile, and formally accepted the 17 Point Agreement in October 1951.Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 48 (had not been cleared) p.48,49 (government was divided), p.49 (chose not to flee), p.52 (accepted agreement). According to Tibetan sources, on 24 October, on behalf of the Dalai Lama, general Zhang Jingwu sent a telegram to Mao Zedong with confirmation of the support of the Agreement, and there is evidence that Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme simply came to Zhang and said that the Tibetan Government agreed to send a telegram on 24 October, instead of the formal Dalai Lama's approval.Kuzmin, S.L. Hidden Tibet: History of Independence and Occupation. Dharamsala, LTWA, 2011, p. 190 - https://web.archive.org/web/20121030061528/http://www.ltwa.net/library/index.php?option=com_multicategories&view=article&id=170&catid=30%3Anews&Itemid=12 30 October 2012 978-93-80359-47-2 Shortly afterwards, the PLA entered Lhasa.Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 51–55 The subsequent annexation of Tibet is officially known in the People's Republic of China as the "Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" (和平解放西藏地方 Hépíng jiěfàng xīzàng dìfāng), as promoted by the state media.http://www.81.cn/2018zt/2018-04/10/content_7999028.htm 西藏和平解放65周年：细数那些翻天覆地的变化 The 65th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet: Counting those earth-shaking changes Yang Fan 中国军网 10 April 2018 2 February 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190209125832/http://www.81.cn/2018zt/2018-04/10/content_7999028.htm 9 February 2019 live Aftermath Sinicization of Tibet thumb|Chinese and Tibetan government officials at a banquet celebrating the 'peaceful liberation' of TibetGoldstein Melvyn C. https://books.google.com/books?id=Ep5l6JprtYcC&pg=PA227 A History of Modern Tibet, volume 2: The Calm before the Storm: 1951–1955 2007-08-01 University of California Press 978-0-520-93332-3 227 en Chinese and Tibetan government officials at a banquet celebrating the 'peaceful liberation' of Tibet. |alt= For several years, the Tibetan Government remained in place in the areas of Tibet where it had ruled prior to the outbreak of hostilities, except for the area surrounding Qamdo that was occupied by the PLA in 1950, which was placed under the authority of the Qamdo Liberation Committee and outside the Tibetan Government's control.Shakya 1999 p.96,97,128. During this time, areas under the Tibetan Government maintained a large degree of autonomy from the Central Government and were generally allowed to maintain their traditional social structure, such as having hereditarily bound peasants.Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 52–54; Feigon 1996 p.148,149,151 The 14th Dalai Lama was open to Tibetan feudal society being reformed under Chinese help, while Mao followed a gradualist policy and was willing to postpone reforms and reduce the number of CCP cadres in central Tibet. He was able to at least temporarily stop subordinates who supported the more progressive Panchen Lama and were eager to implement greater policy changes, but the Dalai Lama was unable to control the more hardline anti-Chinese Tibetans under him who were creating difficulties for coexistence or did want to lose their aristocratic privileges. In 1956, the PRC government began land reforms in Sichuan, prompting many Kham Tibetan refugees and rebels, such as the Chushi Gangdruk, to flee to Lhasa. Some of them joined forces with the more nationalistic Tibetans there. Further tensions led to an uprising in March 1959, during which the Dalai Lama fled with an entourage of twenty, including six Cabinet ministers, to India.The Dalai Lama Escapes from the Chinese https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,864579-1,00.html 21 February 2021 Time April 20, 1959 Both the Dalai Lama and the PRC government in Tibet subsequently repudiated the 17 Point Agreement, and the PRC government in Tibet dissolved the Tibetan Local Government. The legacy of this action continues to the present day.van Walt van Praag Michael Boltjes Miek Time To Break The Silence On Tibet https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/time-break-silence-tibet 21 February 2021 The Sunday Guardian February 13, 2021Avedon John F. China's Tibet Problem https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/23/opinion/chinas-tibet-problem.html 21 February 2021 The New York Times June 23, 1984 Notes See also China Asia 1959 Tibetan uprising History of Tibet Tibet under Yuan rule Tibet under Qing rule Tibet (1912–1951) History of Tibet (1950–present) Incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China List of military occupations Monument to the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet Sino-Tibetan War (1930–1932) Tibetan sovereignty debate References Citations Sources Feigon Lee Demystifying Tibet : unlocking the secrets of the Land of the Snows 1996 I.R. Dee Chicago 1-56663-089-4 Ford, Robert. Wind Between the Worlds: The extraordinary first-person account of a Westerner's life in Tibet as an official of the Dalai Lama (1957) David Mckay Co., Inc. Robert W. Ford. Captured in Tibet, Oxford University Press, 1990, 978-0-19-581570-2 Goldstein Melvyn C. A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State https://books.google.com/books?id=Upwq0I-wm7YC 1989 University of California Press 978-0-520-91176-5 978-0-520-06140-8 Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, Vol. 1 1989 Goldstein Melvyn C. The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama https://books.google.com/books?id=LI-tIwxk4RAC 1997 University of California Press 978-0-520-21951-9 0-520-21254-1 Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon 1997 Grunfeld A. Tom The Making of Modern Tibet https://books.google.com/books?id=odyxWQGD2eoC 1996 M.E. Sharpe 978-0-7656-3455-9 978-1-56324-713-2 Grunfeld, The Making of Modern Tibet 1996 Knaus, Robert Kenneth. Orphans of the Cold War: America and the Tibetan Struggle for Survival (1999) PublicAffairs . 978-1-891620-18-8 Laird, Thomas. The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama (2006) Grove Press. 0-8021-1827-5 Lin Hsiao-ting Lin Hsiao-ting Tibet and Nationalist China's Frontier: Intrigues and Ethnopolitics, 1928–49 2011 UBC Press https://books.google.com/books?id=osn1WrRCelcC&q=tibet+qing+dynasty+1720&pg=PA8 9780774859882 Lin, Tibet and Nationalist China's Frontier 2011 Shakya Tsering The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947 https://books.google.com/books?id=W-dxAAAAMAAJ 1999 Pimlico 978-0-7126-6533-9 0-231-11814-7 Shakya, Dragon in the Land of Snows 1999 Further reading The Tibet issue: Tibetan view—BBC News The Tibet issue: China's view—BBC News External links Category:1951 in China Category:1950s in Tibet Tibet Category:Anti-Tibetan sentiment