Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
On 7 October 1950, just a year after the communist takeover of China, 40,000 battle-
hardened Chinese troops attacked central Tibet from six different directions. The Tibetan
army, a poorly equipped force of around 4000 men, stood little chance of resisting, and
any attempt at defence soon collapsed. In Lhasa the Tibetan government reacted by en-
throning the 15-year-old 14th Dalai Lama, an action that brought jubilation and dancing on
the streets but did little to protect Tibet from advancing Chinese troops.
Presented with a seemingly hopeless situation, the Dalai Lama dispatched a mission to
Běijīng with orders that it refer all decisions to Lhasa. As it turned out, there were no de-
cisions to be made. The Chinese had already drafted an agreement. The Tibetans had two
choices: sign on the dotted line or face further military action.
The 17-Point
Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet
promised a
one-country-two-systems structure much like that offered later to Hong Kong and Macau,
but provided little in the way of guarantees. The Tibetan delegates protested that they were
unauthorised to sign such an agreement but were strongarmed and the agreement was rati-
fied.
Initially, the Chinese occupation of central Tibet was carried out in an orderly way, with
few obvious changes or reforms, but tensions inevitably mounted. The presence of 8000
Chinese troops in Lhasa (doubling the city's population) soon affected food stores and
gave rise to high inflation. Rumours of political indoctrination, massacres and attacks on
monasteries in Kham (far eastern Tibet) slowly began to filter back to Lhasa.
In 1956 uprisings broke out in eastern Tibet in reaction to enforced land reform, and in
1957 and 1958 protests and armed guerrilla revolt spread to central Tibet (with covert CIA
assistance). With a heavy heart, the Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa in March 1957 from a
trip to India to celebrate the 2500th anniversary of the birth of the Buddha. It seemed inev-
itable that Tibet would explode in revolt and equally inevitable that it would be suppressed
by China.
Education was once under the exclusive control of the monasteries, and the introduction
of a secular education system has been a major goal of the communist government.
These days most education is in the Chinese language.
