Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
launched the anti-Dalai Lama campaign inside Tibet, compelling all government officials
and monks to denounce the Dalai Lama.
The Chinese authorities believe that one of the reasons for continuing separatist senti-
ments and opposition is Tibet's lack of integration with China. The solution since the
mid-1980s has been to encourage Han immigration to the high plateau, a policy already
successfully carried out in Xīnjiāng, Inner Mongolia and Qīnghǎi. As Běijīng attempts to
shift the economic gains of the east coast to its underdeveloped hinterland, hundreds of
thousands of Han Chinese have taken advantage of attractive salaries and interest-free
loans to 'modernise' the backward province of Tibet. By the end of the millennium
Tibetans were facing the fastest and deepest-reaching changes in their history.
TIMELINE
28,000 BC
The Tibetan plateau is covered in ice. It's cold. Very cold. But there are people living there. Tools,
stone blades and hunting instruments are in use in Chupsang, 85km from Lhasa.
300 BC
Throughout the plateau people are building stone dwellings and producing fine pottery; petro-
glyphs indicate that Buddhism may have started to spread by this time.
c 600
Nyatri Tsenpo, the first king of Tibet, founds the Yarlung dynasty and unifies the people and the
land; according to legend he is responsible for the first building in Tibet.
608
The first mission is sent to the court of Chinese Emperor Yangdi. This brings Tibet in direct con-
tact with China and sees increasing Tibetan interest in the frontier of China.
629
Namri Songtsen is assassinated and his son, Songtsen Gampo, aged 13, inherits the throne. He
will be regarded as the founder of the Tibetan empire and a cultural hero for the Tibetan people.
