Tibet is the region on the Tibetan Plateau between India and China that has been the traditional homeland for the Tibetan people for over 2000 years. Compared to its neighbours, Tibet has a unique culture in terms of language, religion, and their political system.
My interest in Tibet grew a few years ago when I had to write a research paper on the Free Tibet Movement. I began to go through news articles, documentaries, and memoirs, which ignited my curiosity to know more about this cause and the history behind it. Since then, I have taken interest in Tibetan news and the progress Tibetans have been making in their freedom. So to keep people aware of this issue, here’s a crash course in the history of the Free Tibetan Movement.
Back in the 1600s, the 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyats, was made ruler of Tibet. He built the Potala Palace in the capital city of Lhasa as the seat of government for Tibet where each and every Dalai Lama resided until the 14th Dalai Lama, who fled to India because of the 1959 Tibetan uprising. Now, the Potala Palace is a museum and a World Heritage Site for people to visit. The 5th Dalai Lama is simply referred as the Great Fifth, because he unified all of Tibet after an era of many civil wars. Dalai Lama itself means “Ocean of Wisdom” and as the temporal and spiritual leader of Tibet he brought an entire nation together.
However, during this time, China was under Manchu rule. Interestingly, the 5th Dalai Lama had some Manchu roots, thus Tibet was in a way under Manchu rule as well. Manchus are an ethnic minority in China from Manchuria, which is a region in Northeast Asia. At this time, they began their rule over China with the Qing Dynasty and because of the Manchu roots of Gyatso, Tibet became a Qing protectorate. This caused issues as Tibetans were caught in a struggle between the Manchus and the Mongols who had indirect influence on them since 1222. The Mongols are an ethnic group from Mongolia who, under Genghis Khan, conquered Tibet and forged a link with Tibetan Buddhism.
In the 1900s, when the Manchu dynasty lost power, the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, made a proclamation reaffirming Tibet’s independence. In fact, Tibet had their own army, stamps, treaties, peace agreements, culture, leadership, citizens, etc. Mongolia did the same, but although the governments recognized each other as independent states, no one else did.
In the late 1940s, China became a communist state and sought to rule over Tibet by claiming they have had an 800-year-old history with them. China has taken the fact that Tibet was a tributary of Manchu history as their evidence of “being apart of China”. However, this claim isn’t supported by the facts. Tibet was under one rule since their “imperial age,” which was from the 7th to 9th century, under the Tibetan Empire. The empire fell in the 840s due to the civil wars that took place between the rising warlords and the remnants imperialism. Furthermore, by international law, a state that has been independent for centuries doesn’t have to show or explain their independence or even have it questioned by others. Additionally, historical records show that China and Tibet had equality deals for a number of years and when the Manchus had their influence as they did not incorporate Tibet in their Empire. In fact, even with the Mongols, there was a Treaty of friendship and alliance between the governments that was signed in 1913.
Regardless, in 1959 the People’s Republic of China invaded Tibet causing a huge refugee problem. This takeover put strict restrictions on the lives of Tibetan people. Tibetans were not allowed to display any pictures of the Dalai Lama, children had to learn Han culture, monks were thrown in jails and 99% of monasteries were closed down or destroyed. This was basically the “Hanification of Tibet”. The Han culture began to embed itself in Tibet by even changing town names, giving Tibetan land to the Han, and even appointing a Panchen Lama without religious authority to do so. So now, there are two Panchen Lama’s, one appointed by the Chinese, and one religiously selected by the Tibetans. In fact, in 1989 a Panchen Lama was born and appointed at the age of 6, however he has been missing since 1995. Many claim that he was taken as a political prisoner of China. Hence, this loss of Tibetan culture has caused most Tibetans to seek refuge in Northern India including the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, who now resides in Dharamsala.
Therefore, as expected there is a legal status issue of Tibet. The Chinese continue to claim that Tibet is Chinese land and the Tibetans claim that they are independent and are under unlawful occupation. The Chinese use torture and fear tactics in order to keep a grip on Tibet, all while using the nation for its rich supply of gold, lithium, silver, copper and freshwater supply to increase their global standing. With China’s occupation, over 1 million Tibetans have lost their life and are now a minority group in their own nation. According to the 2016 Freedom in the World report, Tibet is the 12th most repressed country in the world along with countries such as Syria, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia.
The most important thing to the Tibetan people is the protection of their Tibetan identity, freedom, human rights, and for the return of the Dalai Lama. In short, most people want “Rangzen”, which is independence from China. Since the 14th Dalai Lama is still the spiritual and political leader for the Tibetans, in this exile, he has created the Middle Way Approach (MWA). The MWA is basically saying that the Tibetans remain under Chinese sovereignty, but have more autonomy and self-determination for political development and economic growth. Its hoped that one day, with China, they both will become liberal democracies.
However, there is a great debate among Tibetans whether they support the MWA or Rangzen. Another goal the Tibetans hope to obtain is to gain international acknowledgement of their injustice. Many nations applaud their resistance but are not giving support in terms of money, resources, or even political support. The global community doesn’t want to fight China since they have vast ties to the nation, so Tibet remains alone to fight this battle. To help the Tibetans, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) is a government created in exile to regain lost dignity and freedom of their people.
Works Cited
“Global Tibet Movement.” Central Tibetan Administration. Central Tibetan Administration, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2017. <“>https://freetibet.org/about>.
Mote, Frederick W. 1922-. Imperial China: 900-1800. Cambridge: Harvard U Press, 2003. Print.
Stokes, Dustin. “Conflict Over Tibet: Core Causes and Possible Solutions.” (n.d.): n. pag. Beyond Intractability . University of Colorado, 2010. Web. <“>https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-11-24/new-book-documents-china-s-exploi….
*Disclaimer: Featured image is not mine. Retrieved here.