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History of Tibet

Illegal Occupation of Tibet

In 1950, China invaded Tibet and occupied the country by military force. Thousands of Chinese troops marched into Lhasa. The illegal occupation of Tibet was characterised by the systematic destruction of monasteries, the suppression of religion, the disregard for political freedoms, numerous arrests and imprisonments as well as massacres of innocent men, women and children. An estimated 1.2 million Tibetans have died as a direct result of the Chinese occupation. Since then, Tibetans in Tibet have lived under illegal occupation and brutal oppression by China.

On 10 March 1959, the nationwide resistance culminated in the Tibetan People's Uprising against the Chinese occupation in Lhasa. Thousands of men, women and children were killed on the streets and many more were imprisoned and deported. Monks and nuns were a prime target. Monasteries and temples were bombed. Fearing for his safety, His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, was forced to flee across the Himalayas to India. 

Strong resistance for over 70 years

Despite the violent suppression of peaceful protests and every other form of resistance, Tibetans have been resisting the Chinese occupation for more than seven decades. 14 years after the last major uprisings in Tibet (2008), Tibetans can no longer move freely in their own country and are constantly monitored, arbitrarily detained and tortured. And yet they are not giving up - they continue to fight for their rights. Since 2009, 159 Tibetans in Tibet have set themselves on fire in protest against the illegal occupation of Tibet by China and the repressive policies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

Eradication of Tibetan culture and identity

One of China's main objectives in Tibet is the forcible assimilation of Tibetans through the eradication of Tibetan culture and identity. A recent report by the Tibet Advocacy Coalition, "Assaulting identity: China's new coercive strategies in Tibet", has shown that the Chinese Communist Party's goal in Tibet is to "destroy ancestry, roots, connections and origins".

To achieve this, the CCP employs a devastating combination of systematic, repressive measures that include ideological indoctrination from childhood, the restructuring and destruction of the rural economy through mass resettlement, labour mobilisation and transfer programmes, and other measures. 

Language

China is replacing the Tibetan language with an almost exclusively Chinese language of instruction and forcing parents to send their children to distant boarding schools in order to eliminate Tibetan identity. In these boarding schools, Tibetan children are forced to learn in Mandarin, subjected to patriotic indoctrination and separated from their family and culture. Chinese teachers are transferred to Tibet and Tibetan teachers are transferred to China to further minimise the teaching of the Tibetan language. 

In addition, Tibetan children are not allowed to go to monasteries during the holidays to learn the Tibetan language. Even kindergartens have recently been required to teach in Mandarin. Schools where the Tibetan language and traditions are taught are being forcibly closed and in some cases even demolished. 

Language rights activists in Tibet such as Tashi Wangchuk are being arrested and sentenced to long prison terms simply because they are campaigning for the preservation of the Tibetan language. 

Religious Freedom in Tibet

Religious life in Tibet is strictly controlled. The number of Buddhist monasteries, monks and nuns is kept to a minimum. Since the illegal occupation by China, more than 6000 monasteries, temples and other cultural sites have been destroyed and razed to the ground by the Chinese government.

Nuns and monks are forced to disown the Dalai Lama and swear eternal allegiance to the CCP as part of so-called patriotic re-education campaigns. More than 10,000 monks and nuns have been removed from the large Tibetan monasteries Larung Gar and Yachen Gar since 2016, some of which have been destroyed, and placed in camps for "political re-education".

A few reports even bear witness to the imprisonment, torture and rape of Tibetan nuns. These measures are aimed at creating a "Sinicised" official Buddhism - i.e. under the control of the CCP, detached from the Dalai Lama, with the intention that future generations will only remember him as an enemy. Today, the mere possession of an image of the Dalai Lama is illegal in Tibet and can result in long prison sentences and torture for the owner. 

The Chinese government is also taking action against Christians, Muslims and members of all religions. 

Mass expulsion and resettlement

Since the early 1990s, China has attempted to gain control over Tibet by destroying the nomadic way of life. In order to create "new socialist landscapes" in Tibetan areas, the CCP has relocated more than two million Tibetans, mainly herders and nomads, from the land they have lived on for generations far away to concrete block camps in semi-urban areas, with no sustainable means of supporting themselves and their families. 

Contrary to their nature, nomadic families are forced to settle down and abandon their stable livelihoods for an insecure urban wage economy in which they are often disadvantaged. Torn from everything they know, nomads are threatened by poverty, unemployment and social marginalisation