Incredibly Shortened History of Tibet
The history of the war raging within between China and Tibet is a long one but I'll try to cut it down for you. Again, Tibet was a peaceful buffer state that has become a hub for the Buddhist religion in part because at one point the Dalai Llama lived there.The majority of the people in this country choose to live in abject poverty due to their religion. China saw this and then saw how the Dalai Llama was living and said that they were living in religious slavery.They decided to free them from their "religious bonds" and in 1959 the People's Republic of China invades Tibet in violation of international law. Dalai Llama, a firm believer in non-violence tried and failed for eight years to reach a peaceful solution to the occupation so in desperation the Dalai Llama took refuge in India, but this only made matters worse. In China, the People's Republic of China was dissolved due to the rise of Communism. The leader, Mao Zedong's started a thing called the "Cultural Revolution". This revolution blamed all of their current problems on their past and Mao said to solve this, they had to destroy everything even remotely tied to their past. For a quick gauge of how the cultural revolution effected Tibet: Before there were 6,000 monasteries and afterwards there were 6. Nuns, Monks, and civilians are imprisoned for wearing traditional garments and hairstyles. Many of their religious rituals are strictly prohibited. Anything representing the cultural identities of the Tibetan people were eradicated. In 1987, the Dalai Llama released what he called the Five Point Peace Plan, that called for restoration of peace and human rights in TIbet. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for it and the Tibetan's believed that they were saved and people would realize the horrors they were living through every day. Help never came. Recently, the Dalai Llama declared that the Poncin Llama, who picks the next Dalai Llama had been reborn. No one has seen the then three year old or his family for years since the announcement and even worse, the Chinese picked a young Chinese boy and declared him the Poncin Llama. Because of all of this the Dalai Llama has stepped down from his position and given it to a man who he now calls the Prime Minister of Tibet named Lobsang Sangay. Why? Because he knows with his death, the Chinese would not allow anymore Dalai Llama's and they cannot kill democracy.