Riots have recently been taking place in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. There are no accurate counts of the death toll and they range from the official Chinese Government number of 10, to the anecdotal info of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile of about 100. The cause has been attributed to everything from pre-Olympics protest to highlight the desire for Tibetan independence, to diplomatic friction over the US and German hosting of the Dalai Lama, to local discontent over the harsh treatment of Tibetans by the Chinese Communist Party in Tibet. Until we know more, we need to examine historical events that give a perspective of Tibetan attitudes toward their Chinese overlords.

Soon after the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedung rose to power in 1949 it claiming that Tibet was actually part of China. Using the propaganda of communist-speak it began asserting that the people of Tibet were inviting China to liberate the country from imperialist forces and from the reactionary feudal regime represented by the Tibetan spiritual leader, The Dalai Lama. And, in 1950 the Dalai Lama, then 15 years old, briefly left Tibet for the security of India but soon returned in mid-1951.

Only three years later, in 1954, Mao had 222,000 members of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) stationed in Tibet. At that time the population of Tibet was only about 2.8 million so the PLA represented an increase in nonproductive population of about 8%. In a country which was based on a delicate subsistence agricultural system this stretched the availability of food beyond capacity and famine conditions became rampant.

Facing starvation and a repressive military occupation a guerrilla insurgency broke out in February 1956, in several areas in Eastern Tibet. Mao had the PLA begin bombing and pillaging monasteries in Eastern Tibet, arresting nobles, senior monks and guerrilla leaders. Chinese Communist military authorities began publicly torturing and executing these groups to discourage what appeared to be a large-scale revolt.

In early 1959, although the rebellion was still taking place, as the spiritual leader of the Tibetans, the Dalai Lama was preoccupied with taking his Final Master of Metaphysics examination. On March 1, 1959, two junior Chinese army officers visited him at the sacred Jokhang cathedral and tried to pressure him into attending a theatrical performance and tea at the Chinese Army Headquarters in Lhasa. Interestingly, the invitation was not conveyed through the Kashag (the Cabinet) as it should have been. In addition, the party was not at the palace where such functions would normally have been held, but at the military headquarters. And, the Dalai Lama had been asked to attend alone. Several days later the Dalai Lama agreed to attend the theatrical presentation at their army camp on March 10, 1959.

The day before the Dalai Lama was to attend this presentation the commander of the Dalai Lama’s bodyguards was ordered that on March 10th there was to be no customary ceremony as the Dalai Lama moved from the Norbulinka summer palace to the army headquarters and no armed bodyguard was to escort him. It must be realized that by custom, an escort of twenty-five armed guards always accompanied the Dalai Lama and the entire city of Lhasa would line up whenever he went.

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