On 23 May, both sides signed the 17-point agreement. In February 1951, the then 15-year-old 14th Dalai Lama who was in power sent a five-person delegation to Beijing, with Ngapo leading the negotiations with the central government. A procession of monks in front of Potala Palace, followed by PLA troops, 1951. PLA troops engaging in farm work in Tibet, 1951. PLA troops working with Tibetan farmers on crop harvesting, 1951. A resident of Lhasa reading a notification about the PLA entering Tibet, 1951. Given the vast difference in strength on each side, the Tibetan army was routed after three weeks and Ngapo was captured. The 8,000-strong Tibetan army based in Chamdo was led by Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme - known as Ngapo - and lacked arms and training. In October 1950, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deployed about 40,000 troops to attack Tibet from four directions. However, the Kashag in Lhasa continued to reject it, and talks fell through. On 1 October 1949, the CCP established the PRC, and the 10th Panchen Lama declared his support for the PRC government. Chinese central government send troops to assert controlĪfter the Second Sino-Japanese War, came the civil war between the KMT and CCP. In late 1936, the Nationalist government deployed troops to escort the Panchen Lama back to Tibet, but met with resistance. In 1931, the Panchen Lama attended the Fourth National Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) held in Nanjing, where he upheld the position that Tibet belonged to China, and won strong support from the Nationalist government leaders as a result. The Kashag led by the 13th Dalai Lama was close to the British empire which had colonised India, while the ninth Panchen Lama - who was persecuted by the Dalai Lama’s clique - was forced to leave Tibet and go into exile in mainland China. Nevertheless, because the ROC government was fighting imperialist aggression, and its military and political factions were in strife, it had too many issues on hand to effectively bring its borders under control. But when the Republic of China (ROC) was established, it immediately professed that Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang were still part of China. When the Xinhai Revolution broke out in 1911, several provinces declared their independence from the rule of imperial Qing, with Mongolia and Xinjiang among these provinces. This belief in reincarnated holy beings among humans has led to a hierarchical structure of living buddhas, monks and farmers, in effect, a highly theocratic society. This school is led by the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, who are considered living buddhas on their passing, there is a process to select their incarnation from among a group of male children, and for the reincarnated soul boy to be acknowledged by the central government in China. It includes five schools, the most dominant being the Gelug or Yellow Hat school, who observe a strict form of asceticism and the living buddha reincarnation system. Tibetan Buddhism is the main religion in Tibet. Living buddha reincarnation system sets hierarchy in Tibet During the late Qing dynasty, the Russians invaded from the north and the British empire attempted to occupy India, and then Tibet, and incited the ethnic minorities within China, leading to unrest. Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet were added to the map of China during the reign of the three early Qing dynasty emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. In China’s case, the Qing empire had the greatest impact on its current territorial map. World War I brought more changes while World War II further shaped the current landscape that we see today. The boundaries of the world were first established in the 18th century, and shifted through the upheavals of war and the separation and integration of peoples, leading to the formation of modern states. In May 1951, delegates of the Tibetan Cabinet (Kashag) and the PRC central government signed the 17-point agreement at Qinzheng Hall in Zhongnanhai. This agreement settled the question of Tibet’s status amid the complex and changeable global environment following the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, and it took place 18 months after the establishment of the PRC. On, delegates of the Tibetan Cabinet (Kashag) met with delegates of the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) at Qinzheng Hall in Zhongnanhai, signing what is known as the 17-point agreement, or in full, the Agreement of the Central People’s Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet. (All photographs courtesy of Hsu Chung-mao.)
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