Tibet's Journey To Self Determination

“In 1949 35,00 Chinese troops invaded Tibet.”This was put into detail in an article by Hisyam Takiudin.The Chinese raped,tortured,and murdered one fifth of the Tibetan population,most in work camps and during arbitrary.As a result,47 million people in all have died during these tragic times. The brutality was so bad that the parents with children were forced to bury their children alive when they disobeyed.These crimes have lasted 49 years! Evidently,these crimes are still being committed! In Tibet today there is still no freedom of speech,religion, and arbitrary detainment still continues. As Tibetans are being slaughtered,we’re sitting here doing

Imagine. Imagine having the continuous feeling of needing to act a certain way because that is what the government wants. Imagine having to worship in an underground church because of belonging to the "wrong" religion. Imagine being blind and not being able to learn because the government cannot accept a disability. Lastly, imagine being killed because of simply disagreeing. This is everyday life in China for many people because of what the Communist Chinese government has caused for decades. Human Rights Abuse in China has caused millions of deaths and permanent injuries. In 1979, the One Child Policy was created and ever since then the abuse has escalated into being a normal part of lives. On June 4 1989, the government took the abuse to a whole other level. This fateful day was called the Tiananmen Square crackdown. This was the day of millions of deaths. China's government truly takes human rights violations to an extreme and has caused fear among their people. The government has previously claimed

The Republic of China never attained direct control over Tibet, and so there was a de facto independent Tibetan state. This unofficial and unrecognized country continued to exist for about forty years. During this time, Tibet was controlled by a very conservative people. Refusing to modernize and/or industrialize. When the communist revolution in China occurred, and the former government fled to Taiwan, they would have to face a new threat: the People’s Republic of China. The People’s Republic claimed that the Tibetan government was exploiting the citizens as serfs, and that they should be liberated from them by none other than the People’s Liberation Army. Although Tibet actually had a high resemblance to medieval European feudalism, the government never exploited the citizens per se. When the PLA was at their doorstep, they were nowhere near prepared and were conquered by the Chinese. They were eventually officially annexed into China, and the 14th Dalai Lama was exiled to India. Under the PRC, the Tibetans endured many hardships that were brought upon them. The so-called Great Leap Forward led to widespread starvation, and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution led the Red Army to destroy thousands of cultural artifacts and sites,

For the first time in decades a new Chinese government was met with peace and hope, instead of

The Dalai Lama is the Tibetans’ political and spiritual leader. He is the most important leader in Tibet. The Dalai Lama is a monk of the Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso. Tenzin Gyatso was born Lhamo Thondup on July 6, 1935, in Taktser, China. He has been a monk all his life.

The fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is possibly the most well known figure in Buddhism around the world in this day and age. He was the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetans in the Dalai Lama government. Buddhist followers look to the Dalai Lama for spiritual guidance, and he is revered by many across the world. He is not only an important person in the Buddhist religion, but he’s also a known peace advocate throughout the world. He’s written numerous works through his career and has been recognized as a Nobel Peace Prize award recipient for his nonviolent fight for the liberation of Tibet. During the twentieth century, the People’s Republic of China increased their presence in Southeastern Asia. The communist country was on

In 1912, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Dalai Lama returned to Tibet form India. The Dalai Lama banished the Chinese troops for the land. A year later the Dalai Lama made a public announcement that the relationship between the Chinese Emperor and Tibet was suppose to be a patron and priest relationship but their actual relationship was one of subordination one to another. The Dalai Lama states, “We are a small, religious, and independent nation,” meaning that above all else they were a independent nation. The Dalai Lama is, “the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism and, until the establishment of Chinese communist rule, the spiritual and temporal ruler of Tibet.” According to Memmi’s definition of colony, Tibet is considered a colony.

The Dalai Lama’s captivating life story is about his journey as the political leader of Tibet, as well as an equally important religious leader. He goal in this autobiography is to “counter Chinese claims and misinformation”, which includes describing the horrific brutalities the Tibetan people suffered because of Communist China’s invasion. His exile to India is explored along with the freedom that it provided to the Dalai Lama. His belief that respecting humanity along with having compassion can make the world become a better place since it can encourage equality and peace.

If I had to ask the Dalai Lama one question concerning the behalf of his exiled government and the status of his people, I know exactly what it would be. How can you preach non-violence and compassion while watching your people in Tibet suffer such inhumane punishments for simply having national and spiritual pride? As an established political and spiritual leader of any given nation, the first and foremost obligation of this office is to maintain and uphold the well-being and overall safety of the peoples of that nation. The Dalai Lama has traditionally held the position of spiritual and political leader within the Tibetan culture, and continues to do so in

The Chinese government has disheartened the people of Tibet by shaming the lama, the most respected figures in Tibetan buddhism, limited their freedoms until there are close to none left, and forced them to change their lifestyle into something that goes against their beliefs. In the 17 Point Agreement of 1951 between Tibet and China, point 4 promised, “The central authorities also will not alter the establishment status, functions

Personally indoctrinating and systematically repressing the future of Tibetan culture through the education of its youth, China has claimed that the reasoning

Tibet is located at the western part of China into the Himalayas with disputed country origin (Crowe 2013). In addition to the central Tibet, it also forms the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) along with Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces composed of a total population of approximately 5 million (Crowe 2013). There are also Tibetans living in regions of India composed of different religions and Sikkim, Bhutan, and Nepal (Crowe 2013). The relationship between Tibet and China has drawn significant attention worldwide as each state view themselves as the superior state. In Tibetans’ perspective, they are the “agents of their own civilizing project with regard to the spiritual life of the Mongols.”

The Dalai Lama has three major commitments. One is being a religious and spiritual specialist who boosts global unity of all religions. The other one is to stimulate humanity and its values. The last one is to stand and fight for his followers and emancipate them from China’s grasp after which he will withdraw from politics and concentrate on spiritual and religious matters. It is his belief that all religions, despite their differences, have a standard capacity, which is an enhancement of all good things in people (Thurman

As much as I would like to take a neutral approach to the Tibetan-Chinese issue, I am concerned it is simply impossible. I remember when I first read Patric French's “Tibet, Tibet. A personal history of a lost land”. I was in my dorm room up all night, shivers constantly running down my spine, from time to time tears running down the cheeks too, I have to confess. Back then I did not know what exactly was going on in this remote and mysterious country, apart from that it is under Chinese occupation and the people are looking for liberation.* But when I read the book I instantly empathized with the story of Tibet. This is probably due to the fact that Estonia, my home country, once was in a similar desperate situation, being succumbed to

Mao Zedong was a powerful leader, who was able to insight action into his followers. The author of forty poems and a charismatic speaker, it is