Introduction to Tibet

The Chinese invasion of Tibet has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Tibetans and the imprisonment and torture of thousands more.

In 1959 the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s political and spiritual leader, fled into exile in India followed by over 100,000 Tibetans and established the Tibetan Government-in Exile.

Read more about Tibet's history.
Read more about Tibet's legal status

Geography

• Free Tibet uses the term 'Tibet' to refer to the three original provinces of U-Tsang, Kham and Amdo.
• When the Chinese refer to Tibet, they invariably mean the Tibet Autonomous Region or TAR, which includes only U-Tsang.
• The Chinese renamed Amdo as the province of Qinghai and Kham was incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan.

Economic discrimination

• The Chinese government has forced thousands of Tibetans to abandon their traditional rural nomadic lifestyle and move into new housing colonies or towns.
• Most Tibetans work in agricultural sector while most economic activity outside of agriculture is controlled by the central government or state owned corporations.
• In urban centres Tibetans are a minority as a result of Chinese encouragement of ethnic Chinese migration.
• Most tourist activity is located in urban centres where the main employees are ethnic Chinese migrants.

Religious suppression

• Since 1949, the Chinese have destroyed over 6,000 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and shrines.
• By 1978 only 8 monasteries and 970 monks and nuns remained in the TAR.
• The number of monks and nuns allowed to enter monasteries and nunneries is limited. Any reference or images of the Dalai Lama are banned.

Political oppression

• The Chinese have responded to uprisings with extreme violence and around 300,000 Chinese soldiers are posted in Tibet.
• There is extensive surveillance of the population.
• China has repeatedly violated UN conventions through extensive use of torture against Tibetan political prisoners - often monks or nuns.
• Tibet is governed directly by the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. No Tibetan has ever been appointed Party Secretary - the most senior government post - in the TAR.

Environmental exploitation

• Over half of Tibet’s available forest stock has been felled and exported to China.
• Qulong in Tibet is home to copper deposits of more than 10m tonnes, in addition to other valuable metals. Mining and mineral extraction are now a significant proportion of economic activity but few Tibetans receive financial benefits.
• The building of the Yamdrok Tso hydropower station damaged the Yamdrok Tso lake.
• The Indian government has reported that three nuclear missile sites are located inside Tibet. Nuclear waste has also been dumped near Lake Kokonor, Tibet’s largest lake.
• The Tibetan Antelope has been driven to the brink of extinction due to its habitat being destroyed, changes to land use and unregulated hunting.

Top photo: Pedro Saravia
Middle photo: Jim McGill