The conflict between China and Tibet: The individual nomadic tribes in the Tibetan highlands were united under a strong King in the 7th Century, and soon became a military power which the bordering Chinese empire had to reckon with. The Tibetan hordes which always appeared on the horizon like gathering storm clouds were feared in a way that only the Huns were dreaded later in history. Bitter feuds were fought over the present day Xinjiang and Gansu, yet Tibet secured control of the silk road which ran through the important centre of Kashgar, and finally raided and plundered Chang´an - the Chinese capital and greatest metropolis of the world in those days.

The rise of the Tibetanempire" was abruptly interrupted however, when one of the 9th Century rulers brought discordance into the country. For political reasons he suppressed the Tibetan Buddhism in favour of the original indigenous shamanistic Bon-religion and played the individual powers in his country off against each other. After his murder the kingdom declined into small rivalling princedoms. When, after two centuries of anarchy, Lamaism finally won through in the 11th century - as a form of Buddhism which incorporated elements of the Bon-religion a well as those from the Indian esoteric Tantra - the spiritual leaders gained political power

Now monasteries from various Buddhist schools of thought and interpretation fought amongst themselves for superiority.

After the Mongolian Yuan dynasty had come to power in China in the 13th century, the Khan sent a troop to Tibet to find and choose a leader with whom one could negotiate - and one began to regard the religious Tibetan leader highly. Lamaism with its tendency towards shamanistic practices was much more suited to the great Mongolian Khans - who, like the Tibetans came from a nature-loving background - than the completely abstract and purely philosophical Chan Buddhism (Zen) of the Chinese. Soon close relationships were built.

The Mongolians incorporated Tibet into their extremely and comprehensively detailed, and well-structured administration. It was planned that the neighbouring Song kingdom, which had split off from the great Chinese empire during the Mongolian onslaught and now laid claim to being the real "Middle realm" - would be attacked from here.

On the basis of this tradition - after all, the Tibetan leaders had formerly recognised the "Chinese" sovereignty - it came to pass that under the leadership of the famous Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and the Mandschu (1644-1911), China now laid claim to the sovereignty of Tibet. The Mandschu hereby took advantage of the fact that in 1717 the Dsungaren invaded Tibet. The Chinese kingdom "liberated" Llhasa and from this time on regarded Tibet as a "protectorate".

In the meantime Tibet had overcome many inner tensions through a fundamental reform of Lamaism, and had consolidated to a proper theocratic state under the leader of the yellow caps. This leader had been called the "Dalai Lama" since the 16th century, and this name had been derived from the Mongolian "dalai" meaning ocean (the learned knowledge) and the Tibetan title for a spiritual leader : "bla-ma" = (the superior). He was regarded as the embodiment of compassion, as the incarnation of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara who - although he himself could have entered Nirvana - had waived his right to this, and had sworn to return to an earthly life of sorrow and misfortune again and again, and not to enter the Buddhistic paradise, before having been able to take every last living being on this earth into redemption with him.
A few of these persons however, had other plans for their lives. In 1903/1904 a British military expedition under the command of F.E.Younghusband managed to penetrate into the stringently isolated and - for any foreign entry - forbidden Lhasa ("place of the gods"). From this time on Russia and Great Britain began to fight over Tibet, but eventually both officially recognised the Chinese sovereignty. In the confusion and turmoil of the Chinese revolution of 1911, and after the fall of the last Chinese emperor, it seemed for a short while that Tibet could free itself from its military clutches. The army and the Chinese administrative machinery were driven out of the country. Nevertheless, this only lasted for a short while. Already three years later in 1914, at a conference in British Simla, parts of East Tibet were once again officially granted to China.

Even if the largest part of Tibet was still outwardly sovereign, it was and remained a constitutionally grey area. Wrongly believing that it was a sovereign state, the final undoing of the State of Tibet came about when in 1949 at the end of the Chinese civil war the peoples republic of China was founded, with stately celebrations and proud parades. It took hardly a year before Mao sent his peoples liberation army to Tibet. In Peking one insisted on the history of the last hundred years and ceremoniously concluded the "return" of Tibet to the peoples republic of China. The Dalai Lama accepted the annexation with the condition that the political, social and religious structure of the country would not be violated. China pledged regional autonomy, but could not keep to its promise.
The seeds for the conflicts of the communistic central government with the Lamaist clergy, which still held the reigns to the country´s political leadership, were sown. Unrest smouldered and continually blazed up. Tremendous opposition flared up against the Chinese supremacy. Finally on the 17th of March 1959 the whole matter exploded in a rebellion which the Chinese central government brutally suppressed, causing much bloodshed. The situation had escalated. The spiritual and political leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, was urged to flee by his advisors, in order not to fall into the hands of his suppressers. More than 100,000 Tibetans fled to the neighbouring Himalayan countries in a never-ending flow.
The Chinese appointed the Panchen Lama as sovereign, who after 5 years in office made an address to the people in which he conceded the sole and exclusive right of leadership to the Dalai Lama.

Thereupon he was interned in a so-called re-education centre by the Chinese government, and was held captive here for 14 years. Right up to his death he held to his belief that there was only one religious and political leader for Tibet - and this was the Dalai Lama.

In India, the Dalai Lama formed a government in exile.

The "socialistic building" of Tibet was introduced. On 09.09.1965 the "autonomous region of Tibet" was finally founded.
Once again the promised autonomy didn´t help to safeguard against the fact that - particularly in the culture revolution (1966-69) - countless monasteries were wrecked, books were burned, and treasures were destroyed irretrievably as everywhere else in China. Compulsory settlement of other Chinese sections of the population took place in Tibet, and the indigenous language and culture were suppressed, in order to achieve a far-reaching communist "equality" of the peoples republic.

In autumn 1987 a new peoples revolt flared up from a series of demonstrations for a free Tibet. The Chinese shot into the crowds of people, and suppressed the revolution using military and police violence.
The attention of the world was now turned to the events in distant Tibet. Time after time, the Dalai Lama addressed his people and attempted to calm them down. He continually appealed to his people to take the Buddhist path - the "path of non-violent opposition" - the only course of action which Tibet was permitted to take. On 14.10.1989 he was awarded the Nobel peace prize for his untiring commitment towards peace, harmony and non-violence.

For five years the "roof of the world" was closed off to foreigners to the greatest possible extent. Only since 1992 have matters and circumstances somewhat improved and a general easing of the situation has begun to set in.

Human Rights organisations estimate that a great many more than 1 million people lost their lives, and also that a lot more than 100,000 people are living in exile in India, Nepal and other countries.

Even if the Chinese government appears to have recently been making a great effort towards respecting a so-called "autonomous" region of Tibet as far as possible, the growing public opinion in favour of an autonomous state for Tibet, will not become silent until the Dalai Lama and his people can return to their native country.

On the 1 November 2000 the Dalai Lama will have been the worldly and religious leader of the Tibetans for 50 years, and he is still living in exile...