TIBET

by David Nuttle

The Tiber]tan Plateau, average elevation of 14,000 ft. w/ surrounding mountains has been home to ethnic Tibetans, Mongols, Monpa, Khamba. Tamang, & Qiang for more than 2,000 years. Tibetans have been the dominant group with prevailing customs, culture, language, & Tibetan Buddhism, w. monasteries, as the religion. In 1720 B C, the Qing Chinese Dynasty took control of Tibet and made it an autonomous region of Imperial China. They did not force changes to the population.

In October 1951, the PRC (China) used its troops to take control of Tibet but made what seemed to be promises that they would not force any changes. However, Mao directed the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) to ignore the promises and confine Tibetans to forced labor camps and take their children to PRC boarding schools where they would be given instructions on how to become good Chinese. These actions caused a violent and brief Tibetan uprising in 1959, and their spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, and many Tibetans fled south to neighboring India to escape horrific fighting. His sister, Jetsun Pema, went with him and started a program to assist orphan Tibetan children they helped to escape Tibet. These children all had parents who were killed by the Chinese or confined to forced labor camps.

The Khamba started a protracted guerrilla warfare campaign against the Chinese, and a number of Tibetans protested Chinese oppressions by self-immolations. The Chinese soon started to develop Tibet as their own and added military facilities and moved Han into Tibet in large numbers. By 1980, the Han Chinese were the dominant population in Tibet. Today,

the PRC is developing and promoting Tibet as a tourist attraction. The Tibetans who acted to escape to India have thrived in India. Other ethnic groups in Tibet suffered along with all the Tibetans. Khamba populations suffered the most killed, on a percentage basis compared to other ethnic groups in Tibet.

All the deception, armed force, abuses, loss of freedoms, and brutality the CCP inflicted on Tibetans should serve as an example of what they will probably do to others if given a good opportunity.