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A unified Tibet first came during the seventh century under Songtsan Gampo. Under the rule of the next several kings, Tibetan power spread into central Asia, northern India, and Pakistan. Their influence waxed and waned until AD 907, when China took back the territory it had lost. When Genghis Khan led the Mongols into the region in 1239, he was so taken with Tibetan Buddhism that it became the official religion of the Mongol Empire in East Asia—an empire that only lasted a century.
In the 1400s, the Gelugpa order of monks rose to power. Their lamas were believed to be reborn, and the third came to be called “Dalai,” meaning “Ocean of Wisdom.” By 1611, the alliance between the Mongols and the Gelugpa order had grown, and in protest the Tsang king attacked the Drepung and Sera monasteries, forcing the fourth Dalai Lama to flee. The Mongols intervened, and executed the king so that the fifth Dalai Lama could assume power.
Over time, relations with the new Chinese Manchu Qing Dynasty turned, beginning two centuries of power struggles. It culminated in 1910, when the Manchu Qing Dynasty was on the decline. The Dynasty invaded Tibet, sending the Dalai Lama again into flight—this time to Tibet’s new allies, the British in India. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Manchu forces withdrew and the Dalai Lama returned to a free Tibet for the next 30 years. The present Dalai Lama was installed in 1940. In 1950, the Communist Chinese “liberated” Tibet and asserted control. In 1959, a plot by the People’s Republic of China to kidnap the then 24-year-old Dalai Lama was rumored. This resulted in an uprising and the death of thousands of Tibetans. The Dalai Lama disappeared, turning up in India two weeks later.
This began a long period of repression and violence endured by the Tibetan people, marked by the destruction of cultural monuments, brutally quelled uprisings, and countless deaths and imprisonments in labor camps. China extended a welcome mat to the Dalai Lama in 1977, but he declined after learning of continued atrocities. In the 1980s, China targeted Tibet for a mass immigration program, even offering incentive to Han Chinese to relocate. More than 100,000 did so in 1984—there are concerns that Tibetans may soon be the minority in their own country.
The Dalai Lama still runs his government in exile from India. His commitment to end his standoff with the Chinese, who have rejected his peace plans, earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
China has made rapid advances in industry and agriculture, and they claim to want to help Tibetans take advantage of the country’s progress. A combination of foreign investment, continued Han immigration, and offering higher education only in Mandarin point toward success only for those Tibetans who embrace the new China. On the bright side, a delegation of the Dalai Lama visited Tibet in 2002, which might point the way toward resolution to a generation-long conflict.