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{{Country|name ='''[[Image:Tibet]]'''<br/>''Bod''<br/>|map =Tibet map.gif|right]]map2 =|flag =Xt.gif|arms =|capital =Lhasa|capital-raw =|government =Theocracy|government-raw =|language =Tibetan|king =|queen =|monarch-raw = 14th Dalai Lama|president =|premier =|chancellor =|chancellor-raw =|pm =|pm-raw =|area =983,126|pop =|pop-basis =|gdp =|gdp-year =|gdp-pc =|currency =Tibetan srang|idd =|tld =}}'''Tibet''' is a country [[sovereign]] [[nation]] under [[military]] occupation of the [[People's Liberation Army]] of the [[Communist Party of China]]. It is in a mountainous region geographically between [[India]] and [[China]] that . It was independent of outside interference and control until it was invaded by the [[Chinese Communists ]] in 1951. They suppressed [[Buddhist]] culture and moved in hundreds of thousands of ethnic Chineseincluding occupation forces. The Chinese government considers Tibet to be geographically part of China, and has made Tibet an [[Autonomous Region]]. Its capital is [[Lhasa]].Historical Tibet included Qinghai, Western Sichuan and Northern Yunnan. <ref>https://freetibet.org/about/location</ref>

The spiritual leader and [[Head of State]] of Tibet is His Holiness the 14th [[Dalai Lama]], currently in exile in India. <ref>[http://www.dalailama.com/ The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama]</ref> Tibet has the largest number of monks in the world with almost 1/3 of the population being a monk. [http://www.tibettours.com/people-monks.html]In Tibetan Buddhism, the top 5% is the Dalai Lama with government officials and the priesthood while the other 95% is the serfs.<ref>https://info-buddhism.com/Human-Rights-in-Tibet-before-1959_Robert_Barnett.html</ref><ref>https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/feb/10/tibet-china-feudalism</ref>

[[File:Tibet dance.jpg|left|250px|thumb|]]Tibet's earliest religion is Bön. Buddhism flourished in Tibet in the seventh century... With the assumption of power by the Dalai Lamas in 1642, the era of a "harmonious blend of religion and politics" was established in Tibet. Monasteries, temples and hermitages were found in every village and town throughout Tibet.''

Tibet was an independent state in fact at the time of China's invasion. Tibetan society before the Chinese invasion was under the control of Buddhist monks headed by the Dalai Lama, a leader chosen by other monks because he was the supposed reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama. No semblence semblance of democracy existed; total control of the country and all its assets was in the hands of the religious authorities and all Tibetans were subject to the rule of these authorities. The beginnings of popular Tibetan opposition to this theocratic rule was the reason why the Dalai Lama belatelybelatedly, and very slowly, initiated far-reaching reforms soon after he assumed full temporal authority in the early fifties.

The Chinese themselves view Tibet in colonial terms: that is, not as part of China proper, but as non-Chinese territory which China has a right to own and exploit, on the basis of a relationship that existed 700 years ago. Resistance to the Chinese occupation started to take on organized forms as early as 1952, reached massive proportions in 1959, and has continued, primarily underground, ever since. <ref>[http://www.tibet.com/WhitePaper/exesum.html Tibet: Proving Truth from Facts]</ref>

Today marks the 52nd anniversary of the Tibetan people’s peaceful uprising of 1959 against Communist China’s repression in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, and the third anniversary of the non-violent demonstrations that took place across Tibet in 2008. On this occasion, I would like to pay tribute to and pray for those brave men and women who sacrificed their lives for the just cause of Tibet. I express my solidarity with those who continue to suffer repression and pray for the well-being of all sentient beings... <ref>[http://www.tibet.net/en/index.php?id=2165.&articletype=flash&rmenuid=morenews&amps&tab=1#TabbedPanels1 Statement of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the 52nd Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day.] </ref>

[[File:Buddha painted on a rock wall in Tibet.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Buddha painted on a rock wall in Tibet.]]

* Goldstein, Melvyn C. ''The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama'' (1999), 165pp; [httphttps://www.amazon.com/Snow-Lion-Dragon-China-Tibet/dp/0520219511/ref=pd_sim_b_1 excerpt and text search]** Goldstein, Melvyn C. ''A History of Modern Tibet, 1913-1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State'' (1991) 936pp [httphttps://www.amazon.com/History-Modern-Tibet-1913-1951-Lamaist/dp/0520075900/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1PJZML9U03R37&colid=2Q1OLMZYJ5NOC excerpt and text search]** Goldstein, Melvyn C. ''A History of Modern Tibet, volume Volume 2: The Calm before Before the Storm: 1951-1955'' (2009) [httphttps://www.amazon.com/History-Modern-Tibet-1951-1955-Lilienthal/dp/0520259955/ref=pd_sim_b_4 excerpt and text search] * Roberts, John B., and Elizabeth A. Roberts. ''Tibet: 50 Years of Struggle, Resilience, and Hope'' (2009), 304pp, by a conservative journalist [httphttps://www.amazon.com/Freeing-Tibet-Years-Struggle-Resilience/dp/0814409830/ref=pd_sim_b_73 excerpt and text search]

[[Category: Tibet]]

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