Chapter 4 〇3. Lhasa 1951: Peaceful Liberation of Tibet

In 1951, the march of the Chinese People's Liberation Army into Lhasa became the most sensational and far-reaching event of that year.Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, is an ancient city with a history of 1,300 years.It is located on the north bank of the Lhasa River, a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo River, with an altitude of more than 3,650 meters, making it the highest city in the world.The annual sunshine hours are more than 3000 hours, known as the "City of Sunshine".Today it is a tourist's dream paradise, and because of Tibetan Buddhism and its remoteness, it is also considered a place of peace of mind.But in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tibet and Taiwan were pressing issues that the new Chinese regime had to solve. In 1951, the People's Liberation Army marched into Lhasa, marking that Tibet, as an inalienable part of China's territory, could not be shaken. Since then, great changes have taken place in Lhasa.But it remains an ethnically and culturally sensitive place.Its changes and its troubles, it all started in 1951.

On November 13, 1950, the Kasya government in Lhasa sent a carefully written appeal letter to the United Nations.The letter, titled "Appeal to the Secretary-General of the United Nations," begins: "The world's attention is drawn to North Korea, which is being invaded and supported by an international armed force, while the same thing happening in faraway Tibet goes unnoticed." In this appeal, the Tibetan government set out what it considers China's relationship with Tibet.This relationship, in the years before 1912, "did have a close and friendly relationship between the Emperor of China and His Holiness the Dalai Lama personally," but the relationship "can only be accurately described as that of a religious teacher with his secular followers and believers." The relationship between them has no political implications". After 1912, the Revolution of 1911 in China severed this relationship, because this revolution buried the royal rule, "Since then, Tibet has relied entirely on its own independent status and the wisdom of the Buddha, and sometimes in order to defend itself. British support in India".They hope that the United Nations can take some measures to help them prevent the Chinese Communist Party from entering Lhasa.

From the beginning of the civil war, officials in Lhasa began to pay close attention to the changing situation of the battle until they finally realized that the victory of the Communist Party was inevitable, and one major victory after another brought the Communist army into one big Chinese city after another. .The Red Army has gradually won the whole of China with its bravery and people-friendly tactics.But this situation has made Tibet's rulers worried.Because the Marxism pursued by the Communist Party requires them to adhere to atheism in their beliefs, and Tibet has always believed that with the help of Buddhism, it has stayed away from high-level materialism.Their supreme spiritual and political leader is His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the reincarnation of Avalokitesvara.What effect would a communist China have on areas where Buddhism dominated spiritually and materially?Speculation about an unknowable future made Lhasa's nobles and monks anxious.The thirteenth Dalai Lama once warned his followers to be wary of this red threat.

"We have been dealing with the Kuomintang for a long time, so it has become clear that no matter what they say (Tibet is part of China), they cannot put their ideas into practice. For example, they cannot even send troops to escort the Panchen Lama into Tibet. Yes. They claim to do this and that, but they can't do anything. On the other hand, we know that the communist party is very strong, because we hear every day that here or there is occupied by them. People start thinking about fleeing to India, And started moving their valuables to India or hiding them in temples, during this period temples also started buying Indian rupees and putting them in storage. I remember, I had a bag full of Indian rupees in my own house, Put it on your own desk, and if something unexpected happens, you can take this bag of rupees and flee, and people are like a frightened bird. In April (1949), the Kuomintang began to flee to Taiwan. From then on, the situation has been nothing. I hope." Sangpo, a fourth-rank official of the Tibetan government, recalled.

They took every measure they could think of to preserve their independence.They closed the Tibet office of the failed Nationalist government's Mongolian-Tibetan Committee, hoping to show the communist government that they were not on the side of Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang, and at least buy Lhasa some time. They began to consciously increase Tibet's military strength.At the same time, they also sent a signal for help to the British, American and Indian governments. Even, on November 2, 1949, they sent a naive letter to China's new leader, Mao Zedong, in which ignorant Tibetan officials wrote: "Dear Mr. Mao Zedong: Tibet is a prevalent The unique country of Buddhism, she is predestined to be ruled by the incarnation of Avalokitesvara (the Dalai Lama). However, Tibet has been an 'independent country' since ancient times, and its 'political' dominance has never been ruled by any 'foreign' took over; Tibet also defends its own territory from 'foreign' aggression, Tibet has always been a religious people's paradise. Given the fact that Qinghai and Xinjiang are adjacent to Tibet, we hope that Chinese troops will not cross The Sino-Tibetan border may not take any 'military' action against Tibet. Therefore, please issue strict orders to the military and political officials stationed on the Sino-Tibetan border according to the above requirements, and please reply as soon as possible, so that we can rest assured. As for the previous merger Those Tibetan territories on the territory of China, the Tibetan government hopes to hold consultations and negotiations after the end of China's 'civil war'."

In delivering Tibetan and English copies of the letter to the U.S. and British governments, respectively, in a letter to British officials, they said, "We think that Mao Zedong may give due consideration to this issue."Of course, one of the purposes of the Lhasa government is to hope that the US and British governments can provide political and military assistance to Tibet if they have to. But China's new regime clearly has a completely different view on the Tibet issue than the Lhasa government. When the People's Republic of China was proclaimed on October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong declared in an unusually passionate voice: "The Chinese people have now stood up!" What he and his government wanted to achieve was a new revival.The history of the past hundreds of years has brought shame to a once great country.And this shame must be washed away by him and the government and army he leads.Any matter that touches dignity will thrill this sensitive country.The shadow of a heavy history can turn any slight offense into an obvious provocation.For this reason, they even went to war with a superpower in North Korea.

The first thing the new government wants to achieve is the reunification of China.In the past, this kind of unity was destroyed by the "imperialist countries" because of the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government and the subsequent warlord melee.The main goal of this unification is to liberate Tibet and Taiwan and bring them back to the embrace of the motherland.This separation, like sons and daughters forced from their mothers, is painful for both parties.And now, the mother, rich and powerful again, wants her son and daughter back. In mid-January 1950, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping held a mobilization meeting in Chongqing, and conveyed in detail the instructions of the Chinese Central Committee on marching into Tibet, requiring all officers, soldiers and party and government personnel to make all preparations for marching into Tibet in September 1950.

This army still continued their strict discipline. In a life statement issued by the Southwest Military and Political Committee, it said, "All officers and soldiers of our People's Liberation Army are marching to Tibet. Their main tasks are to protect freedom of religious belief; respect local customs; protect All monasteries in Tibet; without the permission of the Khenpo of the monastery, officers and soldiers are not allowed to stay in the monastery, and the People's Liberation Army is not allowed to destroy the monastery buildings, nor destroy any Buddhist relics in the monastery; it is not allowed to interfere with or destroy the religious activities or Buddhist practice of the lamas in the monastery, if Anyone who violates the above regulations will be severely punished."When the battle of Qamdo was about to start, a Han soldier described that some Khamba people sold rotten tsampa to the PLA, but the army had to swallow their breath and buy it.

The Battle of Khamba in 1950 further proved that nothing seemed to be able to stop the People's Liberation Army from entering Lhasa.Both the British government and the Indian government decided to adopt a policy of non-intervention, and the assistance of the US government was long overdue and appeared to be of no help. "No matter what the people of the world may say, our determination to liberate Taiwan and Tibet is unshakable," the Chinese ambassador to Delhi publicly stated on October 18, 1950. Gradually, forces within the Tibetan government that advocated negotiations with the Communist Party gained the upper hand.At this time, the 16-year-old Dalai Lama began to take over the political and religious power in Tibet. He later recalled, "I was extremely anxious at that time. Not only did I know little about the world situation, but I also lacked political experience."His think tank believes that negotiations with the Chinese Communist Party are desirable, and that the Dalai Lama does not need to leave Lhasa for refuge in the United States, India or elsewhere, as many have suggested.

A delegation headed by the senior Tibetan official Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme (who also led the Tibetan side in the Chamdo campaign) reached the famous "Seventeen-Point Agreement" with the Chinese government in Beijing.After the signing of the agreement, the People's Liberation Army will successively drive to Lhasa.At the same time, the Dalai Lama and his government entourage also began to return to Lhasa from Yadong, which had previously served as a refuge. At the public meeting held on September 28, 1951 to discuss whether to accept the "Seventeen-Article Agreement", Ngapoi said emotionally that if Tibetans thought his act of signing the agreement was wrong, then, "no matter what you want To dispose of the bodies, lives and property of our five (representatives) and have to do so, let us dispose of it, we will have no regrets or remorse."

Ultimately, the assembly recommended that the Dalai Lama accept the agreement.In the months that followed, thousands of People's Liberation Army troops marched into Lhasa. A series of complicated events happened later, which prompted the Dalai Lama and many of his important officials to leave Tibet in March 1959 and began their exile life in India, which has continued until today.People are worried whether the sudden death of the 14th Dalai Lama will cause new anxiety in Lhasa and Tibet.This uneasiness caused the Chinese government an extremely headache in early 2008.But there is no doubt that no one, country or government is stupid enough to want to change the fact that Tibet is already a part of China.It is pointless to continue to seek Tibet's separation from the central government.