Background to the Tibetan conflict.
My father is a religious man. He had to hide his Buddhist books and relics in the wall of our home when the Chinese came and cleared his village of its religious identity. Many of the important religious artifacts were put in a truck and taken to Chine. He had to, at that time, he would wake at 4 am. Every morning and try to complete his prayers before dawn. He did this very secretly as he risked suffering the fate of others who were found out.
My father also told me the story of how, prior to being forced to live in communes, the family had once lived in their own homes and enjoyed their independent lives. He told me about how the Chinese came and cut their long religious hair and defaced their symbols of culture in the earlier days of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. They had their heads shaved and were humiliated for the sake of their liberation. My father also gave me a graphic account of the huge suffering and starvation brought to Tibet in the 1950's and 60's. He described how so many starved to death and how he had to steal in order for his family to eat. My mother often referred to these terrible times. One day she picked up some fruit from a dropped branch in the street and was seen by a spy. She was reported and confined to a room for three days with food.
My father also told me how his friend was treated after he, too, stole some fruits. All the village people in the village were forced to gather and witness the spectacle of his degrading punishment. He was stripped naked and he had fruit attached to and hung from his penis. All his family was forced to watch as he endured both the humiliation and pain of his monstrous punishment. There are so many other stories like this.
In 1949, the People's Chinese Communist Party came into power after many years of conflict. Right after the 1st Oct 1949, the Chinese communist party under the chairmanship of Mao, along with his principal general commanders Toenail and Taote met in Beijing to discuss the invasion of Tibet along with other bordering states. They planned the military strategy to be used in the invasion of Tibet. They said that it was not too late if not too early to use force. At that time Northwest General commander Phentaihai and southwest General commander Tenshaopen led a military campaign into eastern parts of Tibet (Kham and Amdo) and captured many.
In time they reached the central Tibetan border. Right from the start in 1949 and up until now, the Red Chinese Communist Party has brought overwhelming suffering to the Tibetan people. Under these conditions, our religion and culture have been cleansed. 6000 monasteries where, for centuries, the epicentre of learning, and an essential aspect of the teaching of Tibetan language and religion. With the loss of so many of these monasteries, the cultural survival of Tibet was seriously undermined Some 200.000 leading 'adept', scholars and lay people were, during the liberation, put in to prison, tortured and executed.
Unfortunately it is irreplaceable and almost impossible to repair. This is a huge lost to our history; even school textbooks were not exempt from Chinese propaganda. The Chinese are fully intent on wiping Tibetan culture off the face of the earth. Education is not a medium of liberation as it is in the West but rather a 'correction' machine used to brain wash all future Tibetans into a uniform motherland.