Tibet In Agony

In 1959 the Dalai Lama emerged in India, where he set up his government in exile. Soon after he left Lhasa the Chinese People's Liberation Army pummeled the city in the "Battle of Lhasa." The Tibetans were forced to capitulate, putting Mao in a position to impose Communist rule over Tibet

The Chinese Communist government has twice invoked large-scale military might to crush popular uprisings in capital cities. The second incident—the notorious massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989—is well known. The first, thirty years earlier in Tibet, remains little understood today. Yet in wages of destruction, bloodshed, and trampling of human rights, the tragic toll of March 1959 surpassed Tiananmen. Tibet in Agony provides the first clear historical account of the Chinese crackdown in Lhasa. Sifting facts from the distortions of propaganda and partisan politics, Jianglin Li reconstructs a chronology of events that lays to rest lingering questions about what happened in those fate-filled days and why. Her story begins with throngs of Tibetan demonstrators who—fearful that Chinese authorities were planning to abduct the Dalai Lama, their beloved leader—formed a protective ring around his palace. On the night of March 17, he fled in disguise, only to reemerge in India weeks later to set up a government in exile. But no peaceful resolution awaited Tibet. The Chinese army soon began shelling Lhasa, inflicting thousands of casualties and ravaging heritage sites in the bombardment and the infantry onslaught that followed. Unable to resist this show of force, the Tibetans capitulated, putting Mao Zedong in a position to fulfill his long-cherished dream of bringing Tibet under the Communist yoke. Li’s extensive investigation, including eyewitness interviews and examination of classified government records, tells a gripping story of a crisis whose aftershocks continue to rattle the region today.

An untold story that reshapes our understanding of Chinese and Tibetan history From 1956 to 1962, devastating military conflicts took place in China's southwestern and northwestern regions. Official record at the time scarcely made mention of the campaign, and in the years since only lukewarm acknowledgment of the violence has surfaced. When the Iron Bird Flies, by Jianglin Li, breaks this decades long silence to reveal for the first time a comprehensive and explosive picture of the six years that would prove definitive in modern Tibetan and Chinese history. The CCP referred to the campaign as "suppressing the Tibetan rebellion." It would lead to the 14th Dalai Lama's exile in India, as well as the Tibetan diaspora in 1959, though the battles lasted three additional years after these events. Featuring key figures in modern Chinese history, the battles waged in this period covered a vast geographical region. This book offers a portrait of chaos, deception, heroism, and massive loss. Beyond the significant death toll across the Tibetan regions, the war also destroyed most Tibetan monasteries in a concerted effort to eradicate local religion and scholarship. Despite being considered a military success, to this day, the operations in the agricultural regions remain unknown. As large numbers of Tibetans have self-immolated in recent years to protest Chinese occupation, Li shows that the largest number of cases occurred in the sites most heavily affected by this hidden war. She argues persuasively that the events described in this book will shed more light on our current moment, and will help us understand the unrelenting struggle of the Tibetan people for their freedom.

In a remote Himalayan village in 1721, the Jesuit priest Ippolito Desideri wrote a treatise in classical Tibetan intended to refute key Buddhist doctrines and dispel the darkness of idolatry from Tibet. Dispelling the Darkness provides extended excerpts from this unfinished masterpiece and a full translation of a companion work.

The memoirs of a Tibetan freedom fighter who fought in the resistance against the Chinese occupation of Tibet in the 1950s, centered on his moral progression under the influence of the Dalai Lama from vengeful violence to compassion and forgiveness. The active resistance to the Chinese invasion of Tibet coalesced into a guerrilla army of freedom fighters, the Chushi Gangdruk. In the 1950s, China’s Red Army and communist cadres systematically slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Tibetans in Amdo and Kham, seeking to enslave the survivors. The freedom fighters waged war against overwhelming odds, losing to greater numbers, airplanes, and artillery. Fleeing to central Tibet, they helped their beloved Dalai Lama escape the 1959 massacre of Lhasa, to speak for his people in exile. Paljor Thondup’s diehard Khampa family also rose up to repel the invaders. They fought their way west through the whole thousand-mile length of Tibet, withdrawing to sanctuary in the Mustang region of Nepal. The Chushi Gangdruk, with modest CIA support, also regrouped their guerrilla army in Mustang. Eventually, certain new leaders became corrupt and gave up the fight, content with inaction to keep supplies coming. They hated the ongoing heroic raiding by Paljor’s family, and finally slaughtered them all—only Paljor and his close cousin Dupa survived. Hearing his father’s dying wishes, Paljor put down his weapons and changed his life, migrating to India to seek help from the Dalai Lama. Paljor and Dupa then began a modern education, to continue the struggle for Tibet as businessmen. Inspired by the Dalai Lama, Paljor renounced his tribal duty of blood vengeance, became a peace warrior, and conquered the inner enemy. He brings help to Tibet in its agony, sustaining the livelihoods of his long-suffering compatriots.

This book is an important addition to the history of Tibetan opposition to the Chinese takeover of their country. Shangri Lhagyal was one of many Tibetans who refused to cooperate with the Chinese as they tried to substantiate and legitimate their claim to sovereignty over Tibet. He, like many others, was forced into open opposition as the only honorable option. Although he modestly resisted a leadership role in the Resistance, his competence and reputation for integrity led others to choose him as one of the most important Resistance leaders. Although he did not leave an extensive written record, several members of his family have admirably filled in the historical record of the events in which he played such an important role. As the editors of this account have emphasized, it is important for Tibetans as well as the outside world to know the true history of the Tibetan resistance to China’s forcible imposition of its rule over the formerly independent country. —Warren W. Smith, author of Tibetan Nation: A History of Tibetan Nationalism and Sino-Tibetan Relations This book is inspired by H.H. the Dalai Lama’s idea that each Tibetan refugee, especially the freedom fighters, should document their personal experiences to inspire and to keep coming generations of Tibetan well informed about the true history of Tibet. The book deals brilliantly with many minute and significant details of modern Tibetan history, lived by ordinary citizens, which would have otherwise gone unrecorded and unsung. It is, by all means, a must-read for the new generation of Tibetans as well as their non-Tibetan supporters. —Vijay Kranti, author of Dalai Lama: The Soldier of Peace Resistance and Unity is more than Makchi Shangri Lhagyal’s personal story. It is a condensed modern history of Tibet from a Tibetan perspective. Following Shangri Lhagyal’s life, readers go back to the crucial years of the 1950s-60s when Tibet—a country that was never before ruled by any foreign power—was made part of the People’s Republic of China. Tibetan freedom fighters fought heroically against social transformation programs forcefully imposed by the Chinese Communist Party. Many fought to the last drop of blood. For Chinese readers, this is a must-read book. —Jianglin Li, author of Tibet in Agony: Lhasa 1959

This beautiful tradepaper graphic novel tells the story of one man taking on an empire, calling for truth, peace, and justice for his Tibetan people. Here, in full color for the first time, people can come to know the whole drama of his lifelong struggle. Since the age of 15, the Dalai Lama has defended his people against one of the last great empires, the People’s Republic of China. Under its "dictatorship of the proletariat," China began to invade Tibet in 1950, decimating and then continually oppressing its people. Since colonialism cannot be practiced in our era of self-determined nations, China always maintains that the Tibetans are a type of Chinese, using propaganda and military power to crush Tibet’s unique culture and identity. Yet the Dalai Lama resists by using only the weapon of truth—along with resolute nonviolence—even worrying some of his own people by seeking dialogue and reconciliation based on his more realistic vision. The great 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet has become the first global Dalai Lama, a prominent transnational leader of all who want to make the dramatic changes actually necessary for life on earth to thrive for centuries to come. Considered the incarnation of the Buddhist savior Chenrezig or Avalokiteshvara—archangel of universal compassion—he is believed to appear in many forms, at many different times, whenever and wherever beings suffer. Representing the plight of his beloved Tibetan people to the world, he has also engaged with all people who suffer oppression and injustice, as recognized in 1989 by his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Most importantly, the Dalai Lama walks his talk throughout these pages, as he has throughout his life, and he radiates a powerful hope that we can and will prevail.Man of Peace presents the inside story of his amazing life and vision, in the high tension of the military occupation of Tibet and the ongoing genocide of its people—a moving work of political and historical nonfiction brought to life in the graphic novel form—here for all to see.

A vivid account of China's unstoppable quest to build a railway into Tibet, and its obsession to transform its land and its people In the summer of 2006, the Chinese government fulfilled a fifty-year plan to build a railway into Tibet. Since Mao Zedong first envisioned it, the line had grown into an imperative, a critical component of China's breakneck expansion and the final maneuver in strengthening China's grip over this remote and often mystical frontier, which promised rich resources and geographic supremacy over South Asia. Through the lives of the Chinese and Tibetans swept up in the project, Fortune magazine writer Abrahm Lustgarten explores the "Wild West" atmosphere of the Chinese economy today. He follows innovative Chinese engineer Zhang Luxin as he makes the train's route over the treacherous mountains and permafrost possible (for now), and the tenacious Tibetan shopkeeper Rinzen, who struggles to hold on to his business in a boomtown that increasingly favors the Han Chinese. As the railway—the highest and steepest in the world—extends to Lhasa, and China's "Go West" campaign delivers waves of rural poor eager to make their fortunes, their lives and communities fundamentally change, sometimes for good, sometimes not. Lustgarten's book is a timely, provocative, and absorbing first-hand account of the Chinese boom and the promise and costs of rapid development on the country's people.