During the period of Low hostility period, Mao respected the Seventeen Point Agreement and allowed the traditional system to stay the same as before the invasion. For the time being, no monasteries were demolished and the Dalai Lama still held authority and was the religious and political leader in Tibet. Keeping the Dalai Lama in power was strategically important for Mao. Giving the Dalai Lama authority meant gaining trust and support from the Tibetan elites, and eventually getting them to side with him upon the transformation of Tibet. The Dalai Lama being in charge of Tibet was significant for the people of Tibet too. His holiness kept in power also meant that the Tibetans’ lives were not drastically transformed, and this deferred any uprisings
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In March of 1959, a revolt against the Chinese government broke out in Tibetan capital Lhasa. Although the Chinese Liberation Army quickly shut down the uprising, this still resulted in the deaths of 87,000 Tibetan civilians in Central Tibet alone. On March 10th of 1959, after the uprising had occurred, the Dali Lama was invited to a Chinese dance show by Chinese Communist general Zhang Chenwu. What seemed to be a harmless social event became ominous when Zhang specified the conditions of the event. He stated that the Tibetan leader was not to be accompanied by any Tibetan soldiers for protection, and that his bodyguards had to arrive weaponless. Worry and fear fell among the citizens of Lhasa over the safety of their leader, and tens of thousands of Lhasan civilians gathered to escort and guard their leader in case flight from the country became a necessity. The escape was not planned in advance, but on March 10th 1959 his Holiness determined his escape to India, although the odds of a safe escape were extremely low. The Dalai Lama fled to India that day to the area where he still resides. The timing of the escape was crucial since the Liberation Army destroyed the Dalai Lama’s residence only hours after his departure. The Tibetan officials left in Tibet were unable to draw a strategy that would abolish the Chinese rule or improve the state …show more content…
One important thing we must consider when we are looking at this Period is how little the Chinese and Mao truly understood Tibet. Tibet was not simply a country where people obeyed the same secular laws. The whole population shared a strong metaphysical culture; that was Buddhism, and the biggest threat for the Tibetan people was the assault on their religion. At first, Mao did not destroy the monastic estates, due to the fact that 1/10th of the males in Tibet were monks and destroying this system meant thousands of unemployed monks and less agricultural contributions because as part of their service, monks grew agricultural products. This would therefore have affected the Tibetan and Chinese economy critically. Thus Mao did not abolish any monasteries or monastic estates but limited the number of religious celebrations and religious freedoms. He believed that religious celebrations meant gatherings of large numbers of Tibetans and this could lead to anti-Chinese demonstrations. Eventually, Mao started to order the Liberation Army to destroy the hundreds of religious institutions and cultural institutions. More than 3000 monasteries were demolished during this period, and thousands of monks were jailed and tortured. There were a great deal of Tibetan civilians slaughtered, and those who were fortunate enough not to be killed were taken to internment or labor camps where most of them died
In March of 1959, a revolt against the Chinese government broke out in Tibetan capital Lhasa. Although the Chinese Liberation Army quickly shut down the uprising, this still resulted in the deaths of 87,000 Tibetan civilians in Central Tibet alone. On March 10th of 1959, after the uprising had occurred, the Dali Lama was invited to a Chinese dance show by Chinese Communist general Zhang Chenwu. What seemed to be a harmless social event became ominous when Zhang specified the conditions of the event. He stated that the Tibetan leader was not to be accompanied by any Tibetan soldiers for protection, and that his bodyguards had to arrive weaponless. Worry and fear fell among the citizens of Lhasa over the safety of their leader, and tens of thousands of Lhasan civilians gathered to escort and guard their leader in case flight from the country became a necessity. The escape was not planned in advance, but on March 10th 1959 his Holiness determined his escape to India, although the odds of a safe escape were extremely low. The Dalai Lama fled to India that day to the area where he still resides. The timing of the escape was crucial since the Liberation Army destroyed the Dalai Lama’s residence only hours after his departure. The Tibetan officials left in Tibet were unable to draw a strategy that would abolish the Chinese rule or improve the state …show more content…
One important thing we must consider when we are looking at this Period is how little the Chinese and Mao truly understood Tibet. Tibet was not simply a country where people obeyed the same secular laws. The whole population shared a strong metaphysical culture; that was Buddhism, and the biggest threat for the Tibetan people was the assault on their religion. At first, Mao did not destroy the monastic estates, due to the fact that 1/10th of the males in Tibet were monks and destroying this system meant thousands of unemployed monks and less agricultural contributions because as part of their service, monks grew agricultural products. This would therefore have affected the Tibetan and Chinese economy critically. Thus Mao did not abolish any monasteries or monastic estates but limited the number of religious celebrations and religious freedoms. He believed that religious celebrations meant gatherings of large numbers of Tibetans and this could lead to anti-Chinese demonstrations. Eventually, Mao started to order the Liberation Army to destroy the hundreds of religious institutions and cultural institutions. More than 3000 monasteries were demolished during this period, and thousands of monks were jailed and tortured. There were a great deal of Tibetan civilians slaughtered, and those who were fortunate enough not to be killed were taken to internment or labor camps where most of them died