The Invasion Of Tibet In The 1950's

During the 1950s, a population of indigenous and peaceful Buddhists were unsettled by Chinese chairman, Mao Zedong. Although most people believe the genocide was strictly caused by religion and culture, history and geography also played a role. Mao became concerned that Buddhism was becoming more popular, threatening the main religion, Han Chinese. In 1949, Mao invaded Tibet to assert an authority over the Tibetans. He also wanted to suppress the Buddhists. Overall, his ideology was to seize Tibet, uniting the Chinese sovereign nation. Also, Tibet could be used for China’s economic benefit. China took Tibet’s natural resources so they could supply themselves (Human 3). Mining and water were big sources obtained by the Chinese. Many of the agricultural

resources were taken from them. This eventually led to a famine in the early 1960s. Not only were the resources valuable, but the placement of Tibet created a barrier, separating surrounding countries. India Bangladesh, and Nepal were some countries that were hidden by Tibet, providing more protection to China (Rastogi 1). Not only did China use Tibet for their resources, but they were also restricted in their beliefs and freedom. Eventually, the Tibetans revolted on March 10th, 1959 (Rajiv 1). The revolt, however, was unsuccessful. On March 30th, Dalai Lama, spiritual leader to the Tibetans, led eighty thousand Tibetans by foot to India. Dalai, exiled from Tibet, fled to India, fearing his life and the lives of others. Today, Dalai Lama is still in exile while Tibet is under Chinese tyrannical rule. Overall, human rights of Tibetans are abused by the Chinese, making yet another difficult situation for countries to help.
There are many atrocities that deprive people of their human rights. The use of torture and mistreatment was used to create compliance of the Tibetan people. Such objects used were electric batons, rifle butts, iron bars, and cigar burns (Tibet 1-4). These methods of torture were often used to extract confessions. Sometimes, people would die from the torture or mistreatment. However, a monk in 1992, survived over thirty years of torture (Online 2). Although most of the time torture was effective, many people were still imprisoned. Although, due to the capacity of the jails, most prisoners would be killed to clear room for others (Tibet 1). Around seventy percent of the prisoners died either by torture, gun, or starvation (Tibet 2). However, in the Golok area, dead Tibetan people were pushed into a ditch. The Chinese would force the Tibetan family members to dance on the dead bodies as a celebration. They would then be shot to their death afterwards. If someone was a lucky person to survive, restrictions and suppression was also used. Torture was not the only way to keep the Tibetans in line.
Torture was sometimes not enough for the Tibetan people. The Chinese placed restrictions and suppressed them as well. Many of the restrictions were cultural. For example, the Tibetan people were no longer allowed to do speak their native language (Cultural 1-2). Mao wanted Tibet to become closer to China. Therefore, he forced the people to learn Mandarin, the main language of the Chinese culture. This forced the children to be reeducated. In order to force people to speak Mandarin, jobs only accepted people speaking that language. Therefore, since most Tibetans did not learn the language fast enough, the Chinese took most jobs from the people in Tibet. So, not only was Tibet a storage facility for goods, but also a career festival. In addition, anything that associated itself to Tibet was banned. The flag as well as the national anthem of Tibet were no longer to be used (Human 1-2). In fact, no songs or written documents speaking of Tibet were to be used. Even the celebration of any Tibetan holiday was banned. Tibetans would be imprisoned or killed as a result. Therefore, the Chinese’s job was to isolate or kill off the Tibetans. In fact, restrictions upon them were mostly used to isolate the Tibetans to instil fear and control them. Such restrictions included no passport to travel outside of Tibet. Tibet was in the dark from the world as they could not obtain passports to leave. One Tibetan blogger quoted, “Getting a passport is harder for a Tibetan than getting into heaven. This is one of those ‘preferential policies’ given to us Tibetans by [China’s] central government” (Human 3). Social media and televisions were also monitored as to restrict them from gaining insight of other countries. No information of other countries were let in as well as no information of the genocide occurring in Tibet was released. So, when journalists wanted to find more information on Tibet, most were not allowed to do so. If they were, they were closely monitored. In fact, more journalists are allowed into North Korea than in Tibet. Due to the restrictions placed on Tibetans, revolts were created.
Many Tibetans did not like the restrictions and decided to act against them.

Between 1987 and 1992, over one hundred and fifty demonstrations were created (Tibet 3). However, during the invasion of Tibet, over six thousand monasteries were destroyed (China 1). In the eyes of China, bombing the center of Tibet’s religious practice would break down the Tibetans faster or kill the religion itself. The monasteries were where they could be spiritually connected to Dalai Lama. Without them, they could no longer fully connect themselves to Dalai. As China forced Tibetans to denounce Dalai Lama, he fled while taking thousands of Tibetans with him. Today, over one hundred and fifty thousand Tibetans are still in exile. Not only did China take away their spiritual leader and hope, they also raided their environment into further destruction. China removed vast forests and animals for their own food sources. This declined the ecosystem of Tibet. In fact, around eighty percent of all Tibetans are below poverty due to the lack of resources. Adding to that devastation, China used Tibet as a dumping ground for nuclear waste. On top of that, eight million Chinese people were moved into Tibet. This made Tibetans a minority within their own country. After year of torture and devastation, Dalai Lama sought out for his country an agreement, the 17-Point Plan. However, the agreement still gave China control over Tibet. Although that was a small victory, the effects of the genocide

overpower.
The overall effects of the Tibet genocide are greatly saddening.

Today, there are four hundred thousand Chinese troops stationed in Tibet for monitoring (Human 2-3). Not only is there a treat with troops everywhere, but one quarter of China’s missiles are stationed in Tibet as well. They are ready to be used if necessary. There is fear rising from surrounding countries that China will use their army or missiles on them. The surrounding country’s worries were reasonable with the amount of deaths that occurred during the genocide. The statistics are truly devastating. During 1949 and 1979, over one million and two hundred thousand Tibetans were killed: 173,221 people were tortured in prison, 156,758 people were executed, 432,705 were killed while fighting, 342,970 starved to death, 9,002 committed suicide, and 92,731 struggled to their death (Tibet

2).
Although the Holocaust is the most widely known genocide throughout the world, it is certainly not the greatest. Tibet is blind to the world because it is not a big, world-wide country like Germany. China is not allowing information in or out of Tibet which keeps the world clueless to the genocide occurring. During the Holocaust however, many people were aware of it because it was not a secret. This could be the reason why the world is shut out. Also, the Tibet genocide was a governmental issue and represented the Chinese people in a horrific way. However, in fact, some Chinese risked their safety by posting information about the genocide online. In conclusion, not everyone in China is responsible for the genocide. Today, Tibet is still under the control of China. However, support and awareness is rising towards the help of Tibet. The more the world learns about the genocide, the more help it will gather in freeing Tibet. The genocide was trying to kill a race by taking away their ability to live freely. Human rights are a privilege in which humanity cannot take away from other people.