10 March Tibet Uprising Day 2019

60th Anniversary Timeline

1950
1949/1950 Chinese invasion
1949/1950 Chinese invasion

40,000 Chinese troops invaded Tibet; an independent nation the size of Western Europe.

1951
23 May 1951 17-point agreement
23 May 1951 17-point agreement

China consolidated its military occupation of Tibet forcing the Tibetan government to sign the ’17 Point Agreement’.

1959
10 March 1959 Tibetan national uprising
10 March 1959 Tibetan national uprising

Tens of thousands of Tibetans took to the streets of Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, rising up against China’s illegal invasion and occupation of their homeland.

12 March 1959 Tibetan Women’s Uprising
12 March 1959 Tibetan Women’s Uprising

15,000 unarmed Tibetan women came together and rose up against the forced occupation of Tibet by the communist Chinese government.

30 March 1959
30 March 1959

The Dalai Lama and his escape party crossed the border into India.

1959 to 1965 The UN General Assembly
1959 to 1965 The UN General Assembly

Three resolutions raising grave concern at the suppression of fundamental human rights in Tibet were passed by the UN.

1960
1960 – 1962 Famine and destruction
1960 – 1962 Famine and destruction

China’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Tibetans.

1966
1966 – 1976 The Cultural Revolution
1966 – 1976 The Cultural Revolution

Chairman Mao’s communism campaign led to the destruction of 6,000 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and cultural sites.

1987
21 September 1987 Five Point Peace Plan
21 September 1987 Five Point Peace Plan

The Dalai Lama presented his ‘Five Point Peace Plan’ as a solution to the situation; China flatly rejected his proposals.

September and October 1987
September and October 1987

In response to China’s rejection of the Dalai Lama’s ‘Peace Plan’, large protests broke out in Lhasa.

1988
March 1988
March 1988

Protests took place in Lhasa; Tibetan sources say up to 30 Tibetans were killed.

September 1988
September 1988

Nine monks from Drepung Monastery staged a protest in the centre of Lhasa Barkhor

10 December 1988
10 December 1988

A well-planned protest erupted in Lhasa. Chinese police opened fire on protesters, including foreigners, and Dutch national Christa Meindersma who was shot in the shoulder.

PHOTO – Tibet Watch

1989
1989 Tibetan Uprising
1989 Tibetan Uprising

Widespread protests broke out in Lhasa with tens of thousands of Tibetans taking to the streets. Chinese used brutal force to quell the protests, expelling all foreigners and declaring martial law.

10 December 1989
10 December 1989

The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1995
1995
1995

Six year old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was recognised as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama. He was kidnapped by Chinese authorities becoming the world’s youngest political prisoner. He remains missing today.

1996
1996
1996

Religious repression across Tibet intensified and China launched a brutal patriotic re-education campaign.

2001
2001
2001

China was awarded the 2008 Summer Olympics

2007
October 2007
October 2007

The Dalai Lama received the US Congressional Gold Medal. As Tibetans celebrated the award, China marshalled troops in a show of force

2008
March – June 2008
March – June 2008

Tibetan Uprising – Protests broke out in Lhasa and rippled across Tibet. Hundreds of Tibetans were killed and over 2,000 arrested.

August 2008
August 2008

China hosted the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. Pro-Tibetan protests took place around the globe including in Beijing.

2009
2009 – 2018
2009 – 2018

In February 2009 a young monk named Tapey set fire to himself in Ngaba, eastern Tibet.

Over the next 9 years, more than 150 Tibetans in Tibet self-immolated, protesting China’s rule in Tibet, the majority dying as a result.

2019
New forms of protest
New forms of protest

Large protests continue sporadically across Tibet but Tibetans have sought new ways to defend their identity and basic rights; environmental protection, student protests, cultural resistance with music, poems and writings celebrating Tibet’s culture and nationhood.

2020
Rise in Death in Custody
RISE OF DEATH IN CUSTODY

Rights experts have analysed that torture in Tibet is endemic and is used systemically and routinely by Chinese authorities against Tibetans in custody. An alarming number of Tibetans continue to die in custody or shortly after release from detention, and incriminating signs of torture and other clues to the reasons for death raise serious concern.

Further reading

2021
Crackdown on Online Communication
CRACKDOWN ON ONLINE COMMUNICATION

Chinese government’s tolerance for Tibetans’ rights has diminished dramatically in recent years and we have seen a marked increase in state control over everyday life, an escalation in the criminalization of nonviolent forms of protest, and a heavy crackdown against freedom of expression, association, and assembly. Since February 2021, Beijing has escalated a crackdown across Tibet and a new wave of arrests, including the detention of a number of prominent Tibetans.

2022
China’s Colonial Boarding Schools in Tibet
Colonial boarding school

Chinese government policies are forcing three out of four Tibetan students into a vast network of colonial boarding schools, separating 800,000-900,000 children aged 6-18 from their families and communities. This number does not include an additional, unknown number of four- and five-year olds. The schools are a cornerstone of Xi Jinping’s campaign to eliminate Tibetan identity and supplant it with a Chinese nationalist identity in order to neutralize any resistance to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule.

Further reading