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KF5JRV > TODAY 10.03.19 14:31l 45 Lines 2299 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 32501_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Mar 10
Path: IW8PGT<IR2UBX<SR1BSZ<F1OYP<ON0AR<GB7CIP<N3HYM<KF5JRV
Sent: 190310/1230Z 32501@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
On this day in 1959, Tibetans band together in revolt, surrounding the
summer palace of the Dalai Lama in defiance of Chinese occupation
forces.
China’s occupation of Tibet began nearly a decade before, in October
1950, when troops from its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) invaded the
country, barely one year after the Communists gained full control of
mainland China. The Tibetan government gave into Chinese pressure the
following year, signing a treaty that ensured the power of His Holiness
the Dalai Lama, the country’s spiritual leader, over Tibet’s domestic
affairs. Resistance to the Chinese occupation built steadily over the
next several years, including a revolt in several areas of eastern Tibet
in 1956. By December 1958, rebellion was simmering in Lhasa, the
capital, and the PLA command threatened to bomb the city if order was
not maintained.
The March 1959 uprising in Lhasa was triggered by fears of a plot to
kidnap the Dalai Lama and take him to Beijing. When Chinese military
officers invited His Holiness to visit the PLA headquarters for a
theatrical performance and official tea, he was told he must come alone,
and that no Tibetan military bodyguards or personnel would be allowed
past the edges of the military camp. On March 10, 300,000 loyal Tibetans
surrounded Norbulinka Palace, preventing the Dalai Lama from accepting
the PLA’s invitation. By March 17, Chinese artillery was aimed at the
palace, and the Dalai Lama was evacuated to neighboring India. Fighting
broke out in Lhasa two days later, with Tibetan rebels hopelessly
outnumbered and outgunned. Early on March 21, the Chinese began shelling
Norbulinka, slaughtering tens of thousands of men, women and children
still camped outside. In the aftermath, the PLA cracked down on Tibetan
resistance, executing the Dalai Lama’s guards and destroying Lhasa’s
major monasteries along with thousands of their inhabitants.
China’s stranglehold on Tibet and its brutal suppression of separatist
activity has continued in the decades following the unsuccessful
uprising. Tens of thousands of Tibetans followed their leader to India,
where the Dalai Lama has long maintained a government-in-exile in the
foothills of the Himalayas.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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