Timeline Tibet
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Tibet 1949-1999: http://www.jmu.edu/orgs/tibet/timeline.html
Timeline: http://www.hinduism-today.com/1998/4/
Bon Po is an ancient religion of Tibet.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.T6)
The Drokpa are pastoral nomads of Tibet.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.T6)
Tibet’s sacred Kailas (Kailash) mountain is the source of 4 major river
systems: the Indus, which flows north through Pakistan; the Sutlej,
which flows west to irrigate India’s Punjab region; the Karnali, which
flows south to join the Ganges; and the Tsangpo, which becomes the
Brahmaputra in Bangladesh.
(SSFC, 12/17/06, p.G5)
50Mil BC The Tibetan Plateau began
to lift about this time as India thrust northward. This led to the
creation of the Gobi Desert north of the plateau.
(SFC, 5/19/06, p.B7)
40Mil BC The entire Tibetan Plateau underwent major
uplifting. Vast ranges rose from the Himalayas on the east to
Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush and Iran’s Elburz mountains on the west.
(SFC, 5/19/06, p.B7)
740BC A population of people that
came to called Tibetans moved to the Tibetan plateau about this time.
In 2010 researchers claimed that people known as the Han and Tibetans
had both come from a single ethnic group which split about this time.
(Econ, 7/17/10, p.50)
c600-700 King Songstan Gampo reigned in the 7th
century. He introduced Buddhism and started construction of the Potala
Palace and Jokhang Temple. He married the Chinese princess Wen Cheng.
(WSJ, 8/2/01, p.A12)
c700 The Potala Palace in Lhasa,
Tibet, was constructed. It became the traditional home of the Dalai
Lama.
(SSFC, 10/5/03, p.D2)
763 Tibetan armies occupied the
capital of China.
(SFEM, 1/24/99, p.6)
779 King Trisong Detsen led Tibet.
Under his rule the first Buddhist monastery, Samye, was built. It was
built under the influence of Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche), Tibet’s
greatest saint. Padmasambhava was an 8th century sorcerer and saint who
converted Tibet to Buddhism. Legend has it that he dictated "sacred
geography" texts to his queen consort and then hid them for future
discovery. The texts were discovered by 17th century charismatic lamas.
(Hem., 4/97, p.72,75)(SFEC,12/14/97, p.T5)(WSJ,
3/11/99, p.A20)
1100-1200 The 12th century book "Gyuschi" was a
compilation of Tibetan medicine that described the making and
applications of medications extracted from herbs, roots and minerals
often served as hot teas.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.C4)
1193 The Karma Kargyu sect
preceded the Geluk sect of the Dalai Lama. It introduced the idea of
religious succession by reincarnation when a great lama used it to
predict his own rebirth.
(SFEM, 12/20/98, p.18)
c1200 The Rakhor nunnery was
established. In 1997 Chinese authorities ordered the nuns to leave and
everything except the main assembly hall was destroyed.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
c1300 The Jonang Buddhist
monastery was established. In 1997 Chinese authorities closed down the
700-year old monastery and sent the monks home after they refused to
denounce the Dalai Lama.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1400-1500 The Thikse monastery was established 12
miles east of Leh.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.T4)
1600-1700 Ladakh was a West Tibetan kingdom of this
time with lands that extended into what is now Nepal.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.T4)
1600-1700 In the 17th century the Geluk sect of
Buddhism cultivated the Mongols under Altyn Khan. The Khan named the
Geluk Lama Sonam Gyatso, "dalai," in reference to his oceanic wisdom.
The 4th Dalai Lama was discovered in the great-grandson of Altyn Khan.
The Gelukpa school gained power over the Kagyud (Black Hat) school of
Tibetan Buddhism.
(SFEM, 12/20/98, p.19)(Econ, 12/24/05, p.56)
1630 The Spiti Valley, a part of
western Tibet, became part of India.
(SFEC, 7/23/00, p.T9)
1640s The Fifth Dalai Lama
(1617-1682) invented a unique institution to rule his country, a
collaboration of monastics and aristocrats. It gradually accomplished
demilitarization and elevated monasticism with an emphasis on education
and spiritual development.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R55)
c1650 The Kagyupa sect of
Buddhism, known as the "Black Hats," under the leadership of the
Karmapa was supplanted by the Gelupga school of the Dalai Lamas as
Tibet's most politically powerful group.
(SFC, 1/800, p.A8)
1682 In Tibet the Fifth Dalai Lama
(b.1617) died. His death kept hidden for 15 years by his prime minister
and possible son Desi Sangay Gyatso in order that the Potala Palace
could be finished and Tibet's neighbors not take advantage of an
interregnum in the succession.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_Dalai_Lama)
1783 Captain Samuel Turner, a
British army officer, traveled through Bhutan and Tibet.
(Econ, 1/31/09, p.91)
1812 Jun 30, William Moorcroft,
East India Co. head of 5,000 acre horse farm at Pusa, India, arrived in
Tibet. He found no horses to improve his stock but learned of Russian
presence.
(ON, 1/02, p.3)
1834 The maharaja of Jammu was
able to annex Ladakh.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.T4)
1891 British captain and spy H.
Bower noted antelope and yak in incredible numbers in the Aru basin of
Tibet.
(NH, 5/96, p.50)
1894 H. Bower published his "Diary
of a Journey Across Tibet."
(NH, 5/96, p.68)
1897 British officer Capt. H.
Deasy encountered migrating chirus in Tibet and named the local
Antelope Plain.
(NH, 5/96, p.50)
1903 Sven Hedn published "Central
Asia and Tibet."
(NH, 5/96, p.68)
1903 English Col. Francis
Younghusband (1863-1942) marched off from Darjeeling, India, with 1,000
British and Indian soldiers, 7,000 mules and 4,000 yaks to invade Tibet.
(SSFC, 7/15/07,
p.G5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Younghusband)
1904 Sep 4, Dali Lama signed a
treaty allowing British commerce in Tibet.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1905 C. Rawling published "The
Great Plateau" [Tibet].
(NH, 5/96, p.68)
1910 Feb 25, The Dalai Lama fled
from the Chinese and took refuge in India.
(HN 2/25/98)
1912 Apr 4, A Chinese republic was
proclaimed in Tibet.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1921 George Leigh Mallory (36)
took part in the 1st expedition of mountain climbers to explore Mt.
Everest on the border of Nepal and Tibet.
(ON, 3/05, p.6)
1922 George Leigh Mallory (36)
took part in a 2nd expedition of mountain climbers to Mt. Everest. 7
porters were killed and the expedition failed to reach the summit.
(ON, 3/05, p.7)
1924 Jun 8, George Mallory (38), a
British schoolteacher, and Andrew Irvine (28), a student at Cambridge,
attempted to reach the top of Mount Everest from their camp at 26,800
feet. The body of Mallory was found May 1, 1999 on a ledge at 27,000
feet. Irvine’s body was not found. Two books were published in 1999
that used parallel narratives for the 2 expeditions: "The Lost
Explorer" by Conrad Anker and David Roberts, and "Ghosts of Everest" by
Jochen Hemmleb, Larry A. Johnson and Eric R. Simonson (as told to
William E. Northdurft).
(SFC, 5/5/99, p.A10)(WSJ, 12/16/99, p.W10)
1924 Frank Kingdon Ward, British
botonist, explored Tibet.
(SSFC, 11/21/04, p.E4)
1935 Jul 6, Dalai Lama 14,
spiritual leader of Tibet's Lamaistic Buddhists, was born as Lhamo
Thondup in Hong Ya, a mountain hamlet on the Tibetan Plateau. He was
formally recognized as the reincarnated Dalai Lama at age 2 and was
renamed Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (Holy Lord,
Gentle Glory, Compassionate, Defender of the Faith, Ocean of Wisdom).
He became a Nobel Peace Prize winner (1989) for his efforts to end
China's domination of Tibet.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzin_Gyatso,_14th_Dalai_Lama)(Econ,
2/28/09, p.44)
1947 The 5th Reting Lama died in a
Lhasa prison following a power struggle over the regency of the Dalai
Lama.
(SFC, 1/18/00, p.A8)
1948 The former kingdom of Ladakh
and Kashmir, annexed in 1834 by the maharajah of Jammu, became the East
Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.T4)
1949 The Chinese Red Army invaded
Tibet believing it was liberating the serfs and peasants.
(SFEM, 12/20/98, p.18)(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.A8)
1950 Aug 15, A magnitude 8.6
earthquake in Assam, Tibet, killed at least 780 people.
(AP, 2/27/10)
1950 Oct 21, Chinese forces
occupied Tibet.
(SFC, 6/14/96, p. C1)(MC, 10/21/01)
1950 Dec 19, Tibet's Dalai Lama
fled a Chinese invasion.
(MC, 12/19/01)
1950-1996 It has been reported that 1.2 million
Tibetans have been slain under Chinese rule.
(SFC, 6/16/96, p.B5)
1951 Mar 28, China proclaimed the
“peaceful liberation” of Tibet.
(Econ, 7/10/10, p.40)
1951 May 23, The Dalai Lama
signed the “17-point agreement” in which he agreed to accept Chinese
sovereignty over Tibet.
(www.friends-of-tibet.org.nz/17-point-agreement.html)(Econ, 5/21/11,
p.42)
1951 May 27, Chinese Communists
forced the Dalai Lama to surrender his army to Beijing.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1951 Jul 21, Dalai Lama returned
to Tibet.
(MC, 7/21/02)
1951 Gendun Choephel (b.1903), a
rebellious Tibetan monk, died. His work included a political history of
Tibet. In 2002 Luc Schaedler created the documentary “Angry Monk:
Reflections on Tibet.”
(SFC, 1/2/09,
p.E8)(www.angrymonk.ch/current_project/screenplay.shtml)
1951 Indian troops occupied
Tawang, some 2000 square km. of valley and high mountains just south of
the McMahon Line in northeast Arunachal Pradesh. This took place
shortly after China dispatched troops to Tibet.
(Econ, 8/21/10, p.18)
1953 Heinrich Harrer wrote his
memoir "Seven Years in Tibet."
(SFEC,12/14/97, BR p.4)
1955 Tibetan fighting flared up in
the eastern Kham region prompting an exodus of refugees and swelling
the ranks of resistance to Chinese rule.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.A8)
1955 Sydney Wignall, A Welsh
amateur spy for Indian intelligence, was captured by the Chinese with 2
members of his climbing expedition and held for several weeks. In 1997
his book: "Spy on the Roof of the World" was published.
(SFEC,12/14/97, BR p.4)
1957 The first team of 6 Tibetans
trained at a Saipan US CIA base and then airdropped back into Tibet
with modern weapons and radios.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.A8)
1958 Mar 24, Kejun, a Chinese army
doctor posted to Tibet, died soon after his arrival. His newly wed wife
and doctor, Shu Wen, traveled to Tibet to verify that he had died. In
2005 her story was told in novel form by Xinran: “Sky Burial: An Epic
Love Story of Tibet,” translated by Julia Lovell and Esther Tyldesley.
(SSFC, 7/17/05, p.F1)
1958 Jul 31, There was an
anti-Chinese uprising in Tibet.
(MC, 7/31/02)
1958 The US CIA began airdropping
weapons over Tibet.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.A8)
1959 Mar 10, In Tibet an uprising
against Chinese occupation force took place in Lhasa. China reacted
harshly, arrested tens of thousands and held strict control until the
late 1970s. The Chinese forced the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, and many
of his followers to flee to India. The Communists destroyed 6,500
monasteries. About 250 monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery escaped
to India and established a replica of their ancient institution.
(SFEC, 10/7/96, A12)(TMC, 1994, p.1959)(SFC,
10/10/96, p.E1)(WSJ, 9/4/97, p.A9)(MC, 3/10/02)
1959 Mar 17, The Dalai Lama fled
Tibet and went to India, triggering a flood of refugees escaping
Chinese rule.
(HN 3/17/98)(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.A8)
1959 Mar 28, China announced the
dissolution of the Tibetan government. The State Council of the
People's Republic of China dissolved the Government of Tibet, which
according to official history, liberated Tibetans from feudalism and
theocracy. On January 19, 2009, this day was adopted as a holiday,
“Serf Emancipation Day,” by the Tibetan legislature.
(AP,
1/16/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfs_Emancipation_Day)
1959 Mar 31, Dalai Lama fled the
Chinese suppression of a national uprising in Tibet and crossed the
border into India. India granted him political asylum.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1959 Jul 17, Tibet abolished
serfdom.
(MC, 7/17/02)
1959-1961 Almost all animal husbandry stopped and
food reserves of Tibetan nomads were confiscated by the Chinese.
(SFC, 2/12/98, p.A12)
1960 Tibetan fighters retreated to
a mountain range on Tibet’s border with Nepal, known as Mustang.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.A8)
1962 The Panchem Lama, senior
Buddhist cleric after the Dalai Lama, issued a 120-page report that
described conditions in Tibet under Chinese control: "The 70,000
Character Petition." He described starvation due to the Chinese "Great
leap Forward" program when authorities confiscated the nomad’s food
reserves. The Panchem Lama was arrested and sent to Beijing for
rehabilitation [for 14 years] until 1988.
(SFEC, 10/7/96, A12)(SFC, 2/12/98, p.A12)
1962 The Chinese exacted control
over western Tibet and many nomad refugees fled to Ladakh. Only 70 of
Tibet’s 2,500 Buddhist monasteries remained.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.T4)(SFC, 2/12/98, p.A12)
1964 Tashi Tsering returned to
Tibet after studying in the US and joined the Chinese Red Guards. He
was soon arrested and exonerated in 1978. He desired the overthrow of
Tibet’s feudal system and continued to work for education in Tibet. In
1997 he published "The Struggle for Modern Tibet."
(SFEC,12/14/97, BR p.4)
1965 Sep 9, Tibet was made an
autonomous region of China.
(MC, 9/9/01)
1972-1974 The Dalai Lama urged Tibetan fighters to
return to India. Many committed suicide rather than give up the fight
against Chinese rule.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.A8)
1979 Sep 25, The 14th Dalai Lama
arrived in SF for a weeklong visit.
(SFC, 9/24/04, p.F9)
1979 Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping
met with Gyalo Thondup, the brother of the Dalai Lama, beginning nearly
a decade of on and off dialogue over Tibet.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.A8)
1979 Gungthang Rinpoche, Buddhist
leader from the Labrang monastery, was released from prison after
serving over 20 years. He had refused to cooperate with Chinese
authorities after the takeover of Tibet.
(SFC, 3/6/00, p.A23)
1980 Aug 20, Reinhold Messner of
Italy became the 1st to solo ascent Mt. Everest.
(www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9052253)
1983 Tanak Jigme (57) Sangpo,
teacher, was sentenced to prison for "counterrevolutionary propaganda
and incitement" against the Chinese government. He was released in 2002
after 19 years in Drapchi prison.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A7)
1984 Richard Jay Kohn (d.2000 at
51), Tibetan scholar, filmed his documentary "Lord of the Dance /
Destroyer of Illusion." It featured the ritual festival of Mani Rimdu
that dated back to the 9th century.
(SFC, 6/2/00, p.D6)
1984 China began sending huge work
teams into Tibet to build roads and infrastructure.
(SFC, 2/1/00, p.A12)
1985 Ned Gilette (d.1998 at 53)
and Jan Reynolds published "Everest Grand Circle: A Climbing and Skiing
Adventure Through Nepal and Tibet."
(SFC, 8/15/98, p.A24)
1985 Ogyen Trinley, recognized in
1992 by the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama as the incarnate 17th
Karmapa, was born to nomadic parents in the Lhathok region of Tibet.
(Econ, 12/24/05,
p.56)(www.kagyu.org/karmapa/kar/kar03.html)
1985 Ma Jian, Chinese Buddhist
poet and dissident, fled Tibet. In 1987 he published “Stick Out Your
Tongue,” an account of his travels in Tibet. The book was denounced and
banned n China. In 2006 it was translated to English.
(SSFC, 6/4/06, p.M3)
1986 Feb 2, Dalai Lama met Pope
John Paul II in India.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1986 May 9, Tenzing Norgay
(b.1914), Tibetan climber (Mount Everest 1953), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzing_Norgay)
1987 Tibetan Buddhist guru Trungpa
Rinpoche died.
(SSFC, 10/14/01, p.B5)
1988 Hu Jintao was appointed as
the top Chinese party official in Tibet.
(WSJ, 5/17/99, p.A21)
1988 Tashi Tsering completed his
15,000 word, trilingual Chinese-Tibetan-English dictionary. He wrote an
autobiography in 1997 with 2 American professors titled: "The Struggle
for Modern Tibet: The Autobiography of Tashi Tsering."
(WSJ, 9/4/97, p.A9)
1989 Jan, Choekyi Gyaltsen, the
Panchen Lama, died in Tashilumpo Monastery. In 2000 Isabel Hilton
authored "The Search for the Panchen Lama."
(SFEC, 10/7/96, A12)(WSJ, 6/9/00, p.W9)
1989 Mar, Hu Jintao, Chinese Party
Secretary, imposed martial law in Tibet to quell separatist unrest
following the worst there violence in 30 years. Martial law was not
lifted until May 1990.
(SSFC, 3/11/01, p.D8)(Econ, 3/22/08, p.28)
1989 Oct 5, The Dalai Lama, the
spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, was named winner of the Nobel
Peace Prize.
(WSJ, 12/2/98, p.A22)(AP, 10/5/99)
1991 The Assembly of Tibetan
People’s Deputies adopted the Charter of Tibetans in Exile. It
transferred the power to select a cabinet from the Dalai Lama to the
legislature.
(WSJ, 12/2/98, p.A22)
1992 Sep 27, In Tibet Ogyen
Trinley Dorje (7) was enthroned as the 17th Karmapa under an agreement
with the Chinese government.
(Econ, 12/24/05,
p.56)(www.kagyu.org/karmapa/kar/kar03.html)
1992 The Dalai Lama announced the
Guidelines for Future Tibet’s Polity. It was based on the hope for a
negotiated settlement with the Chinese government for full autonomy.
(WSJ, 12/2/98, p.A22)
1993 China and the Tibet
Autonomous Region established the Chang Tang Reserve setting aside at
least 109,000 sq. mls. Added to the smaller, contiguous Arjin Shan
Region, the total preserved area is now almost as a large as Germany.
(NH, 5/96, p.52)
1993 The Tibet Transit School near
Dharamsala, India, was founded for arrivals from Tibet aged 18-30.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.57)
1994 The 17th Karmapa, Ugyen
Trinley Dorje (8), visited Pres. Jiang Zemin in Beijing and was
recognized as the legitimate holder of the title. Dorje escaped to
India from Tsurphu Monastery in 2000.
(SFC, 1/7/00, p.D3)
1995 May 14, The 11th
reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choikyi Nyima, was announced
by the exiled Dalai Lama. China declared Gyaincain Norbu (5) as the
Panchen Lama.
(SFC, 5/8/97, p.C2)(SFC, 6/19/99, p.A11)(MC, 5/14/02)
1995 Sep, Ngawang Choepel, a
musician on a Fullbright scholarship, was arrested on grounds of
espionage. He had arrived as a Chinese citizen to make a documentary on
folk music and dance.
(SFC, 12/28/96, p.A13)(SFC, 8/11/00, p.A18)
1996 Dec 27, Ngawang Choepel, a
musician on a Fullbright scholarship, was sentenced to 18 years in
prison for espionage. He had arrived as a Chinese citizen in 1995 to
make a documentary on folk music and dance.
(SFC, 12/28/96, p.A13)
1996 The Chinese government was
building a 112,500 kilowatt hydroelectric station at Yamdrok Lake
(Yamdrok Tso).
(SFC, 10/29/96, p.A6)
1996 The World Bank proposed to
move 58,000 poor Chinese farmers from the eastern half of Qinghai 300
miles west to an area of Tibet called Dulan. The $81 million project
faced heavy opposition prior to a Bank vote in 1999.
(SFC, 6/18/99, p.D2)
1997 May 7, Chadrel Rinpoche, a
senior Tibetan monk, was sentenced to 6 years in prison for plotting to
split China and leaking state secrets. He led the Beijing approved
search for the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama and was suspected
to have leaked the information to the Dalai Lama.
(SFC, 5/8/97, p.C3)
1997 Jul, Chinese authorities
closed down the 700-year old Jonang monastery and sent the monks home
after they refused to denounce the Dalai Lama.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1997 Chinese authorities ordered
nuns to leave the 800 year-old Rakhor nunnery and everything except the
main assembly hall was destroyed.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1997 The book "The Voice That
Remembers" is the story of Ama Adhe told to Joy Blakeslee about her 27
year imprisonment by Chinese communists in labor camps in Tibet.
(SFEC,12/14/97, BR p.4)
1997 The film "Seven Years in
Tibet" was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. It was about the Austrian
mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, who tutored the Dalai Lama in the 1940s
and chronicled human rights abuses. Harrer had also been a Nazi storm
trooper in 1933.
(SFC, 8/19/97, p.E4)
1997 The Kham Aid Foundation was
established to aid Tibet within the Chinese system
(WSJ, 2/3/00, p.A24)
1998 Mar 10, In India 6 Tibetans
in New Delhi, aged 28-70, began a hunger strike to force the UN to
address Tibet’s dispute with China.
(SFC, 4/15/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun, Five nuns at the Drapchi
prison committed suicide in the face of Chinese torture. The nuns had
been arrested for protesting China’s occupation of Tibet. They were
tortured for refusing to sing patriotic songs.
(SFC, 10/6/00, p.A18)
1998 Nov 8, In Tibet Ian Baker and
a team sponsored by National Geographic discovered the “Hidden Falls of
Dorge Pagmo.” In 2004 Baker authored “The heart of the World: A Journey
to the Last Secret Place.”
(SSFC, 11/21/04, p.E1)
1998 The exiled 14th Dalai Lama,
Tenzin Gyatso, authored "The Art of Happiness," based on his
conversations with psychiatrist Howard Cutler.
(SFEC, 8/22/99, BR p.7)
1998 The film "Knowledge of
Healing" was made by Eliot Tokar and was about the holistic practice of
Tibetan medicine.
(SFC, 2/19/98, p.E1)
1998 The Martin Scorsese film
"Kundun," about the Dalai Lama, opened. The music was by Philip Glass.
(SFC, 9/5/97, p.C3)(SFEC, 1/18/98, DB p.42)
1998 The documentary film "The
Saltmen of Tibet" was about a 45 day search for salt and showed at the
SF Film Fest.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, DB p.55)
1998 The Dalai Lama acknowledged
receiving $1.7 million a year in the 1960s from the US CIA, but denied
having personally benefited.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.A8)
1999 Jun 24, The World Bank
approved a plan to relocate 58,000 poor Chinese farmers to land
historically farmed by Tibet. However work on the $40 million project
was delayed pending a review panel.
(SFC, 6/25/99, p.A14)(WSJ, 6/25/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 26, In Tibet Tashi
Tsering, a carpenter, lowered the Chinese flag in the capital and
attempted to put up the banned Tibetan flag. He was arrested and died
on Oct 13 from beatings while under Chinese police custody.
(SFC, 10/14/99, p.A14)
1999 Oct 25, It was reported that
the chiru, a goat from the high Tibetan plateau, was seriously
endangered and down to some 75,000. The animal's hide is used to make
expensive shahtoosh shawls.
(WSJ, 10/25/99, p.A1,15)
1999 Oct, To world-class mountain
climber Alex Lowe died under an avalanche.
(WSJ, 10/14/99, p.A26)
1999 The exiled 14th Dalai Lama,
Tenzin Gyatso, authored "Ethics for the New Millennium."
(SFEC, 8/22/99, BR p.7)
1999 Ogyen Trinley, recognized by
the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama as the incarnate 17th
Karmapa, fled to India.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.56)
1999 The Chinese film "Red River
Valley" starred Ning Jing and Ying Zhen. It was shot in Tibet and
directed by Feng Xiaoning.
(SFC, 10/1/99, p.C7)
2000 Jan 5, The 17th Karmapa,
Ugyen Trinley Dorje (14), arrived in India after a week-long flight
from Tsurphu Monastery.
(SFC, 1/7/00, p.D3)
2000 Jan 16, In Lhasa, Tibet,
Soinam Puncog (2), was designated the 7th Reting Lama in a ceremony
presided over by Chinese authorities.
(SFC, 1/18/00, p.A8)
2000 Feb 29, Gungthang Rinpoche,
2nd most senior leader of the Labrang monastery, died at age 74. He had
spent over 20 years in prison for refusing to cooperate with Chinese
authorities after the takeover of Tibet.
(SFC, 3/6/00, p.A23)
2000 Jul 1, In Washington DC
thousands of Tibetans and their supporters rallied to urge the World
Bank to scrap a plan to resettle some 60,000 poor farmers, many of them
Chinese, on traditional Tibetan lands.
(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.A16)
2000 Jul 7, The World Bank
cancelled its Chinese resettlement project for Tibet. China then
withdrew its request for a $40 million loan and vowed to proceed with
its own development program.
(SFC, 7/8/00, p.A10)
2000 Orville Schell, Prof. at UC
Berkeley, authored "Virtual Tibet." It traced the history of Western
contact with Tibet.
(SFEC, 5/21/00, p.B13)
2001 Feb 8, In China the cabinet
approved a 700-mile rail line to link Lhasa, Tibet, and Qinghai
province.
(WSJ, 2/9/00, p.A1)
2001 Feb 24, Ugyen Thinley Dorje
(15), the 17th Karmapa Lama, led prayers to mark the Tibetan year of
the iron snake in northern India.
(SSFC, 2/25/01, p.A16)
2001 Jun 29, A new $2.4 billion
700-mile railway project was begun to connect Lhasa, Tibet, to the
Chinese interior.
(SSFC, 7/1/01, p.A18)
2002 Jan 23, It was reported that
China was moving 17,000 settlers to a traditionally Tibetan region.
(WSJ, 1/23/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr, There was a bomb blast
in Chengdu, China. Tibetan monks Lobsang Dhondup (28) and Tenzin Deleg
Rinpoche were detained. Dhondup was executed Jan 27, 2003.
(SFC, 1/28/03, p.A6)
2002 Oct 12, Dolma Tsering won the
first Miss Tibet beauty pageant, an event its organizers said would
reinforce Tibetan identity.
(Reuters, 10/12/02)
2002 Michael McRae authored "The
Siege of Shangri-La," an account of the attempts to reach Tibet’s inner
Tsangpo Gorge.
(WSJ, 1/24/03, p.W9)
2002 China began constructing a
$3.2 billion railroad to Tibet, to be completed in 2007.
(SFC, 11/5/03, p.A13)
2003 India changed its verbiage on
Tibet to say that the Tibet Autonomous Region is part of China as
opposed to the previous description of Tibet as an autonomous region of
China.
(Econ, 11/18/06, p.16)
2005 Jun 28, In Madrid a Tibetan
group presented a criminal case against top Chinese officials for
genocide and crimes against humanity, seeking to take advantage of
Spain's laws on international human rights crimes.
(AP, 6/28/05)
2005 Nov 8, Tibet's spiritual
leader the Dalai Lama spoke in Washington DC and accused the Chinese
authorities of imposing "very, very repressive" policies in his
Himalayan territory.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 China appointed Zhang Qingli,
a Han Chinese, as Tibet’s party chief.
(Econ, 3/22/08, p.29)
2006 Jun 3, Thousands of Tibetan
exiles cast their votes for a de facto prime minister. Voting for one
of two candidates took place at 53 polling stations set up by the
election commission in India, Nepal, North America, Europe, Australia
and Taiwan.
(AFP, 6/3/06)
2006 Jul 1, China’s new $4.2
billion, 710-mile-long railway from Golmud to Lhasa, Tibet, began
operations. Canada’s Bombardier manufactured high-tech cars for the Sky
Train with regulated oxygen levels to cope with 16,500-foot passes.
(SFC, 6/30/06, p.A18)(Reuters, 7/1/06)
2006 Jul 3, China's new train from
Beijing to Tibet arrived in the ancient capital of Lhasa, ending its
maiden journey after climbing to elevations so high that ballpoint pens
and packaged foods burst.
(AP, 7/3/06)
2006 Jul 26, An unhappy China said
that Canada's decision to bestow honorary citizenship on the Dalai Lama
could hurt commercial relations between the two countries.
(Reuters, 7/26/06)
2006 Sep 30, In Tibet Sergiu
Matei, a Romanian cameraman with an expedition climbing Cho Oyu, shot a
video that shows Chinese forces fatally shooting Tibetan refugee
Kelsang Namtso (17), who was with a group of people trying to flee to
Nepal at the 19,000-foot Nanpa La Pass. Chinese border guards opened
fire on some 75 Tibetans making their way over a 19,000-foot-high
Himalayan pass, killing a 25-year-old Buddhist nun and another person.
32 were caught and detained. In January Jamyang Samten (15), one of
those detained, escaped to India and provided the first reported
account of the fate of the group. Some 3,000 Tibetans continued to
sneak across the border to Nepal and India every year. In 2010 Jonathan
Green authored “Murder in the High Himalaya: Loyalty, Tragedy, and
Escape from Tibet.”
(AP, 10/14/06)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.18)(AP,
1/30/07)(Econ, 6/12/10, p.96)
2006 Oct 13, Pope Benedict XVI met
privately with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, but the
Vatican released no details of the low-key visit that was not even
listed on the pontiff's official calendar.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Nov 23, In India a Tibetan
activist protesting against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region set
himself on fire outside a hotel where China's president was staying. An
official later said the activist was not seriously injured.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2007 Apr 25, China detained four
Americans on Mount Everest after they called for independence for Tibet
and protested the Beijing Olympics. More than 50 children were poisoned
by a kindergarten breakfast in Zhengzhou city in Henan province, in the
latest case highlighting problems in the country's food supply chain.
(AP, 4/25/07)(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 27, China said it has
expelled five Americans who staged a protest against the Olympics on
Mount Everest to challenge Chinese rule over the mountainous region.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Jun 12, Australian PM John
Howard agreed to meet the Dalai Lama after opponents charged he was
afraid of offending China, drawing an immediate rebuke from Beijing.
The Dalai Lama warned major nations not to try to contain China's
economic and military rise, and urged countries like Australia to use
their trading clout to pressure Beijing on human rights.
(AP, 6/12/07)(Reuters, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 14, In Australia New
Zealand PM Helen Clark met briefly with the Dalai Lama as they both
toured Australia, where the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit has drawn
fire from China.
(AFP, 6/14/07)
2007 Aug 3, China asserted the
sole right to recognize living Buddhas, reincarnations of famous lamas
that form the backbone of the religion's clergy. All future
incarnations of living Buddhas related to Tibetan Buddhism must get
government approval.
(AP, 8/3/07)
2007 Oct 10, Some 30 Tibetan
exiles protesting Chinese religious policies stormed the Chinese
Embassy in New Delhi, with several breaching the front gate and
chaining themselves to the flag pole inside.
(AP, 10/10/07)
2007 Oct 16,
President Bush and the Dalai Lama met with a ceremony planned for
tomorrow to award the spiritual leader the Congressional Gold Medal.
China warned that the events are bad for US-Chinese ties.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2007 Oct 17,
President Bush attended a ceremony in which the Dalai Lama was
awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’ highest civilian honor.
China lodged an official protest over the honoring of the Dalai Lama in
Washington, while bluntly rejecting US President George W. Bush's
advice on how to handle the Tibet issue.
(AFP, 10/16/07)(WSJ, 10/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 21, A Hong Kong newspaper
reported that police in the capital of Tibet clashed for four days with
Buddhist monks trying to celebrate the awarding of a congressional
honor for the Dalai Lama.
(AP, 10/21/07)
2007 Oct 29,
Canada’s PM Harper received Tibet's exiled spiritual leader in
his office in Parliament. He presented the 1989 Nobel laureate with a
maple-leaf scarf. The next day China condemned Harper for "disgusting
conduct" for playing host to the Dalai Lama.
(Reuters, 10/30/07)
2007 Nov 20, A Chinese court
sentenced a Tibetan nomad to eight years in prison for seeking Tibetan
independence after he urged a crowd to proclaim loyalty to the Dalai
Lama.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Dec 5, A Tibetan woman said
that she pulled out of a beauty pageant in Malaysia after organizers,
reacting to pressure from Beijing, told her halfway through the event
that she could only participate if she added "China" to her "Miss
Tibet" title.
(AP, 12/6/07)
2007 A rail line from China’s
Qinghai province to Lhasa, Tibet, was expected to be completed. The
world’s highest railroad required pressurized rail cars.
(SFC, 2/24/05, p.A1)
2008 Mar 10, Hundreds of Tibetan
exiles began a six-month march from India to Tibet to protest Beijing's
hold on the Himalayan region and China's hosting of the Olympic Games.
Indian police barred the Tibetan exiles from marching.
(AP, 3/10/08)(WSJ, 3/11/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 11, Thousands of Chinese
security personnel fired tear gas to try to disperse more than 600
monks taking part in a second day of rare street protests in Tibet.
(Reuters, 3/12/08)
2008 Mar 13, Indian police
arrested 100 Tibetan exiles trying to walk to their homeland as part of
a major protest ahead of the Beijing Olympics, although the
demonstrators vowed the march would go on.
(AP, 3/13/08)
2008 Mar 14, In Tibet angry
protesters set shops ablaze and gunfire in Lhasa as the largest
demonstrations in two decades against Chinese rule turned violent
months ahead of the Beijing Olympics. 18 people died in the
conflagration or from physical assaults. The government later said
losses amounted to 280 million yuan ($41 million).
(AP, 3/14/08)(Econ, 2/6/10, p.43)
2008 Mar 15, China kept government
workers confined to their offices and ordered tourists out of Tibet's
capital while lines of soldiers sealed off streets where riots had
erupted. A Tibetan exile group said at least 30 people were killed in
protests a day earlier. Tibet's government-in-exile demanded the UN
intervene to end what it called "urgent human rights violations" by
China in the region following deadly protests.
(AP, 3/15/08)
2008 Mar 16, The Dalai Lama called
for an international investigation into China's crackdown against
protesters in Tibet, which he said is facing a "cultural genocide" and
where his exiled government said 80 people were killed in the violence.
Internet users in China were blocked from seeing YouTube.com after
dozens of videos about protests in Tibet appeared on the popular US
video Web site.
(AP, 3/16/08)
2008 Mar 17, China denounced
attacks on its embassies by pro-Tibetan activists hours before a
deadline for rioters in Lhasa to turn themselves in and said it would
do all in its power to protect its territorial integrity.
(Reuters, 3/17/08)
2008 Mar 18, In India the Dalai
Lama vowed he would resign as leader of Tibet's exiles if violence back
home worsened, just hours before his aides said 19 people were killed
in new demonstrations.
(AP, 3/18/08)
2008 Mar 18, Protesters in
Australia burned Chinese flags, demanding freedom for Tibet, following
similar demonstrations in Europe and the US against Beijing's crackdown
on anti-government riots in the Himalayan region.
(AP, 3/18/08)
2008 Mar 19, China called the
Dalai Lama a "wolf in monk's robes" and said it was locked in a
"life-and-death battle" with his supporters after protests marking the
biggest challenge to Chinese rule in Tibet in almost two decades. Lhasa
prosecutors announced the arrest of 24 suspects on charges of
endangering state security.
(AP, 3/19/08)(WSJ, 3/20/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 20, China sent additional
troops into restive areas and made more arrests in the Tibetan capital
Lhasa in an effort to suppress anti-government protests even as the
Dalai Lama offered face-to-face negotiations with Chinese leaders.
Tibet authorities said they had arrested dozens of people involved in a
wave of anti-Chinese violence. China forced the last remaining foreign
journalists out of Tibet, and stepped up restrictions on Internet and
radio reports from people within the country.
(AP, 3/20/08)(Reuters, 3/20/08)(AP, 3/21/08)
2008 Mar 21, A regulator said
China will shut down or punish dozens of video-sharing Web sites for
carrying content deemed pornographic, violent or a threat to national
security under rules that tighten Internet controls. China’s government
stepped up its manhunt for protesters in last week's riots in the
capital of Tibet, as thousands of troops converged on foot, trucks and
helicopters to Tibetan areas of western China.
(AP, 3/21/08)
2008 Mar 22, China said 19 people
died in riots in the Tibetan capital last week and official media
warned against the unrest spreading to the northwest region of
Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims bridle under Chinese control. Exiled
Tibetans claim as many as 100 have died in the protests which spilled
over this week into neighboring ethnic-Tibetan areas.
(Reuters, 3/22/08)
2008 Mar 23, China attacked House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her recent meeting with the Dalai Lama,
accusing her and other "human rights police" of double standards and
ignoring the truth about the unrest in Tibet. Han residents said some
500 Uighurs protested in Khotan in the northwestern Xinjiang region. A
bombing targeted a government building in the town of Gyanbe. Chinese
authorities later arrested 9 monks for the bombing.
(AP, 3/23/08)(SFC, 4/3/08, p.A8)(AFP, 4/13/08)
2008 Mar 24, An exiled Tibetan
leader said 2 weeks of protests against China's rule of Tibet have left
about 130 people dead.
(AP, 3/24/08)
2008 Mar 25, In Nepal police armed
with bamboo sticks stopped a protest by Tibetan refugees and monks in
front of the Chinese Embassy and arrested about 100 participants.
(AP, 3/25/08)
2008 Mar 26, China announced the
surrender of hundreds of people over anti-government riots among
Tibetans and allowed the first group of foreign journalists to visit
the regional capital since the violence.
(AP, 3/26/08)
2008 Mar 27, A group of monks
shouting there was no religious freedom disrupted a carefully
orchestrated visit for foreign reporters to Tibet's capital, an
embarrassment for China as it tried to show Lhasa was calm following
deadly anti-government riots.
(AP, 3/27/08)
2008 Mar 28, China allowed the
first foreign diplomats to visit Tibet following deadly riots, as
Germany joined some other European nations in announcing its leader
would skip the Olympics opening. Police closed off Lhasa's Muslim
quarter, two weeks after Tibetan rioters burned down the city's mosque
during the largest anti-Chinese protests in nearly two decades.
(AP, 3/28/08)
2008 Mar 29, In Kathmandu, Nepal,
around 80 Tibetan protesters shouting "stop the killing in Tibet" were
hauled away in police vehicles and detained after demonstrating outside
the Chinese embassy.
(AP, 3/29/08)
2008 Mar 31, Chinese authorities
arrested suspects in four arson and murder cases stemming from
anti-government riots that engulfed the Tibetan capital in mid-March.
(AP, 3/31/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Tibet Wang
Xiangming, the deputy Communist Party secretary of Lhasa, said 800 had
been arrested in local violence, while another 280 had surrendered to
take advantage of a police offer of leniency. New violence broke out in
a volatile Tibetan region of western China, leaving eight people dead.
Chinese police opened fire during a "riot" in a Tibetan populated area
of southwest China.
(AP, 4/3/08)(AP, 4/4/08)(AFP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, Hu Jia, a Buddhist
Chinese dissident outspoken on Tibet and other sensitive topics, was
jailed for three-and-a-half years, a conviction likely to become a
focus of rights campaigns ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
(Reuters, 4/3/08)(WSJ, 4/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 6, Thousands of
anti-China protesters draped in Tibetan flags disrupted the Olympic
torch relay through London, billed as a journey of harmony and peace.
(AP, 4/6/08)
2008 Apr 7, Security officials
extinguished the Olympic torch three times as protests against China's
human rights record turned a relay through Paris into a chaotic series
of stops and starts. France's former sports minister, Jean-Francois
Lamour, said that though the torch had been put out, the Olympic flame
itself still burned in the lantern where it is kept overnight and on
airplane flights.
(AP, 4/7/08)
2008 Apr 8, The riot-damaged
market in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa opened its doors amid plans to
allow foreign tourists to enter the restive region by the end of the
month.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2008 Apr 12, Chinese President Hu
Jintao defended the crackdown on protests in Tibet and denied the
disturbances were linked to human rights in his first public comments
on the incident.
(AFP, 4/12/08)
2008 Apr 14, China’s state
television said police found 30 firearms in a Tibetan monastery in Aba
prefecture of Sichuan province last month.
(Reuters, 4/14/08)
2008 Apr 16, China’s state media
reported that over the last 2 days police in northeastern Gansu
province have found guns, dynamite, bullets and satellite receivers
hidden in 11 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries.
(Reuters, 4/16/08)
2008 Apr 21, The Paris city
council bestowed the title of "honorary citizen" on the Dalai Lama.
(AP, 4/21/08)
2008 Apr 25, China's government
agreed to a meeting with an envoy of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai
Lama, a step that follows weeks of calls from world leaders for
dialogue in the wake of anti-government protests in Tibet.
(AP, 4/25/08)
2008 Apr 25, In Japan protesters
waved the Tibetan flag and denounced China's rulers as the Beijing
Olympic torch arrived for the latest leg of a worldwide relay marred by
demonstrations.
(AP, 4/25/08)
2008 Apr 28, In China a policeman
and a Tibetan activist were killed following a raid against ethnic
Tibetans in Qinghai province.
(WSJ, 5/1/08, p.A11)
2008 May 4, China's Pres. Hu
Jintao said he was hoping for positive results with envoys of the Dalai
Lama, as talks opened, but state media kept up a barrage of attacks on
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader. In Shenzhen envoys of the Dalai Lama
and Chinese officials held a day of talks aimed at mending fences
following a wave of unrest that pushed Tibet to centre stage ahead of
the 2008 Olympics. They agreed to further contact.
(Reuters, 5/4/08)(Reuters, 5/5/08)
2008 May 8, A Chinese
mountaineering team took the Olympic flame to the top of Mount Everest,
a feat dreamed up to underscore China's ambitions for the Beijing games.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 11, In Nepal police
detained more than 600 female Tibetan protesters, including many
Buddhist nuns, after breaking up several demonstrations against China's
recent crackdown in Tibet.
(AP, 5/11/08)
2008 May 20, The Dalai Lama began
an 11-day visit to Britain, including talks with PM Gordon Brown who
faces a delicate balancing act between supporting Tibetan rights while
not offending China.
(AP, 5/20/08)
2008 Jun 25, China re-opened Tibet
to foreign tourists after claiming victory over the worst unrest there
in decades -- which led Beijing to all but seal off the area from the
outside world.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2008 Aug 7, Critics of China's
human rights record made sure they were not forgotten, a day before the
grand opening of the Beijing Olympics, with protest actions the world
over and in China itself. Thousands of Tibetan exiles demonstrated in
Nepal and India.
(AFP, 8/7/08)(AP, 8/7/08)
2008 Aug 23, The Tibetan spiritual
leader, the Dalai Lama, left Paris on a flight bound for New Delhi
after concluding a 12-day visit that fuelled tensions between Paris and
Beijing.
(AP, 8/23/08)
2008 Sep 11, Nepalese officials
said Tibetan exiles living in Kathmandu illegally are to be deported in
a bid to curb anti-China protests threatening Nepal's ties with its
giant neighbor.
(AFP, 9/11/08)
2008 Oct 6, A magnitude 6.6
earthquake killed at least 10 people in Yangyi, Tibet, the hardest hit
village in Dangxiong County.
(Reuters, 10/6/08)(AP, 10/7/08)
2008 Oct 29, David Miliband,
Britain’s foreign secretary, acknowledged China’s suzerainty over Tibet.
(Econ, 11/8/08, p.54)
2008 Nov 14, In Tibet 18 people
died after a bus overturned in Naqu district..
(AP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 22, Nearly 600 Tibetan
exiles gathered at Dharamsala, India, at the behest of the Dalai Lama
ended a 6-day meeting. They reaffirmed their absolute “faith and
allegiance” in the Dalai Lama’s leadership and agreeing to pursue for
Tibet’s autonomy. They did not rule out a possible shift in policy to
independence if current middle-way policy with China fails to yield any
result in the near future.
(Econ, 11/22/08,
p.52)(www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=23264)
2008 Dec 7, China protested
strongly to France over President Nicolas Sarkozy's meeting with the
Dalai Lama, calling it a "rude intervention" into Chinese affairs.
(AP, 12/7/08)
2008 Dec 25, Chinese state media
reported that 59 people in Tibet have been detained on charges that
they sought to foment unrest by spreading ethnic hatred and by
downloading and selling banned songs from the Internet.
(SFC, 12/26/08, p.A16)
2008 Tubten Khetsun authored
“Memories of Life in Lhasa Under Chinese Rule.”
(Econ, 3/22/08, p.93)
2009 Jan 18, China’s public
security bureau of Lhasa, Tibet, launched a "strike hard" campaign
against crime, with raids on residential areas, Internet cafes, bars,
rented rooms, hotels and guesthouses.
(AP, 1/28/09)
2009 Jan 28, China’s state media
said at least 81 people have been detained as the country launched a
security sweep in Tibet ahead of one of the region's most sensitive
anniversaries in years.
(AP, 1/28/09)
2009 Feb 12, Local officials
confirmed that swaths of western China that have large Tibetan
populations have been declared off limits to foreign visitors, ahead of
the politically sensitive 50th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising.
(AP, 2/12/09)
2009 Feb 24, Tour agencies and
other industry people reported that China has closed Tibet to foreign
tourists ahead of next month's highly sensitive 50th anniversary of a
failed uprising against Chinese rule.
(AFP, 2/24/09)
2009 Feb 27, A Tibetan monk, in
his late 20s, was shot after dousing himself with petrol and setting
himself alight in the Tibetan-populated town of Aba in China's Sichuan
province. Police put out the fire, and the man was taken to hospital
with burn injuries to his neck and head.
(AFP, 2/28/09)
2009 Mar 1, Scores of Tibetan
monks in southwestern China marched in protest over the banning of a
prayer service, the latest incident in an apparent increase in acts of
defiance against Chinese rule ahead of sensitive anniversaries.
(AP, 3/2/09)
2009 Mar 9, China's President Hu
Jintao ordered a "Great Wall" against Tibetan separatism, as extra
soldiers were deployed to the Himalayan region on the 50th anniversary
of a failed anti-Chinese uprising. Homemade bombs damaged police
vehicles in a Tibetan part of western China. Authorities expanded a
security cordon across the restive region ahead of the 50th anniversary
of a failed revolt that sent the Dalai Lama into exile.
(AFP, 3/9/09)(AP, 3/9/09)
2009 Mar 10, Tibetans and their
supporters rallied across the Asia-Pacific region demanding an end to
Chinese rule in their homeland on the 50th anniversary of the Dalai
Lama being forced into exile. Paramilitary police and soldiers swarmed
cities and villages in Tibet and restive western China, on the alert
for possible unrest. The Dalai Lama said Tibet had become "hell on
earth" under Beijing's control.
(AP, 3/10/09)
2009 Mar 13, Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao said Beijing is willing to hold talks with the Dalai Lama if
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader abandons his separatist cause, as he
defended his government's hard-line policies toward the region.
(AP, 3/13/09)
2009 Mar 21, In northwestern China
hundreds of Tibetans attacked a police station and government officials
despite heightened security, prompting the arrests the next day of
nearly 100 monks. The protest appeared to be in response to the
disappearance of a Tibetan who escaped from police custody in Qinghai
province.
(AP, 3/22/09)
2009 Mar 28, Tibetans rallied
against the China’s new holiday, Serfs Liberation Day, on the 50th
anniversary of Beijing’s crushing of a Tibetan uprising that led to the
Dalai lama’s exile.
(AP, 3/29/09)
2009 Apr 5, State media said China
has reopened Tibet to foreign tourists almost two months after imposing
a ban ahead of politically sensitive anniversaries.
(AP, 4/5/09)
2009 Apr 8, China's state media
said a court in Tibet has sentenced two people to death over riots in
Lhasa last year, in what was the harshest sentence yet reported over
the deadly unrest. Xinhua said the crimes committed by the five
defendants resulted in seven deaths and the destruction of five shops
in Lhasa.
(AFP, 4/8/09)
2009 Apr 21, In China three people
were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for deadly arson attacks during
last year's rioting in the Tibetan capital.
(AP, 4/21/09)
2009 Aug 27, Taiwan's president
angered China with his surprise announcement that he has agreed to let
the Dalai Lama visit the island to comfort survivors of a devastating
typhoon.
(AP, 8/27/09)
2009 Sep 4, The Dalai Lama’s visit
to Taiwan ended following prayers for the souls of almost 700 dead from
the recent ravages of Typhoon Morakot.
(Econ, 9/5/09, p.46)
2009 Sep 9, The Dalai Lama
received Slovakia's Jan Langos award for his promotion of human rights
and his leadership in the nonviolent campaign by Tibetans seeking
autonomy from China. The Jan Langos Foundation gives its award to "an
outstanding figure of the local defiance against oppressed regimes and
their security services" and to civil servants and politicians who
"endeavor for human dignity and freedom."
(AP, 9/9/09)
2009 Oct 20, China executed 2
people for their roles in deadly protests last year in the
Chinese-controlled region of Tibet, the first known executions for the
violence. Lobsang Gyaltsen (28) and Loyak (30), who goes by one name,
were sentenced to death in April on charges relating to "starting fatal
fires."
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Nov 8, In India joyous
Buddhist pilgrims welcomed the Dalai Lama back to the Himalayan town he
first set foot in five decades ago while fleeing Chinese rule in his
native Tibet, a rare trip close to his homeland that has angered
Beijing.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Dec 28, Dhondup Wangchen
(35), a Tibetan filmmaker, was sentenced to six years in prison. He had
made a documentary that was highly critical of the Chinese government's
policies in Tibet. "Leaving Fear Behind" features ordinary Tibetans and
the filmmaker himself saying that Beijing's policies in Tibet are
threatening the remote region's traditional Buddhist culture. It was
filmed in Tibet and other ethnically Tibetan areas of China in the
run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
(AP, 1/7/10)
2010 Jan 29, In China envoys of
exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama arrived in Beijing for
weekend talks amid subtle shifts in China's approach to its restive,
riot-scarred western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang.
(AP, 1/29/10)
2010 Feb 18, President Barack
Obama met the Dalai Lama at the White House, brushing aside China's
warning that talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader could
further damage strained Sino-US ties.
(Reuters, 2/18/10)
2010 Mar 6, In Tibet a truck
loaded with people heading to an ancient monastery in the Shannan
prefecture crashed killing 26 people.
(SSFC, 3/7/10, p.A6)
2010 Apr 14, In western China a
series of strong earthquakes struck a mountainous area of Tibet,
killing some 2,064 people and injuring more than 10,000, as houses made
of mud and wood collapsed. 5 days later 3 people were pulled alive from
the rubble. On May 31 the toll was raised to 2,698 with 270 still
missing.
(AP, 4/14/10)(AP, 4/15/10)(AP, 4/16/10)(AP,
4/19/10)(AP, 5/31/10)
2010 Apr 18, Chinese President Hu
Jintao called on rescuers to keep searching for survivors as he visited
victims of a powerful quake in Tibet that left some 2,064 dead.
(AP, 4/18/10)(AP, 4/19/10)(AP, 4/21/10)
2010 Apr 23, Chinese police in
Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, detained Tagyal, a prominent
Tibetan intellectual. Tagyal had recently authored “The Line Between
Earth and Sky,” in which he praised the activism of monks during the
Tibetan unrest of 2008.
(Econ, 5/1/10, p.42)
2010 Jun 24, In China Karma
Samdrup, a Tibetan environmentalist once praised as a model
philanthropist, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of grave
robbing and dealing in looted antiquities. Supporters said the case was
aimed at punishing his activism.
(AP, 6/24/10)
2010 Jun 26, Chinese authorities
sentenced Dorje Tashi, one of Tibet's richest businessmen, to life in
prison in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, for helping exile groups.
(AP, 8/12/10)
2010 Aug 17, At least 4 Tibetans
were fatally shot and 30 others wounded when Chinese police opened fire
on demonstrators protesting the expansion of a gold mine they blamed
for causing environmental damage in southwestern China's Sichuan
province not far from the border with Tibet. On Aug 30 the official
Xinhua News Agency reported that a 47-year-old Tibetan named Babo died
after being hit "by a stray bullet when police fired warning shots with
an anti-riot shotgun."
(AP, 8/28/10)(AP, 8/30/10)
2010 Sep 26, Chinese authorities
said five people have been sickened with pneumonic plague in Tibet and
that the deadly disease has killed one of them.
(AP, 9/26/10)
2010 Oct 19, Tibetan students in
western China marched to protest unconfirmed plans to use the Chinese
language exclusively in classes, an unusually bold challenge to
authorities that reflects a deep unease over the marginalization of
Tibetan culture.
(AP, 10/20/10)
2010 Dec 5, In southwest China at
least 22 people died and one person was severely burned when a
spreading grassland fire swept through a mountainous Tibetan region.
(Reuters, 12/5/10)
2010 Dec 15, In China workers
blasted through the last part of a tunnel that connects the Tibetan
county of Metok to China's major thoroughfare.
(AP, 12/15/10)
2010 Dec 16, Gene Smith (b.1936),
librarian and Tibetologist, died in NYC. In 1999 he set up the Tibetan
Buddhist Resource Center in Boston and then in NYC.
(Econ, 1/15/11,
p.98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Gene_Smith)
2011 Jan 27, Indian police raided
the Gyuto monastery, home of Ugyen Thinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa
Llama, and seized about $777,000 in cash. The top Buddhist monk was
seen as the possible next spiritual leader for Tibet. The next day
India's NDTV news chain reported Indian security officials planned to
question the Karmapa over alleged Chinese links, saying the monk was
suspected to be planning to set up a string of pro-Chinese monasteries.
On Feb 11 authorities cleared the Karmapa saying the money found during
a raid had been donated by his followers.
(AFP, 1/28/11)(SSFC, 1/30/11, p.A4)(AP, 2/11/11)
2011 Jan 29, Tibet's
parliament-in-exile rallied behind a Buddhist monk seen as the possible
next spiritual leader for Tibet after Indian police seized hundreds of
thousands of dollars from his monastery.
(AFP, 1/29/11)
2011 Mar 10, In India the Dalai
Lama (76) said that he will give up his political role in the Tibetan
government-in-exile and shift that power to an elected representative.
(AP, 3/10/11)
2011 Mar 17, Phuntsog (20), a
Tibetan monk at the Kirti monastery in China’s Sichuan province, died
one day after he set himself on fire in an anti-government protest. He
was beaten and kicked by police, prompting hundreds of monks and others
to rally.
(SFC, 3/18/11,
p.A2)(http://tinyurl.com/4nsxj9p)(AFP, 4/13/11)
2011 Mar 20, Some 85,000
registered Tibetans across the world began voting for a new leader to
take up the resistance against Chinese rule over their Himalayan
homeland, as the Tibetan parliament-in-exile debated how to handle the
Dalai Lama's resignation from politics.
(AP, 3/20/11)(SFC, 3/21/11, p.A2)
2011 Apr 12, In southwestern China
clashes erupted between security forces and locals at the Kirti Tibetan
Buddhist monastery in Sichuan province, under lockdown after a monk set
himself on fire and died on March 17.
(AFP, 4/13/11)
2011 Apr 21, Chinese police raided
the Kirti monastery, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery where tensions have
run high over the March 17 death of a monk named Phuntsog. Police took
300 monks to an unknown location and two villagers trying to block the
monks' removal were killed.
(AP, 4/23/11)
2011 Apr 27, Tibetan exiles
elected Lobsang Sangay (43), international law expert and Harvard
academic, as their new prime minister. He will face the daunting task
of assuming the political duties of a global icon, the Dalai Lama.
(AFP, 4/27/11)
2011 May 25, In India the Dalai
Lama turned down pleas from the Tibetan community to accept a
ceremonial role in the Tibetan government-in-exile after giving up his
position as political leader.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 28, In India the Dalai
Lama signed amendments to the constitution of the Tibetan
government-in-exile giving up his position as political leader.
(AP, 5/29/11)
2011 Colin Thubrin, travel writer,
authored “To A Mountain in Tibet,” the story of his journey to Mount
Kailas in southern Tibet.
(Econ, 4/2/11, p.81)
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Subject = Tibet
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