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From ACIG.org cheating death 4.17proof Far-East Database
With an average elevation of 4.900 metres, Tibet is the highest region on earth and for this reason sometimes called “The Roof of the World”. It is also one of most isolated regions, surrounded by the Himalayas in the south (with some of the world’s highest summits) the Karakoram Range in the west, and the Kunlun Mountains in the north. Between the Kailas Range and the main chain is a river valley that extends about 1.000km. The Brahmaputra River flows from the west to east through most of this valley. The Kailas Range slopes north to the Tibetan Plateau: this vast tableland extends to the Karakoram Range in the west and the Kunlun Mountains in the north. Tibet has a dry, cold climate with very low average temperatures, especially cold in the mountains, and strong winds. The river valleys experience a more moderate climate. Vegetation is extremely spares, consisting mainly of grasses and shrubs. Scattered wooded areas occur in the extreme west and east. Tibet is rich in mineral resources, although only a few have been exploited due to inaccessibility and a lack of industrial capacity, as well as Buddhist admonitions against disturbing the earth for fear of harming living creatures. Gold, iron ore, coal, salt, and borax, oil shale, manganese, lead, zinc, quartz and graphite were found in several areas. Very few roads are available, and several run at altitudes over 5.000m. For most of its history, Tibet has maintained a national identity distinct from that of China, and was an independent country. At other times, it had various levels of association with China. Internal government was for centuries a theocracy, under the leadership of Buddhist lamas, or monks. In the first half of the 20th Century, Tibet was a weak state, with population in decline due to illness, poor health care and sizeable proportion of men becoming celibate monks. The vast majority of Tibetans lived in rural areas, many as nomads or semi-nomads. Lhasa, the capital and largest city, was – and remains – the principal centre of trade, commerce, education, and government, and the headquarters of major religious institutions. Majority of population were Tibetans, with a large minority of Han Chinese – China’s major ethnic group. In the 18th Century, Tibet came under the control of China, but its authority diminished through the 19th Century, when the British colonial officials in India attempted to secure a foothold in the region. These efforts proved unsuccessful, mainly because of the Tibetan resentment of an unsuccessful Nepalese invasion, in the 1790s, which the British had supported. British invaded Tibet in 1904, alarmed over purported Russian influence in the country. By the time, Tibet had considerable autonomy under Chinese authority. In 1906, however, the British and Chinese governments established an agreement by which the Britain recognized the Chinese Empire as Tibet’s suzerain power, in exchange for payment of a large indemnity to the British, who subsequently withdrew their troops. Following the revolutionary overthrow of China’s Qing dynasty, in 1911, Tibet became independent and began expelling all Chinese officials and troops from the region. In the same year, tentative agreement was reached between Britain, China and Tibet in regards of local borders. This agreement was never ratified by the Chinese, the subsequent governments of which refused to abandon their claims to all of Tibet. Relations between China and Tibet culminated in a war in eastern Tibet, in 1918, that ended through a British-negotiated truce. In October 1950, barely a year after the Communist Party had gained control of mainland China, and the People’s Republic of China was declared, the Communist troops invaded Qamdo (Chamdo), on Tibet’s eastern border. To rally the Tibetans against the advancing Chinese force, the regent, governor ruling for the 15-year-old 15th Dalai Lama, gave all the authority to the Dalai Lama. However, in May 1951, the Tibetan government was forced to capitulate, signing a treaty that gave the Dalai Lama power in domestic affairs, but ceded control of foreign and military affairs to the Chinese. Effectively, this so-called 17-Point Agreement incorporated Tibet into China as an autonomous province, but without for alteration of Tibetan political, cultural or religious systems and institutions. For the first few years a fiction of an agreement was maintained in Lhasa, but the outlying regions saw extensive collectivisation and the killing of tribal chiefs and lamas. As soon as the Communists completed their “Plan for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet”, and reached Lhasa, in October 1951, they began constructing airfields in various parts of the region, and military highways. A purge of anti-Chinese officials was carried out by 1953, and in the following year, the Indian government recognized Tibet as part of China, withdrawing its troops from two Tibetan trading posts. In 1955, India ceded to China its control of local telephone-, telegraph, and postal systems. |
