Tibet

Ive never fully understood-what happened to Tibet? When was it absorbed into the rest of China? How long did it exist independently? What kind of state was it? What was its political system? I tried looking it up but I was unable to grasp the information in the way it was formatted. So can someone please explain to me the last 20-50 years of Tibets existence as a nation?
 
Tiebt ceased to be legally independent in the mid 18th century when it became part of the Qing Empire.

Following the Xinhua Revolution it declared itself independent and de facto was, but did not have de jure independence (IE it was'nt recognized) from 1912-1951 as a result of British assistance and the chaos of the Warlord Era and subsequent Chinese Civil War and remained so until the Chinese government managed to gain enough control to retake the region, forcing the 14th Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans to flee into exile in the process.

During its existance it operated as a sui generis Theocracy and Absolute Monarchy, though their were attempts by one of the Dalai Lamas that ruled during the period to transform it into a Europeanesque Constitutional Monarchy and abolish certain negative aspects of the older system.
 
Tiebt ceased to be legally independent in the mid 18th century when it became part of the Qing Empire.

Following the Xinhua Revolution it declared itself independent and de facto was, but did not have de jure independence (IE it was'nt recognized) from 1912-1951 as a result of British assistance and the chaos of the Warlord Era and subsequent Chinese Civil War and remained so until the Chinese government managed to gain enough control to retake the region, forcing the 14th Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans to flee into exile in the process.

During its existance it operated as a sui generis Theocracy and Absolute Monarchy, though their were attempts by one of the Dalai Lamas that ruled during the period to transform it into a Europeanesque Constitutional Monarchy and abolish certain negative aspects of the older system.

This.

Also, I'd like to add that there's conflicting evidence about how Tibetan society prior to the Chinese invasion of 1951 was set up. PRC apologists say that Tibet was largely a feudal state that practiced extremely brutal punishment methods for lawbreakers and had a permanently entrenched aristocracy and theocratic government headed by the Dalai Lama. Tibetan exiles & apologists deny that, and from my brief research into the matter, eyewitnesses that visited Tibet during the de facto independence period have conflicting testimonies about what Tibet was really like.

I also just recently watched the movie Kundun (adapted from the Dalai Lama's memoirs) about the life of the current Dalai Lama until his escape into India. According to the movie, which obviously has quite a bit of bias, the Dalai Lama, who was reaching age 18 when the Chinese invaded, was going to start reforming Tibet on his own, but never got the chance to.
 
Ive never fully understood-what happened to Tibet? When was it absorbed into the rest of China? How long did it exist independently? What kind of state was it? What was its political system? I tried looking it up but I was unable to grasp the information in the way it was formatted. So can someone please explain to me the last 20-50 years of Tibets existence as a nation?

I recommend reading "The Story of Tibet" or "Secret Lives of the Dalai Lama" for a Tibetan view of their own history. While it's true that Tibet became a "part" of the Qing Dynasty, what that exactly meant is still disputed. Tibetans will say that Tibet as a traditional, religious-based society existed independently throughout history (except during the Yuan Dynasty) until the late 1700s when the Gurkha Wars began and Tibet was ill-prepared to defend itself. When it became obvious and apparent that Tibet would lose the war, they requested Manchu forces be brought to help. Somewhere in the early 1800s, after the second Gurkha Wars, Manchu forces ended up staying in Tibet. Tibet because suzerain under the Manchu Dynasty, but not strictly a province as Sichuan or Gansu were. The Manchu system (which tended to fluctuate) essentially held that Manchu troops would be stationed in Tibet and Manchu delegates would be present in the Tibetan government.

When the Qing were overthrown, their authority no longer reached Tibet and Tibet became de facto independent (It's been a while since I read either book, but I believe they had a document that essentially declared their independence from any foreign control, especially the Qing).

After the Chinese Civil War ended, Mao sent the PLA into Tibet to end the "feudal system" and bring it under the Chinese Communist Empire. Mao, who hated religion, sought to destroy Buddhism and Tibetan culture. He hoped to indoctrinate the young Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, by showing him the wonders of Communism. HHDL believes that Marxist theory could still provide for humanity's material needs, while Buddhism could provide for their spiritual needs. In 1959, Tibet revolted against Chinese rule which initiated a brutal crackdown and led to the Tibetan diaspora and HHDL's exile.

Obviously that's a rather simplified version of the story.
 
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