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)
1634
Ngawang Namgyal, in the Battle of Five Lamas, prevailed over the Tibetan and Bhutanese forces allied against him and was the first to unite Bhutan into a single country.
(http://visitbhutan2008.blogspot.com/2007/04/zhabdrung-kuchoe.html)
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)
1717 Dzungar tribes of Mongolia invaded Tibet, and a period of internal
strife and civil war followed. The Kangxi emperor sent armies into the area for 20 years, and local leaders were forced to pledge their allegiance to the Qing Empire. In 1724, the regions of Amdo and Kham were made into the province of Kokonor, with parts of Eastern Kham incorporated into neighboring Chinese provinces.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kham)
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 (1922-2012), a Welsh explorer, launched the first Welsh Himalayan Expedition. The 3-man team was captured by the Chinese and held for two months under interrogation for spying. 25 years later
it was revealed that Wignall had been recruited by Gen. Thimayya of the Indian army to find out what the Chinese were up to in Tibet. In 1997 his book: "Spy on the Roof of the World" was published.
(SFEC,12/14/97, BR p.4)(Econ, 5/5/12, p.94)
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 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 30, Dalai Lama (b.1935), Tenzin Gyatso, having fled
the Chinese suppression of a national uprising in Tibet, crossed the border into India. India granted him political asylum.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1959)
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. Gedhun Choekyi (5) disappeared days after his designation. Six months later China declared Gyaincain Norbu (Gyaltsen Norbu) (5) as the 11th Panchen Lama.
(SFC, 5/8/97, p.C2)(SFC, 6/19/99,
p.A11)(SFC, 8/12/11, p.A2)
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, Rigzin Phuntsog (16), 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. In August
authorities said they will charge three Buddhist monks with murder over the death of Phuntsog.
(SFC, 3/18/11, p.A2)(http://tinyurl.com/4nsxj9p)(AFP, 4/13/11)(AP, 8/26/11)
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
Jul 6, Nepalese authorities prevented exiled Tibetans from celebrating their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's birthday over concerns that gatherings would turn anti-Chinese.
(AP, 7/6/11)
2011 Jul 16, Pres. Obama met with the Dalai Lama despite a warning from Beijing that the meeting would risk damaging relations.
(SSFC, 7/17/11,
p.A8)
2011 Aug 8, In India Lobsang Sangay, a Harvard-trained legal scholar, was sworn in as new head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, taking over from the Dalai Lama as the official leader of his people's fight for
freedom.
(AP, 8/8/11)
2011 Aug 11, Chinese designated lama Gyaltsen Norbu (21), the hand-picked 11th Panchen Lama, arrived at
Xiahe, home of the Labrang Monastery. He left on Aug 16 following a cool welcome.
(SFC, 8/12/11, p.A2)(Econ, 8/20/11, p.39)
2011
Aug 15, In western China Tsewang Norbu (29), a Buddhist monk, died after setting himself on fire in Sichuan province's Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture an ethnically Tibetan region.
(AP, 8/15/11)
2011 Aug 29, Chinese authorities jailed a Buddhist monk for 11 years over the March 17 self-immolation death of Rigzin Phuntsog. A court in the southern province of Sichuan handed long jail sentences to two more monks the next day over Phuntsog’s protest at their Kirti
monastery.
(AFP, 8/31/11)
2011 Sep 18, In India a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit Sikkim state in the northeast near the border with
Nepal. Some buildings collapsed in Sikkim's state capital of Gangtok. At least 108 people were killed with more than 100,000 homes damaged. The confirmed deaths included 6 in Nepal and 7 in Tibet.
(AP, 9/19/11)(AP, 9/20/11)(AP, 9/23/11)
2011 Sep 26, In China 2 Tibetan monks, Lobsang Kalsang and Lobsang Konchok (believed to be 18 or 19 years old), set themselves on fire at the Kirti Monastery in a protest over China's tight rein over Buddhist practices, as the Chinese government reiterated it will choose the
next Dalai Lama. Both were rescued by police, suffered slight burns and were in stable condition.
(AP, 9/26/11)
2011 Oct 1, In
China angry Tibetans protested in Seda, a county seat in eastern Sichuan province, a tense area of southwestern China on the country's National Day after a Tibetan flag and a photo of the Dalai Lama were torn down.
(AP, 10/2/11)
2011 Oct 6, Desmond Tutu's last-ditch appeal to South Africa to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama on the eve of his 80th birthday was rejected, marring the start of the celebrations. The Dalai Lama cancelled a planned trip to South Africa because of delays with his visa, provoking
a furious response from Tutu who blasted President Jacob Zuma's government as worse than apartheid and accused him of kowtowing to China.
(AFP, 10/6/11)
2011
Oct 7, In southwest China 2 teenagers set themselves on fire near a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Aba town amid rumors that dozens of monks were ready to sacrifice their lives. Choepel and Khayang were former monks from Sichuan province's Kirti monastery.
(AFP,
10/7/11)
2011 Oct 17, In western China Tenzin Wangmo (20), a Tibetan nun, committed self-immolation in a call for religious freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama. She was the 9th Tibetan to commit self-immolation and
the first women to kill herself in this way.
(SFC, 10/18/11, p.A4)
2011 Oct 18, Tibetan monk Yonten Gyatso, a senior monk and
human rights activist in the restive Aba county, southwestern Sichuan province, was arrested. He was sentenced on June 18 by Aba Intermediate People's Court, but his family and the news organization that he contributes to only heard about it on Aug 22. They said he was beaten, tortured and imprisoned after his arrest.
(AFP, 8/23/12)
2011 Oct 25, In China another monk set himself ablaze outside a Tibetan monastery in southwestern Sichuan province's Ganzi prefecture. This was the 10th self-immolation this
year protesting against Chinese rule over the Himalayan region. London-based Free Tibet group said it was unable to confirm the monk's age or name and was unsure of his condition.
(AP, 10/26/11)
2011 Nov 1, Nepalese police detained more than 100 Tibetan exiles who had gathered to pray for nine Tibetans who set themselves on fire to protest against Chinese rule.
(AP,
11/1/11)
2011 Nov 3, Chinese state media reported that a Buddhist nun, identified as Qiu Xiang (35), has died after setting herself on fire, in the 11th case of self-immolation among Tibetans in western China in recent
months.
(AP, 11/3/11)
2011 Dec 6, In Tibet 12 people were killed and five were missing after their bus plunged into a
river.
(AP, 12/10/11)
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)
2012 Jan 6, In southwest China two Tibetan men set themselves on fire near the
restive Kirti monastery, the 13th and 14th to hit Tibetan areas in less than a year. An 18-year-old died in a hotel room while another man, aged 22, was being treated in hospital.
(AFP, 1/6/12)(AFP, 1/8/12)
2012 Jan 14, In southwest China a Tibetan set himself on fire and police fired on hundreds of locals, possibly killing one, as they attempted to rescue the burned body from officials near the restive Kirti monastery in Sichuan province's Aba county. This was the 16th
self-immolation attempt in Tibetan areas inside a year and the fourth in nine days.
(AFP, 1/14/12)
2012 Jan 23, In China Police
opened fire on Tibetans protesting against religious repression, killing at least one person and injuring more than 30 others in Sichuan province's Luhuo county.
(AFP, 1/23/12)
2012 Jan 24, In China two Tibetans were reportedly killed and several more were wounded when security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in Seda county in politically sensitive Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan province.
(AP,
1/25/12)
2012 Jan 27, Chinese security forces arrested a youth named Tarpa after he posted a leaflet in Sichuan's Aba prefecture "stating that the reason for the self-immolation protests was that Tibet must be free and
the Dalai Lama must return, and until these demands were met, there was no way for the campaign to be stopped." Security forces fired at Tibetans trying to stop Tarpa’s arrest, killing one and wounding several others, in the third reported deadly clash in a politically sensitive Tibetan region in a week.
(AP, 1/27/12)
2012 Feb 3, In China three Tibetans set themselves alight in remote Phuhu village in the southwestern province of Sichuan. One died and two others were seriously
hurt.
(AP, 2/5/12)
2012 Feb 8, In China a Tibetan (19) set himself on fire in Sichuan province's Aba prefecture. He was a former
monk from the local Kirti monastery, which has been the scene of protests over recent months. The monk was taken to hospital. Radio Free Asia said Tibetan protests erupted in two counties in Qinghai province, with about 1,000 people marching in each.
(AP,
2/9/12)
2012 Feb 9, In China security forces shot dead two Tibetan brothers who were on the run after protesting against Chinese rule.
(AFP, 2/12/12)
2012 Feb 10, Chinese PM Wen Jiabao pledged religious freedom and cultural protection in Tibet, just hours after security forces reportedly killed two Tibetans who protested
China's rule.
(AFP, 2/10/12)
2012 Feb 11, In China Tenzin Choedron (Choedon), an 18-year-old nun, set herself on fire in Sichuan
province and later died, the latest in a spate of such incidents among ethnic Tibetans protesting Beijing's rule.
(AFP, 2/12/12)
2012
Feb 16, Indian police detained 35 Tibetan students at a protest outside the Chinese embassy in New Delhi against Beijing's rule over Tibet.
(AFP, 2/16/12)
2012 Feb 17, In western China Tibetan Buddhist monk Tamchoe Sangpo set himself on fire at Bongtak monastery in Qinghai province amid a wave of such protests against China's handling of the vast Tibetan areas it rules.
(AP,
2/18/12)
2012 Mar 1, Chinese state press said Chen Quanguo, China’s top leader in Tibet, has ordered increased controls over the Internet and mobile phones, ahead of upcoming sensitive anniversaries in the restive
region.
(AFP, 3/1/12)
2012 Mar 3, In northwestern China a Tibetan teenager died after setting herself on fire. The girl, said to
be aged between 16 and 19 years old, set herself alight at a vegetable market in Maqu county in Gansu province.
(AFP, 3/5/12)
2012
Mar 4, In China a widowed mother of four died after setting herself on fire near the restive Kirti monastery in Aba county in Sichuan province, taking to at least 25 the number of such incidents in Tibetan-inhabited areas in the past year.
(AFP,
3/5/12)
2012 Mar 10, In southwest China a Tibetan teenager set himself on fire and died on the sensitive anniversary of the Dalai Lama's flight into exile in 1959. The 18-year-old monk was from the restive Kirti
Monastery and self-immolated in Aba town in Sichuan province.
(AFP, 3/13/12)
2012 Mar 16, In southwestern China Lobsang Tsultrim
(20), a Tibetan monk, set himself on fire before being beaten and dragged away by Chinese security forces by the Kirti monastery, Sichuan province.
(AFP, 3/16/12)(AFP, 3/21/12)
2012 Mar 17, In China Tibetan farmer Sonam Thargyal (44) fastened cotton padding to his body and doused himself with kerosene before setting himself on fire in Tongren, a monastery town in western China's Qinghai province. He had been close friends with a monk who survived a self-immolation attempt on March 14, also in Tongren. The
monk, Jamyang Palden, was believed to be alive but critically injured.
(AP, 3/18/12)
2012 Mar 19, In China Lobsang Tsultrim (20),
a Tibetan Buddhist monk, died in detention. He set himself on fire on March 16 in Aba town, a flashpoint for such protests.
(AFP, 3/20/12)
2012
Mar 26, In India Tibetan exile Jamphel Yeshi lit himself on fire and ran shouting through a demonstration in New Delhi, just ahead of a visit by China's president. Yeshi sustained burns on 98 percent of his body and his condition was critical. Jamphel Yeshi died on March 28.
(AP, 3/26/12)(AFP, 3/28/12)
2012 Mar 30, In China two Tibetan monks, identified as Tenpa Darjey and Chimey Palden, set themselves on fire in the western city of Maerkang in the latest in a wave of self-immolations
protesting against Chinese rule.
(AP, 3/31/12)
2012 May 27, Two Tibetan men set themselves on fire outside a temple in Lhasa and
one died. Xinhua named the dead man as Tobgye Tseten, from Gansu province. The incident marked the first significant protest in Lhasa since riots broke out there in 2008. Chinese security forces rounded up hundreds of residents and pilgrims in the wake of the incident.
(AFP, 5/28/12)(AFP,
5/31/12)
2012 May 30, In China a woman, identified as Rechok (33), set herself on fire outside a Buddhist monastery in an ethnically Tibetan region of western Sichuan
province.
(AP, 5/31/12)
2012 Jun 5, Chinese authorities alerted foreign travel agencies that they would no longer be issuing
entry permits to Tibet.
(ABCNews, 6/7/12)
2012 Jun 20, Ngawang Norphel (21) set himself on fire along with another Tibetan youth,
Tenzin Kaldrup, who died at the protest in Chendou county in the western province of Qinghai. Norphel died of his burns on Aug 1.
(AFP, 8/2/12)
2012
Jul 8, China started work on a 30-billion-yuan ($4.8-billion) tourism project in Lhasa city, as it seeks to draw more travelers to the restive Tibet region.
(AFP, 7/8/12)
2012 Aug 7, In China Dolkar Kyi (26) immolated herself at Tso monastery in Kanlho prefecture (Gannan in Chinese), Gansu province, after chanting slogans calling for the return of the Dalai Lama.
(AFP, 8/7/12)
2012 Aug 13, In far west China a Kirti monk named Lungtok and another man, identified as Tashi, set themselves alight in Sichuan province's Aba prefecture. Police beat a
Tibetan man to death during a clash that broke out after the two Tibetans set themselves on fire.
(AP, 8/14/12)
Subject = Tibet
End of file
