The Central Tibetan Administration is the Tibetan government in exile,based in Dharamshala,India. It is composed of a judiciary branch,a legislative branch,and an executive branch,and offers support and services to the Tibetan exile community.
The Dorje Shugden controversy is a controversy over Dorje Shugden,also known as Dolgyal,whom some consider to be one of several protectors of the Gelug school,the school of Tibetan Buddhism to which the Dalai Lamas belong. Dorje Shugden has become the symbolic focal point of a conflict over the "purity" of the Gelug school and the inclusion of non-Gelug teachings,especially Nyingma ones.
The 11th Panchen Lama controversy centers on the 29 year-long enforced disappearance of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and on the recognition of the 11th Kunsik Panchen Lama. The Panchen Lama is considered the second most important spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama. Following the death of the 10th Panchen Lama,the 14th Dalai Lama recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima in 1995. Three days later,the People's Republic of China (PRC) abducted the Panchen Lama and his family. Months later,the PRC chose Gyaincain Norbu as its proxy Panchen Lama. During the traditional search process led by Chadrel Rinpoche,he indicated to the Dalai Lama that all signs pointed to Gedhun Choekyi Nyima,while the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas recognize each other's incarnations. The PRC had established its own search committee,which included Chatral Rinpoche and other monks,and wanted to use a lottery system referred to as the Golden Urn. Neither Gedhun Choekyi Nyima nor his family have been seen since the abduction. Chatral Rinpoche was also arrested by Chinese authorities the day of the abduction.
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is the 11th Panchen Lama belonging to the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism,as recognized and announced by the 14th Dalai Lama on 14 May 1995. Three days later on 17 May,the six-year-old Panchen Lama was kidnapped and forcibly disappeared by the Chinese government,after the State Council of the People's Republic of China failed in its efforts to install a substitute. A Chinese substitute is seen as a political tool to undermine the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama,which traditionally is recognized by the Panchen Lama. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima remains forcibly detained by the Chinese government,along with his family,in an undisclosed location since 1995. His khenpo,Chadrel Rinpoche,and another Gelugpa monk,Jampa Chungla,were also arrested. The United Nations,with the support of numerous states,organizations,and private individuals continue to call for the 11th Panchen Lama's release.
The Tibetan sovereignty debate refers to two political debates. The first political debate is about whether or not the various territories which are within the People's Republic of China (PRC) that are claimed as political Tibet should separate themselves from China and become a new sovereign state. Many of the points in this political debate rest on the points which are within the second historical debate,about whether Tibet was independent or subordinate to China during certain periods of its recent history.
The history of Tibet from 1950 to the present includes the Chinese annexation of Tibet,during which Tibetan representatives signed the controversial Seventeen Point Agreement following the Battle of Chamdo and establishing an autonomous administration led by the 14th Dalai Lama under Chinese sovereignty. Subsequent socialist reforms and other unpopular policies of the Chinese Communist Party led to armed uprisings,eventually assisted by the CIA,and their violent suppression. During the 1959 Tibetan uprising,the 14th Dalai Lama escaped to northern India for fear of being captured by Chinese forces. He formed the Central Tibetan Administration and rescinded the Seventeen Point Agreement. In 1965,the majority of Tibet's land mass,including all of U-Tsang and parts of Kham and Amdo,was established as the Tibet Autonomous Region. Tibetans suffered along with the rest of China during the Great Chinese Famine and the Cultural Revolution under episodes of starvation,religious repression,destruction of cultural sites,forced labour,and political persecution. US-China rapprochement in the 1970s saw an end to Washington's support for Tibetan guerillas. Amid broader reforms across the country,China adopted policies to improve conditions in Tibet. Since the 2000s,it has invested heavily in the region but generated controversies due to the sinicization of Tibet. Human rights abuses remain a concern especially where it comes to freedom of religion and political prisoners.
The 2008 Tibetan unrest,also referred to as the 2008 Tibetan uprising in Tibetan media,was a series of protests and demonstrations over the Chinese government's treatment and persecution of Tibetans. Protests in Lhasa,the capital of Tibet,by monks and nuns on 10 March have been viewed as the start of the demonstrations. Numerous protests and demonstrations were held to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising Day,when the 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet. The protests and demonstrations spread spontaneously to a number of monasteries and throughout the Tibetan plateau,including into counties located outside the designated Tibet Autonomous Region.
Tibetan Uprising Day,observed on March 10,commemorates the 1959 Tibetan uprising which began on March 10,1959,and the Women's Uprising Day of March 12,1959,involving thousands of women,against the presence of the People's Republic of China in Tibet.
The sinicization of Tibet includes the programs and laws of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to force cultural assimilation in Tibetan areas of China,including the Tibet Autonomous Region and the surrounding Tibetan-designated autonomous areas. The efforts are undertaken by China in order to remake Tibetan culture into mainstream Chinese culture.
The 1987–1989 Tibetan unrest was a series of protests and demonstrations that called for Tibetan independence. These protests took place between September 1987 and March 1989 in the Tibet Autonomous Region,in the Tibetan regions of Sichuan,and Qinghai,as well as the Tibetan prefectures in Yunnan and Gansu. Protests began shortly after the Dalai Lama,the religious and temporal leader of Tibet exiled in India since the 1959 Tibetan unrest,proposed a Five Point Peace Plan regarding the “status of Tibet”on September 21,1987,which was subsequently rejected by the Chinese government. The Plan advocated for greater respect and autonomy of the Tibetan people,and claimed that “Tibet was a fully independent state when the People’s Liberation Army invaded the country in 1949-50.”China rejected the idea of Tibetans as an invaded people,stating that “Tibet is an inalienable part of Chinese territory”and has been for hundreds of years. The Tibetan sovereignty debate is longstanding,and the Tibetan assertion that they are a separate and unique people invaded by China has become a central argument for their independence.
The 14th Dalai Lama,Tenzin Gyatso, full spiritual name:Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso,also known as Tenzin Gyatso;né Lhamo Thondup;was born on the 5th day of the 5th month in the Wood-Pig Year of the Tibetan lunar calendar,July 6,1935 in the Gregorian calendar. The incumbent Dalai Lama is the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. Before 1959,he served as both the resident spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet,and subsequently established and led the Tibetan government in exile represented by the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala,India. The adherents of Tibetan Buddhism consider the Dalai Lama a living Bodhisattva,specifically an emanation of Avalokiteśvara or Chenrezig,the Bodhisattva of Compassion,a belief central to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and the institution of the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama,whose name means Ocean of Wisdom,is known to Tibetans as Gyalwa Rinpoche,The Precious Jewel-like Buddha-Master,Kundun,The Presence,and Yizhin Norbu,The Wish-Fulfilling Gem. His devotees,as well as much of the Western world,often call him His Holiness the Dalai Lama,the style employed on his website. He is also the leader and a monk of the Gelug school,the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism,formally headed by the Ganden Tripa.
Lobsang Sangay is a Tibetan-American politician in exile who was Kalon Tripa of the Tibetan Administration in India from 2011 to 2012,and Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration in India from 2012 to 2021.
Human rights in Tibet has been a subject of intense international scrutiny and debate,particularly since the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China. Before the 1950s,Tibet's social structure was marked by inequality and described as a caste-like system or,controversially,as serfdom. Severe punishments,including permanent mutilations of body parts,were common,although capital punishment was banned in 1913. Muslim warlord Ma Bufang caused widespread destruction and deaths in Amdo which is northeast of Central Tibet.
Padma Choling is a Chinese retired politician of Tibetan ethnicity. He was the eighth chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR),but in January 2013,was replaced by his deputy Losang Jamcan. Later he served as the Tibet Autonomous Region People's Congress. As Chairman of TAR,Choling was the "most senior ethnic Tibetan in the regional government",though he was subordinate to the TAR Communist Party Chief Zhang Qingli,and later his successor Chen Quanguo.
Protests and uprisings in Tibet against the government of the People's Republic of China have occurred since 1950,and include the 1959 uprising,the 2008 uprising,and the subsequent self-immolation protests.
Chen Quanguo is a Chinese retired politician who was the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Tibet Autonomous Region from 2011 to 2016 and of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region from 2016 to 2021,making him the only person to serve as the Party Secretary for both autonomous regions. Between 2017 and 2022,he was a member of the 19th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and was also Political Commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps concurrently with his position as Xinjiang Party Secretary.
Antireligious campaigns in China are a series of policies and practices taken as part of the Chinese Communist Party's official promotion of state atheism,coupled with its persecution of people with spiritual or religious beliefs,in the People's Republic of China. Antireligious campaigns were launched in 1949,after the Chinese Communist Revolution,and they continue to be waged against Buddhists,Christians,Muslims,and members of other religious communities in China.
Lobsang Nyandak,sometimes written Lobsang Nyendak also called Lobsang Nyandak Zayul is a Tibetan diplomat and politician. born in 1965 in Kalimpong,India where he performed his studies in Herbertpur and at Panjab University in Chandigarh. There,he held functions at Tibetan Youth Congress before becoming the founding Executive Director of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. Member of the National Democratic Party of Tibet,he was elected deputy and was selected as a minister by Samdhong Rinpoche,the first elected Kalon Tripa of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). He then was the Representative of the 14th Dalai Lama to the Americas and became president of The Tibet Fund.
The Tibetan Policy and Support Act is a federal law that outlines United States policy on Tibet.
The Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People provides a framework for the governance of Tibet within the People's Republic of China (PRC). In 2008 a group led by the Dalai Lama presented the memorandum to China. Beijing invited Dalai Lama's delegation to talk about his middle path,which promoted autonomy rather than full independence. Beijing rejected the proposal vehemently,claiming that it was as good as giving independence to Tibet. Following the presentation of the Memorandum,talks between China and Dalai Lama's envoys that had started in 2002 broke down. The last communication was in January 2010.
