Tibet in Agony : Lhasa 1959 / Jianglin Li.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Li, Jianglin., author.

Contributor:

Wilf, Susan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV, 1935-.

Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho.

Tibet Autonomous Region (China)--History--Uprising of 1959.

Tibet Autonomous Region (China).

China--Relations--China--Tibet Autonomous Region.

China.

Tibet Autonomous Region (China)--Relations--China.

Tibet Autonomous Region (China)--Politics and government--1951-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (465 pages) : illustrations, maps, photographs

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2017]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The Chinese Communist government has twice invoked large-scale military might to crush popular uprisings in capital cities. The second incident—the notorious massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989—is well known. The first, thirty years earlier in Tibet, remains little understood today. Yet in wages of destruction, bloodshed, and trampling of human rights, the tragic toll of March 1959 surpassed Tiananmen. Tibet in Agony provides the first clear historical account of the Chinese crackdown in Lhasa. Sifting facts from the distortions of propaganda and partisan politics, Jianglin Li reconstructs a chronology of events that lays to rest lingering questions about what happened in those fate-filled days and why. Her story begins with throngs of Tibetan demonstrators who—fearful that Chinese authorities were planning to abduct the Dalai Lama, their beloved leader—formed a protective ring around his palace. On the night of March 17, he fled in disguise, only to reemerge in India weeks later to set up a government in exile. But no peaceful resolution awaited Tibet. The Chinese army soon began shelling Lhasa, inflicting thousands of casualties and ravaging heritage sites in the bombardment and the infantry onslaught that followed. Unable to resist this show of force, the Tibetans capitulated, putting Mao Zedong in a position to fulfill his long-cherished dream of bringing Tibet under the Communist yoke. Li’s extensive investigation, including eyewitness interviews and examination of classified government records, tells a gripping story of a crisis whose aftershocks continue to rattle the region today.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface to the English Edition

Maps

Prologue

1. The Seeds of War

2. Summit in Delhi

3. Tragedy at Lake Qinghai

4. Uneasy Spring in Lhasa

5. The Exorcists’ Dance at the Potala Palace

6. Peril at the Prayer Festival

7. The Dalai Lama May Not Bring Bodyguards

8. The Most Momentous Day in Tibetan History

9. The Undercover Men of Kham

10. Protect the Norbulingka! Protect the Dalai Lama!

11. The Gathering Clouds of War

12. A Secret Plan

13. Go! Go! Tonight!

14. The Night Ferry

15. Into the Himalayas

16. Battle at Daybreak

17. The Death of the Medicine Buddha

18. River of Blood

19. Inferno

20. Surrender, and Save the Temple!

21. The Aftermath

22. The Eternal Crossing

Epilogue

Notes

Glossary of Names

Wylie Transliteration of Tibetan Names

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Illustration Credits

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed Feb. 24, 2017)

ISBN:

9780674973701

0674973704

9780674973688

0674973682

OCLC:

984688324