Chapter 3 Central Asia, Xinjiang, and Tibet 103delegations visited. The historical interweaving of Tibetan politics and Tibetan
Buddhism is also partially a cause of conflict between Beijing and Lhasa and
now the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala in far northern
India. Within the profoundly diverse tradition of Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism
offers a faith with a hierarchy that extends beyond local monasteries and con-
vents to include powerful lamas (hence the early name for Tibetan Buddhism of
“Lamaism”) and deep political, cultural, economic, and religious roots in the
specific region of Tibet. These characteristics make Tibetan Buddhism distinctive
from most other forms of Buddhism, and they account in part for the flourishing
of the faith in Central Asia and among the historical rulers of the Mongols and
Manchus, but they also account for the tensions with Beijing to the current day.
Like Xinjiang, the Tibetan Autonomous Region is a massive territory
occupying the southwestern region of the PRC today. The forbidding Tibetan
Plateau has long prevented the effective settlement of the region by major pop-
ulation centers, and it remains sparsely populated, though increasing Han
migration to Tibet has been steadily shifting the population ratios. Also like
Xinjiang, Tibet has a sometimes troubled relationship with Beijing and the
political centers of previous Chinese dynasties. Some dynasties thoroughly
incorporated Tibet into their maps, while others did not. The 1911 revolution
brought down the Manchu Qing, the last imperial house of China. The elites of
Tibet declared that their allegiance would not flow naturally to the next ruling
house proclaimed in Beijing or Nanjing. Their alliance had been to the Man-
chu Qing court, and their relationship with the revolutionary government
would have to be renegotiated based on a new and different diplomacy. Being
at the crossroads of British (India), Russian, and Chinese interests, Tibet had
no shortage of foreign powers advising its leaders on what course to take, lead-
ing to confusion and ultimately conflict.Potala Palace in Lhasa Tibet was the traditional center of Tibetan Buddhist religious and politi-
cal power from the 1640s until the Dalai Lama fled China in 1959.