During the chaos early year of the republic of China (1911-present), the British attempted unsuccessfully to setup an independent Tibet. In 1949, a new government, led by the China Communist Party, took control China and reassert full control of every provinces and region on the Chinese mainland, including the Tibet region. Taiwan is the only province left to the control of the China National People' party. There was a revolt by the elite religious hierarchy in 1959, aimed primary to maintain their style of holding slavery, serfs, and dictatorial rules upon the locals. This revolt failed and the Dalai Lama fled to India.

In the 1960's the Cultural Revolution was started by lawless thugs raged across China, they destroyed many ancient relics round the country, including the ones in the Tibet region. In 1980's, Hu Yaobang, the general secretary of the China Communist party order the rebuilding of temples in the Tibet region. Billion of dollars have been spent since, in the rebuilding and modernization of the region. The destruction of the temples over China in 1960's and 1970's was never sanctioned by the government and it is today illegal to deface and destroy anything religious in the Tibet region.

The Tibetan hierarchy Perspective: for most of history, the Tibetan religion hierarchy had been able to rule the region with an iron fist, which included slavery and serfdom. Basic human right were none existence. With a new central government in 1949, the local religious hierarchy was forced to conform to national law regarding the banning of slavery and indigence servants. In 1959, a rebellion in the region and it was put down by the national army with loss of lives numbered in the hundred, perhaps thousands. The Dalai Lama fed China after the un-successful revolt.

A footnote: on a January 15, 1997 a Chicago Tribune report titled "The CIA's secret war in Tibet", it was revealed a well known secret to the American public, for the first time, that the CIA flew supplies into China's Tibet regions and used other propaganda techniques to incite violent terrorism actions against the government of the Tibet region. The CIA's efforts, apart from killing many civilians, failed and it was discontinued in the mid 1970's.

The Tibet ruled by the Dalai Lama was no "Shangri la," as Hollywood seems to claim. Women were considered to be inferior to men. "Tibetans were ruled by an unusual form of feudal theocracy," says Tom Grunfeld in his history book, "The Making of Modern Tibet."

Grunfeld writes, "The vast majority of the people of Tibet were serfs." They were "tied" to their masters and had no say over their own lives, even who they were to marry.

In addition, probably about 5 percent of the population was slaves to the nobility. This was true in the 1940s. Punishment for defiance of the rulers was harsh. Public beating of slaves and serfs by the Dalai Lama's officers were common sights.

Anti-Chinese groups will often claim that 1.2 million local residents died as a result actions by the national army. This number is impossible to achieve mathematically. The population of the whole Tibet region in the 1950's was around 1 to 1.5 million. The population today is closed to 3 million (non-migrants and descendants of non-migrants). It is impossible for 1.2 millions to have died during this time. Had 1.2 million been actually killed, it would be impossible to achieve a population growth to 3 million, unless every woman gives birth to an average of 20 kids. The Dalai Lama has always acknowledge the leader of the central government in the country's capital (whether in Beiping, Beijing or Nanjing) as the political leader of the Tibet region. All the Dalai Lama's official document starts with "In the name of the Great Emperor of China, the Manjushri Bodhisattva, I the Dalai Lama order ....."