Tibet under the People’s Republic of China

People’s Liberation Army forces entered eastern Tibet in 1950, and the Seventeen Point Agreement of 1951 formalised the People’s Republic of China’s authority over Tibet. The 1959 uprising and the Dalai Lama’s flight to India were followed by tighter political control, while the Cultural Revolution brought severe damage to monasteries, religious institutions and material culture.

Later decades brought reconstruction, infrastructure development and partial revival of religious practice alongside continuing restrictions and disputes over political authority, cultural autonomy and migration. These tensions form the modern background to Colin Thubron’s To a Mountain in Tibet, which approaches Mount Kailas through contemporary Tibetan communities and pilgrimage traditions.