Friday, September 12, 2008

History and Background

In order to find some history on the Tibet and China conflict, I researched the history and culture of Tibet.  While doing research, I found that Tibet is intensely religious.  They are so religious that they turn prayer wheels and recite prayers on the street.  Their religion is a form of buddhism called llamaism.  Because of this, they have two grand llamas.  One llama is called the Dalai llama.  The Dalai llama is the ruler of Tibet, and the highest spiritual authority.  The other llama is called the Panchen llama.  The Panchen llama is the leading spiritual authority.  Both of the llamas are buddha.  This means that they are born again.  

China and Tibet have been in a conflict for a very long time.  Their conflict has dated back to the early 1700's when tibet fell under control of China.  In 1911,  the Tibetans mustered up enough courage, and forced out the Chinese troops that had been stationed there.  In 1949, China's government became communist.  After the Chinese became familiar with their new government,  Chinese forces entered Tibet in during 1950.  After becoming tired of fighting for independence, in 1951, Tibet signed an agreement with China. "They surrendered their sovereignty to the Chinese government, but kept it's right to regional self-government."  The agreement guaranteed Tibets freedom.   As you can see, this conflict has been going on for a long time, and is not resolved to this day.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's "research." Thanks. =)

Anonymous said...

Hey Paul-- some great info here; I didn't even know there were two llamas! It's important that you cite your sources, so find a way to make that work. Particularly, you should not have a direct quote without a name or source attached!
You did a nice job with bringing the piece to a conclusion. In your intro, try to keep it 3rd person ( no I) unless the assignment is a personal response (like the intro). Thanks!

Cheyene said...

You oraganized your info really well, and summarized a large topic with very little words, while not leaving out important details. The way you wrote it also interested me and i want to know more!!

daniel said...

What is are prayer wheels?
Other than that that was great info.