Tibet regained its independence from China with the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in the 1910s. Prior to the Qing Dynasty, it had centuries of independence and once even had a powerful empire stretching from the Bay of Bengal to Turkestan. During the first half of the 20th century, it was a peaceful kingdom minding its own business.
Unfortunately, living next to the Sino Dragon can be hazardous to ones freedom. Following its consolidation of power in 1949, the Chinese communists invaded the peaceful kingdom and illegally annexed it to China, and giving it the misnomer of an "autonomous region" (�۪v��). In reality, Tibet has no autonomy and the country is being repopulated with Chinese in China's version of ethnic cleansing.
Since the brutal invasion, more than a million Tibetans have lost their lives. Unknown numbers are in prision for crimes such as peacefully opposing China's illegitimate and illegal rule over the once sovereign country.
The people of Tibet rose up against the brutal Chinese occupation in 1959. This resulted in a mass slaughter of innocent Tibetans, including hundreds, perhaps thousands, who were simply trying to escape by crossing the Himalaya Mountains into Nepal or India.