— In 1950, a year after the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) under Mao Zedong, Chinese Communists declared their intention to "liberate the oppressed and exploited Tibetans and reunite them with the great motherland." That October, the People's Liberation Army invaded the Kham region of eastern Tibet before continuing on to Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, in 1951.

— In 1951, Tibet signed a 17-point treaty allowing for the "peaceful integration of Tibet".

— On March 17, 1959, following a Tibetan uprising in Lhasa and fearing a Chinese plot to kidnap him, the Dalai Lama and a group of followers escaped into exile in India. The uprising was harshly suppressed, although China disputes the claim that thousands were killed between March 1959 and September 1960.

— In September 1965, the U-Tsang and Western areas of Tibet officially became the Tibetan Autonomous Region of the PRC.

— During the decade of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), the Red Guards destroyed thousands of Tibetan religious institutions and monuments. Some were rebuilt in the years after Mao's death in 1976. Today, there are 30,000 Buddhist monks living in the monasteries of Tibet, and 260 Buddhist temples in Lhasa.

— The Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, continues to lead the Tibetan Government in Exile from a base in Dharamsala, northern India. Last year China reacted angrily when the USA awarded him the Congressional Gold Medal, the country's highest civilian honour.

— There are around 100,000 Tibetans in India, and 130,000 such refugees worldwide. Roughly 3,000 leave Tibet for India every year, although many now return home after a few years. Meanwhile, large numbers of Han Chinese have moved into Tibet in recent years in search of work. Tibetans argue that this, along with the recent opening of a trainline linking Lhasa with the Chinese rail network, threatens their culture and heritage.

— The current (14th) Dalai Lama was born Lhamo Dhondrub on July 6, 1935, in the village of Taktser in northeastern Tibet. In keeping with Tibetan tradition, he was recognised at the age of two as the reincarnation of his predecessor, the 13th Dalai Lama, and therefore as an incarnation of the Buddha of Compassion.

Sources: Times database, the Rough Guide to China, www.tibet.com

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