On This Day: Dalai Lama flees Tibet after Chinese crackdown on uprising

MARCH 17, 1959: The Dalai Lama fled from Chinese occupation forces following a brutal crackdown on this day in 1959.

The spiritual leader of Tibet and an entourage of 20 men – including six cabinet ministers - were helped by CIA agents to cross the Himalayan mountains into India.

They arrived in India 15 days later after an epic trek that included braving subzero temperatures, extreme heights and crossing the 500-yard wide Brahmaputra river.

A British Pathé newsreel shows the Dalai Lama – said to be the 14th man to be reincarnated as the head of the Buddhist faith in Tibet – arriving in Tezpur.

The 23-year-old was greeted by enthusiastic crowds, many of whom had also fled the crackdown after the failed Tibetan Uprising in the capital Lhasa earlier that month.

The rebellion, which led to 85,000 deaths during two weeks of fierce fighting, came nine years after the Chinese Communists seized the former independent state.

During the uprising, the Chinese army badly damaged the Dalai Lama’s ancient Summer Palace, where he had been resident, by firing about 800 artillery shells at it.

Just prior to this attack, the spiritual leader - who was born the son of horse traders and “located” as the latest incarnate when two years old - fled, fearing for his life.

He dressed like an ordinary Tibetan carrying a rifle across his shoulder and left the Norbulinga – the Tibetan name for the palace – during a fierce dust storm.

The wild weather ensured that he and his retinue were not recognised as they headed for India on horseback – and it was two days before the Chinese realised he had gone.

Meanwhile, Tibetan freedom fighters carried on their rebellion, which was triggered over fears of the Dalai Lama’s arrest and anger over socialist reforms and curtailment of the deeply faithful people’s religious practices.

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The spiritual leader, who is also known as Tenzin Gyatso, was offered asylum in India and settled in Dharamsala, in the north of the country.

Another 80,000 Tibetans followed him into exile there - and the city, which has become known as “Little Lhasa”, is home to the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Beijing, which claims they have liberated Tibetans from serfdom, refuses to let the Dalai Lama return unless he becomes a Chinese citizen.

But he believes he will be arrested and silenced if he returns.

Since his exile, the god-king has gone on to become an advocate of democracy in Tibet and further afield.

He has become a symbol of peaceful resistance to oppression throughout the world and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

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He made some progress with China after suggesting a “middle way” deal of genuine self-rule for Tibet but remaining within China.

But uprest in the province in 2008 – ahead of the Beijing Olympics – made China retreat back to their position of deep mistrust.

The Chinese authorities have banned the Dalai Lama's photographs and writings – and made visits to the region by foreign journalists increasingly difficult.

In 2011, he retired from his political responsibilities and transferred control of the government in exile to a democratically-elected council.

He has even raised the possibility that he might be the final Dalai Lama and end the reincarnation.

“Naturally, my next life is entirely up to me. No one else. And also this is not a political matter,” he said in 2011.