October 7, 1950: The Day Tibet Lost Its Freedom

On 7 October 1950, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the newly founded People’s Republic of China (PRC) crossed into Tibet’s eastern province of Kham. What followed was not merely a border incursion—it was the beginning of the end of Tibet’s centuries-long independence. Eighty thousand Chinese soldiers advanced across the plateau, overwhelming the ill-equipped Tibetan army of barely 8,000 men. Within months, eastern Tibet fell, and the road to Lhasa lay open.

For the Tibetans, this day marks the beginning of the occupation. For the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), it was the “Peaceful Liberation of Tibet.” History, however, records it for what it was: an invasion and annexation that changed the geopolitics of Asia.

By 1951, under duress, Tibetan representatives signed the Seventeen-Point Agreement, acknowledging Chinese sovereignty in exchange for promises of autonomy and religious freedom—promises that were swiftly broken. Seventy-five years later, October 7 remains a day of mourning in Tibetan history—a reminder of a nation erased by force, yet still alive through its people, culture, and government in exile.

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