Chinese artillery shells pummeled the Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama's summer palace, sending plumes of smoke, fire, and dust into the night sky. The centuries-old building crumbled under the barrage, while the badly outnumbered Tibetan Army fought desperately to repel the People's Liberation Army (PLA) from Lhasa.
Meanwhile, amidst the snows of the high Himalayas, the teenaged Dalai Lama and his bodyguards endured a cold and treacherous two-week-long journey into India.
Origins of the Tibetan Uprising of 1959
Tibet had an ill-defined relationship with China's Qing Dynasty (1644-1912); at various times it could have been seen as an ally, an opponent, a tributary state, or a region within Chinese control.