This is Tibet in the 1930s.
A beautiful isolated land, high up in the mountains of the Himalayas.
Surrounded by the empires of Britain and China,
and yet still almost completely untouched by the outside world.
Tibet is now most famous for its leader, the Dalai Lama,
who was forced into exile nearly 50 years ago.
Oh, father! My father!
Tibet, as we see it in these films, has been completely lost.
This treasure trove of rare colour films shot by British, Chinese
and Tibetan people who lived through these times,
have been preserved by the British Film Institute.
These films allow us a glimpse into a world which has almost entirely disappeared,
to a time before the Dalai Lama and his people lost their country.
It's now impossible to tell the story of Tibet in Tibet, because since the Chinese invasion of 1950,
it's become a criminal offence to even discuss Tibetan independence in territory controlled by China.
So, to tell the tale of the lost world of Tibet, I've had to come to another country. I've come to India.
The Dalai Lama escaped here in 1959,
and, along with the Tibetan government-in-exile,
is based here in the McLeod Gange.
To understand how Tibet was lost, why the Dalai Lama must live
in exile, you have to look back to a time when Tibet was a free nation.
This is Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in the early 1940s.
This film was of the main shopping street, known as the Barkhor.
Despite being shot in the 20th century, it looks medieval.
Hardly surprising, given Tibet's location.
It was almost impossible to reach so it remained frozen in time.
Namgyal Takla lived in Tibet in the 1940s.
We had the huge mountains surrounding Tibet,
and then we were inside this mountain, isolated.
And we had the big...
Russia, China, Britain around us.
And it was the policy to be...
this country to be kept above a state, sort of a zone where the big powers will not meet.
And it was, we lived in...
In the 20th century we maybe have lived like we were in the 16th century.
Tibetan society was both feudal and deeply religious.
Buddhism had a profound effect in shaping its culture and traditions.
Ruled by a dual system of aristocratic families and Buddhist monks,
the government's main function was to maintain the religious state.
Tibet's feudal structure meant that most of the population lived in poverty.
Any attempts to modernise or invite foreign influence were resisted
by their conservative and profoundly religious outlook.
Life in Lhasa was dominated by a huge number of religious festivals,
which involved most of the city's population.
68 days of the year were taken up with festivals.
Since the Chinese occupation of Tibet,
all of these festivals have been banned.
Even though life for exiled Tibetans has changed enormously
since the Chinese invasion,
Tibetan society is still deeply religious and Buddhism is central to its culture.
Buddhism arrived in Tibet in the 7th century AD,
about 1,000 years after it started in northern India.
Focusing on spiritual development, all Buddhists believe that the road to enlightenment
lies through the practice and development of morality, meditation and wisdom.
At the time these films were made, monks made up 20% of the male Tibetan population.
Every Tibetan family, rich or poor, sent their youngest son
to a monastery as a spiritual and religious duty.
Because monks had a high social status,
poor families gave up their boys in the certain knowledge they would be looked after financially for life.
These boys would just have arrived at the monastery.
Even though in theory they could give up being a monk if they wanted,
they would expect to stay there for the rest of their lives.
The present Dalai Lama, who's the 14th, was found while he was still a small child.
In a tradition that dates back to the 17th century, the Dalai Lama -
or "Ocean of Wisdom" - is both the spiritual and secular leader of Tibet.
All Buddhists believe in rebirth and reincarnation, but for Tibetan Buddhists,
the man they call his Holiness, the Dalai Lama, is very special indeed.
Some see him as a man god.
All believe he's a reincarnation of all 13 previous Dalai Lamas.
And he's a Bodhisattva of compassion, an enlightened being
who has chosen rebirth as a human being so he can be on this world to help others.
When the 13th Dalai Lama died, his reincarnation, a three-year-old boy
called Tenzin Gyatso, was found some 600 miles from the capital in Amdo,
a province in the far North-East.
While the Western world was at war, the family made the long journey to the capital, Lhasa.
The 14th Dalai Lama arrived in October 1940.
By now he was five years old.
He was accompanied by his father and mother and two elder brothers,
Lobsang Samten and Gyalo Thondup.
Oh, father. My father.
Father, yes.
And my mother.
This is elder brother, whom I bully!
My mother, very very gentle.
Almost I never saw her, sort of,
in a mental state of temper, I never saw. Very gentle.
Always smile.
Somebody very nice, very nice woman.
A villager, uneducated.
At the beginning, illiterate.
Later, with her own effort, she can read
some books.
Now here, yes, my father with moustache.
He very much interested in keeping his moustache
very organised way,
not like that.
So he used... Of course our family from time to time eating meat...
..with bone,
so every time
from the bone,
there's something... What do we call it, marrow or something?
So he used to put it on his moustache,
and do like that.
Although the young Dalai Lama was revered as a god king,
he would not take up his position as head of state until he reached 18.
Years of monastic study lay ahead of him.
Buddhism involves training, transforming the mind
so as to have a full understanding of the true nature of existence
to gain happiness and ultimately to achieve spiritual enlightenment.
Buddhists believe it's only possible to escape suffering,
to find true happiness, by giving up all worldly desires.
And by accepting the transitory nature of life.
All things change, come to an end, don't try to hang on to things.
Also, one has to understand that all one's actions, one's karma,
have consequences for good or for ill.
If you do good things, then you get merit and I suppose hurtle towards your own enlightenment.
But more to the point, do good things and the world benefits.
You put positive energy out into the world.
The events of Buddha's life and teachings were celebrated
through ceremonies and rituals that dominated life in Tibet.
The Monlam Chenmo, or Great Prayer Festival, is a series of events
which commemorates the day when Buddha preached the Dharma, or sacred text, for the first time.
The festival starts when the monks take over the running of Lhasa from the government.
The proctors of the Drepung monastery arrive carrying heavy silver maces
to demand that power is handed over to them by the Kashag or parliament.
Their attendants ceremonially throw down the whips of the city magistrates
and bow to the proctors to formalise the handover.
The proctors are accompanied by the dob-dobs, or monastic police,
huge monks who carried long sticks and whips.
Wearing padded robes, their job is to intimidate and control
the crowd of 20,000 monks who flood the city for the festival.
For the next month, the proctors are able to impose fines on the general public
for having a dirty house, for using bells on a horse or mule,
for women not wearing a headdress, for the wearing of foreign shoes,
or any other disorderly behaviour.
Gifts of money and food were handed out.
While the event was mostly funded by the government,
there were contributions from the British and Chinese trade missions based in Lhasa.
At this time, the Chinese were happy to support religious events.
The Tibetan government was dominated by a group of aristocratic families.
There were about 200 families who made up the civil service
and each of them had to provide a son to serve as an official.
Within the aristocracy, there were 30 higher status families who had the most senior positions.
Namgyal is from one of these families, the Tsarongs.
Oh, that's our house!
The house I was born in.
It's our own house and that's my aunt, Kukula.
And that's my mother. They're really modelling away!
It seems quite strange that they're modelling
because we never even heard of this in Tibet
nor did anybody do that. It seems quite strange.
I'm sure Auntie Kukula must have arranged this.
I think they had a British governess
so she must have taught my mother how to walk.
They're wearing the ceremonial costumes.
Kukula's considered very beautiful and she's really beautiful here,
I must say. And you notice here...
Oh, this is also in our garden.
We had one of the best gardens also in Lhasa
because my grandfather himself, he worked in the garden
and also he made all the family members come and work.
And we... Each child had a tree.
We had to water the tree, fertilise it and we were only allowed
to take the fruit off that tree and no fruit from the other trees.
So we had strawberries and gooseberries, pears, everything.
In this picture you see my aunts together with their grandfather.
They had the same father, Tsarong, but they had three different mothers.
They were three sisters from the original Tsarong family.
This sort of family structure was not unusual in Tibet.
Men could marry a number of women
and even women could marry a number of men.
The reason is to keep the family wealth together.
Married out, the brothers had several wives, there are bound to be troubles
and then they might say "OK, we want to separate the land."
So they usually had brothers marrying one daughter
or the daughters marrying several brothers. It was very common.
Divorce did exist and usually what happened was,
during marriage there's a contract made, and then
usually most of the divorces,
the wife would be well looked after when she leaves the home.
If there's a son, the son stays with the father and the daughter stays with the mother.
There's no custody of children, fighting about it,
automatically the daughter goes to the mother, the son goes to the father. They could also remarry.
We had no problems about divorcees or widows remarrying.
In fact, if they were young, they were encouraged to marry.
This massive civil and monastic bureaucracy within Lhasa
was about to be led spiritually, if not politically,
by the five-year-old Dalai Lama.
Before his official enthronement,
he stayed at the Summer Palace, the Norbulingka.
At first, his family were also allowed to stay there too,
before he began his new life.
Of course, at that time, my mother, my father and my elder brother
remained or stayed with me.
Then Mother and Father...
I think every day they came to see me
and also I visited to their home.
I enjoy my native village's food.
While pilgrims came from all over Tibet, foreign dignitaries also paid homage to the god king.
The British political officer in nearby Sikkim
brought a movie camera with him and managed to get
this first ever moving picture of the Dalai Lama.
Sir Basil Gould, seen here with the white prayer scarf around his neck,
also bought an expensive foreign toy car for the little boy.
But already his status set him apart from other children
and only the older brother, Lobsang, was allowed to test drive it.
This is my brother, elder brother.
So the people felt,
if I handle, it may be too risky,
so my elder brother, let him play.
Sometimes I feel jealousy!
Somebody is in the car.
I wonder if that is my husband.
It's him?
Namgyal married the Dalai Lama's older brother, Lobsang, in 1962.
There's Lobsang on the horse now, I see him.
He's so serious, I can't believe how serious he is there.
He's not a serious person but there he looks so serious.
Now that's a very nice picture, yes, of Lobsang's father.
With his mother going in front of him.
The date for the 14th Dalai Lama's enthronement ceremony at the Potala Palace
was reached according to complex astrological calculations.
The distance between the Norbulingka palace and the Potala is only a few miles.
The Dalai Lama would be accompanied on the short journey by the whole of his monastic and civil retinue.
The 13-storey Potala was originally built in the 7th century.
It's a quarter of a mile long with over 1,000 rooms.
It was a winter residence of the Dalai Lama,
a centre for religious worship and training,
as well as housing Tibet's government and huge civil service.
Tenzin Gyatso was enthroned
as the 14th Dalai Lama on 22nd February 1940.
A life of austerity and strict scholarly pursuit
began for the five-year-old and his brother, Lobsang.
I think, for him, being a normal child and then suddenly
becoming a monk and then coming up to Lhasa with His Holiness...
..and leaving the parents and then suddenly going into this huge Potala palace and living there
amidst the older monks, who can be quite strict...
And he used to often tell me it was not that pleasant there.
The elder brother stayed with me, we always play.
And sometimes I bully him...
although he's older than me!
He used to talk about His Holiness being quite naughty and mischievous.
And then when he was naughty, his tutors used to frighten Lobsang.
And then he said His Holiness used to get into a lot of very nice games,
running around and then feeding the birds outside on the roof.
That was the greatest fun.
Here were these two little boys with the older...
attendants and huge dark rooms,
and it was very frightening for them.
Coming from a village where you had a lot of running around, freedom,
and then suddenly up there, it must have been quite intimidating for him.
So then I can go once a month.
My mother came.
So when my mother came, I feel very happy.
When my mother departs, I feel a little...
little uncomfortable, little sad.
Tibetan Buddhism differs from other types because at its roots
in the traditions of the earlier Bon religion.
Therefore there's a belief in gods and celestial beings,
but also there are various traditions that involve
all Tibetan society in the practice of Buddhism.
Tibetans believe that their prayers can be given added power
by being conducted by means of a prayer wheel.
Here is a prayer wheel.
BELL CLANGS
Walking round the wheel means that my prayers have the power
of ALL the written prayers inside this wheel, incredible.
Also, the flags have a similar thing.
Prayers through repetition, and the mantras
are used to really gain merit
and help one on one's path to enlightenment.
Prayer wheels can contain up to a mile of written prayers.
They're symbolically recited with every turn.
Pilgrims earn merit and concentrate their minds on the mantras
they're reciting as the wheel turns.
BELL CLANGS
The circular five mile walk which surrounded Lhasa was known as the Linkhor.
On the festival days, pilgrims would start walking early in the morning.
Artemesia, scrub rhododendron and juniper twigs
were burnt and the air would be filled with incense.
A new Linkhor's been created at McLeod Gange.
It surrounds the Dalai Lama's own residence up there.
This replaces the Sacred Path lost at Lhasa.
Pilgrims now walk it.
This is a particularly day, it's a festival day.
These days as I say they just walk,
but in the past pilgrims would prostrate themselves along the route
and that was done rather like this.
One simply stops, says a prayer,
and then one measures one's length on the ground right the way down
to the bottom and up again.
And so one goes right around the path.
I put my feet where my head was and down I go again.
A difficult process but it was to show respect and compassion
for all thinking beings, to remove negative forces,
and to gain merit to help one along one's path to enlightenment.
Jampa Choden was a young nun living in Lhasa at the time.
TRANSLATED: Down here there would be people doing sideways prostrations,
as well as the forward prostrations.
I did a Linkhor circuit.
I took six days in mourning.
I didn't manage to do any sideways prostrations
but I managed to do one circuit doing the forward prostrations.
Here they're making the descent. Sometimes when you're prostrating
here, you'd nearly fall down the hill.
In the afternoon during the midday sun,
you couldn't do the prostrations, you could have a rest.
Friends would bring you meals so you'd have a lunch break.
Jampa Sultran and Tenzin Choni Tara also did the Linkhor circuit.
So as we were talking about this yesterday,
it turns out that we both happen to have done
the full body-length prostrations and made the whole circuit.
It would vary how long it would take to do
the full body-length prostrations, depending on the individual.
The fast ones would do it in three to four days,
others might do it in short stages
so it would take about seven to eight days to do the full circuit.
Wherever you ended the day, you'd leave a mark
and then you'd resume from there the next day.
He said yesterday he did it in four days.
The reason for doing the prostrations
is to accumulate merit and to cleanse yourself of your negativities.
It's an entirely spiritual activity.
On festival days, the Cabinet and senior civil officials
also walked the Linkhor.
But they would get very hot in their heavy ceremonial costumes
and so would stop off at the British mission for a cup of tea.
Historically, the British and Chinese were officially represented in Tibet.
British pressure to allow trading had led to the establishment of a new British trade mission in 1937.
And in the mid 1940s, a Chinese representative arrived in Lhasa.
Relations with the British were cordial, while they were more tense with the Chinese.
Doctor Sum Lyen Chen,
seen here being welcomed by the Tibetan Finance Minister,
was a representative of the Chinese Nationalist government.
At home, China was in the midst of a bloody civil war between the Nationalists and Communists.
Life in Lhasa continued according to ancient custom and practice.
The Dalai Lama lived in the Potala during the winter and the Norbulingka during the summer.
Twice a year, the civil and religious hierarchy accompanied him on his move from palace to palace.
Identified by the peacock-feathered umbrella
which accompanied his sedan chair,
the whole population of Lhasa watched silently for a glimpse of His Holiness.
Oh, that young monk.
I think out of curiosity, looking.
In any case, from my childhood, from that age,
I wanted to smile with people, with public,
so people also they love my smile.
So whenever I look like that, the people express some kind of...
expression of overjoyous.
I think around from 10 years old, around 10,
when I look this, I feel the people consider the reincarnation of Dalai Lama,
but actually that young boy, I think, think only play, how to play.
So there's a big contrast!
The Tibetan year's marked by many religious festivals.
Here, in the Dalai Lama's own monastery, thousands of people gather to celebrate new year.
It takes place in late February, early March,
but sadly far fewer festivals are celebrated now than they were in Tibet.
The King's new year festival
celebrates the Dalai Lama's position as a ruler of both Church and State.
The high officials wear robes, whose design dates back to the 7th century.
Along with ancient ornaments of amber and coral,
which have been traded along the Silk Route and had originally come from the Mediterranean.
The turquoise charm boxes around their necks
and the golden bar encased in turquoise,
which reaches their waist, is so heavy it must be carried.
The ordinary people of Lhasa gather at the foot of the Potala
to watch the sky dancing,
a spectacle in which a man scales a rope up to a tall wooden mast,
stands precariously on a small platform and then spins himself around.
The performance traditionally, a man from one of the small villages in the region of Tsang
is done in retribution for their resistance to the rule of the Fifth Dalai Lama.
There's a saying in Tsang, mothers don't die from illnesses
but from worry that their sons might be taken for the sky dance.
The casting out of the votive offering was one of the biggest and most elaborate of the celebrations.
This ceremonial military manoeuvre was known as the coiling snake.
With civil officials acting as marshals, 500 infantry in chainmail,
move in a zigzag formation, while another formation circles it.
Seemingly chaotic, it was highly organised, and the troops rehearsed for months to perfect it.
Hundreds of monks arrive, carrying green drums and cymbals.
Next, the Torma are brought out - tall sculptures
which have a grinning skull on top, and represent all evil spirits.
Wearing an ornate headdress, the Nechung Oracle,
a monk who is chosen for his psychic powers,
appears in a state of possession.
The Oracle's helmet and costume are so heavy that the medium can hardly walk in them,
at least not in a trance-like state.
He races around chaotically, chasing the Tormas into a clearing,
accompanied by hundreds of monks and most of the population of Lhasa.
When the Oracle arrives, he shoots a burning arrow into bonfires
which contain the evil spirits, and they're set ablaze.
The whole of Lhasa was distracted by festivals or ceremonies for nearly a quarter of the year.
One of the Dalai Lama's favourite events
was the annual opera festival, held at the Norbulingka Palace.
During summer, in Norbulingka, I think around July, August, on summer festival,
the folk dance,
and also, every day,
the military performance.
So, like another child, I love the military performance.
They well-organised, they quite smart, like that.
Opera, Tibetan opera,
is a play. So, during that period, I have no lesson -
free, holiday -
then my mother
often come, because during that period,
my family stay in residence in Norbulingka.
They stay there a few days.
So, I very happy.
Then, after five days, festival finish.
Then, next day, my lessons started,
and same time, this is the fifth day evening, my mother depart.
So, I feel very...very sad.
That's...the child's sort of experience, like that.
Many of the religious festivals had an additional civil or governmental element.
At this review,
the Tibetan cavalry assemble in front of the Cabinet and government officials.
The cavalry wears chainmail,
steel breastplates and helmets with peacock feathers on them.
The standard bearers wear special helmets which have "Allah"
inscribed on them in gold, thought to date back to 8th century contact with Arabs.
They carry tall lances wrapped in painted banners,
said to have been given by the army of Genghis Khan's grandson.
The Cabinet wears ornate robes, their fur-trimmed hats
have silk crowns with ornaments on top, of coral, turquoise and gold.
A government official, followed by four junior officials, makes his report for Cabinet,
announcing the number of men and horses.
The cavalry then ride past the Cabinet in ceremonial style.
For the commoners in Lhasa, participation in some festival events
was not really a matter of choice.
For the wrestling and weightlifting,
the contestants were all from the Dalai Lama's personal bodyguards,
though it's hard to believe, given their size and stature.
The wrestling was a particularly unpopular duty, as they had to wear loincloths.
It was deemed to be shameful appearing semi-naked in public,
especially in front of your superiors.
For most, shyness meant they were covered up quickly, but some seemed to rather enjoy it.
At the same time as the horse race is being conducted around the city,
there's also a foot race.
A motley group of men run in brightly-coloured outfits, somewhat unenthusiastically.
The race is compulsory, and it's performed as a duty to their landlords.
For the Tibetan aristocrats, there are lots of social events
to attend at the British Mission, or Dekyi Lingka.
In true colonial style, tea was served, and even darts were played.
But the British Mission closed when India gained independence in 1947.
Tibet still had no status as an independent nation,
and was not recognised internationally.
The civil war between the Communists and nationalists in China continued.
The Tibetan government realised that if the Communists won, they would not tolerate their religion.
However, they did not want to be seen to be taking sides,
so they politely asked the Nationalist Chinese to leave Tibet.
They were sent off with the utmost courtesy,
with parties and free transport to the Indian border.
The small Tibetan army was reorganised, new regiments were formed, and they were re-equipped.
In 1949, the Chinese civil war ended,
and the People's Republic of China was established,
under Mao Tse-Tung's chairmanship.
One of their first objectives was to bring Tibet back into what they called the "motherland".
On 6th October 1950,
40,000 Chinese soldiers of the People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet.
And the small Tibetan army was quickly overwhelmed
and forced to surrender.
The issue of the invasion was raised with the United Nations, but nothing was done.
Indeed, the international community did shamefully little to help Tibet in its plight.
So, the Tibetans had nothing to do but to negotiate with the Chinese.
To do this, they needed a sole ruler, and so Dalai Lama,
still with two years of training ahead of him,
was rapidly given the power to rule in Tibet.
Incredible this, a 16-year-old boy was suddenly made...
the temporal and spiritual ruler of Tibet.
The teenager acted quickly, and sent delegations to Britain and America,
but it was the height of the Cold War, and they refused to help.
The Chinese, however, were happy to talk.
Fearful that Chinese troops would invade Lhasa,
the Dalai Lama instructed Tibetan officials in Beijing to begin negotiations.
The 17-point Agreement, in which Tibet was defined as being part of the Chinese motherland,
was signed in Beijing without the Dalai Lama's consent.
The "reunification", as the Chinese called it, was completed
when the invading forces reached Lhasa in October 1951,
and Tibet was conquered.
Rather than resist Chinese rule,
the Dalai Lama attempted to make the 17-point Agreement work.
As it was meant to allow the Tibetan government to continue running its own country,
for the next three years, he introduced social and land reforms,
attempting to propel Tibet into the 20th century.
In 1954, Dalai Lama received an invitation from the Chinese to go to Beijing.
Most Tibetans were against the idea, fearing for his safety.
The Dalai Lama, however, was determined to go.
He saw it as an opportunity to be able to talk to Chairman Mao in person.
Then, I felt, not only me,
but some officials, some high officials, er...
now, two opinions - one opinion -
now, this is high time,
should go to Beijing, and meet high officials, high leaders.
Then some,
very much reluctant, very much against,
I think, out of fear.
My own opinion is -
now better go there.
Now, this is the...actually,
this is departing Lhasa to China, I think, this one.
You know, I like missions, or these modern things,
so I love to visit China.
But at the same time, not like just tourist,
also have some responsibility.
So, not very certain, so, all kinds of mixture feeling.
Some hopes, some doubts, some fears, some, er...what say,
undecisive, like that.
And also some excitement.
The Dalai Lama attended the first National Chinese People's Congress,
which included 10 seats for the Tibetan delegation.
He was impressed by Mao, and felt a great affinity
with many of the egalitarian principles of communism.
However, at their last meeting, Mao wasted no time
in giving his true opinion of Tibet and its future under Chinese rule.
As the Dalai Lama left, Mao turned to him and said, "Religion is poison."
The Dalai Lama returned home.
News reached him that the Chinese authorities in eastern Tibet
were confiscating lands belonging to monasteries
and redistributing them amongst themselves.
The situation deteriorated.
Fighting broke out between the Chinese army
and Tibetan freedom fighters, and refugees began pouring into Lhasa.
In the midst of this tense atmosphere, the Dalai Lama still had to take his final monastic exams,
the main focus of which were public debates.
Debate is the rigorous discussion of Buddhist teachings.
Everything is challenged.
Debate is an ancient tradition within Buddhism, which is still practised today -
although the monks - and now nuns - are somewhat more vigorous in their style than they were in the 1950s.
These monks are arguing over their personal interpretation of Buddhist texts.
The skill is in arguing and using logic in your own analysis, to back up your points.
They are punctuated with claps to the hand.
The respondent must then reply.
The culmination of the Dalai Lama's 18 years of study
was an examination for a doctorate in Buddhist philosophy.
It started with debates in three of the largest monasteries in Tibet.
Drepung Monastery had 10,000 resident monks.
8,000 of them were squeezed into the square to see the Dalai Lama,
as he arrived with his retinue to take his first exam.
The monastery owned local estates, and had some 20,000 tied peasants
who worked the land and paid them taxes.
The revenue paid for the prayer sessions and festivals which dominated monastic life.
Feeding the monks for big events, like the examinations, was a huge if somewhat rushed process.
The young monks run down from the cookhouse,
carrying huge tubs of sampa for the brethren who are sitting in the square.
Sampa is roasted barley flour, mixed with yak butter, tea or water, to make dough.
To celebrate His Holiness's presence, the monks are also given prayer scarves, tea and money.
This was the first time that the Dalai Lama
would have debated in public, and with the most experienced abbots in the monastery.
Now this, about top scholar, Mongolian.
And also, he...when he...
he ask question, very rapidly...
HE SPEAKS TIBETAN RAPIDLY
So, bit more...nervous.
So, I...
A little...opportunity to think how to trick to him!
Our top scholar is very rapidly, putting question, question...!
Then no time! How to pretend,
or how to...
defend, like that.
So, now, this is my turn, debate...
The next exam was at Sera monastery, the whole of the Dalai Lama's government travelled with him,
allowing him to consult with them about the growing tension in Lhasa.
At the same time, he had to prepare for the next series of debates,
but the abbots each had their own individual style of arguing.
In Sera Monastery...
You see, when you debate,
with the opponent,
good scholar,
then their answer is something logical, or something...
You see, they...
Valid, meaningful.
In Sera Monastery, one abbot - not that much scholar, not that top,
so, you see, from my side, the preparation, if answer come this way,
yes, this is the way to argue.
If this way...
if answers come this kind of answer, then yes, already prepared.
And his answer, unexpected answer!
So then, my tutor noticed that, and he very kindly -
stop, now finish, OK.
That's tremendous relief! HE GIGGLES
The last of the preliminary exams was some distance from Lhasa,
at Ganden monastery.
Ironically, the examinations at Ganden proved to be a brief period of respite for Dalai Lama.
Thousands more refugees had fled the fighting in the east and arrived in Lhasa,
a huge number were now camped around the outskirts of the city.
Tensions with the occupying Chinese, who'd been in Tibet for about nine years, were high.
There were food shortages in Lhasa, and rumours about massacres in eastern Tibet,
and also rumours about the destruction of sacred sites.
Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama still had his final exam to take.
The Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa,
and continued to prepare for his final exam.
Amidst increasingly disturbing reports of Chinese atrocities,
he attempted to concentrate on his studies.
He took solace in Buddhist teachings, that one's enemy is one's greatest teacher,
and to have compassion for all sentient beings.
The final exam was arranged to take place at the same time as the new year festival.
There were 30,000 monks in the city, and pilgrims were arriving from all over Tibet.
The Jokhang Temple was full to bursting.
The Cabinet, civil officials and all the senior Abbots and monks were present.
As a junior monk official,
this man was in the audience.
TRANSLATION: On the one hand, the ordinary people and the aristocrats were all dressed up in their finest.
On the other, right next door, the Chinese were making elaborate military preparations,
with soldiers carrying rifles as if they might attack at any moment.
Gun emplacements were built, there were Chinese carrying rifles, patrolling the rooftops opposite.
Everyone, government officials, the clergy, the people,
were there for the religious function of the 13th,
but they saw clearly the Chinese soldiers walking around on the rooftops.
It was unbelievable that these two extraordinary situations could be happening at the same time.
The position between the Chinese and the Tibetans was becoming irreconcilable.
DALAI LAMA: One aspect, the whole atmosphere is so tense.
Many people actually felt whether this big gathering
can take place or not, because so much tense,
but then, everything go very smoothly. So, everybody very happy.
The Dalai Lama returned to the Norbulingka with his full retinue,
but this time, he was accompanied by armed guards.
Little did he know that this 1000-year-old ceremonial procession through Lhasa would be his last.
The Chinese Governor-General of Tibet invited the Dalai Lama
to see a dance troupe at the Chinese military headquarters.
In the name of dispensing with formality, the Chinese requested
that he attend with unarmed bodyguards.
Worried that a refusal would worsen the fragile situation,
the Dalai Lama accepted, but the news soon spread.
Thousands of people surrounded the palace, demanding that the Dalai Lama did not go.
Intelligence reports reached him that the Chinese were about to bomb the Palace.
Convinced that if he left, the people would be saved, the Dalai Lama decided he had to leave.
Of course, I think, topmost
in my mind is fear, sadness.
And almost like the feeling of desperate.
And also...
leaving some of my close friends.
Sweepers, or some monks
who look after temples or libraries in Norbulingka.
And including my dog.
So, at a human level,
very sad.
One factor.
Then, also, several thousand Tibetan,
suppose different Norbulingka, all gathered there.
So, that also additional worry.
If something happen,
then thousands people will die.
Then also, er, my own life,
there is danger, one person's future, but the future of Tibet also is related.
So, therefore,
anxiety,
fear,
a little doubt, hesitation, and sadness,
all mixed. Very much mixed.
That night, the Dalai Lama escaped from the Norbulingka, disguised as a Tibetan soldier.
Then next day, reach southern Tibet,
then fear of my life,
then no longer.
Then, we have no hesitation
to criticise about our Chinese brothers and sisters!
While in Lhasa...uh...
although sometimes we criticise, but from one corner of our mind, er, we...
Oh, be careful, be careful.
That kind of situation.
Then, as soon as reach southern Tibet,
free from Chinese forces,
we get some...
Some extraordinary feeling. Now free!
Freedom!
Two weeks later, after an arduous journey through the Himalayas,
the Dalai Lama reached safety in northern India.
TRANSLATION: That morning, around dawn,
they began shelling the Norbulingka. At around 9 or 10,
I went to the hill, to the defensive position I had been assigned to monitor.
When I looked, I saw there was a huge fire in the eastern wing.
Near the accounts section, a huge fire.
TRANSLATION: The bombardment started from the bottom of the hills upwards.
That was followed by the rat-a-ta-tat of machine gun fire. It was relentless.
In any case, eventually, everywhere was taken over, and completely looted.
Everything except for a few chapels, it was left like an empty shell.
Everything else was destroyed.
Then, the relentless bombardment began.
In the dust and smoke, I saw people and horses falling.
The intense bombardment went on for about an hour or two.
That day, over a thousand of our people were killed.
I saw it all with my very own eyes.
The Tibetan resistance, made up of freedom fighters and monks,
had taken up arms for the first time in their lives, were no match for the Chinese army.
They surrendered after three days.
The Tibetan Government was abolished,
and the Chinese systematically began to destroy Tibetan society,
and its Buddhist culture and traditions.
Monasteries were looted and scriptures burned.
Nuns and monks were forced to denounce their faith.
They were also made to discard their robes and grow their hair.
They were even forced to marry each other.
Class resentment among us peasants over Tibet's feudal system was ruthlessly exploited.
The Indian Government granted the Dalai Lama political asylum.
80,000 refugees from Tibet escaped from Tibet to join him.
He's lived here in Dharamsala, known as Little Lhasa, ever since.
The Dalai Lama appealed to the United Nations,
calling on China to respect the human rights of Tibetans, and their desire for self-determination.
Despite three resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly,
the fact that thousands of monasteries were destroyed,
and hundreds of thousands of Tibetans were imprisoned in labour camps,
'the international community refused to intervene.'
It's tragic that Tibetans have lost their homeland,
and with no tangible international intervention.
But coming here, looking around, one can see that despite everything,
Tibetans retain their sense of national identity, their culture and their pride.
Looking at this pictures that you have, here in front of me,
it's entirely a different world.
And it was... To me, it's very sad.
Er, for instance, like, my grandfather wanted Tibet...
It's very emotional to talk about Tibet, you know.
Er, my grandfather wanted Tibet to be with the outside world...
and to join the United Nations, to educate the Tibetans outside,
to be with the modern world.
But his visions and his wishes,
and also the 13th Dalai Lama and the 14th Dalai Lama,
had wished that we must have contact with the international world.
But unfortunately, from our own side,
we were so...blind, and we knew nothing of the outside world,
we were just so engrossed in our little pond,
you know.
So, we knew nothing what was happening to the world,
what could happen, and so, we lost our country.
The Dalai Lama advocates a middle way, which means he wants Tibetans
to move back to Tibet, even if they become a minority within China.
But a minority with a degree of self-rule.
He remains determined that a dialogue
between the Chinese and the Tibetans remains peaceful and positive.
Middle approach is the best,
so present Chinese Government policy, regarding
different minorities, particularly regarding Tibet, is not healthy, or not good
for long run.
So, kind of new opinions,
as a result of better awareness, now coming.
So therefore, basically, I'm hopeful.
Thank you.
The Chinese government remains adamant that Tibet is not an independent nation.
All the Buddhist ceremonies and rituals we've see in this film
are still banned, in the Dalai Lama's homeland of Tibet.