The Chinese Communist government has twice invoked large-scale military might to crush popular uprisings in capital cities. The second incident--the notorious massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989--is well known. The first, thirty years earlier in Tibet, remains little understood today. Yet in wages of destruction, bloodshed, and trampling of human rights, the tragic toll of March 1959 surpassed Tiananmen.

Tibet in Agony provides the first clear historical account of the Chinese crackdown in Lhasa. Sifting facts from the distortions of propaganda and partisan politics, Jianglin Li reconstructs a chronology of events that lays to rest lingering questions about what happened in those fate-filled days and why. Her story begins with throngs of Tibetan demonstrators who--fearful that Chinese authorities were planning to abduct the Dalai Lama, their beloved leader--formed a protective ring around his palace. On the night of March 17, he fled in disguise, only to reemerge in India weeks later to set up a government in exile. But no peaceful resolution awaited Tibet. The Chinese army soon began shelling Lhasa, inflicting thousands of casualties and ravaging heritage sites in the bombardment and the infantry onslaught that followed. Unable to resist this show of force, the Tibetans capitulated, putting Mao Zedong in a position to fulfill his long-cherished dream of bringing Tibet under the Communist yoke.

Li's extensive investigation, including eyewitness interviews and examination of classified government records, tells a gripping story of a crisis whose aftershocks continue to rattle the region today.

Tibet in Agony: Lhasa 1959, Jianglin Li, translated by Susan Wilf, Harvard University Press, Hardcover, 464 pp, $41.00

Jianglin Li (author) is an independent scholar and writer who specializes in post-1950 Tibetan history and the Tibetan diaspora.

Susan Wilf (translator) is a translator who holds a Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University.

CONTENTS: Tibet in Agony: Lhasa 1959
Preface to the English Edition		vii
Maps		viii
	Prologue	1
1.	The Seeds of War	3
2.	Summit at Delhi	21
3.	Tragedy at Lake Qinghai	45
4.	Uneasy Spring in Lhasa	68
5.	The Exorcists' Dance at the Potala Palace	83
6.	Peril at the Prayer Festival	94
7.	The Dalai Lama May Not Bring Bodyguards!	104
8.	The Most Momentous Day in Tibetan History	116
9.	The Undercover Men of Kham	136
10.	Protect the Norbulinkgka! Protect the Dalai Lama!	147
11.	The Gathering Clouds of War	162
12.	A Secret Plan	174
13.	Go! Go! Tonight!	190
14.	The Night Ferry	203
15.	Into the Himalayas	213
16.	Battle at Daybreak	231
17.	The Death of the Medicine Buddha	249
18.	River of Blood	259
19.	Inferno	276
20.	Surrender, and Save the Temple!	286
21.	The Aftermath	291
22.	The Eternal Crossing	300
	Epilogue	309
Notes		317
Glossary of Names		375
Wylie Transliteration of Tibetan Names		379
Bibliography		381
Acknowledgments		397
Illustration Credits		399
Index		401
Illustrations follow pp. 82 and 248.