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[[File:Tibetan-armor.jpg|right|thumb|320px|A suit of 18th-19th c. Tibetan armor, shield, and weapons. [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].]]

[[File:Tibetan-armor.jpg|right|thumb|320px|A suit of 18th-19th c. Tibetan armor, shield, and weapons. [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].]]

Tibet is a center of Himalayan Buddhism, and was a powerful independent kingdom for many centuries, until its conquest by Chinese Communist forces in 1949.

Tibet is a center of Himalayan Buddhism, and was a powerful independent kingdom for many centuries, until its conquest by Chinese Communist forces in 1949. Never controlled by a Chinese dynasty until the 1720s, Tibet remained under [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] control only until the end of that dynasty in [[1911]]. The following year, imperial officials and garrisons vacated the region.<ref>Ping-Ti Ho, "The Significance of the Ch'ing Period in Chinese History," ''Journal of Asian Studies'' 26:2 (1967), 190.</ref>

By the eighth century, Tibet had become one of China's most powerful neighbors; from the 760s-780s, Tibetan forces raided the [[Tang Dynasty]] capital of [[Chang'an]] every autumn. Raids grew less frequent after that, but continued into the 9th century, when the kingdom of Tibet began to decline.

By the eighth century, Tibet had become one of China's most powerful neighbors; from the 760s-780s, Tibetan forces raided the [[Tang Dynasty]] capital of [[Chang'an]] every autumn. Raids grew less frequent after that, but continued into the 9th century, when the kingdom of Tibet began to decline.

Never controlled by a Chinese dynasty until the 1750s, Tibet remained under Qing control only until the end of that dynasty in [[1911]]. The following year, imperial officials and garrisons vacated the region.<ref>Ping-Ti Ho, "The Significance of the Ch'ing Period in Chinese History," ''Journal of Asian Studies'' 26:2 (1967), 190.</ref>  

In the 1710s, a [[Dalai Lama]] was murdered. The [[Kangxi Emperor]], claiming the successor to have been chosen improperly, used this as justification to invade Tibet. Two Qing armies, under the banner of righteous retribution for the Lama's murder, entered Tibet from [[Qinghai province|Qinghai]] and [[Sichuan province]]s, meeting up together in [[Lhasa]] in [[1720]], and installing a new Dalai Lama, loyal to the Qing.<ref>Jonathan Spence, ''The Search for Modern China'', Second Edition, W.W. Norton & Co. (1999), 68.</ref>

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