Early autumn, 1955. In the Yellow River source region of Golok, part of Amdo in traditional Tibet, life was as usual for the herder girl Ngolo and the eight-year-old boy Damcho Pelsang. It was the time to move from summer pastures to winter pastures in preparation for the long, cold winter. Around the same time, Aten, headman of a small village, was summoned to Chengu, capital of Sichuan Province, for political training. Meanwhile, Yetan, an eleven-year-old monk in the Zhichen Monastery in Garzê County, was busy studying scriptures. They had no idea that a series of major events had taken place in Beijing that would completely change their fate.

This chapter lays out the Chinese Communist Party policy-making process regarding the "democratic reform" program and cites official documents to demonstrate the nature of the reform and the methods used to implement it. Shortly after "democratic reform" started, the "first shot" of Tibetan resistance was fired in Sethar, a high-altitude pastoral area, by members of a nomad group that had never been ruled by any other outside political forces. This was the beginning of People's Liberation Army military actions that were to continue for six years, involving nearly 20% of the total Tibetan population and, to some extent, the CIA of the United States.

The "democratic reform" movement forcefully implemented by the Chinese government immediately met with armed resistance from Tibetans. The government just as quickly dispatched People's Liberation Army troops to rebellion areas to suppress the resistance. The first wave of battles between Tibetans and People's Liberation Army troops broke out in the Tibetan regions of Sichuan and Gansu provinces, part of Kham and Amdo in traditional Tibet.

On March 16, 1956, more than 2,000 Tibetans from all parts of Chatreng County congregated at Sampeling Monastery, the largest in the area. Four days later, they besieged three government fortifications, demanding that the Chinese leave their homeland. Shootings between the two sides soon started, with six killed on the Tibetan side and one wounded on the Chinese side. The Tibetans retreated to the surrounding hills and encircled the government buildings. Unable to break the encirclement, Chinese cadres cabled their superiors for help. The telegram was forwarded to Premier Zhou Enlai, who transferred it to Defense Minister Peng Dehuai.

In June 1956, Aten finished his studies in Chengdu and returned home to Nyarong, only to find out that "democratic reform" had started and his homeland was in turmoil. This chapter describes the Tibetan resistance in Nyarong County led by a young woman, the wife of the chief who was called away for "consultation." Based mostly on Chinese sources, this chapter presents the events that triggered the rebellion and the process of putting it down.

The Yellow River flows east from Yulshul and Golok in Qinghai Province, then suddenly turns northwest at the juncture of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan provinces, looping back into Qinghai in a nearly 180-degree arc that is known as the "First Bend in the Nine-Bend Yellow River." For centuries the "first bend" region was inhibited by Amdo Tibetans, most of them nomads. This chapter covers events in the Ngawa (Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in 1956.

In 1956, areas west of the Jinsha River and adjacent to central Tibet, i.e. today's Tibet Autonomous Region, were in a state of war. Thousands of People's Liberation Army soldiers engaged Tibetans in fierce battles, with bombings of monasteries killing hundreds of monks and laypeople. Refugees crossed the river into central Tibet, bringing with them news of battles in various regions. While battles were going on in Sichuan, the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee sent a large delegation headed by Vice Premier Chen Yi to celebrate the establishment of the Preparation Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Why were the policies in Tibet different than in other Tibetan regions?

Even though the area adjacent to Chamdo was in a state of war, Chinese cadres in Tibet were eager to jump-start the reform movement. It was decided that a pilot project would be set up in Chamdo, the first Tibetan city occupied and governed by the Chinese. As had been done in Sichuan, local Tibetan leaders were summoned for a meeting in which a pre-drafted "reform plan" was forced through. Tibetans rose up immediately to resist the reform. It was around this time that the Dalai Lama was invited to India for a religious celebration. Mao realized that the time was not yet ripe for reform, and he decided to delay it for a few years.

In June 1956, the Crown Prince of Sikkim visited Lhasa and hand-delivered a letter from India's Mahabodhi Society inviting the Dalai Lama to Buddha Jayanti to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary of the birth of the Buddha.

In 1957, Beijing made a series of seemingly contradictory decisions regarding social reforms in Sichuan's Tibetan autonomous prefectures and in central Tibet. Concerning the former, the decision was to continue reform and not to be afraid of fighting battles; concerning the latter, the decision was to stop all preparation work for reform and pull a large number of cadres and troops back to the mainland. Why did Beijing make such contradictory decisions? This chapter analyzes why the two regions were treated differently.

In May, 1958, the Chinese Communist Party Chikdril County Committee set up a groundbreaking celebration for the county's first state-private-partnership pasture. The herders of Chikdril belonged to three tribes, the biggest one being the Khangsar. When the ceremony was to start, no herders showed up. County leaders summoned the headmen for a meeting, trying to pressure them into accepting the partnership, but the effort failed. The headmen insisted that they wanted to see their chief, who was in Chengdu when all this was going on. County leaders rejected the request and the negotiations went nowhere. Both sides returned and prepared for battle. In the evening, shooting started. It was the beginning of a bloody military conflict that was to claim about a third of the Tibetan population in Golok.

The first bend in the Yellow River is where Qinghai, Sichuan, and Gansu provinces meet. Starting in May 1958, thousands of Tibetan and Mongolian herders escaped their homeland with their families, tent temples, and animals. For a short time, they gathered on the riverbank in today's Henan Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous County, Qinghai Province. Across the river was Machu County, Gansu Province, where the herders intended to stay instead of handing over their animals to government-organized "cooperatives of animal husbandry." Little did they knew that a military operation against them was being planned.

In June, 1958, the Chinese government suffered a serious setback in the Tibetan regions. It was a massacre of Chinese cadres and soldiers by three nomad groups in today's Chengduo County, Yulshul Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Official sources provide scant information on what triggered this popular revolt, but available Tibetan and Chinese sources demonstrate that it was local Tibetans' response to the Chinese Communist Party's social remolding program in pastoral regions.

In June, 1958, the Chinese government suffered a serious setback in the Tibetan regions. It was a massacre of Chinese cadres and soldiers by three nomad groups in today's Chengduo County, Yulshul Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Official sources provide scant information on what triggered this popular revolt, but available Tibetan and Chinese sources demonstrate that it was local Tibetans' response to the Chinese Communist Party's social remolding program in pastoral regions.

On February 18, 1958, 42 Tibetans representing 23 different regions of Kham, Amdo, and Ü-Tsang secretly gathered in the home of Lithang merchant Gonpo Tashi in Lhasa and signed a pledge to fight the Chinese government to the end. A few months later, on the bank of Drigu Lake, south of the Tsangpo River, the Chushi Gangdruk Defenders of the Faith was formally founded. Soon they planned a major operation in Namling Dzong, north of the river, to take the weapons and ammunition stored by the Tibetan government in Namling Monastery.

"Democratic reform" in the Tibetan regions was more than a land reform movement. It was in fact a social engineering program aimed at completely destroying Tibetan society and replacing it with a Chinese system established according to Chinese Communist Party ideology. One of the operations imbedded in the "democratic reform" was the little-known "religious reform movement." One of the reasons that the outside world has very little knowledge about this movement is that the term "religious reform" was not used in open publications, as instructed by a senior leader in Beijing.

In summer 1958, the Red Tempest struck the banks of lakes Gyaring and Ngoring, homeland to the herder woman Ngolo. Unwilling to hand over its livestock to a cooperative, the entire tsowa escaped. Carrying her baby daughter on her back, Ngolo went with her family to a place with water and grass and no Chinese. One sunny summer day, while busy with her daily work, Ngolo suddenly heard a loud cry: "Chinese soldiers are coming!" Before she could figure out what to do, cavalry appeared and surrounded the mountain where they were hiding. Amid gunfire and the roar of cannons, Ngolo's husband grabbed her and they ran for their lives. When they stopped running, Ngolo noticed that out of her entire family, only her older brother and sister-in-law had escaped, along with two other families in the tsowa. They went to Lhasa as their last refuge.

In the early morning of March 10, 1959, Drolkar Gye, an Amdo woman, who had escaped to Lhasa from Labrang in today's Sangchu (Xiahe) County, Gansu Province, was awakened by the sounds of intense gunfire. After the March 10th event broke out, Drolkar Gye's father and husband went to Norbulingka to protect the Dalai Lama, leaving her alone in a house close to the Jokhang temple.

Less than one month after Lhasa was taken, the People's Liberation Army started its first campaign, referred to in the official Chinese historical narrative as the "Battle of Lhoka." The target of this campaign was Chushi Gangdruk's main force. However, due to a number of reasons, participating People's Liberation Army units were unable to form the planned encirclement in time. Led by Gongpo Tashi and Lobsang Tashi, a defected Chinese officer, the main force of Chushi Gandruk successfully slipped through the gaps and retreated into India.

On July 6, 1959, the People's Liberation Army launched the Battle of Namtso, one of the twelve major military campaigns from March 1959 to December 1960. By this time, Ngolo, the herder woman from the Gyaring and Ngoring lake region, had reached Lake Namtso with her husband, infant daughter, and people they met on their long trek to escape the Red Tempest. They planned to spend some time in the area for a rest before continuing their journey to India, never dreaming that they would become targets of the People's Liberation Army air force.

By the end of 1959, Chinese military operations had been going on for four years in Sichuan, nearly two years in Qinghai, and about one year in central Tibet. Tibetan resistant forces were pressed into remote, mountainous regions. As a result, people streamed to these areas where the Chinese had not gained firm control and formed a few resistance hubs. Refugees also escaped to these areas to hide from the Chinese onslaught. By the beginning of 1960, some 30,000 Tibetan were reported as "openly engaging in armed rebellion" in Tibet.

It is known that in the late 1950s, the CIA became actively involved in the Tibetan resistance against China, an operation that lasted for more than a decade. Since the late 1970s, the Chinese government has used the CIA's assistance to Tibetans as proof that Tibetan rebellion against China had been instigated by American imperialists. The involvement of the CIA was, however, somewhat exaggerated. This chapter tells the story of the CIA's involvement in Tibet, including the historical background, the rationale behind the operation, the scale of the CIA's assistance as compared to China's assistance to Vietnam during the same period, and what they did and did not do.

Chamdo was the first region conquered by China in 1950. Until 1956, it was controlled by the Chamdo Liberation Committee, directly reporting to the State Council in Beijing. However, Chamdo was the first area in today's Tibet Autonomous Region to rise up against the "democratic reform" imposed by the Chinese government. Chinese military actions in Chamdo lasted over five years, from summer 1956 to December 1961. Two major battles were fought in this region. The People's Liberation Army's military suppression in Chamdo was so bloody that Beijing sent a high-level general to find out why this area was so hard to "clean." Based on both Chinese and Tibetan sources, this chapter tells the story of Phupa Pon, one of the resistance leaders of Chamdo, including why Chamdo's people decided to fight and how Phupa Pon and his son, one of the CIA operatives, fought to their last breath.

In the summer of 1959, all of traditional Tibet was in a state of war. Numerous people, herders and farmers, monks and government officials, old and young, were in hiding or fleeing to places where they believed they would be safe from the People's Liberation Army. Some took the long journey to neighboring countries, while others fled to remote areas to hide for a while before taking the next step. For the refugees, it was a life-or-death journey. Many of them did not reach their destination. This chapter tells the stories of Aten's and Yetan's journeys to India: how they escaped one ambush after another, how they endured the hardship of their long trek to safety, how Aten lost his entire family in one of the battles and watched his little daughter die in his arms, and how they survived the war that engulfed their homeland.

This chapter summarizes the whole book through many statistics, including the number of People's Liberation Army and militia units involved in battles, supplies used during the time when China was struck by the Great Famine, etc. Through statistics on Tibetans killed, surrendered, captured, and later jailed, this chapter also demonstrates the scale of the destruction and the aftermath of the secret war in Tibet. Statistics on the local level show the heavy population loss in some regions. All statistics come from Chinese official publications, and the majority have never been studied before. The chapter ends with the author's interview with Yetan in the old monk's home in Drepung Monastery, southern India, recording in Yetan's own words how his father was executed in front of local monks and laypeople in the debate yard of Tongkhor Monastery.