For over two thousand years Tibet has operated as a distinct, self-governing nation-state, with its own unique language, system of writing, and culture. It even has its own distinct Bon religion, which has strongly influenced the modern shape of Tibetan Buddhism and has been influenced by it in turn, in a relationship not dissimilar to that between Shinto and Zen Buddhism. Waves of conquest and counter-conquest have entered and left Lhasa since the earliest external confirmations of an autonomous and independent Tibetan nation in the early 7th century, when an ambassador was first sent to China by King Namri Lontsen of Tibet.

During the centuries, Tibet has sometimes been the empire-builder and sometimes found itself part of other empires: but always the local rulers of Tibet have been allowed to maintain rule over the heartland of Tibet. Even when the Mongol empire finally turned its attention to the Tibetan plateau in 1244, the end result was only that the then-ruler of Tibet, Sakya, also became the local Mongolian representative. One of his nephews would later marry a daughter of Kublai Khan, while the other became Kublai Khan's spiritual teacher. Even in 1904, when the British took Lhasa under the false belief that they were preempting Russian influence into the area, Colonel Francis Younghusband quickly found his position untenable. The eventual treaty between Britain and China allowed only for a single British trade agent to be allowed into the trading city of Gyangze; and also made explicit that the British were "not to annex Tibetan territory or to interfere in the administration of Tibet."

In 1910, for the first time, this autonomy of rule was challenged, when the Qing government moved in.

Many previous peace treaties and agreements had been signed. Best known, in light of the current situation, is the 822 CE peace treaty between Tibet and China which stands to this day on a stone pillar outside the Jokhang temple in Lhasa.* Following up on the 763 capture of Chang'an, the then-capital of China, by Tibetan forces, it specifies that "Tibetans shall be happy in the land of Tibet, and Chinese in the land of China." This treaty also specifies that each independent nation should abide by their existing borders:

"Tibet and China shall abide by the frontiers of which they are now in occupation. All to the east is the country of Great China; and all to the west is, without question, the country of Great Tibet."

However, by 1906, China's

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