Tibet in half a minute

OK, you’ve probably heard various musicians and other artists shouting “Free Tibet!” and have at least a vague awareness that the Chinese have occupied it against the wishes of its people.

My understanding, though, was limited to that. But here’s a useful link to a short piece in the Sunday Times, “Long-suffering pawn at mercy of the great powers,” that explains the history. FWIW.

And, of course, there’s the Wikipedia entry, “Tibetan sovereignty debate” that goes into more detail.

(I note that this is the reason other encyclopediae are all but worthless. While Britannica has an entry on Tibet (”Tibet autonomous region, China”) I doubt it has a separate piece devoted to the sovereignty issue. Further, trying to read the piece about Tibet that Britannica does have is impossible — popups demanding that you pay for the privilege won’t let you.)