A: China is a unified multi-ethnic country with d56 ethnic groups. It is a nation that has been formed from many different ethnic groups during the course of a long period of historical development, which has made Tibet an inseparable part of China.
1. Friendly exchanges between the Han and Tibetan people go back to ancient times. According to The Book of the Later Han Dynasty of the early 5th century, the Faqiang (ancestors of the Tibetans) had exchanges with the Hans of the central plains from 477 B. C. through to the 4th century. To date, this is the earliest written record of Han-Tibetan contacts discovered. In the early 7th century, the Xiboye tribe flourished in Yalong, Tibet. From among its members emerged the noted national hero in Tibetan history, Songtsan Gambo, who annexed more than ten tribes and established the Tubo Kingdom (629-846). To consolidate and develop the Tubo slave rule, Songtsan Gambo advocated absorbing the advanced culture of the centralized authority of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) on the central plains. Songtsan Gambo married princess Wencheng (?-680) of the Tang Dynasty, and developed close ties with the Hans in politics, economy and culture. In 821, the Tang court and the Tubo Kingdom formed an alliance. "We conferred about uniting our countries and concluded a treaty of alliance. This will never change. May the gods confirm it. Generations to come will forever glory in it." In this way, a close political alliance was formed which later served as the foundation for a united country.
2. In the 13th century, Tibet became an administrative region of China. In 1206, Genghis Khan (1162-1227), leader of the Mongolians, began to expand his power, after establishing the Mongol Khan court. In 1244 Go Dan, prince of the Mongol Khan court, sent envoy Dorta Napo to Tibet with special instructions to invite Kongka Gyanincain (182-1241) of the Sagya Sect in Tibet to Liangzhou (now Wuwei City in Gansu Province) to negotiate Tibet's peaceful allegiance to the Mongol Khanate. In 1247, after Go Dan and Kongka Gyaincain hand agreed on the conditions for securing Tibet's allegiance to the Mongols, Kongka Gyaincain wrote to the leaders of all sects in Tibet in an effort to persuade them to obey the Mongol Khan. These two important historical documents are included in "The Sagya Lineal Descriptions" in Tibetan. In 1260, Kublai Khan (1215-1294),upon inheriting the throne of the Mongol Khan, became first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. He conferred the title of "Imperial Tutor" upon Kongka Gyaincain's nephew Pagba (1235-1280), Prince of Dharma of the Sagya Sect, and presented him with a jade seal.
In 1271, Kublai Khan established his dynasty under the name of Yuan. Later, after overcoming the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) and unifying China, heset up a central regime with Dadu (today's Beijing) as the capita;. The Yuan Dynasty took Tibet as an administrative region under the direct control of the central government and exercised jurisdiction over it.
-- Kublai Khan made Tibet a hereditary fief for his seventh son.
--The central government founded the Zongzhi Yuan (general Council) in 1264 to handle the religious affairs throughout China and also the administrative affairs in the Tibetan areas. In 1288, this body was drenamed the Xuanzheng Yuan (Political Council).
--The rank of imperial tutor was instituted and administrative and religious heads were appointed. Pagba, leader of the Sagya Sect in Tibet, was appointed as first imperial tutor, which along with his position as head of the Zongzhi Yuan, gave him a key official position within the central government. Pagba, who was in charge of both the political and religious affairs of Tibet, initiated the theocratic system of integrating government administration with religious affairs.
--The "benqin" system was established. The benqin, in his capacity of supreme Tibetan administrative official nominated by the imperial tutor and approved by the emperor, assisted the imperial tutor in handling the administrative affairs of Tibet.
--The area was divided into administrative units and local officials were appointed. After taking a census, the Yuan court divided Tibet into 13 wanhus (communities of 10,000 households each). The chief of each wanhu was directly appointed by the Yuan imperial court.
--Three Commissioner's Pacification Offices were set up in Tibet and other Tibetan areas to lead the garrisons and handle the wanhu administrative affairs.
--Several investigations into Tibet's population, land, and livestock were made, and tax collection and the administration of corvee service strengthened. Relief would also be sent to inhabitants of disaster stricken areas.
---Courier stations and military posts were set up, and troops stationed at strategic points.
3. Successive central governments of China have exercised effective sovereignty over Tibet through history. The central government of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) basically continued the administrative arrangements as instituted by the Yuan Dynasty in ruling Tibet. Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398), the first Ming emperor, dispatched envoys to Tibet with an imperial edict, acknowledging the Tibetan officials appointed during the Yuan rule, and demanding that all the leaders of the various tribes in Tibet give their allegiance to the Ming imperial court. The emperor also reconfirmed the titles of the succeeding officials who were perceived as the major powers in Tibet. Military and government organizations were established in Tibet, and envoys were also sent to appoint and award local administrative and religious heads. Courier stations were reopened.
The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) strengthened its administrative grip on Tibet. The titles of Dalai and Panchen were officially granted by the Qing emperors, and the Qing court set up offices for the high commissioners dispatched to Tibet and the Kasha (local Tibetan government). It also founded the Kaloon System (the system of local Tibetan government officials), sent troops to repulse foreign invaders, and formulated the famous "29-Ardticle sRegulations Concerning the Administration of Tibet" to establish clearly how the politics and economics, foreign, religious and military affairs in Tibet should be managed. These regulations marked greater systematization in the rule by law exercised by the central government over Tibet.
During the period of the Republic of China (1911-1949), the successive central governments opposed and resisted activities steering towards "Tibet independence" plotted by imperialist powers and upheld China's sovereignty over Tibet. In 1912, the government of the Republic of China declared the five main ethnic groups in China (Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Hui and Tibetan) to be under its rule and proclaimed the unification of the country. The Provisional Constitution and the Constitution of the Republic of China stipulated that China was a unified country of which Tibet was a part. The central government set up an administrative body in Tibet and established an agency in Lhasa. For its part, Tibet had its own parliamentary delegates, and its representative attended the National assembly. It also set up representative offices in Nanjing, Beijing and Chongqing. representatives of the central government were sent to mourn the death of the 13th Dalai Lama and the 9th Panchen, and later approved the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Erdini. The official investitures of the 14th Dalai Lama and the 10th Panchen were also presided over by envoys sent by the central government.
The above historical facts show that, since the Yuan Dynasty, successive Chinese central governments have practiced various political systems in Tibet, including the wanhu system, the hereditary headmen system, the fief system, the Kaloon system and the system of dispatching commissioners to Tibet. The local Tibetan regime has throughout been indubitably under the jurisdiction of the central government.