Following is an abridged translation of the reminiscences of General Chang Kuo-hua, Commander of the Tibet Military Area Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It is a contribution to a symposium in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the P.L.A. Subheads are ours. --Ed.

THE campaign to liberate the southwestern provinces　had just been concluded when, in January 1950, our army was given the glorious task of carrying on the advance--to liberate Tibet.

As the People's War of Liberation took its triumphant course in the rest of the country, the imperialist forces that had dominated China's Tibet for the last century hastily got busy together with the other foreign reactionaries and their lackeys in Tibet. They tried to produce a so-called "independent Tibet" in the vain hope that the Tibetan people could be torn from their motherland and held as slaves forever. The Chinese Communist Party had long ago served warning on those who indulged in such fantasies. In his address to the Preparatory Committee of the New Political Consultative Conference, Chairman Mao Tse-tung had solemnly told the world that "China must be independent, China must be liberated, China's affairs must be decided and run by the Chinese people themselves, and no further interference, not even the slightest, will be tolerated from any imperialist country."

The Tibetan people were suffering under the dark, reactionary and brutal yoke of feudal serfdom. They were longing for liberation.

Chairman Mao's Instructions

Tibet was the only region on the Chinese mainland still awaiting liberation, and so our task was to liberate the Tibetan people, drive the aggressive imperialist forces out of Tibet, complete the unification of China, consolidate the national defences in the southwest and carry the great people's liberation war to the end. Commanders Liu Po-cheng and Ho Lung and Political Commissar Teng Hsiao-ping transmitted Chairman Mao's instructions to us. Having taken the special features of Tibet fully into account and made a scientific analysis of the complicated history and political situation in that area, Chairman Mao instructed the troops marching into Tibet to carry out conscientiously the Party's policies towards the various nationalities of the country and religion and work well and hard to build and consolidate the patriotic anti-imperialist united front; win over the members of the upper social strata; influence and unite with the masses; protect the patriotic and law-abiding lamaseries; respect the people's freedom of religious belief and their customs and habits; closely unite with the Tibetans; unite with all the patriotic forces with whom unity was possible, and concentrate our blows against imperialism and its faithful running dogs, the pro-imperialist secessionists.

The great, historic march towards Tibet began in the spring of 1950. Our troops arrived in Kantse after marching more than 1,000 li on foot. This was where the Second and Fourth Front Armies of the Chinese Red Army had joined forces on the Long March. The Red Army men at that time had conscientiously implemented the Party's nationalities policy of unity and equality and had made a deep impression on the local people, lamas and laymen alike, so we were enthusiastically met by the patriotic Living Buddha Geda who was Vice-Chairman of the former Sikang Provincial People's Government. The Living Buddha called himself a good brother of Commander-in-Chief Chu Teh and laughingly remarked: "So you atheists have returned! But I, a theist, warmly welcome and support you."

Patriotic Living Buddha Poisoned

The Central People's Government, seeking the peaceful liberation of Tibet, had several times requested the Lhasa authorities to send representatives to Peking for talks, but counting on the support of the British and U.S. imperialists and other foreign reactionaries, they tried to use armed force to prevent our troops from liberating Tibet. Living Buddha Geda volunteered to go to Lhasa to persuade the local authorities there to accept peaceful liberation. Red flag in hand, he placed himself at the head of a group of representatives of lamas and laymen and set out for Lhasa. On his way he publicized the nationalities policy laid down in the Common Programme of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and told the people of the exemplary discipline of the People's Liberation Army. He arrived in Chamdo only to fall into a trap laid for him by the reactionaries. He was received by the British agent Robert Webster Ford. When this man tried to force him to accuse the Communist Party of attempting to destroy religion, Living Buddha Geda replied: "All I know is that the Communist Party stands for national regional autonomy, the protection of freedom of religious belief and respect for the habits and customs of the minority peoples, and it stood for these things a dozen years ago." Because the Living Buddha spoke the truth, he was poisoned to death by the reactionaries. This crime shocked the whole country. It touched off a wave of indignation among the Tibetan people and all the rest of the Chinese people.

Reactionaries Force a Showdown

This was followed immediately by another challenge. As our troops were advancing in the vicinity of Chuching in northern Sikang, the bells of the surrounding lamaseries suddenly tolled, a group of armed horsemen in fur hats and red gowns appeared on a mountain ridge and blew a conch shell, inciting the lamas and the people to attack us. We did not reply to the rifle fire but ordered our troops to halt. We sent a small group with an interpreter to the people who blocked our advance and explained to them the policy of our Party, exposing at the same time the plot of the reactionaries. But we were attacked again that night. Our soldiers captured an enemy commander in a scarlet Buddhist gown. Although he was dressed like a lama, he turned out to be a Han and a Kuomintang agent at that. He confessed that in the winter of 1949 some British and U.S. nationals, accompanied by plainclothes guards sent by the Lhasa authorities, had crossed the Kinsha River. They took up quarters in a lamasery from which they issued their orders. It was they who had instructed the Kuomintang agents to toll the bells to incite the people to bar our advance. But the enemy's scheme failed in the face of our correct policy.

In the summer of 1949, the reactionaries in Tibet, backed by the British and U.S. imperialists and the Nehru government of India, expelled the Han people from Tibet in the name of "anti-communism."　Then, directly instigated by the imperialists, they expanded their forces and energetically prepared for civil war. They increased their troops from 14 to 17 dapon [the equivalent of a small regiment], imported large quantities of arms and munitions, set up a U.S.-equipped radio station, used British instructors to train and deploy their forces, and ordered the lamaseries to pronounce curses on the Liberation Army. As we advanced, they stepped up their activities and deployed their crack troops equipped with U.S. and British arms in the Chamdo area. Part of their forces were also placed in the Ari and Nagchuka [Black River] areas. It was by the Kinsha River that they tried to stop our advance. With the door to peace talks thus slammed shut, a military action of decisive significance the Chamdo campaign --became inevitable.

Chamdo Campaign

Chamdo is the gateway to eastern Tibet; it was therefore essential to win it in order to enter Tibet. After studying the dispositions of enemy forces we drew up a plan of operations in accordance with Chairman Mao's principle: "Concentrate an absolutely superior force, encircle the enemy forces completely, strive to wipe them out thoroughly and do not let any escape from the net." We used only part of our forces for a frontal attack and moved our main forces to outflank the enemy on both sides and so cut off his retreat.

During the carrying out of these great outflanking movements our troops carefully followed Chairman Mao's instructions and strictly observed the nationalities and religious policies of the Party and People's Government. They stayed away from lamaseries and never bivouacked in civilian houses even in snowstorms or heavy rains. They did not touch a single needle or thread belonging to the people. Food was never requisitioned from the local inhabitants. Whenever our men made a stop, they would study and take account of the customs of the local people and do political propaganda among them. They gave protection to all religious buildings and showed scrupulous respect for the habits and customs of the Tibetan people. Their exemplary conduct opened the eyes of the Tibetan people. "New Hans" such as they had never heard of before, had come! Tibetans who had fled to mountain hideouts returned to their villages. When our troops resumed their march and bade them farewell, the villagers accompanied them out onto the road, praising them with shouts of "Buddhist soldiers! Buddhist soldiers!" Some volunteered to act as guides or offered to repair roads and bridges demolished by the reactionary forces. They sent messages to their sons and brothers who had been deceived or conscripted into the reactionary army. Many "lama soldiers" who had tried to stop our