Tibet Autonomous Region
A provincial-level administrative region in southwestern China, established in 1965 and covering much of the Tibetan Plateau. Its capital is Lhasa.
Tibetan Plateau: A high, extensive plateau in Central and East Asia, bounded by major mountain ranges. The region occupies much of this highland, whose terrain shapes settlement and climate.
Tibet Autonomous Region establishment: The 1965 creation of the Tibet Autonomous Region as a provincial-level administrative unit of the People’s Republic of China. This event gave the present region its formal administrative status.
Qinghai–Tibet railway: A railway linking Xining in Qinghai with Lhasa, opened fully in 2006. It connects the region’s capital with China’s national rail network.
Tibetan areas of China: Regions of China with substantial Tibetan populations, including areas in Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan. The Tibet Autonomous Region is only one part of these broader Tibetan-populated areas.
Lhasa: The capital city of the Tibet Autonomous Region and a historic center of Tibetan Buddhism. It is the region’s political center and largest city.
Tibet under Qing rule: The period in which the Qing dynasty exercised varying degrees of authority over Tibet, especially from the eighteenth century onward. Qing-era arrangements shaped later disputes over Tibet’s political status.
Tibet railway extension to Shigatse: A railway extension from Lhasa to Shigatse, opened in 2014. It extended rail access within the region beyond Lhasa.
Qinghai: A province in northwestern China that includes extensive areas of the Tibetan Plateau and Tibetan population. It borders the autonomous region and contains other historically Tibetan areas.
Tibet: A historical and cultural region of Central Asia associated with Tibetan-speaking peoples and Tibetan Buddhism. The autonomous region covers part of the broader area commonly called Tibet.
Tibet under the Republic of China: The period from 1912 to 1949, when the Republic of China claimed Tibet while its central government had limited control there. Competing claims from this period preceded the region’s incorporation into the PRC.