In this opening chapter of our three-part series on the Tibetan conflict, we travel back to the windswept highlands of the “roof of the world”, a place once known more for monks and mysticism than military campaigns. We begin with a deeply personal, imagined re-creation of a Tibetan family's escape in 1959 — a story inspired by real accounts like that of the Kelsang family, among thousands who fled their homeland under Chinese occupation.

From there, we dive into Tibet’s ancient roots: the rise of the early Tibetan Empire, its spiritual rebirth through Buddhism, and the formation of the Dalai Lama institution. We explore how Mongolia’s warrior princes first turned to Tibetan lamas for spiritual guidance. This episode tracks Tibet’s evolving power dynamics all the way into the 18th and 19th centuries — when indirect Chinese control begins to tighten, masked under layers of diplomacy.

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