The Peaceful Liberation of Tibet
Tibet is an integral part of the Chinese territory. After liberating the southwest regions in late 1949, the PLA was ready to march into Tibet. The Central People's Government more than once urged the local government in Tibet to send representatives to Beijing to talk about peaceful liberation. But the Tibetan authorities were hesitant, deceived by their own reactionary elite and the interference of foreign forces. They even deployed Tibetan forces in Qamdo.
In October 1950, the PLA liberated the town of Qamdo, thus opening the strategic pass leading into Tibet. This resulted in a split in the Tibetan ruling group, and peaceful liberation became inevitable.
In April 1951, Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme (1910-2009), chief plenipotentiary of the Tibetan local government, came to Beijing to hold peace talks with the delegation of the Central People's Government headed by Li Weihan. Around that time, Panchen Erdeni Choekyi Gyaltsen (1938-1989) and his decision-making committee also arrived in the capital city and expressed their wish for peace. The parties exchanged views on an equal footing and soon reached agreement on many issues of principle. On May 23, the Agreement Between the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet was signed. On May 24, Mao Zedong received the Tibetan delegation in Zhongnanhai, the compound of the central government, and held a grand banquet to celebrate the success of the peace talks.
With the peaceful liberation of Tibet, the whole of the Chinese mainland was unified. The Tibetan people were now free from foreign aggression – a significant moment in their history and in the relations among ethnic groups in China.
西藏和平解放
西藏是中国领土不可分割的一部分。1949年末，中国人民解放军在解放西南地区之后，开始准备向西藏进军。考虑到西藏地区的具体情况，中央人民政府多次通知原西藏地方政府派代表来北京商谈关于和平解放西藏的事宜。因西藏上层反动分子和帝国主义势力的阻挠，原西藏地方政府迟迟不派出代表，并在昌都地区部署藏军主力。
1950年10月，人民解放军发动昌都战役，解放昌都，打开了进藏的咽喉要道，西藏的上层统治集团迅速分化，和平解放西藏为大势所趋。
1951年4月，原西藏地方政府任命阿沛·阿旺晋美为首席代表，到北京与李维汉为首席代表的中央人民政府代表团进行谈判。同时，班禅及其堪布厅的全体官员也到达北京，表达其和平的愿望与要求。双方代表亲切会谈，交换意见，平等协商，很快就许多原则问题达成协议，于5月23日正式签订了《中央人民政府和西藏政府关于和平解放西藏办法的协议》。5月24日，毛泽东在中南海怀仁堂接见参加和平谈判的西藏代表团并举行盛大宴会，祝贺和谈成功。
西藏的和平解放，标志着中国大陆获得统一，西藏人民摆脱了帝国主义的侵略和分裂，从此走上了团结、进步、发展的光明大道。西藏的和平解放，在西藏民族历史上和中国民族关系史上具有重大意义。
