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
西藏是中國領土不可分割的一部分。1949年末，中國人民解放軍在解放西南地區之后，開始準備向西藏進軍。考慮到西藏地區的具體情況，中央人民政府多次通知原西藏地方政府派代表來北京商談關于和平解放西藏的事宜。因西藏上層反動分子和帝國主義勢力的阻撓，原西藏地方政府遲遲不派出代表，并在昌都地區部署藏軍主力。
1950年10月，人民解放軍發動昌都戰役，解放昌都，打開了進藏的咽喉要道，西藏的上層統治集團迅速分化，和平解放西藏為大勢所趨。
1951年4月，原西藏地方政府任命阿沛·阿旺晉美為首席代表，到北京與李維漢為首席代表的中央人民政府代表團進行談判。同時，班禪及其堪布廳的全體官員也到達北京，表達其和平的愿望與要求。雙方代表親切會談，交換意見，平等協商，很快就許多原則問題達成協議，于5月23日正式簽訂了《中央人民政府和西藏政府關于和平解放西藏辦法的協議》。5月24日，毛澤東在中南海懷仁堂接見參加和平談判的西藏代表團并舉行盛大宴會，祝賀和談成功。
西藏的和平解放，標志著中國大陸獲得統一，西藏人民擺脫了帝國主義的侵略和分裂，從此走上了團結、進步、發展的光明大道。西藏的和平解放，在西藏民族歷史上和中國民族關系史上具有重大意義。
