A dummies guide to Tibet, written by a dummy

(Image courtesy Taekwonweirdo via Creative Commons license)

Huh?
Protesters march down Chicago’s Michigan Avenue. I look out my 14th floor window in the Tribune Tower to see banners saying “Free Tibet.”

Tibet? Honestly, I have no idea what Tibet is about. Heck I don’t even know where Tibet is. It just sounds like some cute country. After a little bit of internet research, here's what I found:

A summary about Tibet:
Tibet has been ruled by China for 10 centuries. But China never really did anything with the area. They just kinda let it hang out and have the Dalai Lama govern the area. Tibet did try to declare their sovereignty in the early 20th century. From wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet:

Tibet proclaimed its independence from China in 1911, right before the fall of the Qing government. However, "at no time did any western power come out in favor of its independence or grant it diplomatic recognition.”[4] The People's Republic of China (PRC), citing historical records and the Seventeen Point Agreement signed by the Tibetan government in 1951, claims Tibet as a part of China (with a small part, depending on definitions, controlled by India). Currently every country in the world recognizes China's sovereignty over Tibet.

Then in 1950 China invaded Tibet after the Communists come to power. They decided to show everyone they truly own Tibet. The Tibetan army destroyed in battle at Chamdo. In 1966 all religious practice is outlawed, over 4000 monasteries are destroyed, and monks are either imprisoned or "re-educated."

My interpretation:
The violence from China is definitely wrong, and worthy of protest. But China does technically own the land. Kinda sucks. It's like when someone owns an old house. They don't do anything with it and leave it rot and decay. Then you get someone who moves in and decides to actually do something with the house, then the owner is like, "heyyy! what are you doing!? This is MY house!" So they decided to beat everyone up, and totally trash the house.

With China's violent actions towards Tibet, you got people wanting Tibet to be free. They kinda have a case as the Tibetan army, led by British-trained officers, defeated Chinese army in 1918. Tibet and China signed a peace treaty; but China refused to ratify treaty. China has always "ruled" the area. Sometimes they let Tibet do their own thing, sometimes they slam their fist down. Should Tibet be its own country? I don't know.

Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of these statements. I'm just a newbie who always thought Tibet just sounded like a cute name.

Other sources:
http://www.freetibet.org/info/facts/fact18.html
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-71442/Tibet
Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Timeline of Tibet