On the fiftieth anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising of 1959, this impassioned article examines the origins of the Uprising and the subsequent course of events. It describes the current situation, discusses the role of the Dalai Lama and examines his pronouncements, as well as trying to explain Chinese attitudes to the Dalai Lama, to Tibet and towards Tibetans. The author comes to a pessimistic conclusion: other countries are not prepared to stand up to China and Tibetan culture is being steadily destroyed by a flood of Han Chinese settlers.