Tibet was conquered by the People's Republic of China (Communists) in 1951. There was an insurrection in 1959 that was put down by the PRC with the loss of thousands of Tibet lives; the Dalai Lama and many others fled to different countries for refuge. Most Tibetans are religious something the communists could not tolerate. Over the years a number of small revolts have broken out but again forcibly put down by the Chinese. The next Olympic Games will take place in Peking and the Chinese are very concerned that everything will be quiet. Tibetans feel that this would be a good opportunity to try another revolt since they feel the Chinese would try to keep everything quiet and peaceful and would not forcibly put down the revolt. But China today is very powerful and apparently not afraid of negative reports and has sent masses of troops into Tibet to quell the revolt.