It is half a century since Beijing liberated the thankful serfs of Tibet. At least that's the official view of the Communist party. But few, if any, Tibetans see it that way. They regard the 50th anniversary of their unsuccessful uprising and the flight of the Dalai Lama as marking half a century under Beijing's boot.

Unfortunately for China, Tibet is an emotional issue that threatens to damage its aspirations for a smooth emergence as a global power. Beijing claims to have governed Tibet since the 13th century, and regards it as just as inalienably integral to its territory as Taiwan. To question Tibet's status is to revive painful memories of the humiliation China suffered in the 19th century when colonial powers, armed with gunboats and opium, devoured chunks of the Middle Kingdom.

But Beijing needs to move beyond that psychological straitjacket. Tibet is a different phenomenon. Four-fifths of Tibetans do not speak good Chinese. They practice a distinct religion and culture. In 1958, there were 114,000 monks and 2,700 monasteries in Tibet; by 1976 there were a little over 800 monks in just eight monasteries.