Letter to the Dalai Lama〔1〕
(March 10, 1953)

Mr. Dalai Lama:

Thank you for your letters of August 16 and September 3, 1952 (the 14th day of the 7th month of the Water Dragon year in the Tibetan calendar) and for your gifts.

I am greatly gratified that the local government and people of Tibet, under your leadership, are assisting the People's Liberation Army troops entering Tibet, strengthening unity, and striving for the gradual implementation of the Agreement. The tribute mission and visiting delegation you sent have been willing to work and study diligently. Your office has been formally established, and its personnel are also working hard. The Central Committee's policy toward Tibet, apart from what is clearly written in the Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, was also briefly conveyed by me to the representatives of the tribute mission and visiting delegation when I received them. These brief words have already been mentioned by Lhukhangwa Thubten Tharpa in his broadcast to Tibet〔2〕, which I believe you are already aware of. As for the assistance needed to build a new Tibet, the Central Committee will do its utmost to provide whatever can be provided. However, due to transportation obstacles, some things cannot be done for the time being and will have to wait. The requests made here by the representatives of the Tibetan tribute mission and visiting delegation have been handled by the Central People's Government in this spirit. I will not elaborate further. In the future, whenever you and Panchen Erdeni〔3〕 need assistance from the Central Committee, you may tell Representative Zhang〔4〕 or ask Representative Zhang to relay it to me by telegram.

I wish you success in leading the local government and people of Tibet in gradual construction, so that Tibet may become more prosperous day by day, the lives of the Tibetan monastic and lay people may improve day by day, the future of the Tibetan nationality may become brighter day by day, and the border defense of our motherland may become more consolidated day by day. And I wish you good health.

Mao Zedong
March 10, 1953

Enclosed with the letter: two sound amplifiers with four accompanying loudspeakers, one electric turntable with twelve accompanying records, four bolts of yellow satin, one Changbai Mountain ginseng, and one sable fur coat lining.

Published according to the copy of the letter preserved in the Central Archives.

Notes
〔1〕 Dalai Lama, i.e., Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, one of the religious leaders of Tibet.
〔2〕 Lhukhangwa Thubten Tharpa, head of the Tibetan Tribute Mission, came to Beijing in October 1952 and was received by Mao Zedong. In his radio address to Tibet on November 22, 1952, he relayed the main points of Mao Zedong's talk with the Tibetan tribute mission and visiting delegation. See Volume III of this book, pp. 583-584.
〔3〕 Panchen Erdeni, i.e., Panchen Erdeni Chökyi Gyaltsen, one of the religious leaders of Tibet.
〔4〕 Refers to Zhang Jingwu, the representative of the Central People's Government in Tibet.