[caption id="attachment_2501099" align="alignnone" width="840"] Pedestrians and vehicles make their way past the Potala Palace early on a rainy morning in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China, Saturday. (Source: AP photo)[/caption] Tibet is usually off-limits to the foreign media, but Chinese officials this week took foreign journalists on a visit to the region, almost two weeks after Communist Party officials commemorated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region. China sent troops to occupy Tibet following the 1949 communist revolution. The government says the region has been part of Chinese territory for centuries, while many Tibetans say it has a long history of independence under a series of Buddhist leaders.
China established the Tibetan autonomous region in 1965, one of five ethnic regions in the country today. While Tibet is nominally in charge of its own affairs, its top officials are appointed by Beijing and expected to rule with an iron fist.
Lhasa contains two world heritage sites – the Potala Palace and Norbulingka, which were the residences of the Dalai Lama. Lhasa contains a number of significant temples and monasteries, including Jokhang and Ramoche Temple.