Sarah Paine

Pivotal decision number one.

When Mao won the Chinese Civil War in 1949, it didn't end.

He also spent the next two years not only eliminating nationalist remnants, but also conquering Xinjiang and Tibet.

Tibet had been autonomous since 1911 when the last dynasty had collapsed.

And Mao decides that he is going to reconquer Tibet.

Tibet's an interesting place.

It contains, I think, about 40% of China's mineral resources.

So there's a lot of money being made in Tibet for those with the capital to invest in big mines.

If you look at this map, the Han Chinese, the preponderant group of China, they inhabit, they dominate as far west as the Chongqing Basin and Sichuan.

China has put large armies into Tibet exactly twice.

Once under the Qianlong Emperor in the late 18th century, and they didn't stay for very long.

And then under Mao in 1950, and they have stayed forever and built roads so they could keep on sending more in.

Between 1950 and 1957, China built a series of road systems through Tibet, and the western route there is the only one that provides year-round traffic.

The problem with the other two is, well, check it out.

They go through 14 or 15 mountain ranges.

It means you go vertical up, vertical down, do that 14, 15 times.

And then between monsoon rains and snow and mudslides, they're very difficult to maintain.

And then the eastern one crosses the major river systems of South Asia.

So that's difficult.

So only the western route is the really good one.