* Astronomy

After months of failed negotiations, attempts by Tibet to secure foreign support and assistance, and PRC and Tibetan troop buildups, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) crossed the Jinsha River on 6 or 7 October, 1950. Two PLA units quickly surrounded the outnumbered Tibetan forces and captured the border town of Qamdo by 19 October, by which time 114 PLA soldiers and 180 Tibetan soldiers had been killed or wounded (5,000 Tibetan soldiers were "liquidated" according to Thomas Laird). Active hostilities were limited to a border area controlled by the Government of Tibet northeast of the Gyamo Ngul Chu River and east of the 96th meridian
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