Visit to 14th Dalai Lama's last residence in Lhasa

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-10 23:56

A GATE TO REMEMBER

According to Ma Yigang, the 14th Dalai Lama spent his last days before the exile not in the his own palace, but in the Kalsang Potrang, the oldest palace within the Norbu Lingka built by the seventh Dalai Lama in 1751.

The palace is some 200 meters away from the New Summer Palace. It also happened to be place where the 14th Dalai Lama spent his first night in the Norbu Lingka.

Fifty yeas ago, the upper ruling class in Tibet staged an armed rebellion to preserve serfdom and theocracy and the Norbu Lingka was the location of the rebellion headquarters.

Some 100 meters away from of the main entrance of the Kalsang Potrang, there is an inconspicuous gray wooden door on the bounding wall of the Norbu Lingka.

At a few minutes before 10 o'clock on the night of March 10, 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama, disguised as a common soldier, left the Norbu Lingka through the door and started his life in exile. The gate is now numbered by the park administration as Gate 8.

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