Source: Beliefnet

Wire Service: AP

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/187/story_18730_1.html

On March 10, 2006 the Associated Press reported, "The Dalai Lama said Friday that he has asked China to let him to visit the country for the first time since he fled Tibet nearly a half-century ago. His comments came in an address to thousands of followers on the anniversary of the 1959 uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule, which marked the beginning of his exile. The supreme Tibetan spiritual leader, 70, did he did not specify an itinerary, but said he wanted to make a pilgrimage. His envoys, who recently returned from talks with officials in China, had conveyed his request to the Chinese government, he said. 'As a country with a long history of Buddhism, China has many sacred pilgrim sites,' he told his followers. 'As well as visiting the pilgrim sites, I hope I will be able to see for myself the changes and developments in the People's Republic of China.'"