tibet flag tote bag

The Tibetan flag, (Standard Tibetan: བོད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་དར།, ) also known as the "snow lion flag" (gangs seng dar cha), was the flag of the de facto independant polity of Tibet from 1916 to 1951. It was adopted by the 13th Dalai Lama in 1916. Banned by the Chinese government since 1959, the flag has not been in official use by any region in the world since 1951; however it is used by the Tibetan Government in Exile, based in Dharamshala, India. The Government of the People's Republic of China considers it to be a symbol of separatism; however, the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan government in exile, said in recent years that he hoped that Tibet would achieve true autonomy and would not ask for independence. He believes that the symbolism of the flag is similar to that of the Hong Kong regional flag and does not represent the Tibetan independence movement, but the concept of pursuing religious freedom and pursuing national equality and mutual respect.