In 1949, Mao Zedong became the leader of China. Mao and the Chinese leaders thought that China should regain control of Tibet, and in 1950, Chinese troops entered the east of Tibet. Mao Zedong was a communist, and thought that many things about the way Tibetans lived their lives should be different. The Chinese communists did not like how much power the Dalai Lama, the Gelug school, and Buddhist groups in general had over Tibetan society, and they wished to reform how land was owned in Tibet. The changes the Chinese Communist Party made in Tibet were enforced with violence, and Tibetans began to rebel against the Chinese government. The Chinese responded by sending many troops in 1959, forcing the Dalai Lama and thousands of other Tibetans to flee to other countries. The Dalai Lama started a government in exile in India. Between 1959 and 1961, most of Tibet's monasteries were destroyed, and the Chinese Communist Party gained control over Tibetans' lives. China created an administrative division from part of Tibet called the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965, although ethnic Tibetans have not had much say in the running of this region. The Chinese government has encouraged large numbers of Han Chinese people to settle in Tibet. Groups outside of China such as the Human Rights Watch argue that the Chinese government is oppressing Tibetans and causing them to lose their culture.