Even in your wildest thoughts, you might find it difficult to imagine a country where

* the lowest points are higher than the highest mountains in nearly every other country;

* until recently more than one in five males out of a population of 2.3 million was a monk in a monastery;

* people worship a god-king who is said to have died and been reborn in a new body 14 times over the course of a thousand years;

* there are no railroads and almost no cars;

* people love to drink a bitter tea flavored with rotten butter.

This is the strange and remote land of Tibet, a region twice the size of Texas lying in the heart of Asia at altitudes so high it is called "the roof of the world."

For centuries, the Tibetans, a people related to the Chinese, have developed a unique culture and religion isolated from the rest of the world. Until very recently, more than 20 percent of Tibetan men were Buddhist monks, living in the country's more than 2,000 monasteries. The head of this type of Buddhism, called Lamaism, is the Dalai Lama who once lived in the 7,000room Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet's chief city. Since time immemorial the Tibetans have led peaceful and religious lives in their remote mountain kingdom.

China Invades

That ancient way of life came to an abrupt and violent end, however, on October 7, 1950 when Chinese Communist troops poured across the China-Tibet border. The Chinese government had long claimed that Tibet rightfully belonged to China, a claim denied by the Dalai Lama and most other Tibetans.

China immediately clamped down on what it called Tibet's "primitive" culture and religion. Chinese troops destroyed monasteries, burned ancient works of art, smashed statues, and forced monks to build roads and office buildings.

Those who resisted were tortured, killed, or sent to prison. By 1959, the Tibetans had had enough. They revolted--and were swiftly put down by well-armed Chinese troops. The Dalai Lama led south in disguise across the high Himalayas along with an estimated 80,000 other Tibetans. Today, the Dalai Lama heads a government-in-exile in Dharmasala, India, just south of Tibet.

In exile, the Dalai Lama has become a well-known figure in the United States and in Europe. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for supporting nonviolent resistance to Chinese rule in Tibet. He has gained support from many human rights groups around the world as well as from celebrities such as movie stars Richard Gere and Harrison Ford.