The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Tibet or Xizang for short, also called the Xizang Autonomous Region (Tibetan: བོད་རང་སྐྱོང་ལྗོངས།; Chinese: 西藏自治区) is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was created in 1965 on the basis of an administrative region which had been incorporated into the PRC in 1951.

Within the People's Republic of China, Tibet is identified with the Autonomous Region, which includes about half of ethno-cultural Tibet, including the traditional provinces of Ü-Tsang and the western half of Kham. The borders of the present Autonomous Region coincide roughly with the actual zone of control of the then-government of Tibet in 1950. The Tibet Autonomous Region is the second-largest province-level division of China by area, spanning over 1,200,000 square kilometres (460,000 sq mi), after Xinjiang, and due to its generally harsh terrain, is the least densely populated provincial-level division of the PRC.

Modern scholars still debate on whether the Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644) had sovereignty over Tibet prior to the conquest of Tibet in 1642. While Tibet has formally been a part of China since 1644 as part of the Qing Dynasty, from 1912 to 1950 Tibet was dissolved from China proper as a result of the 1911 Revolution and Japanese occupation during WW2. Other parts of ethno-cultural Tibet (eastern Kham and Amdo) have also been under the administration of the Chinese dynastic government since the mid-eighteenth century; today they are distributed among the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan. (See also: Xikang province)

An autonomous area or autonomous entity is an area of a country that has a degree of autonomy, or freedom from an external authority. Typically it is either geographically distinct from the rest of the country or populated by a national minority. Countries that include autonomous areas are often federacies. Autonomous areas can be divided into territorial autonomies, subregional territorial autonomies and local autonomies.

Many autonomous areas lie within two of the world's largest countries, People's Republic of China and Russia.

China (PRC) has five types of autonomous areas.

Found only as divisions of Inner Mongolia. In effect, these are autonomous counties (see below).

The most numerous type of autonomous area in China, found both within and outside the larger autonomous prefectures and regions.

China has 30 prefectures that are autonomous, mostly in the periphery of the country.

A first-level administrative subdivision of China. There are five ARs in China. They are Inner Mongolia AR, Tibet AR, Ningxia Hui AR, Xinjiang Uyghur AR, and Guangxi Zhuang AR. Regardless of the names, these regions are in fact less autonomous than the special administrative regions of China.

Hansjörg Rey, aka Hans "No Way" Rey (born 4 June 1966 in Kenzingen, Germany). Rey is a pioneer in mountain bike trials and extreme mountain biking. Rey began riding in the late 70s. Since 1987, he has ridden exclusively on GT bikes. In 1999 he was inducted to the Mountain bike hall of fame.

Over the years he has won a large number of bike trials riding championships, but since 1997 has retired from competitive sports to explore the world on his mountain bike.

He is the only permanent member of the "Hans Rey Adventure Team", a quest to explore the world using his mountain bike talent. These trips were filmed for television.

He has also starred in movies like Tread (1994), and made guest appearances on the TV series Pacific Blue (1995-1998). He was part of the closing ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games.

In 2005 Hans Rey has founded Wheels4Life, a non-profit charity that provides bicycles to people in Third World countries in need of transportation. More info can be found wheels4life.org.