In 1959, China's socialist land reforms and military crackdown on rebels in Kham and Amdo led to the 1959 Tibetan uprising. In an operation launched in the wake of the National Uprising of 10 March 1959 in Lhasa, 10,000 to 15,000 Tibetans were killed within three days. Resistance spread throughout Tibet. Fearing capture of the Dalai Lama, unarmed Tibetans surrounded his residence, at which point the Dalai Lama fled with the help of the CIA to India, because the people of Tibet wanted to take a stance and protect the man they all cherished, from the communist government . India ended up being the country that provided the safest land for the Tibetans and the Dali Lama who wanted to practice Buddhism in peace and be safe at the same time. On 28 March, the Chinese set the Panchen Lama (who was virtually their prisoner) as a figurehead in Lhasa, claiming that he headed the legitimate Government of Tibet in the absence of the Dalai Lama, the traditional ruler of Tibet. In 2009, Serfs Emancipation Day began as a holiday on 28 March in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The Chinese authorities claim that on this day in 1959, one million Tibetans (90% of the population) were freed from serfdom.