Dickinson College librarian Song Yongyi had been conducting research on the Cultural Revolution, a period when Chinese leader Mao Zedong persecuted millions of Chinese. Over 25 years after the Cultural Revolution ended, the Chinese government regards the period as extremely sensitive. Song's wife maintains the documents her husband was investigating have long been publicly available in China. U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, who represents the state of Pennsylvania, arranged the release by meeting with Chinese Ambassador Li Zhaoxing. It evidences excessive abuses by the Chinese against Tibetans following the revolt against Chinese rule in 1959, a reaction to Chinese leader Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward, a time of increased suppression by China.
Proof is given of executions, mass jailings and other acts of cruelty.
In 1962 the Lama, Choekyi Gyaltsen, then 24, was the most senior religious leader remaining in Tibet in 1962. Some believe the work to be the most revealing indictment of China's policies ever submitted to the government. Prior to the Petition, the Lama was often viewed as cowering to the Chinese government, but after the publication, he was denounced as an enemy of the people and, without even a trial, condemned to 14 years under house arrest. He died 12 years after his release at age 50. The government's pretext for shooing Scottish-born Hunter from Fiji involves the Immigration Department's insistence that his position should be filled by a Fijian.