Tian first encountered Mao Zedong's army in 1935 as it pushed through western China when he was eighteen years old.[1] Mao was trying to escape Kuomintang government forces at the time.[1] Tian joined Mao's army and became one of the few ethnic Tibetans who participated in the Long March, a retreat by Chinese Communist forces into northern China in 1935.[1]
Tian Bao died on 21 February 2008, at the age of 92 in the city of Chengdu, Sichuan, PR China.[1] Officials said he died of an unspecified illness, but gave no further details.[1]
