The Tibetan national sense of history has strong ties to Buddhism. Also, the Tibetan national epic, poetry, drama, and historical literature emphasizes Tibetans’ distinctness from China and other Asian nations. Tibetan classics are totally unknown to the Chinese, and, conversely, the Chinese classics and literary masterpieces were never translated into Tibetan until China’s occupation of Tibet. Tibetans take greatest pride in their spiritual relationship with the Holy Land of India, and vast numbers of Buddhist and literary works were translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan over a period of seven centuries.