For much of the past century, the Dalai Lama has been the living embodiment of Tibet’s struggle for greater freedoms under Chinese Communist Party rule, sustaining the cause from exile even as an increasingly powerful Beijing has become ever more assertive in suppressing it.

The Dalai Lama says he'll have a successor, after all, ending years of speculation that he might be the last person to hold the role and meaning he'd be reincarnated.

The 14th Dalai Lama turns 90 on Sunday and is expected to give his clearest signal yet on how his reincarnation will be determined at the event in Dharamshala, India, where the Dalai Lama has lived since fleeing Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.