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Category: Tibet

  • Dalai Lama’s expected announcement might impede Chinese control of his succession

    As the Dalai Lama approaches his 90th birthday on July 6, the world awaits the Tibetan spiritual leader’s decision on whether there will be a next Dalai Lama – an announcement the head of Tibetan Buddhism promised to unveil when he is 90 in what may serve as a definitive move to thwart the Chinese government’s efforts to exert control over his succession.

    The announcement is set to be the most consequential in modern Tibetan history, one that will shape the future of Tibetans’ seven-decade-long struggle to preserve their religious and cultural freedoms in the face of Chinese oppression and the continuation of the 14th Dalai Lama’s legacy as a global icon of compassion, peace, democracy and human dignity.

    Tibetan nuns and monks walk in Dharamsala July 1, 2025.
    Tibetan nuns and monks walk in Dharamsala July 1, 2025.
    (Sanjay Baid/AFP)

    At a conference of Tibetan religious leaders scheduled for July 2-4 in Dharamsala, just days before his 90th birthday, the global Buddhist leader is expected to announce if the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue and confirm whether formal responsibility for the recognition of the 15th Dalai Lama should rest with the Gaden Phodrang Trust, his private office.

    In 2011, at the conclusion of a similar convention of the heads of all Tibetan religious traditions, the Dalai Lama issued a formal statement saying that when he turns 90, he would consult with Tibetan religious leaders and the public on whether there should be a next Dalai Lama.

    “If it is decided that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should continue and there is a need for the Fifteenth Dalai Lama to be recognized, responsibility for doing so will primarily rest on the concerned officers of the Dalai Lama’s Gaden Phodrang Trust (the Office of the Dalai Lama),” the Buddhist leader said in his Sep. 24, 2011, statement.

    The Dalai Lama speaks during a Tibetan religious conference in Dharamsala on Sept. 23, 2011.
    The Dalai Lama speaks during a Tibetan religious conference in Dharamsala on Sept. 23, 2011.
    (AFP)

    “They should consult the various heads of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions and the reliable oath-bound Dharma Protectors who are linked inseparably to the lineage of the Dalai Lamas… and carry out the procedures of search and recognition in accordance with past tradition. I shall leave clear written instructions about this,” he added.

    At the time, the Dalai Lama also made clear that “…apart from a reincarnation recognized through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China.”

    If China does intervene, it wouldn’t be the first time. On May 17, 1995, the Chinese government abducted a then-6-year-old boy named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, just days after he was officially recognized by the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama, the second-highest spiritual leader in the largest sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

    Rights groups say his continued disappearance and China’s installation of another boy, Gyaltsen (in Chinese, Gyaincain) Norbu, in his place, highlights the Chinese government’s long-held plan to control the recognition of the next Dalai Lama, given the two lamas have historically recognized the other’s successive reincarnations and served as the other’s teacher.

    A Tibetan man carries a portrait of the 11th Panchen Lama, the second-highest Tibetan religious leader, as a portrait of the Dalai Lama, left, stands in the background, in Katmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, April 25, 2012.
    A Tibetan man carries a portrait of the 11th Panchen Lama, the second-highest Tibetan religious leader, as a portrait of the Dalai Lama, left, stands in the background, in Katmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, April 25, 2012.
    (Niranjan Shrestha/AP)

    The Chinese government, for its part, believes it can appoint the reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama under Chinese law.

    “The reincarnation of Living Buddhas is unique to Tibetan Buddhism. It must comply with Chinese laws and regulations as well as religious rituals and historical conventions, and follow the process that consists of search and identification in China, lot-drawing from a golden urn, and central government approval,” Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C., told RFA last month.

    In 2007, Beijing decreed that the Chinese government would begin overseeing the recognition of all reincarnate Tibetan lamas, or “living Buddhas,” including the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama. China plans to use its own Beijing-appointed Panchen Lama to endorse their choice – a move the Dalai Lama has said contradicts the Chinese Communist Party’s political ideology.

    “It is particularly inappropriate for Chinese communists, who explicitly reject even the idea of past and future lives, let alone the concept of reincarnate Tulkus (or Buddhist incarnated beings), to meddle in the system of reincarnation and especially the reincarnations of the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas,” the Dalai Lama said in 2011.

    The Dalai Lama at the U.S. Capitol after receiving the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington, Oct. 17, 2007.
    The Dalai Lama at the U.S. Capitol after receiving the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington, Oct. 17, 2007.
    (Jim Young/Reuters)

    “Such brazen meddling contradicts their own political ideology and reveals their double standards. Should this situation continue in the future, it will be impossible for Tibetans and those who follow the Tibetan Buddhist tradition to acknowledge or accept it,” he added.

    The Dalai Lama’s statement on his reincarnation may, therefore, serve to preempt Beijing’s efforts to interfere in the recognition of the 15th Dalai Lama.

    It is expected to come just days before the U.S. Congress is likely to formally designate July 6 as “A Day of Compassion” through a bipartisan resolution introduced by U.S. lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in recognition of the Dalai Lama’s “outstanding contributions to peace, nonviolence, human rights, and religious understanding.”

    Edited by Greg Barber


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Event kicks off celebration of Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday

    DHARAMSALA, INDIA — The Dalai Lama said there would be a “structured framework” for his succession and reflected on a “profoundly purposeful and deeply fulfilling” life as spiritual and administrative leaders gathered on Monday to begin celebrations for his 90th birthday.

    “Throughout my life, I have worked for the welfare of the Tibetan people, preservation of the Dharma, and for the happiness of all,” he said. “I believe this human life of mine has served the whole of mankind and I remain committed to dedicating the rest of it, too, for the well-being of all.”

    The event took place on a fog-veiled monsoon morning in the courtyard of the Main Temple in Dharamsala, decorated with sacred traditional thangkas, or paintings, fresh garland offerings and derkha, or special offerings on the Tibetan New Year.

    A dance is performed as Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, seated rear right, at the Main Temple in Dharamsala, India, on June 30, 2025, as celebrations begin in the days leading up to his 90th birthday on July 6.
    A dance is performed as Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, seated rear right, at the Main Temple in Dharamsala, India, on June 30, 2025, as celebrations begin in the days leading up to his 90th birthday on July 6.
    (Tenzin Woser/RFA Tibetan)

    Around 8,000 people attended the event at the temple and in overflow locations, organizers told RFA. Guests included spiritual leaders from the major Tibetan Buddhist sects and representatives of other Buddhist and religious traditions, plus the leaders of the Central Tibetan Administration, administrative staff and members of monastic communities.

    Organizers presented the Dalai Lama with an award, The Peerless Teacher of the 21st Century, lauding his service. They also performed a ceremonial long-life offering, wishing the spiritual leader continued good health.

    The event was the first in a series of ceremonies marking the Dalai Lama’s birthday, which is Saturday. A high-level meeting of spiritual heads from the major Buddhist sects will take place from Wednesday through Friday, followed by ceremonial events and celebrations that will kick off a “Year of Compassion” event series, with programs scheduled across the globe.

    An announcement is expected on the Dalai Lama’s succession, potentially stemming from the meetings this week. He made a brief reference to succession plans during today’s birthday event, saying “there will be a structured framework for the future continuation of the Dalai Lamas’ institution in times to come,” but offering no further details.

    Actor Richard Gere speaks with Kyabgon Gongma Trichen Rinpoche at the Main Temple in Dharamsala, India, on June 30, 2025, as celebrations begin in the days leading up to the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday on July 6.
    Actor Richard Gere speaks with Kyabgon Gongma Trichen Rinpoche at the Main Temple in Dharamsala, India, on June 30, 2025, as celebrations begin in the days leading up to the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday on July 6.
    (Tenzin Woser/RFA Tibetan)

    Reporting by Dawa Dolma, edited by Greg Barber


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • U.S. lawmakers honor Dalai Lama with bipartisan resolution ahead of 90th birthday

    Ahead of the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday on July 6, U.S. lawmakers have introduced bipartisan resolutions in both chambers of the U.S. Congress to honor the Tibetan spiritual leader and designate the anniversary as ‘A Day of Compassion.’

    The resolution – introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday and in the Senate on Tuesday – reaffirms that only the Dalai Lama himself should determine his successor and that any attempt by Beijing to select or appoint one would be an “invalid interference” and violation of religious freedom rights.

    China has sought greater control over Tibetan Buddhism since invading the independent Himalayan country in 1950 and forcing the Dalai Lama into exile in India in 1959. In 2007, Beijing announced it would oversee the recognition of all reincarnate Tibetan lamas, including the next Dalai Lama.

    Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), who co-introduced the Senate resolution with Todd Young (R-Indiana), emphasized the broader stakes. “As the Chinese government continues to ignore the rights of Tibet under international law, we’re sending the message that we must protect these fundamental freedoms,” Merkley said.

    In the House, Representatives Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) introduced a similar resolution recognizing the Dalai Lama’s “outstanding contributions to peace, nonviolence, human rights, and religious understanding.”

    “Despite having faced persecution, oppression, and unspeakable violence at the hands of the CCP, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has maintained inner peace and continues to preach compassion – inspiring not only his own people, but the entire world,” said McCaul. CCP refers to the Chinese Communist Party.

    McCaul last year led a bipartisan Congressional delegation to Dharamsala, India, where he presented the Dalai Lama with a framed copy of a U.S. bill, that was later signed into law, in support of Tibetan people’s right to self-determination.

    “The people of Tibet have an inalienable right to self-determination, and our resolution reaffirms the United States’ commitment to Tibetans by supporting their basic human rights, religious freedom, culture, and language,” said Merkley.

    The Dalai Lama attends a Long Life Prayer Offering to him by the Tibetan community at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala, India, June 4, 2025.
    The Dalai Lama attends a Long Life Prayer Offering to him by the Tibetan community at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala, India, June 4, 2025.
    (Tenzin Woser/RFA Tibetan)

    In recent years, China has sought to control the reincarnation process of Tibetan religious leaders in an apparent attempt to appoint the Dalai Lama’s successor.

    But in his new book titled “Voice for the Voiceless,” the Dalai Lama has said that his successor would be born in the “free world,” which he described as outside China.

    “The new Dalai Lama will be born in the free world so that the traditional mission of the Dalai Lama – that is, to be the voice for universal compassion, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and the symbol of Tibet embodying the aspirations of the Tibetan people – will continue,” the Dalai Lama said in the book.

    The latest resolution reiterates that the selection and installation of Tibetan Buddhist religious leaders are within the authority of the Tibetan Buddhist community.

    “I’m proud to stand with the Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet in their struggle for freedom and peace against the Chinese Communist Party’s continued aggression. The CCP’s status quo – both in Tibet and elsewhere – is not acceptable,” said Young.

    The resolution is co-sponsored by a group of bipartisan lawmakers including Reps. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), and Young Kim (R-Calif.), and Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), John Curtis (R-UT), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK).

    Both resolutions have be approved by committee and then voted on by each chamber before passage.

    Written by Tenzin Pema. Edited by Mat Pennington.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Scorsese reflects on ‘spiritual act’ of making film about the Dalai Lama

    NEW YORK — The making of Martin Scorsese’s 1997 Oscar-nominated film Kundun was a “spiritual act” and a “very personal and special project,” the legendary filmmaker said at a rare public screening of the film on the big screen at the Tribeca Festival in New York.

    Friday’s screening was part of global celebrations honoring the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday. Kundun chronicles the early life of the Tibetan spiritual leader, from his discovery as the 14th Dalai Lama as a young child in Tibet to his escape into exile in India at age 23 following the 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.

    “The experience of making Kundun changed my life for the better in many different ways,” Scorsese told the audience at New York’s SVA Theatre, where Kundun — meaning “presence” in Tibetan, a reverent title for the Dalai Lama — screened in its original 35mm format before hundreds of attendees, including Scorsese fans and members of the Tibetan community.

    Film director Martin Scorsese speaks at the SVA Theatre ahead of the screening of his film, Kundun, about the Dalai Lama’s early life during the Tribeca Festival in New York June 6, 2025.
    Film director Martin Scorsese speaks at the SVA Theatre ahead of the screening of his film, Kundun, about the Dalai Lama’s early life during the Tribeca Festival in New York June 6, 2025.
    (Sonam Zoksang)

    The film represents a dramatic departure from the director’s typical crime epics like Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995). Unlike those acclaimed works, Kundun remains largely inaccessible on major streaming platforms, making the screening at Tribeca a coveted experience for film enthusiasts.

    “It’s a big blindspot in a filmmaker whose work I have seen most of and is hugely influential in my love for cinema and the work I do,” Giovanni Lago, a New York-based writer and podcaster, told RFA. “For some reason, you can’t find it on streaming apps. You can’t find it online … So to see it on film at Tribeca with Martin Scorsese himself introducing it is just the perfect recipe.”

    Following the film’s completion, the Chinese government pressured Disney to shelve the project entirely. While Disney ultimately gave the film a limited Christmas release in 1997, the company’s then-CEO Michael Eisner publicly apologized for the production.

    Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated film Kundun about the Dalai Lama is screened at the SVA Theatre at the Tribeca Festival in New York on June 6, 2025.
    Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated film Kundun about the Dalai Lama is screened at the SVA Theatre at the Tribeca Festival in New York on June 6, 2025.
    (Tsejin Khando)

    “The bad news is that the film was made; the good news is that nobody watched it,” Eisner said at the time. “I want to apologize, and in the future, we should prevent this sort of thing, which insults our friends, from happening,” he said.

    Even today, Kundun is not available on major streaming platforms, including Disney’s own service, Disney+. Disney did not immediately respond to RFA’s request for comment.

    “The Chinese government has consistently suppressed all the films about the Dalai Lama produced in the West … because if these films were shown in China, mainland audiences would gain a more genuine understanding of who the Dalai Lama really is,” Kunga Tashi, Tibetan liaison officer at the Washington-based office of Tibet’s government-in-exile, told RFA.

    In this April 30, 1998, photo, from left to right: Richard Gere, director Martin Scorsese, the Dalai Lama and screenwriter Melissa Mathison hold hands at an awards ceremony honoring Scorsese and Mathison for their work on the film
    In this April 30, 1998, photo, from left to right: Richard Gere, director Martin Scorsese, the Dalai Lama and screenwriter Melissa Mathison hold hands at an awards ceremony honoring Scorsese and Mathison for their work on the film “Kundun.”
    (Matt Campbell/AFP)

    China banned Scorsese, screenwriter Melissa Mathison, and even her then-husband Harrison Ford — who had no direct involvement in the film — from entering the country. This reflected Hollywood’s complex relationship with China, where access to the lucrative Chinese market often trumps artistic expression. Similar bans affected actor Brad Pitt for his role in Seven Years in Tibet (1997) and Richard Gere for his Tibet advocacy.

    “Given that China has consistently sought to restrict and suppress the distribution and screening of this film … I believe this screening at the financial capital of the U.S. is a great win for the Tibetan race, and a matter of pride and joy for me as a Tibetan,” Tara Lobsang, a Tibetan entrepreneur and artist based in New York, told RFA.

    A spiritual journey

    Making Kundun was a profound spiritual journey for Scorsese, a Roman Catholic who a few years earlier courted religious controversy and even faced death threats for The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Mathison, who wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), brought Scorsese the script for Kundun, setting the director on what he described as his own “spiritual exploration.”

    Martin Scorsese with the members of the original cast and crew of Kundun at the screening of his 1997 film on the Dalai Lama’s early life at the Tribeca Festival in New York on June 6, 2025.
    Martin Scorsese with the members of the original cast and crew of Kundun at the screening of his 1997 film on the Dalai Lama’s early life at the Tribeca Festival in New York on June 6, 2025.
    (Sonam Zoksang)

    “I was really always intrigued by Tibetan Buddhism and the nature of Tibetan culture,” Scorsese reflected. “It seemed very far from my experience. But making films was always, for me, a path to discovery: discovery of new forms of expression … of different cultures, (and) different ways of existing.”

    Scorsese finalized the script with Mathison after consulting with the Dalai Lama himself in a meeting at Mathison’s Wyoming home, emphasizing the project’s authenticity and reverence.

    But the film’s production proved as challenging as its subject matter was sensitive for China.

    Scorsese, who later traveled to Dharamshala, India, to meet the Dalai Lama again ahead of the making of the film, initially set his sights on shooting the movie in various places in India, but the team ran into a “lot of bureaucracy” and finally settled on Morocco, where Scorsese had shot The Last Temptation of Christ.

    Using the Northern Sahara Desert and Atlas Mountains, along with specially constructed sets – to depict the Dalai Lama’s winter and summer palaces, the Potala Palace and the Norbulingka, and the streets of Tibet’s capital Lhasa – the crew painstakingly created a convincing illusion of Tibet in Morocco.

    Hundreds of Tibetans, including monks from the Dalai Lama’s Namgyal Monastery and performers from the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala, traveled to Morocco, working alongside a multilingual crew who hailed from more than half-a-dozen nations.

    Tencho Gyatso, the President of the International Campaign for Tibet, presents a Tibetan ceremonial white silk scarf to Martin Scorsese at the screening of Kundun at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on June 6, 2025. Gyatso, who is the Dalai Lama’s niece, also portrayed the Tibetan spiritual leader’s mother, her own grandmother, in Kundun.
    Tencho Gyatso, the President of the International Campaign for Tibet, presents a Tibetan ceremonial white silk scarf to Martin Scorsese at the screening of Kundun at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on June 6, 2025. Gyatso, who is the Dalai Lama’s niece, also portrayed the Tibetan spiritual leader’s mother, her own grandmother, in Kundun.
    (Sonam Zoksang)

    “We were dealing with seven languages on set – Tibetan, English, French, Italian, (Hindi), Arabic, and Berber – just to say ‘action.’ But once we got one word down, we figured the rest out,” Scorsese recalled, drawing laughter from the audience at the screening.

    The screening at Tribeca marks one of the first events on the Compassion Rising World Tour — a global movement launched by the Washington-based advocacy group International Campaign for Tibet to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday and his vision of a more compassionate world.

    “As the Dalai Lama approaches his 90th birthday, we are not just celebrating a life — we are celebrating a force of compassion that has touched every corner of the world,” said Tencho Gyatso, president of the International Campaign for Tibet. “His message is a call to awaken the best in humanity: courage without anger, strength without violence, and love without limits. This global tribute is our collective effort to carry that light forward.”

    Filmmaker Martin Scorsese and the Dalai Lama pose with the
    Filmmaker Martin Scorsese and the Dalai Lama pose with the “Light of Truth” award before ceremonies for the International Campaign for Tibet’s annual Light of Truth award in New York, April 30, 1998. Scorsese received the award from the Dalai Lama for his film “Kundun.”
    (Bebeto Matthews/AP)

    Gyatso – who is the Dalai Lama’s niece and had portrayed his late mother, Gyalyum Chenmo, or her own grandmother in the film – told RFA the event was special as it kicks off the 30-day countdown to the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday on July 6, 2025, and launches the 2025 Year of Compassion in honor of the Dalai Lama’s storied life and achievements.

    Many other original cast members, including Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong and Gyurme Tethong who played two of the three actors who portrayed the Dalai Lama at different ages in the film, were also present at the screening.

    The making of Kundun was as much a “spiritual act” for the Tibetan cast members, advisors, artisans and crew members, as it was for Scorsese himself, the director said.

    “They really weren’t acting; they were really being, they were existing in the film,” he said. “Whenever I was shooting at a 100 degrees in the heat and troubled, I’d look up and I’d see them and they grounded me and re-inspired me every day. Their devotion to their culture, keeping the culture alive after their country had been taken away from them is overwhelming.”

    Martin Scorsese, center, with Jane Rosenthal of Tribeca Enterprises, left, and actor Michael Imperioli, at the screening of Scorsese’s Kundun at the Tribeca Festival in New York, June 6, 2025.
    Martin Scorsese, center, with Jane Rosenthal of Tribeca Enterprises, left, and actor Michael Imperioli, at the screening of Scorsese’s Kundun at the Tribeca Festival in New York, June 6, 2025.
    (Tenzin Pema/RFA)

    Scorsese reflected on the experience of filming with Tibetans who were non-professional actors and a crew that spoke a myriad languages in a country with a culture that was far-removed from the one being filmed about.

    “It was stunning. We were making a film about Buddhism and Buddhists in a Muslim country directed by a Catholic. I mean, basically, we all worked in harmony because we had a common goal, which made our major cultural differences beside the point,” he said.

    For Scorsese, the film remains deeply personal.

    Shortly after its completion, his mother passed away and his daughter Francesca was born.

    “Out of Kundun came our wonderful daughter Francesca,” he said. “It’s a very, very personal, very, very special project for me. And I hope that the generosity of spirit that we shared is evident in the picture itself when you see it.”

    Edited by Mat Pennington.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Propaganda on the Big Screen: Tibet Twisted at Nepalese Film Festival

    Once again the Nepali political and cultural establishment is appeasing China, to the cost of Tibet and its just cause. The Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival will May 29th be screening (for free) a series of Chinese propaganda films under the banner of ‘Xizang (sic) Panorama’. The title is reflective of the purpose of these works – glossy films on Tibetan landscapes and wildlife that push the lie that Tibetans, the environment and its ecology are doing wonderfully under the ‘care’ of Chinese occupation. Cynical fabrications and deceptions that seek to manipulate and peddle disinformation.

    Image: archivenet

    The film above features an ’emancipated Tibetan serf’ now where have we had that nonsense before? Ah yes! China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs!

    Then we have another work which bathes in the claimed paradise of a Tibet under Chinese rule.

    Image: archivenet

    An opposition is rightly growing to oppose the screening of this crude propaganda and we have written to two of Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival Advisory Board-Members about the serious and genuine concerns raised. One the secretary for the England-based Mount Everest Foundation, the other individual is an advisor with Machik a Washington DC located aid organization that assists Tibetans.

    Our letters may be read here: https://tibettruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/lettertomef.pdf and .. https://tibettruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/lettertomachik.pdf

    This post was originally published on Digital Activism In Support Of Tibetan Independence.

  • 30 years on, rights groups press China for word of Tibet’s missing Panchen Lama

    The Tibetan government-in-exile and rights groups have called on China to free the Panchen Lama, the second-highest spiritual leader in the largest sect of Tibetan Buddhism, who was kidnapped 30 years ago and has remained missing ever since.

    “At just six years old, he was abducted by Chinese authorities — an act that remains one of the starkest examples of China’s grave human rights violations,” Tenzin Lekshay, spokesperson for the Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan exile government, known as the Central Tibetan Administration, told Radio Free Asia.

    “We urgently call on the Chinese government to reveal the Panchen Lama’s whereabouts and ensure his well-being. As a spiritual leader and as a human being, he has the fundamental right to live freely and fulfill his spiritual responsibilities without fear or restriction,” Lekshay said.

    On May 17, 1995, just days after the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, officially recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama, Beijing abducted the then-6-year-old boy with his family and teacher.

    Their whereabouts have remained unknown, despite repeated calls by global leaders for China to disclose information about the fate of the Panchen Lama who turned 36 last month.

    “30 years ago China disappeared a 6-year old boy because he represented freedom to Tibetan Buddhists facing brutal oppression. Today, we call for this horrible injustice to end and for China to free Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama,” said Asif Mahmood, Commissioner at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

    Succession of the Dalai Lama

    Rights groups say the Panchen Lama’s continued disappearance and China’s installation of another boy, Gyaltsen (in Chinese, Gyaincain) Norbu, in his place, highlights Beijing’s plan to control the succession of the Dalai Lama, given the two lamas have historically recognized the other’s successive reincarnations and served as the other’s teacher.

    “The Chinese government kidnapped a 6-year-old and his family and have disappeared them for 30 years to control the selection of the next Dalai Lama and thus Tibetan Buddhism itself,” said Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch.

    Activists and members of the Tibetan Women's Association (Central) living in exile, take part in a protest against the disappearance of 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, in New Delhi on May 17, 2023.
    Activists and members of the Tibetan Women’s Association (Central) living in exile, take part in a protest against the disappearance of 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, in New Delhi on May 17, 2023.
    (Sajjad Hussain/AFP)

    China says it can appoint the successor under Chinese law. In 2007, it decreed that the Chinese government would begin overseeing the recognition of all reincarnate Tibetan lamas, or “living Buddhas,” including the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama, for which China plans to use its own Beijing-appointed Panchen Lama to endorse.

    “As the current 14th Dalai Lama will celebrate his 90th birthday on July 6, the question of his succession — and the future of Tibetan Buddhism and the Tibetan people — is becoming increasingly urgent,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

    The Dalai Lama has said in a new book, that his reincarnation will be born in the “free world,” which he described as outside China.

    Experts say China’s appointment of Gyaincain Norbu as Panchen Lama underscores Beijing’s attempts to not only interfere in the selection of the next Dalai Lama, but also to project its soft power across Buddhist nations worldwide and gain control and legitimacy among Tibetans, both inside Tibet and in exile.

    “Abductions, surveillance, imprisonments and torture are standard tactics in China’s playbook of religious persecution,” said USCIRF’s Maureen Ferguson. She urged the U.S. Congress to prioritize religious freedom and ban any paid lobbying in the U.S. on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

    Cultural and religious suppression

    China annexed Tibet in the early 1950s and has since governed the territory with an oppressively heavy-hand while seeking to suppress expressions of their Buddhist faith, and erase Tibetan culture and language.

    “At a time when Chinese authorities are intensifying efforts to annihilate Tibetan culture and identity, the absence of the Panchen Lama is deeply felt. The 10th Panchen Lama played a vital role in safeguarding the Tibetan language, religion, and cultural heritage under Chinese rule,” said the exile government spokesperson Lekshay, referring to the previous Panchen Lama.

    As a vocal critic of Chinese government policies in Tibet and their impact on Tibetan culture and language, the 10th Panchen Lama was subjected to house arrest in the 1960s and subsequent imprisonment for more than a decade, and torture in prison. He died in 1989 under mysterious circumstances.

    One of the charges against him was that he had written, in 1962, a 70,000-character petition describing the destruction of Tibetan monasteries and suppression of the Tibetan people during and after the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950. The document had remained secret until obtained by Tibet scholar Robert Barnett, who revealed that Chinese leader Mao Zedong had condemned it as a “poisoned arrow shot at the party.”

    “His (the 10th Panchen Lama’s) voice and vision are profoundly missed in today’s Tibet,” Lekshay said.

    Edited by Mat Pennington.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • India slams China’s renaming of places in its territory as ‘vain and preposterous’

    India on Wednesday rejected China’s renaming of 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh as a “vain and preposterous” move, saying its northeastern border state, which Beijing claims is part of Zangnan or southern Tibet, remains an “integral and inalienable” part of the country.

    On Sunday, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs released its fifth batch of “standardized” names for over 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh – including mountains, mountain passes, rivers, residential areas, and a lake – in its latest attempt to bolster its claim over the territory that Beijing claims is Chinese territory and part of historical Tibet.

    “We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.

    “Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically. Creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India,” Jaiswal added.

    China’s latest move to rename places in the Indian border state comes despite recent attempts by both nations to improve diplomatic ties, after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia last October shortly after their governments reached an agreement over a disputed area along their shared border.

    That came after prolonged tensions, when thousands of Indian and Chinese troops faced off in June 2020 at three or four locations in the western Himalayas. India accused Beijing’s forces of intruding into Indian territory, although China denied it.

    The two countries fought a border war in 1962, and China has mounted a long-standing campaign to assert its claim over areas held by India.

    In 2017, China released its first list of standardized names for six places. Thereafter, it has carried out three more such renaming attempts, with new names for 15 places released in 2021, for 11 places in 2023, and 30 places in 2024.

    In response to India’s condemnation of China’s latest move, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the Chinese government’s efforts to “standardize” the names of certain places in the region “is fully within China’s sovereignty.”

    “The Zangnan region belongs to China,” Lin said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

    India and China have made competing claims on territory along the disputed 1,130-kilometer (700-mile) border, known as the McMahon Line, between Tibet and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

    India recognizes the McMahon Line, a boundary line drawn between Tibet and British India as agreed during the Simla Convention in 1914, as the international border. China, on the other hand, maintains that the boundary with India has never been delimited and claims areas south of the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh as southern Tibet.

    An Indian Army soldier stands guard at a post in Tawang near the Line of Actual Control with China in the northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, Oct. 20, 2021.
    An Indian Army soldier stands guard at a post in Tawang near the Line of Actual Control with China in the northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, Oct. 20, 2021.
    (Money Sharma/AFP)

    Sriparna Pathak, professor of China studies at the O.P. Jindal Global University in Haryana, India, and a former consultant at India’s foreign ministry, characterized China’s effort to change names as “cartographic aggression” – an attempt to boost its claims and normalize its occupation of regions it claims as its own.

    Kalpit Mankikar, fellow for China Studies at the New Delhi, India-based Observer Research Foundation, highlighted China’s recent attempts to push its allies to use “Xizang,” instead of Tibet, to refer to the formerly independent country it annexed in 1950.

    He said it is another example of Beijing’s strategy to rename places and ensure their consistent usage to erase Tibetan identity and further its narrative that Tibet has always been a part of China.

    “This has been the fifth time that China has renamed places in Arunachal. And this is also part of the larger scheme of things, where it calls Tibet ‘Xizang’… so this is a long, long-drawn strategy,” Manikar said.

    Edited by Mat Pennington.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Devotion and defiance: Highlights from RFA Tibetan

    For nearly three decades, Radio Free Asia has provided critical Tibet coverage, serving as an information lifeline for Tibetan audiences living under China’s authoritarian rule and connecting them to Tibetans in exile – and all the while offering a rare window into life in the highly restricted region.

    Through shortwave radio and digital platforms, RFA Tibetan has reported epochal moments in the history of modern Tibet.

    It recorded first-hand accounts of the widespread protests in Tibet in 2008 and the subsequent wave of self-immolations. RFA documented the Dalai Lama’s historic voluntary devolution of his temporal powers in 2011 and transfer of it to the democratically elected leader of Tibet’s exile government, or the Central Tibetan Administration.

    Audiences in Tibet have secretly accessed RFA broadcasts at great peril to their own lives. They have contended with China’s sophisticated censorship apparatus, deliberate signal jamming, and the risk of prison.

    Tibetan monks listen to a Radio Free Asia broadcast as they march to protest China's hosting of the Olympic Games in Takipur, outside Dharamsala, India, March 11, 2008.
    Tibetan monks listen to a Radio Free Asia broadcast as they march to protest China’s hosting of the Olympic Games in Takipur, outside Dharamsala, India, March 11, 2008.
    (Ashwini Bhatia/AP)

    RFA journalists and their in-country sources – partnerships of information-sharing nurtured over many years – have also risked their personal safety. They have shed light on under-reported events on Tibet and countered Chinese propaganda. They have exposed the impact of China’s assimilationist policies, including its efforts to wipe out Tibetan religious, cultural, and linguistic identity.

    RFA Tibetan has countered that trend through daily broadcasts in three different Tibetan dialects: Ukay, Khamkay, and Amkay. It has been a key source of information on Tibet for policymakers, governments, legislatures and rights groups.

    On the 25th anniversary of RFA, Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, had this to say about the importance of the broadcasts:

    I very much appreciate the work (of RFA). The world needs knowledge of what is really happening on this planet, particularly those areas where there are restrictions in information, and here, Radio Free Asia is really very, very useful.

    So now, firstly, I want to thank those people who worked for that … Your work is very relevant to today’s world, especially in areas where (there is) no free information available.

    Dalai Lama

    Video: New York City arrival for the Dalai Lama, Tibetan spiritual leader

    Coverage of the Dalai Lama’s teachings and activities

    Since it began broadcasting, RFA has offered extensive coverage of the Dalai Lama. That has featured exclusive interviews and provided our audiences unfiltered access to the Tibetan spiritual leader’s teachings, public addresses, global travels, and engagements with world leaders. This is information that Beijing has sought to censor in Tibet, while punishing those found accessing it.

    RFA has reported the Chinese government’s persecution of Tibetans who simply possess images of the Dalai Lama. There have been arbitrary detentions, torture, and lengthy prison sentences handed to Tibetans caught sharing or listening to his teachings, displaying his photograph, or celebrating his birthday.

    RFA has tracked the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to obstruct the recognition of Buddhist reincarnate lamas and to interfere in the Dalai Lama’s succession – while publishing the Dalai Lama’s statements to counter that: that he will be reborn in a free world, outside of Chinese control; that he rejects any Chinese government claims to authority over the reincarnation process.

    A teacher helps a student to write the alphabet in a first-grade class at the Shangri-La Key Boarding School during a media-organized tour in Dabpa county, Kardze Prefecture, Sichuan province, China, Sept. 5, 2023.
    A teacher helps a student to write the alphabet in a first-grade class at the Shangri-La Key Boarding School during a media-organized tour in Dabpa county, Kardze Prefecture, Sichuan province, China, Sept. 5, 2023.
    (Andy Wong/AP)

    Religious and linguistic persecution in Tibet

    RFA has meticulously documented China’s systematic efforts to erode Tibetan cultural identity, where children and monks as young as five are being removed from Tibetan-language schools and are forcefully admitted in Chinese boarding schools. RFA journalists have revealed how new educational policies mandating Mandarin as the primary language of instruction have effectively marginalized the Tibetan language in Tibet.

    RFA has exposed the Chinese government’s intensifying control over Tibetan monasteries through new administrative regulations and forced closures. RFA has detailed China’s efforts to accelerate the Sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism, where monastic education requires “patriotic education” and legal study.

    Population caps in Buddhist academies such as Larung Gar have forced thousands of monks and nuns to disrobe, and admission criteria now include loyalty tests to the Chinese Communist Party. RFA reports have revealed the government’s strategy of controlling religious institutions from within while publicly claiming religious freedom.

    Tibetan women walk past Chinese paramilitary police on a street in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, March 27, 2008.
    Tibetan women walk past Chinese paramilitary police on a street in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, March 27, 2008.
    (Andy Wong/AP)

    2008 protests in Tibet and self immolations

    In 2008, RFA was the first media outlet to break the news of the mass protests in Lhasa that quickly spread across the Tibetan plateau. RFA journalists provided rare, source-based coverage as Tibetans rose up to protest Chinese oppression in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics.

    According to official Chinese state media, over 150 incidents occurred between March 10-25, 2008, in Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan provinces.

    While Chinese state media attempted to portray the events as isolated riots, RFA documented the geographic breadth of the demonstrations, their peaceful origins, and the subsequent harsh crackdown that led to numerous deaths, thousands of detentions, and the most severe restriction of movement and communication in Tibet in decades.

    Tsezung Kyab, 27, self-immolates on Feb. 25, 2013, at Shitsang Monastery in Luchu region of eastern Tibet.
    Tsezung Kyab, 27, self-immolates on Feb. 25, 2013, at Shitsang Monastery in Luchu region of eastern Tibet.
    (RFA Tibetan)

    Beginning in 2009, RFA also documented a wave of self-immolations across Tibet, with the first monk setting himself alight in February 2009, followed by a dramatic escalation after 2011.

    To date, over 157 self-immolations have been confirmed inside Tibet and in exile communities, with RFA carefully verifying each case. This reporting has preserved the final statements of many self-immolators, revealing their consistent demands for freedom, the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet, and an end to Chinese repression.

    These acts of ultimate protest involved Tibetans from all walks of life—monks, nuns, students, nomads, farmers, and parents—ranging from teenagers to people in their 80s, though the majority were young monks between 18-30 years old.

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, RFA provided rare insights into the situation inside Tibet, reporting on lockdown conditions and government prioritization of political stability over public health.

    RFA coverage of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, as well as the recent 2025 Dingri earthquake, highlighted both the devastation in Tibetan areas, challenged Chinese government narratives, and shed light on the remarkable community-led voluntary response that outpaced official relief efforts.

    Video: Former Atsok monastery site completely submerged

    Environmental and human impact of unchecked development

    RFA’s investigative reporting has exposed the environmental and cultural devastation resulting from China’s aggressive development policies in Tibet, including the submersion of the historic Atsok Monastery due to a dam expansion.

    RFA also broke the story of the recent Dege protests in 2024, where hundreds demonstrated against the planned construction of a massive dam on the Drichu River that would submerge at least six ancient monasteries and force the relocation of at least two villages. RFA revealed how Chinese authorities arrested hundreds of protesters in February 2024, including monks and local residents, with many facing beatings and interrogation.

    Video: A timeline of the Dege protests against the proposed dam construction

    RFA has revealed the devastating impact of mining on Tibet’s fragile ecosystem and the local communities dependent on these resources. The coverage of China’s massive forced resettlement programs has shown how more than two million Tibetan nomads have been forcibly relocated from their ancestral grasslands into urban settlements, destroying traditional sustainable livelihoods and creating new social problems while clearing land for resource extraction.

    Video: Tibetans in 26 countries vote for leader of exiled government

    Democratic government-in-exile

    RFA has chronicled the remarkable development of Tibetan democracy-in-exile, from the first direct elections of the Kalon Tripa to the most recent 2021 elections for Sikyong – the political leader of the Central Tibetan Administration. Following the Dalai Lama’s devolution of political power in 2011, RFA documented the historic first democratic transfer of leadership to Harvard-educated legal scholar Lobsang Sangay, who served two terms.

    RFA reporting on the 2021 elections captured the vibrant democratic process that elevated Penpa Tsering to the Sikyong position, highlighting candidate debates, unprecedented voter participation across the global diaspora, and the peaceful transition of power.

    RFA also provided in-depth reporting on Sino-Tibet talks that sought to negotiate prospects of “genuine” autonomy for Tibet under China as per the Central Tibetan Administration’s Middle Way Approach – which urges greater cultural and religious freedoms guaranteed for ethnic minorities under provisions of China’s constitution.

    Nine rounds of formal discussions later, the talks ground to a halt in 2010 after China rejected the proposals although there was no call from the Tibetan side for independence. Foreign governments, including the U.S., have urged Beijing to resume dialogue without preconditions.

    Video: Last surviving CIA officer trained Tibetan fighters at Camp Hale

    Stories of Tibetan resilience, defiance, and hope

    Throughout it all, RFA has highlighted stories of Tibetan resilience, resistance, and achievement. RFA has profiled artists preserving traditional music despite restrictions on cultural expression; young entrepreneurs building sustainable businesses that honor Tibetan craftsmanship; athletes overcoming political obstacles to compete internationally, and scholars working diligently to digitize ancient texts at risk of being lost forever.

    RFA’s coverage has celebrated the Tibetan spirit and determination to thrive against all odds, maintaining cultural identity through innovation and adaptation in both Tibet and exile communities worldwide.

    Edited by Kalden Lodoe, Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The story of one of Buddhism’s most revered figures, long missing, explained

    The young boy who was abducted as a 6-year-old turned 36 on Friday.

    What he does, where he lives or even if he’s still alive isn’t known, thanks to the reticence of the Chinese government, which kidnapped him along with his family and his teacher 30 years ago.

    Beijing leaders, ever wary of potential rivals for the Communist Party’s authority, viewed the boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as a possible threat.

    Days earlier the Dalai Lama had named him the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest spiritual leader in the largest sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

    Tibetans have long marked his birthday with celebrations held in absentia, and reiterated long-standing requests to Beijing to reveal Gedhun Choekyi Nyima’s fate.

    The Panchen Lama’s abduction illustrates the sensitivity of Chinese authorities to other prominent religious figures amid their effort to control Tibetans by suppressing expressions of their Buddhist faith.

    The fight over the 11th Panchen Lama is seen as a likely precursor to the battle over who will succeed the 14th Dalai Lama, who turns 90 this year.

    China, always wary of opposition to its authority, particularly in the restive Tibetan region, says it can appoint the successor under Chinese law. But the Dalai Lama said, in a new book, that his reincarnation will be born in the “free world,” which he described as outside China.

    Tibetan Buddhists believe the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama are reincarnated when they die, and that they have the right to select the religious leaders based on their belief in the principle of rebirth.

    A Tibetan monk holds a sign board next to a poster of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama recognised by the Dalai Lama, at a monastery after a sit-in protest against the visit of Chinese President Li Keqiang at Majnu Ka Tila, a Tibetan refugee camp, in New Delhi May 20, 2013. (Mansi Thapliyal/Reuters)
    A Tibetan monk holds a sign board next to a poster of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama recognised by the Dalai Lama, at a monastery after a sit-in protest against the visit of Chinese President Li Keqiang at Majnu Ka Tila, a Tibetan refugee camp, in New Delhi May 20, 2013. (Mansi Thapliyal/Reuters)

    Who is the Panchen Lama?

    The word “Panchen” is based on a Sanskrit word for “Great Scholar.” Traditionally the Panchen Lama has played a leading role in Tibetan Buddhist scholarship as the leader of the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet, which has been controlled by China since 1951.

    Buddhists believe that the Dalai Lama is a physical representation of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of compassion, and the Panchen Lama of Amitabha, the Buddha of infinite light.

    The two lamas share a special spiritual relationship, with each recognizing the other’s successive reincarnations and serving as the other’s teacher.

    Tibetan Buddhists believe that the reincarnations of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama are revealed through a series of tests as judged by prominent religious leaders.

    The Panchen Lama’s most important responsibility includes finding and recognizing the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama in the event of his passing, one reason why China wants a Panchen Lama under its control.

    What happened to the Panchen Lama?

    On May 14, 1995, the Dalai Lama recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the Panchen Lama, the 11th reincarnation of his predecessor, who passed away in 1989 at the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse.

    This angered Chinese authorities, who rejected the choice.

    Three days later the boy, his family and his teacher were abducted. They have been missing ever since.

    For 30 years, Tibetans, global leaders, and rights groups have called on the Chinese government to reveal their whereabouts, to no avail.

    Tibetan exiles hold candles and wear masks of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, during a protest ahead of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to India, in New Delhi May 17, 2013. (Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)
    Tibetan exiles hold candles and wear masks of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, during a protest ahead of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to India, in New Delhi May 17, 2013. (Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)

    Who is the Beijing-appointed Panchen Lama?

    Shortly after the abduction of the Dalai Lama-appointed Panchen Lama, Beijing installed another boy, Gyaltsen (in Chinese, Gyaincain) Norbu, as their own candidate in his place.

    However, the Chinese government-appointed Panchen Lama remains unpopular with Tibetans both in exile and at home and is perceived as a “political tool” for Beijing.

    Ordinary Tibetans and monks in monasteries traditionally loyal to the Dalai Lama have been reluctant to acknowledge or receive him, and during his visits to Tibet, Beijing has in the past handed out small monetary incentives for people who receive his blessing.

    Significance of the Panchen Lama’s role

    China’s appointment of Gyaincain Norbu as Panchen Lama underscores Beijing’s attempts to interfere in the selection of the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, and gain control and legitimacy among Tibetans, both inside Tibet and in exile, say experts.

    The move is also seen as China’s attempts to acquire more influence over Buddhism not only inside occasionally restive Tibet but throughout the Himalayan region. Beijing has increasingly looked to leverage religion as a soft power diplomacy tool across various Buddhist nations in South and Southeast Asia.

    In 2007, the Chinese government decreed that China would begin overseeing the recognition of all reincarnate Tibetan lamas, or “Living Buddhas,” including the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama, for which China plans to use its own Beijing-appointed Panchen Lama to sign off on.

    Edited by Kalden Lodoe, Jim Snyder, and Mat Pennington.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Tenzin Dickyi and Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Peppa Pig, children’s animated series, now in Tibetan language

    Peppa Pig – the beloved character in the children’s animated series – now speaks Tibetan.

    U.S.-based non-profit Tibet Fund on Wednesday announced the launch of the popular children’s cartoon show in the Tibetan language.

    The New York-based fund says the effort is aimed at strengthening Tibetan language education for young learners and preserving their cultural and linguistic identity – something that’s increasingly precarious within Tibet itself, where Chinese authorities require children to learn in Mandarin language instead.

    “Since Peppa Pig is already so well-loved, we’ve seen a lot of excitement among Tibetan children – unlike other cartoon characters I’ve dubbed in the past,” said Tenzin Choekyi, who voiced Peppa and at least seven other characters.

    Created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker, Peppa Pig first aired on British television in 2004, aimed at pre-schoolers. It has since become a global phenomenon as millions of children around the world took to the story of the female pig named Peppa and her life with her family and friends.

    Already available in 40 different languages, the Tibetan version of Peppa Pig is now available to watch on a dedicated YouTube channel, with new episodes set to be released each week.

    A total of 104 episodes over two series have been produced in Tibetan, after Tibet Fund obtained the license from the makers of Peppa Pig in 2024.

    “This is another milestone in our efforts to expand access to excellent quality Tibetan language content for young learners. I hope these videos make learning Tibetan a playful, joyful experience for Tibetan children,” said Bob Ankerson, president of the Tibet Fund.

    The Tibetan-language production of Peppa Pig is also a “heartfelt offering” to the Dalai Lama, who turns 90 later this year, and an effort to contribute to the Tibetan spiritual leader’s vision of preserving the Tibetan language and culture, Ankerson said.

    The Tibet Fund was founded in 1981 under the auspices of the Dalai Lama. It supports cultural preservation, education, health, and economic development programs for Tibetan communities, both in exile and inside Tibet.

    The fund works with the education department of the Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan exile government, known as the Central Tibetan Administration, and other organizations to publish children’s stories and make age-appropriate educational toys and series, said Tenzin Chodon, small grants officer at the fund.

    Relatively few children’s cartoons are available in the Tibetan language. Some members of the Tibetan community have dubbed popular cartoons like Tom and Jerry into Tibetan. There are also some cartoons based on traditional Tibetan stories like Aku Phagpa, or Uncle Pig, that can be seen on YouTube.

    Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • China detains Tibetans for sharing photos of late Buddhist leader

    Chinese authorities have interrogated and detained local Tibetans who posted photos and messages online mourning the loss of an influential Tibetan Buddhist leader said to have died while in custody in Vietnam, two sources from the region told Radio Free Asia.

    Officials in Gade county in Golog prefecture of Qinghai province have placed the monastery of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, who died aged 56, under round-the-clock police surveillance, conducting random inspections of locals’ phones to curb information sharing about his death, said the sources. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

    On April 3, Lung Ngon Monastery in Gade county confirmed that its abbot, Tulku Hungkar Dorje, had died on March 29 in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City. His followers say the Buddhist leader, who had been missing for over eight months, had fled to Vietnam to escape Chinese government persecution for his work as an educator and promoter of Tibetan language and culture.

    Since April 2, authorities from Golog prefecture and Gade county have been conducting inspections at the monastery and local village, imposing tight restrictions and forbidding public memorial services for the abbot, the sources told RFA.

    “After Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s death, local Tibetans have faced comprehensive restrictions. Many local residents who expressed condolences or shared photos of the Rinpoche on social media have been summoned for questioning by Chinese authorities,” said the first source.

    “Several Tibetans have also been detained, although detailed information cannot be obtained due to the strict controls and scrutiny,” he added.

    Tulku Hungkar Dorje was renowned as a philanthropist, educator and environmentalist, who promoted Tibetan language and culture. Followers and rights groups say he was a victim of transnational repression by China and have demanded the Vietnamese government allow an independent investigation into his death, which they say took place under suspicious circumstances after he was arrested in a joint operation led by local Vietnamese police and Chinese government agents.

    Vietnamese authorities have not publicly commented about the case.

    Monks from Lung Ngon Monastery who travelled with Chinese officials to Vietnam on April 5 to retrieve the Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s body were initially refused permission to view the body of their abbot and from participating in meetings held at the Chinese embassy in Vietnam, Tibetan rights groups said, citing sources familiar with the matter in the region.

    However, on April 10, the monks were allowed to view Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s face, but were not allowed to view the rest of his body, said Ju Tenkyong, director of the Amnye Machen Institute, a Dharamsala-based Tibetan center for advanced studies.

    Currently, there is no clear information about the status of Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s body, which is reportedly at Vinmec Central Park International Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Tenkyong said.

    Tibetans across the globe have united in their call for a thorough probe into the death of the respected Buddhist teacher, holding peaceful marches in several countries, including in India and the U.S., with demonstrations outside the Chinese and Vietnamese embassies and consulates in New Delhi and New York as well as candlelight vigils, prayer ceremonies, and formal petitions.

    Closure of Tibetan language schools

    Tulku Hungkar Dorje was a renowned Tibetan educator in a region where Chinese authorities are accused of stifling Tibetan language and culture and seeking to assimilate Tibetan children into the larger ethnic Han culture.

    The abbot founded several schools and vocational centers to provide free education for children of local nomadic families. These schools, which included the Hungkar Dorje Ethnic Vocational High School and Mayul Center for Studies, were reportedly shut down shortly after he went missing last year, sources told RFA.

    In another indication of the trend of Chinese authorities suppressing Tibetan education, a prominent school, also in Golog prefecture, announced Tuesday it was reopening but would not be teaching Tibetan language and culture as before.

    In July 2024, Chinese officials shut down Ragya Gangjong Sherig Norbuling School, a reputed Tibetan vocational school run by prominent Buddhist teacher, Jigme Gyaltsen, citing lack of compliance with provincial communist party standards. The closure sparked widespread concern among Tibetans at the time over Beijing’s efforts to eradicate Tibetan language and culture.

    On Tuesday, Gyaltsen told hundreds of monks, students, and local Tibetans at a public event that the vocational school will focus on providing practical training on technology and technical skills to enable Tibetans to keep pace with the current tech-driven era.

    Tibetan netizens welcomed the reopening and praised Gyaltsen as “invincible” and “indestructible.” One also expressed hope that the “glory of Tibetan language and script will shine as before.” However, sources told RFA the school will reopen without its Tibetan language and cultural departments, which it was famed for.

    Translated by Tenzin Norzom. Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.

    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Tibetan.

  • Vigil, prayer and protest demand probe into death of Tibetan Buddhist leader

    Tibetan Youth Congress activists protested outside the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi on Friday following the death of revered Tibetan religious leader Tulku Hungkar Dorje while in custody in Vietnam.

    In Dharamsala, dozens of Tibetan devotees marched in the streets for a candlelight prayer and vigil.

    Policemen detain exiled Tibetans protesting against the death of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, a revered Tibetan religious leader, while in custody in Vietnam, outside Chinese embassy in New Delhi, India, April 11, 2025.
    Policemen detain exiled Tibetans protesting against the death of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, a revered Tibetan religious leader, while in custody in Vietnam, outside Chinese embassy in New Delhi, India, April 11, 2025.
    (Manish Swarup/AP)

    The Tibetan government-in-exile called Tuesday for an independent investigation into the death.

    Human rights groups contend that Tulku Hungkar Dorje was arrested from his hotel room in Ho Chi Minh City in a joint operation by local police and Chinese government agents. He was reportedly transferred to Chinese custody where he mysteriously died the same day, they added.

    On April 3, Lung Ngon Monastery in Gade county (Gande in Chinese), Golog prefecture, Qinghai province, issued a statement confirming that its revered 56-year-old abbot, had died in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City due to poor health.

    The monastery’s statement gave no further details. His followers say he had been missing for eight months.

    “I am troubled to learn of the mysterious death of Tibetan religious leader Tulku Hungkar Dorjee in Vietnam,” said U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern in a post on X.

    The Massachusetts Democrat said the State Department “must urge Vietnam to do a full and transparent independent investigation.”

    Tulku Hungkar Dorje was a renowned religious teacher, philanthropist, and educator. He disappeared in August 2025 after he called at a public teaching in July for the preservation of Tibetan language and culture.

    Chinese authorities forbid the monastery and local residents from holding public memorial services and prayers for the abbot, underscoring the sensitivity of his death, three sources from the region told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday.

    The sources requested anonymity because they feared reprisals.

    Devotees of revered Tibetan Buddhist monk Tulku Hungkar Dorjee take part in a candlelight vigil in Dharamsala, India, April 11, 2025.
    Devotees of revered Tibetan Buddhist monk Tulku Hungkar Dorjee take part in a candlelight vigil in Dharamsala, India, April 11, 2025.
    (RFA Tibetan)
    Devotees of revered Tibetan Buddhist monk Tulku Hungkar Dorjee take part in a candlelight vigil in Dharamsala, India, April 11, 2025.
    Devotees of revered Tibetan Buddhist monk Tulku Hungkar Dorjee take part in a candlelight vigil in Dharamsala, India, April 11, 2025.
    (RFA Tibetan)
    Devotees of revered Tibetan Buddhist monk Tulku Hungkar Dorjee take part in a candlelight vigil in Dharamsala, India, April 11, 2025.
    Devotees of revered Tibetan Buddhist monk Tulku Hungkar Dorjee take part in a candlelight vigil in Dharamsala, India, April 11, 2025.
    (RFA Tibetan)


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Tibetan exile govt seeks probe into death of Tibetan Buddhist abbot in Vietnam

    The Tibetan government-in-exile called Tuesday for an independent investigation into the death of an influential Tibetan Buddhist leader said to have died in Vietnam, where he was reportedly in hiding from the Chinese government.

    On April 3, Lung Ngon Monastery in Gade county (Gande in Chinese), Golog prefecture, Qinghai province, issued a statement confirming that its abbot, Tulku Hungkar Dorje, 56, had died in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City on March 29 due to poor health. The monastery’s statement gave no further details. His followers say he had been missing for eight months.

    Tulku Hungkar Dorje, the 10th abbot of Lung Ngon Monastery in Gade County in Golog in Qinghai province, is seen here bestowing a Tibetan Buddhist empowerment, in July 2024 at Lung Ngon Monastery.
    Tulku Hungkar Dorje, the 10th abbot of Lung Ngon Monastery in Gade County in Golog in Qinghai province, is seen here bestowing a Tibetan Buddhist empowerment, in July 2024 at Lung Ngon Monastery.
    (Citizen photo)

    Chinese authorities’ forbid the monastery and local residents from holding public memorial services and prayers for the abbot, underscoring the sensitivity of his death, three sources from the region told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday. The sources requested anonymity because they feared reprisals.

    The Central Tibetan Administration – the exiled government based in Dharamsala, India – and human rights groups contend that Tulku Hungkar Dorje was arrested from his hotel room in Ho Chi Minh City on March 25 in a joint operation by local police and Chinese government agents. He was reportedly transferred to Chinese custody on March 28, where he mysteriously died the same day, they added.

    “(This raises) serious concerns about cross-border security cooperation, transnational repression, and human rights violations that demand immediate and thorough investigation, as well as accountability from both Vietnamese and Chinese authorities,” Tenzin Lekshay, spokesperson for the CTA, said.

    A young Tulku Hungkar Dorje, left, and his father Kusum Lingpa, right, a renowned Nyingma tradition Buddhist master, with the Dalai Lama in the early 1990s.
    A young Tulku Hungkar Dorje, left, and his father Kusum Lingpa, right, a renowned Nyingma tradition Buddhist master, with the Dalai Lama in the early 1990s.
    (Citizen photo)

    Tulku Hungkar Dorje was a renowned religious teacher, philanthropist, and educator. He disappeared last August after he called at a public teaching that July for the preservation of Tibetan language and culture.

    Rights groups say that Tulku Hungkar Dorje was also subjected to multiple rounds of interrogations before his disappearance after he did not fully comply with Beijing’s wish to host the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu, at his monastery.

    He was also accused of failing to implement Chinese government policies in schools he had established for children of Tibetan nomadic families in Golog, sources in the region said. He had also composed a long-life prayer for Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, whom China regards as a separatist, they added. (The Dalai Lama actually advocates for a “Middle Way” that accepts Tibet’s status as a part of China and urges greater cultural, religious, and language rights and freedoms under the provisions of China’s own constitution).

    Escape to Vietnam

    Faced with mounting pressure from the Chinese government, Tulku Hungkar Dorje fled to Vietnam, where he was reportedly in hiding since September 2024 until the Chinese authorities arrested him in late March with the help of the Vietnamese government, Tibetan rights groups said, citing sources familiar with the matter in the region.

    Lhamo Tashi, president of Dhomay Cholka Association, a non-governmental organization representing Tibetans from the historical Amdo region of Tibet, said: “Given the grave nature of these events, we call for an independent international investigation into the circumstances of Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s death. Such an investigation must be conducted transparently, in accordance with international legal standards, and with full access for neutral observers in Vietnam.”

    The Vietnamese and the Chinese government did not immediately respond to RFA’s requests for comment.

    Devotees at Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s teachings in July 2024.
    Devotees at Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s teachings in July 2024.
    (Citizen photo)

    Beyond Tibet, Tulku Hungkar Dorje has a large following of Buddhist disciples across the world, including in the United States, Russia, Australia, Canada, and Vietnam. In Vietnam, his followers at the Longchen Nyingthig Center issued a short note lamenting his passing.

    In recent years, there has been a growing interest in Tibetan Buddhism in Vietnam, with the establishment of multiple Dharma meditation centers, pagodas and even the world’s largest Tibetan Buddhist Prayer Wheel that is located at Don Duong District, Lam Dong Province in southern Vietnam.

    Experts say the visits by Tibetan Buddhist leaders in Vietnam are tolerated, sometimes even promoted. That’s an unusual exception to communist party intolerance of religious groups that are not state-sanctioned and is perhaps meant to counter criticism of that policy. However, experts say Vietnam avoids any publicity around Buddhist leaders who are under the scrutiny of the Chinese government to avoid diplomatic problems with Beijing.

    Suspicions of foul play

    Ju Tenkyong, director of the Amnye Machen Institute, a Dharamsala-based Tibetan center for advanced studies, said that earlier this month, five Tibetan Buddhist monks from Golog’s Lung Ngon Monastery and six Chinese government officials traveled to Vietnam to retrieve Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s body, which is reportedly at Vinmec Central Park International Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

    However, the five monks were barred from participating in an emergency meeting that was convened on April 5 at the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, where only the six Chinese officials were allowed, he said. Nor were they allowed to view the body, despite being initially told they could do so, he added.

    “The officials demanded that the monks sign documents confirming Tulku’s death, but the monks refused, saying they could not sign until they had seen his body. The fact that the body was not shown to the monks and disciples raises serious suspicions of foul play,” Tenkyong told RFA.

    Devotees at Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s teachings in 2018.
    Devotees at Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s teachings in 2018.
    (Citizen photo)

    The Tibetan government-in-exile also called for the body of Tulku Hungkar Dorje to be immediately handed over to Lung Ngon Monastery to allow for proper last rites to be performed as per Tibetan Buddhist traditions.

    “It is noteworthy that the suspicious death of Tulku Hungkar Dorje represents a troubling escalation in China’s systematic targeting of influential Tibetan figures who promote Tibetan culture, language, and identity,” said CTA spokesperson Lekshay. “His case highlights the ongoing suppression of human rights in Tibet, where people live under constant fear of arrest for the slightest expression of Tibetan identity.”

    Chinese authorities closely scrutinize prominent Tibetan Buddhist lamas and businessmen involved in philanthropy, as well as poets, writers, and religious teachers who advocate for the preservation and promotion of Tibetan language and culture. Such figures often face strict surveillance and are vulnerable to arbitrary detentions and long prison terms.

    Photos thrown to the ground

    The local sources who spoke to RFA on Wednesday said officials in Gade County, where the monastery is located, have instructed local township and village leaders to strictly prohibit Tibetans from sharing any images or information related to Tulku Hungkar Dorje online.

    “Initially, the government told Lung Ngon Monastery they could hold memorial services, but fearing large public gatherings, they suddenly imposed restrictions,” said one of the three sources.

    Since April 2, authorities from Golog Prefecture and Gade County have been jointly conducting strict inspections at the monastery and surrounding villages, with police patrolling these areas day and night, the sources said.

    “When the monastery school attempted to display Tulku’s photo and hold memorial services, Chinese officials arrived, threw the photos on the ground and forcibly prohibited any religious activities,” another of the sources said.

    In its 2025 Annual Report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended that both China and Vietnam be designated as a ‘Countries of Particular Concern’ for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.

    USCIRF said religious freedom in Vietnam remained poor in 2024, with the Vietnamese government continuing to wield its 2018 Law on Belief and Religion to strictly control religious affairs through state-sponsored religious organizations.

    Edited by Mat Pennington


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • RFA radio transmissions to China, Tibet halted

    Radio Free Asia announced this week that its radio broadcasts have been drastically cut as transmissions were halted from relay stations owned or leased by the U.S. government.

    RFA informed listeners on Thursday that shortwave radio broadcasts for its Mandarin, Tibetan and Lao language services have stopped entirely. The broadcaster, which is funded by the U.S. Congress, said a heavily reduced schedule remains in place for RFA Burmese, Khmer, Korean and Uyghur language services.

    The U.S. Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, which oversees RFA, abruptly terminated its federal grant on March 14. RFA has since been forced to furlough most of its staff, and filed a lawsuit last week, seeking to restore the funding on the grounds that the termination violated federal laws.

    The Trump administration has moved to slash news organizations funded by the U.S. Congress, including Voice of America and those funded through federal grants like RFA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, as part of its drive to reduce government spending.

    With its reducing staffing, RFA is still providing limited news updates on its website and social media in all nine languages it serves. The broadcaster was established in 1996, and sends news to countries and regions across Asia that have little or no press freedom, such as North Korea, China, Myanmar and Vietnam.

    Monitoring of radio frequencies previously used by RFA indicates that transmissions from shortwave and mediumwave relay stations owned or leased by USAGM have halted in the past week, meaning the hours of radio broadcasts have been slashed from 63 hours in March to just seven hours now.

    That is based on review of an online Remote Monitoring System that is maintained by USAGM that provides short audio samples of radio frequencies in regions served by the broadcasters it oversees.

    In late 2023, RFA had 126 hours of transmissions per day, before an earlier slew of shortwave cuts.

    The few remaining broadcast hours are based on transmissions from relay stations not owned or leased by the U.S. government.

    ‘Lost a lifeline to the truth’

    Audience research and anecdotal reporting by RFA suggests that over the past decade or more, use of shortwave and mediumwave radio has reduced but it remains an important option in regions where internet access is poor or subject to official censorship and scrutiny.

    “For millions living in North Korea and China’s Tibetan and Uyghur regions, RFA’s exclusive news and content can only be accessed through shortwave transmissions. Now those populations are being cut off, as are people in Myanmar who are reeling in the wake of a devastating earthquake when radio is a crucial medium,” said Rohit Mahajan, RFA’s chief communications officer.

    “They have lost a lifeline to the truth precisely at a moment when it’s needed most,” Mahajan said.

    RFA Burmese has received growing requests since the March 28 earthquake in central Myanmar for more radio broadcasts because of disruptions to the internet since the 7.7 magnitude temblor that killed more than 3,000 people.

    Kyaw Kyaw Aung, director of RFA Burmese, said that in the aftermath of the earthquake, the service had received requests for more shortwave broadcasts in Rakhine state, a conflict-hit area of western Myanmar which largely escaped the quake but has poor internet access.

    “Only a few people with access to the military-run, state-owned MRTV shortwave radio knew about the disaster after it happened, and the reporting was heavily censored,” said Kyaw Kyaw Aung, who has been anchoring a 15-minute RFA daily news broadcast since the earthquake. “Our followers were strongly requesting RFA radio.”


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Netizens demand China reinstate Tibetan language use in schools

    Hundreds of Tibetans have taken to social media to demand that China restore Tibetan language studies in schools, just days after Beijing released a white paper claiming that the right to use Tibetan language is guaranteed in Tibet.

    In the March 28 report about human rights in Tibet, China said the use of Tibetan language is widespread in government documents, public notices, media and schools, and that courses on both Mandarin and Tibetan are taught in primary and secondary schools in the region.

    But Tibetans say that isn’t true, and that China has actively moved to suppress use of the language — which they see as part of a wider plan to eliminate Tibetan cultural identity entirely.

    In 2020, for example, Mandarin was made the primary medium of instruction in all the primary and secondary schools in Tibet. It was called “bilingual” education but in reality Mandarin was used much more.

    Netizens (their names blurred for security reasons) demanding the Tibetan language to be reinstated as a requirement in college entrance exams, taught in schools, and used in workplaces on a Chinese social media platform, March 31, 2025.
    Netizens (their names blurred for security reasons) demanding the Tibetan language to be reinstated as a requirement in college entrance exams, taught in schools, and used in workplaces on a Chinese social media platform, March 31, 2025.
    (Composite image by RFA)

    In 2023, China started a Mandarin-only policy for students taking the annual college entrance exam, putting many ethnic minorities including Tibetan children -– who were previously allowed to take the test in their native language –- at a disadvantage.

    Even the title of the white paper — “Human Rights in Xizang in the New Era” — used the term Beijing-promoted term “Xizang” to refer to Tibet, another clear sign of attempts to assimilate Tibetans under Han Chinese culture.

    ‘Precious wealth’

    In reaction to the white paper, Tibetans left thousands of angry comments underneath several videos posted on the WeChat social media platform showing Chinese officials discussing the contents of the white paper.

    “Language and culture are the most precious wealth in the world…Restore Tibetan language in college entrance exams,” a netizen from Tibet posted.

    “No matter which nationality, as long as there is a language, it needs to be supported by the government and included in textbooks so that children can learn their mother tongue,” wrote another Tibetan.

    Students attend class at Nyingchi City Bayi District Middle School, during a government-organized tour, in Nyingchi, Tibet Autonomous Region, March 31, 2025.
    Students attend class at Nyingchi City Bayi District Middle School, during a government-organized tour, in Nyingchi, Tibet Autonomous Region, March 31, 2025.
    (Go Nakamura/Reuters)

    “The Tibetan script and language carries a long and rich history and culture of the Tibetan people,” said another post. “However, at present, Tibetan language is not seen in college entrance examinations and many workplaces do not use Tibetan language.”

    Outside experts also said that Beijing has actively tried to suppress the use of the Tibetan language.

    “The Chinese government has made sure that the Tibetan language remains practically useless in daily life, whether it is for education or to earn a living,” said Dawa Tsering, Director, Tibet Policy Institute, told Radio Free Asia.

    Government claims don’t square with reality

    The white paper focused on the use of Tibetan in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, or TAR, a Chinese government-designed administrative region that makes up part of the larger region that Tibetans refer to as “Greater Tibet,“ which includes chunks of Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai and Yunnan provinces.

    It claimed that there are 17 periodicals and 11 newspapers available in Tibetan language, and that government published 46.85 million copies of 8,794 Tibetan language books by the end of 2024.

    Officials from the State Council Information Office release the white paper titled ‘Human Rights in Tibet in the New Era’ in Lhasa, March 28, 2025.
    Officials from the State Council Information Office release the white paper titled ‘Human Rights in Tibet in the New Era’ in Lhasa, March 28, 2025.
    (Chinese government media)

    “The right to study and use the Tibetan language in public administration is guaranteed,” Karma Tsetan, chairman of the TAR government, said during the March 28 press conference.

    “The right to study and develop the Tibetan language is also guaranteed in education and in the standardization of important terms. Courses on both standard Chinese and Tibetan are taught in primary and secondary schools,” he said.

    But that doesn’t square with the reality on the ground.

    In July 2024, Chinese officials announced the closure of Gangjong Sherig Norling School, known for its education on Tibetan culture, philosophy and religion, in Golog county in the historic Amdo region of Tibet.

    That same month, monastic schools of Kirti Monastery in Ngaba county and Lhamo Kirti Monastery in Dzoge county were closed and a total of 1,600 young monks were forced to enroll in state-run residential schools that analysts say are aimed at making young Tibetans more loyal to the Chinese Communist Party than to Buddhism.

    And across Tibetan regions, children as young as 6 are required to enrol in boarding schools which now have military veterans posted as “solder instructors” to instill loyalty to the party.

    Restricted access

    China has severely restricted outsiders from entering Tibet, making it extremely difficult to describe the situation on the ground.

    But outside experts who have managed to visit Tibet say that Mandarin has become the dominant language.

    In December 2024, three members of the New Delhi-based think tank India Foundation, who went on a supervised visit to Tibet’s capital Lhasa, told Radio Free Asia that Tibetan now “plays second fiddle” to Mandarin and is treated as second language, with all main signages in Mandarin.

    China’s claims about human rights in Tibet does not reflect the reality on the ground, and urged Beijing to enable unfettered access for outside observers, independent researchers, said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch.

    “Over the past two decades, the Chinese government has implemented increasingly tightened control over Tibetans, as part of its wider efforts to forcibly assimilate minorities,” she said.

    “This high level of repression long documented by human rights organizations and media organizations in exile is in sharp contrast to the Chinese government’s claims about protecting human rights in Tibet.”

    The white paper titled
    The white paper titled “Human Rights in Tibet in the New Era” released by the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China on March 28, 2025, in English, Tibetan, and Mandarin language. March 28, 2025.
    (Chinese government media)

    The United States has pressed China to open up access to Tibet.

    On March 31, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was imposing visa restrictions against Chinese officials engaged in efforts to restrict American diplomats, journalists, and other international observers access to Tibet, even as China’s diplomats and journalists enjoy broad access in the United States.

    “I urge the Chinese Communist Party to immediately address the lack of reciprocity and allow diplomats, among others, unrestricted access to the TAR and other Tibetan areas,” Rubio said.

    A State Department spokesperson told RFA it cannot name the Chinese officials affected by the visa restrictions as U.S. law requires individual visa records to be kept confidential.

    “We continue to call on the Chinese government to protect the human rights of Tibetans, preserve their unique identity, and resume dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives, without preconditions, to work toward a negotiated solution and meaningful autonomy for Tibetans,” the State Department spokesperson told Radio Free Asia.

    Tenzin Lekshay, spokesperson of the Central Tibetan Administration — the Tibetan government-in-exile — in Dharamsala, India, welcomed the U.S. move, calling it “timely” as it comes just days after the Chinese government claimed it has made “all-round and historic progress” in ensuring human rights inside Tibet.

    “The Chinese government claimed that Tibetans in Tibet enjoy complete freedom, but unrestricted access for impartial international observers into Tibet will prove that’s not the case,” Lekshay told Radio Free Asia.

    Additional reporting by Tenzin Norzom and Dorjee Dolma. Edited by Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema and Dickey Kundol for RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Tibetan Buddhist leader missing for 8 months has died, sources say

    Chinese officials have confirmed the death of an influential Tibetan Buddhist leader who went missing eight months ago shortly after he publicly called for the preservation of Tibetan language and culture, two sources told Radio Free Asia.

    Tibetans inside Tibet took to social media platforms on Thursday to mourn the loss of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, 56. He was the 10th abbot of Lung Ngon Monastery in Gande County of Golog in Qinghai province. He was renowned as a philanthropist, educator and religious teacher.

    Tulku Hungkar Dorje is seen here in an undated photo.
    Tulku Hungkar Dorje is seen here in an undated photo.
    (Citizen photo)

    “As learned leaders depart like this, one after another, we are left behind like a flock of sheep without a shepherd,” wrote one Tibetan netizen.

    The sources, who live inside Tibet and spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity because of fears for their own safety, said that Chinese officials on Wednesday summoned seven monks from the Lung Ngon Monastery and informed them about Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s death. The officials provided no information about when or where he had died, nor the cause of his death, the sources said.

    Tulku Hungkar Dorje, whose title “Tulku” refers in Tibetan Buddhism to someone who has been reincarnated, disappeared shortly after a public teaching he gave on July 21, 2024.

    Chinese officials subsequently imposed strict restrictions on the monks of the monastery and local Tibetans, forbidding any public discussions about the disappearance and prohibiting the sharing of his teachings in audio or video format, the sources said.

    Fears for Tulku Hungkar Dorje deepened in December 2024 when a source told RFA Tibetan that Chinese authorities were detaining well-known Buddhist lamas from across Tibet for questioning and there were fears that he had died in Chinese custody.

    When the monks on Wednesday were informed of his passing, they were made to sign an official government document confirming his death, but the Chinese officials failed to disclose what had happened to the abbot’s remains, nor where he had been located during the months he had been missing, the sources said.

    Chinese authorities closely scrutinize prominent Tibetan Buddhist lamas and businessmen involved in philanthropy, as well as poets, writers, and religious teachers who advocate for the preservation and promotion of Tibetan language and culture.

    Such figures often face strict surveillance and are vulnerable to arbitrary detentions and long prison terms.

    In 2005, Tulku Hungkar Dorje founded the first Buddhist nunnery in Golog history and also established several schools and vocational centers of learning, including the Hungkar Dorje Ethnic Vocational High School and the Mayul Center of Studies, to provide free education to Tibetan children from local nomadic families, the two sources said.

    The sources said most of these schools were shut shortly after his disappearance, although one was believed to have been shut in 2021.

    Tulku Hungkar Dorje is seen here, in an undated photo, with dozens of Tibetan children from nomadic families who were provided free education at a school he established.
    Tulku Hungkar Dorje is seen here, in an undated photo, with dozens of Tibetan children from nomadic families who were provided free education at a school he established.
    (Citizen photo)

    The schools taught children Tibetan history and language, Chinese and English language, mathematics and moral education. They also offered vocational training in Thangka painting, Tibetan medicine, tailoring and carpet weaving.

    During a visit to the United States in 2012, Tulku Hungkar Dorje wrote: “Tibet has a rich history and culture that could benefit the entire world. It is the responsibility of each successive generation to preserve this ancient tradition of knowledge. We are united in motivation and action in enthusiastically preserving and spreading our culture.”

    He also spearheaded many welfare programs for local Tibetans, including free distribution of food, clothes, and medicine to thousands of Tibetan people, including monks, nuns and the aged, through the Gesar Shenpen Foundation, which he founded in 2004.

    His father, Padma Tumdag Dorje, also known as Orgyen Kusum Lingpa, was a master of the ancient Tibetan Buddhist sect of Nyingma, and was also reputed as dedicating his life to working for the benefit of others.

    Tulku Hungkar Dorje bestowing the Kalachakra initiation to hundreds of devotees at Dawu in Golog, Qinghai Province in July 2014.
    Tulku Hungkar Dorje bestowing the Kalachakra initiation to hundreds of devotees at Dawu in Golog, Qinghai Province in July 2014.
    (Citizen photo)

    Tibetans on social media mourn loss

    On Thursday, Tibetans inside Tibet took to social media platforms to mourn his loss and pen emotional tributes, recalling his contributions to preserving Tibetan culture, supporting thousands of underprivileged people and establishing private schools in Tibet.

    “At a time when the red wind blows strongly and frequently, the news that the brightness of your being, like the snow mountains, has dimmed fills us with great sadness,” wrote the Tibetan netizen cited earlier in this article.

    “As I heard about the passing of another person who wholeheartedly served the political and religious cause of Tibet, it pains (me) from the bottom of my heart,” wrote another.

    Others raised suspicions around the circumstances of his death.

    “How is it possible for an individual as strong as gold to have died just of sickness?” wrote a third Tibetan netizen.

    Born in 1969 to a nomadic family in Gande county, Tulku Hungkar Dorje grew up with five siblings and survived the Cultural Revolution in Tibetan under Mao Zedong in the 1960s and 1970s.

    After completing his monastic education from Lung Ngon Monastery from 1980 to 1989, he pursued further education at Drepung Monastery in southern India where he received the prestigious title of Rabjampa, or scholar. He then studied in the United States for a few years before assuming responsibility as the 10th abbot of Lung Ngon Monastery in 2002.

    Tulku Hungkar Dorje wrote several books, including “Tangkas in Golog: The Tangka Album of Lung Ngon Monastery” and “The Melodious Sound of the Laughter of the Vidyadharas of the Three Lineages.”

    RFA Tibetan journalists Tenzin Norzom and Tenzin Dhonyoe in Dharamsala, India contributed reporting. Edited by Mat Pennington.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema and Tenzin Tenkyong for RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The French Museum Displaying China’s Lie

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  • China deploys army veterans for military, political training in Tibetan schools

    China is placing army veterans as so-called “on-campus instructors” in schools across Tibet to impart military and political training to Tibetan children as young as 6, sources inside Tibet say, confirming state-run media reports about the new system.

    The move is a bid to instill loyalty to the Chinese government from a young age -– an initiative that experts say highlight an escalation in Beijing’s assimilation policies aimed at erasing Tibetan identity.

    State-run TV segments show Tibetan students marching in fatigues, raising the red Chinese flag and standing in formation while responding to commands from the instructors.

    Other footage shows children diving under their desks for air raid drills and evacuating down stairs with notebooks held over their heads for protection against falling objects.

    Military personnel are being deployed to schools in Lhasa, Chamdo, and Nagchu in the Tibet Autonomous Region, or TAR, Ngaba and Kyungchu counties in Sichuan province, Sangchu county in Gansu province as well as other regions in Qinghai province, the sources told RFA Tibetan.

    There, they are tasked with providing “patriotic education” and preparing Tibetan children for future military service, the sources said.

    Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force over 70 years ago. Ever since, Chinese authorities have maintained a tight grip on the region, restricting the Tibetan people’s peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity and use of the Tibetan language.

    A Chinese military veteran posted as an “on-campus instructor” at a state-run middle school in Sernye District in Nagchu, Tibet Autonomous Region, leads a flag hoisting ceremony, March 18, 2025.
    A Chinese military veteran posted as an “on-campus instructor” at a state-run middle school in Sernye District in Nagchu, Tibet Autonomous Region, leads a flag hoisting ceremony, March 18, 2025.
    (Chinese state media)

    “It’s no longer just about China swapping out Tibetan language in textbooks for Mandarin, the first source told Radio Free Asia, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

    “Now, they are sending military personnel and Chinese Communist Party cadres to schools across Tibet to provide ideological education to thoroughly change Tibetan children’s values, way of thinking, and overall mannerisms in order to build their loyalty to the party,” he said.

    Instilling ‘correct values’ in children

    In Nagchu, for example, 13 retired Han Chinese army veterans were installed as “on-campus instructors” at seven different schools, ranging from primary to middle school, to help instill “correct values” in children, local state-run media reported.

    At least such two video reports showed that during such training periods, instructors blew whistles in the early mornings to wake up the children and instill army style culture in schools. TV footage also showed instructors dressed in fatigues inspecting bunk beds to see if the beds are made properly.

    The new system seeks to “let national defense education take root from childhood” and to ready Tibetan children for future military service, in what authorities said creates a “new win-win situation for veterans’ services and youth ideological and political education,” state-run media reports said.

    “Usually, the Chinese Ministry of Education creates a list of primary and secondary national defense education demonstration schools,” Anushka Saxena, a research analyst at Bengaluru, India-based Takshashila Institution, told Radio Free Asia.

    “Such schools are those where the PLA feels it needs to inculcate a sense of unity” with the Communist Party’s cause, she said, referring to the People’s Liberation Army.

    “Hence, schools in Tibet become an important target, given the need to assimilate and have younger generations feel a sense of loyalty to the country and the military,” she said.

    Goal: Sinicization

    Experts said the proliferation of uniformed military personnel in various local Tibetan primary and middle schools is a direct result of the recently amended National Defense Education Law, which was passed by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, China’s top legislature, and came into effect in September 2024.

    Under the amendments, branches of the People’s Liberation Army will be stationed in colleges, universities and high schools across the country to boost a nationwide program of approved military education and physical training to prepare young people for recruitment, state news agency Xinhua reported at the time.

    “Together with other coercive means… this law is now being abused as an auxiliary tool to achieve the CCP’s – yet still elusive – goal of full Sinicization of Tibetans, by both militarizing and brainwashing the generation of young Tibetan who are coming of age in the current decade,” said Frank Lehberger, a Germany-based Sinologist and senior research fellow at Indian think tank Usanas Foundation, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

    China has long had a culture of military training in schools and universities, with Tibetan school children aged 8-16 forced to attend military training programs during vacation and Tibetan university students made to participate in military drills and training exercises.

    But the “on-campus instructor” system is a first, experts say.

    Chinese authorities chose Sernye district in Nagchu as the first pilot area in Tibet to implement the system, which they refer to as “…the innovative practice of integrating veterans’ management with school education.”

    ‘Reshaping children’s values and thought processes’

    This, experts say, is in line with goals outlined in China’s government work report for 2025, in which Premier Li Qiang said the government will draw up and implement a three-year action plan to strengthen education by adopting “integrated reforms and new approaches” in the “political education curriculum at all levels, from elementary school to university.”

    “These efforts at reshaping Tibetan children’s values and thought processes go beyond the classroom,” a second source from Tibet told RFA.

    Retired military veterans who will be posted as
    Retired military veterans who will be posted as “on-campus instructors” at seven schools in Sernye District in Nagchu, Tibet Autonomous Region, March 18, 2025.
    (Chinese state media)

    “These party cadres with extensive military experience enter students’ dormitories even after school hours to enforce Han Chinese ideologies and teach their social norms and conducts,” he said. “This is aimed at deconstructing Tibetan children’s existing thought patterns and cultural practices, which they have learned from their parents and traditions.”

    In Ngaba and Dzoge county in Sichuan province, for example, where Chinese authorities recently closed two monastic schools and forced young monks from these schools into state-administered boarding schools, sources say there is a greater emphasis on providing political education to Tibetan children.

    The closure of the two schools in July 2024 affected about 1600 students who were then forced to enrol in state-run boarding schools.

    “I’ve received essays written anonymously by Tibetan teachers from inside Tibet who have expressed their frustration at seeing the complete changes in school curriculum with heavy propaganda messages. This includes showing soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army in a heroic light,” said Tsewang Dorji, Research Fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute.

    The “on-campus instructors” in Tibetan schools serve multiple roles, including as national defense education counselors, behavioral norms instructors, and ideological and political lecturers, local Chinese state media reported.

    Some of the training they provide and activities they lead in the schools, include Chinese flag-raising march, singing of military songs before meals, and provision of political and ideological education, with an emphasis on stories that glorify the ‘Chinese nation’ and service to it, reports said.

    “The PLA finds relevance in cultivating soldiers from Tibet given Tibetan’s natural and habitual adjustment with climates of high altitude. When it comes to cultivating professionals capable of conducting mountain warfare against adversaries like India, Tibetans can be an important asset for the PLA,” Saxena said.

    Chinese state media also celebrated the success of the pilot project in Nagchu, saying more than 300 Tibetan students have applied to be “future military service volunteers.”

    Translated by Tenzin Norzom. Edited by Tenzin Pema and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Bhutan’s refers to Tibet as Beijing-preferred ‘Xizang,’ sparking pushback

    Bhutan became the latest nation to refer to Tibet as “Xizang,” prompting Tibetan politicians and advocates to urge Bhutan to stop using the term promoted by Beijing that they say contributes to China’s efforts to erase Tibetan identity.

    In a March 17 statement, Bhutan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade used the term “Xizang” to refer to the Tibet Autonomous Region, a Chinese government-designed administrative region that makes up only part of the larger region that Tibetans refer to as “Greater Tibet.”

    Bhutan’s statement — which pertained to a two-day cultural performance by Tibetan artists on March 18-19 at the Royal Institute of Management in Bhutan’s capital Thimphu — also referred to the Tibetan performers as a “Chinese cultural troupe” and the performance itself as a “Chinese cultural performance.”

    Tibetan leaders and activists say such language all serves to advance Beijing’s wider campaign to erase Tibet’s historical and cultural identity. In 2023, China formally adopted the term in all its official documents to refer to Tibet.

    A cultural performance by Tibetan artists from Tibet Autonomous Region at the Royal Institute of Management in Bhutan’s capital Thimphu on March 18, 2025.
    A cultural performance by Tibetan artists from Tibet Autonomous Region at the Royal Institute of Management in Bhutan’s capital Thimphu on March 18, 2025.
    (@China_Amb_India via X)

    China’s government policy in Tibet is simply “cultural genocide,” said Lobsang Yangtso, coordinator of Tibet Advocacy Alliance – India.

    “As a country committed to democracy and the rule of law, the Bhutanese government’s language choices have significant implications, and using the term ‘Xizang’ exacerbates China’s cultural genocide,” he said.

    On March 25, Tibetan activists, including Yangtso, delivered a letter of appeal at the Bhutanese Embassy in New Delhi, India. The letter was addressed to Bhutan’s Foreign Minister Lyonpo D.N. Dhungyel and signed by a coalition of 144 Tibet support organizations.

    Tibetan activists delivered a letter addressed to Bhutan’s Foreign Minister Lyonpo D.N. Dhungyel at the Bhutanese Embassy in New Delhi, India, March 25, 2025.
    Tibetan activists delivered a letter addressed to Bhutan’s Foreign Minister Lyonpo D.N. Dhungyel at the Bhutanese Embassy in New Delhi, India, March 25, 2025.
    (Tibet Advocacy Alliance-India)

    Tibet’s government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration, in Dharamsala, India, also pushed back.

    “Friendly expressions of cultural performances marked the beginning of the Chinese invasion of Tibet and I see similar patterns playing out in Bhutan,” said CTA Spokesperson Tenzin Lekshay. “It must remain cautious and we would like to request the government to refrain from using terms like Xizang.”

    The Bhutanese government did not immediately respond to Radio Free Asia’s request for a response.

    Spreading usage

    The usage of the “Xizang” has gradually seeped into international media reports, statements from several governments and even at museums.

    Nepal, Pakistan, and Vietnam have all issued official statements in the recent past using the Chinese-promoted term.

    “Whether it is due to an oversight or a formal policy decision, the appearance of the term ‘Xizang’ for ‘Tibet’ in an official statement… is worrisome,” said Bhuchung Tsering, head of the Research & Monitoring Unit at the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet.

    “If it is an oversight, then it needs correction,” Tsering said. “But if it is a policy decision, Bhutan is then becoming a prey to the Chinese Government’s political agenda for whatever gain that it might have been promised.”

    Meanwhile, several museums, including Musée Guimet and Musée du quai Branly in France and the British Museum in the UK, have also drawn criticism for removing the name Tibet in their exhibits for Tibetan artifacts.

    “The Chinese Communist Party has long understood the importance of names,” Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told Radio Free Asia.

    Bhutan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade used the term “Xizang” instead of Tibet in an official statement issued March 17, 2025.
    Bhutan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade used the term “Xizang” instead of Tibet in an official statement issued March 17, 2025.
    (Bhutan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)

    “By controlling verbiage, you can shift a narrative,” he said. “It’s part of the party’s broader pursuit of discourse power and one of its tools to justify its political oppression in places like Tibet.”

    “For all these reasons, Bhutan’s use of ‘Xizang’ is troubling,” he said.added.

    China’s growing regional influence

    Bhutan’s latest move suggests it is increasingly coming under Chinese influence at a time when Beijing is looking to expand its influence in South Asia, analysts said.

    “China attaches great importance to developing good-neighborly and friendly relations with Bhutan and is willing to work together to sustain traditional friendship, enhance exchanges and cooperation, and better benefit the peoples of both countries,” Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong said at the cultural event in Bhutan.

    Experts also believe Bhutan’s adoption of the term suggests the nation will likely make more concessions in the future to appease its more powerful neighbor.

    Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong sits with Bhutanese government officials at an event in Thimphu, Bhutan, where Tibetans artists performed.
    Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong sits with Bhutanese government officials at an event in Thimphu, Bhutan, where Tibetans artists performed.
    (China Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

    “It shows that China’s role and profile in Bhutan is increasing to an extent where Bhutan’s ability to resist Chinese advance is getting increasingly weakened,” said Harsh V. Pant, vice president of studies and foreign policy at New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation.

    “In some ways, it shows the growing profile of China in India’s periphery and this is something that India should be concerned about,” said Pant, who is also a professor of international relations at King’s College London.

    Border negotiations

    Bhutan and India both have border disputes with China, and are currently engaged in ongoing border negotiations amid China’s construction of hundreds of “border villages.”

    These villages serve both civilian and military purposes. They secure the border, contain some military infrastructure and allow for the resettlement of more Han Chinese, which changes the region’s demographic makeup.

    A 2023 report by U.K.-based Chatham House showed China had continued its “unsanctioned programme of settlement construction” across the contested border in the north of Bhutan.

    “Bhutan agreeing to Chinese demands on a range of issues is only going to grow from here,” Pant said.

    At the cultural event in Thimphu, Sonam Wangyel, secretary of Bhutan’s Ministry of Home Affairs, said the event serves as a “cultural bridge and bond of friendship” between Bhutan and China, and that Bhutan looks forward to “broader cultural exchanges and stronger ties of friendship” between the two nations.

    Tibetan students learn Tibetan writing in a first-grade class at the Shangri-La Key Boarding School during a media-organized tour in Dabpa county, Kardze Prefecture, Sichuan province, China on Sept. 5, 2023.
    Tibetan students learn Tibetan writing in a first-grade class at the Shangri-La Key Boarding School during a media-organized tour in Dabpa county, Kardze Prefecture, Sichuan province, China on Sept. 5, 2023.
    (Andy Wong/AP)

    Tibetans, however, expressed hope and confidence that Bhutan’s government will address the issue in a manner that takes into account the religious, cultural and historical ties they share with the Bhutanese people, most of whom are also Buddhist.

    “The Bhutanese people have a lengthy geographical, historical, spiritual, and social relationship with Tibet and the Tibetan people,” Tsering said. “I believe the Bhutanese Government can have principled engagement with China that does not affect its historical relationship with the Tibetan people.”

    In the March 25-dated letter by rights groups, activists wrote, “We respectfully call on the Bhutanese government to rectify its use of ‘Xizang,’ revert to the accurate name, Tibet, and halt any further use of ‘Xizang’ in all communications.”

    “This would demonstrate respect for the historical and cultural ties between Bhutan and Tibet, and uphold the importance of preserving Tibet’s unique identity.”

    Additional reporting by Tenzin Norzom and Dorjee Dolma. Edited by Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema and Dickey Kundol for RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Tibetans express concern about gutting of RFA, but say, ‘We still hear you’

    Celebratory Chinese media reports about the U.S. administration’s gutting of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America has sparked widespread concern among Tibetans living in Tibet who fear they will no longer have access to uncensored news in their own language, sources in the region said.

    But Tibetans say they are relieved to see that Radio Free Asia is still broadcasting into the region despite the March 15 termination of Congressionally-authorized federal grants that fund the editorially independent news service.

    “We still see you. We still hear you,” said one of the sources based in Tibet’s capital Lhasa on Thursday, just days after the abrupt cut to RFA’s funds forced the outlet to furlough much of its staff in its Washington headquarters.

    RFA Tibetan's Instagram video Reels page.
    RFA Tibetan’s Instagram video Reels page.
    (RFA)

    Chinese media and Beijing’s army of nationalistic ‘little pink’ commentators welcomed the news about RFA and VOA, with the state-owned Beijing Daily declaring that the “beacon of freedom has collapsed” and that “U.S. hegemony will eventually perish under global condemnation.”

    With the reduced staff, RFA’s nine language services — including Tibetan, Mandarin and Uyghur — are providing limited news updates via its website, social, and radio to regions across Asia with little or no press freedom, from North Korea and China to Cambodia and Myanmar.

    “I listen and follow RFA and I am relieved to see you are still working despite the funding cut and risk of closure,” a second source based in the Tibet Autonomous Region told RFA Tibetan.

    “I hope and pray that the (U.S.) administration reconsiders the decision and continues to fund your work,” the person said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

    Risking personal safety to listen

    Under Mao Zedong, Communist Chinese forces invaded and annexed Tibet in 1950. Ever since, Beijing has maintained a tight grip on Tibetan daily life, suppressing Tibetan culture, the language and Buddhist practices while trying to assimilate Tibetans into Han Chinese culture.

    In Tibet, RFA serves as a rare source of factual, timely news and information about domestic and international affairs as well as about the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who lives in northern India, and Tibetans abroad.

    Many Tibetans risk personal safety to secretly tune in to RFA and VOA and listen to these broadcasts, which the Chinese government has frequently jammed, according to former political prisoners, Tibetans, rights groups and foreign tourists.

    Chinese officials have also destroyed or confiscated hundreds of ‘illegal’ satellite dishes, with seizures common across the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Tibetan areas of Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces.

    Access to RFA Tibetan’s news website and social platforms are also blocked. However, some Tibetans use digital circumvention tools to get around China’s “Great Firewall” that censors and blocks access to many Western websites and news sources, including X, formerly known as Twitter.

    Getting caught listening to RFA or VOA or sharing information with foreign media can cause Tibetans to be arrested. Some have been sentenced to several years in jail.

    “Hundreds of thousands of Tibetans living in Tibet -– monks, nuns, nomads, farmers and other laypersons –- try every way possible to tune in to RFA and VOA,“ said former political prisoner Golog Jigme Gyatso, who was detained by Chinese officials several times for listening to and participating in discussions on RFA Tibetan.

    “Both these news American outlets play an essential role in filling a big information gap; that is why both have always been a thorn in the side of Communist China,” he said.

    A Tibetan child listens to a radio at Sera Monastery in Lhasa, Aug. 25, 2003.
    A Tibetan child listens to a radio at Sera Monastery in Lhasa, Aug. 25, 2003.
    (Guang Niu/Reuters)

    Chinese authorities often blast music on radio frequencies used by RFA to make it difficult for listeners to hear, said Gyatso, who is currently based in Zurich, Switzerland.

    They also plant informers and spies in Tibetans villages, schools and monasteries to find out who might be listening to these news programs, he said.

    “And now to hear that the two news outlets that serve as such an important medium of information inside Tibet is likely coming to an abrupt end is unthinkable and heartbreaking to say the least,” Gyatso said.

    In 2008, Gyatso helped make a documentary titled “Leaving Fear Behind,”which featured interviews with Tibetans in Tibet that highlighted the injustices they face under Chinese rule. He was subsequently jailed three times between 2008 and 2012 and brutally tortured by Chinese authorities before finally escaping Tibet in 2014.

    ‘Darkness will fall’

    Other former Tibetan political prisoners and activists also expressed concerns that RFA and VOA may cease operations, saying the services provide a lifeline of information to Tibetans in their own tongue.

    RFA Tibetan, for example, broadcasts news in three different dialects of Ukay, Amkay, and Khamkay.

    “If these media outlets are silenced, darkness will fall upon the minds of millions who, under authoritarian oppression, have depended solely on these voices for truth, freedom, and democracy, and their hopes will be dashed,” said Jamyang Jinpa, one of the monks who disrupted a government-controlled press tour and spoke to foreign journalists during a widely publicized protest against Chinese rule in April 2008.

    A banner showing Tibetan monks listening to the radio is seen at RFA headquarters in Washington, March 24, 2025.
    A banner showing Tibetan monks listening to the radio is seen at RFA headquarters in Washington, March 24, 2025.
    (Charlie Dharapak/RFA)

    Jinpa said he first heard on RFA’s Amdo-dialect broadcast that a group of international reporters had been invited to visit Labrang Tashikyil Monastery in Gansu province, and made preparations to protest before them.

    “Over the past several decades, these two media outlets have served as bridges between Tibetans inside and outside Tibet and made indelible contributions to the Tibetan people,” he said. “This will be confirmed by time itself.”

    ‘Act of resistance’

    RFA began its first broadcast into China in Mandarin on Sept. 29, 1996, and in Tibetan a few months later, on Dec. 2, 1996.

    It later expanded to nine languages, including Tibetan, Uyghur, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Khmer, Lao and Burmese.

    “When I was in Tibet in 2008 and 2011, I would hear Radio Free Asia Tibetan language service quietly being played in people’s homes at night,” said Nick Gulotta, a New York City who traveled to Tibet in 2008 and later in 2011.

    “Just listening to the news was an act of resistance and extreme personal risk,” he said. “But for Tibetans resisting occupation, listening to uncensored information in their language was everything.

    “Not only are these programs a lifeline for millions living under authoritarian regimes –- there are simply no other high quality media options for Americans that disseminate news in many of the languages offered by RFA and VOA,” Gulotta said.

    However, there are signs that the U.S. administration is scaling back shortwave radio transmissions. RFA has learned that some shortwave radio frequencies that had carried its programming have stopped operating in recent days.

    Most of RFA’s radio broadcasts are carried by transmitters run or leased by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees U.S. government-funded broadcasters.

    CTA urges lobbying

    Sikyong Penpa Tsering, the democratically elected president of the Tibetan government-in-exile — the Central Tibetan Administration — in Dharamsala, India, said CTA is striving to ensure continued U.S. support for both RFA and VOA through collective efforts of the Washington-based Office of Tibet and International Campaign for Tibet.

    The CTA has also urged the over 30 North American Tibetan associations , made up of the Tibetan communities across the United States and Canada, to advocate on behalf of RFA and VOA with their representatives, he said.

    “The continuation of RFA and VOA’s Tibetan language services is not only a geopolitical necessity — it is also a moral imperative,” said Tsering Passang, founder and chair of the U.K.-based Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities.

    “These broadcasts provide a rare and vital platform for Tibetan language preservation, helping sustain a culture that the CCP has relentlessly sought to erase through colonial-style boarding schools and other assimilation tactics,” he said, using an acronym to refer to the Chinese Communist Party.

    Rigzin Lhundup, a member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, recalled how when he was younger and living in Tibet, he would see Tibetans go to the terrace of their house or to the mountainside to hear the news broadcasts better.

    “Now when I reflect on it, I still feel the impact of hearing the word ‘Free’ in Radio Free Asia and the line, ‘Reporting from Dharamsala, the place of His Holiness’s residence,’ which we would frequently hear in the broadcasts,” Lhundup said.

    “Shutting down the two media outlets would be a huge loss to the Tibetan struggle,” he said.

    Edited by Tenzin Pema and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Assert YOUR Digital Rights – Demand Tibet’s Flag Be Approved As An Emoji

    This post was originally published on Digital Activism In Support Of Tibetan Independence.

  • EXPLAINED: Why March is a sensitive month for Tibetans

    For decades now, March has been a politically sensitive month for Tibetans, when Chinese authorities ramp up restrictions and security measures.

    That’s because a series of important events and acts of Tibetan resistance have happened during this month over the years, starting with the March 10, 1959, uprising against Chinese rule.

    This year, too, Beijing has intensified security and surveillance measures across Tibet, conducting inspections and holding provincial, county and township level meetings to issue strict directives to take action to “win the stability battle” in March.

    Additional police and military forces have been deployed in the capital of Lhasa, including religious sites such as the Jokhang Temple and Sera Monastery, according to two sources in the region. Security personnel have been patrolling neighborhoods even at 3 a.m., they said.

    Social media censorship and internet shutdowns prevent Tibetans from sharing information with the outside world.

    What happened on March 10, 1959?

    On that day 66 years ago, tens of thousands of Tibetans in Lhasa rose up against Chinese rule, which had begun when Mao Zedong’s Communists invaded and forcibly annexed Tibet in 1950.

    The revolt was in direct response to growing Chinese repression and fears for the safety of the Dalai Lama. As Chinese forces rose to crush the rebellion, thousands of Tibetans died.

    Tibetans participate in a protest march to mark the 65th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising against Chinese rule, in Dharamsala, India, March 10, 2024.
    Tibetans participate in a protest march to mark the 65th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising against Chinese rule, in Dharamsala, India, March 10, 2024.
    (Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

    That prompted the Dalai Lama, 23 years old at the time, to flee to northern India with thousands of other Tibetans, where he and a large community of Tibetans live to this day in Dharamsala.

    Ever since, March 10 has been marked at as the anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day, with marches and protests in various locations around the world. Tibetans have used the day to honor the courage of those who rebelled, press China to stop its repression of Tibetans and voice their hope for a homeland where they can live freely.

    March 12: Women’s Uprising Day

    On March 12, 1959, two days after the uprising, thousands of Tibetan women went into the streets of Lhasa to protest the violent crackdown and demand Tibet’s freedom. Many were arrested, tortured, or killed.

    This movement remains a powerful symbol of Tibetan resistance and female-led activism. Today, Tibetans and their supporters organize marches and gatherings worldwide to honor the courage of these women.

    Hundreds of Tibetans march through the center of Sydney, Australia, on March 10, 2017, marking the 58th anniversary of China's presence in Tibet.
    Hundreds of Tibetans march through the center of Sydney, Australia, on March 10, 2017, marking the 58th anniversary of China’s presence in Tibet.
    (Jason Reed/Reuters)

    This year, in cities and towns globally, including in India, North America, and in Europe, the Tibetan Women’s Association organized marches that included students, Buddhist nuns and activists who amplified the voices of past Tibetan women patriots and assert the role of Tibetan women living in exile.

    March 14: Lhasa protest and crackdown

    Many years later, on March 14, 2008, large-scale protests erupted in Lhasa against Chinese rule and religious repression, erosion of Tibetan culture and economic marginalization.

    What began as a peaceful protest quickly escalated into the biggest uprisings in Tibet since 1959, triggering a violent crackdown, resulting in hundreds of arrests, disappearances and deaths.

    Police officers detain a Tibetan during a protest to mark the 62nd anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising against Chinese rule, outside the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, India, March 10, 2021.
    Police officers detain a Tibetan during a protest to mark the 62nd anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising against Chinese rule, outside the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, India, March 10, 2021.
    (Danish SIddiqui/Reuters)

    March 16: Killing of unarmed protesters in Ngaba

    Two days later, at least 10 Tibetans, including 16-year-old schoolgirl Lhundup Tso, were killed when police opened fire on unarmed protesters following a morning prayer session at Kirti Monastery, which is in the Ngaba region in Sichuan province.

    Many Buddhist monks and laypeople were subsequently imprisoned and tortured. During police raids at Kirti, images of the Dalai Lama and other senior religious figures were destroyed. In June of that year, troops raided the Sey Monastery, where they shattered portraits of the Dalai Lama and harassed monks who were on retreat.

    Ngaba remains one of the most heavily militarized Tibetan regions. Around March every year, the Kirti Monastery faces severe restrictions, with security forces closely monitoring monks and local residents.

    March 2012: 11 Tibetans self-immolated.

    A wave of self-immolations by Tibetans in Tibet began in 2011 and intensified in 2012. Desperate to show their opposition to China’s repressive policies, a total of 11 Tibetans set fire to themselves during March 2012, the highest number of such cases recorded in a single month.

    They ranged in age from 18 to 44 years, and seven were from Ngaba. Many appeared to have done this during March because of its significance.

    March 28: China declares ‘Serfs’ Emancipation Day’

    In 2009, China declared March 28 as “Serfs’ Emancipation Day” to celebrate what Beijing said marks the ‘liberation’ in 1959 from Tibet’s ”feudal system.”

    The Communist Party claims this day marks Tibet’s progress under Chinese rule, but Tibetans reject it as state propaganda justifying Chinese occupation.

    Chinese authorities organize parades and other events and alternative narratives are suppressed.

    A Tibetan nun listens to a speaker during a protest march held to mark the 65th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising against Chinese rule, in Dharamsala, India, March 10, 2024.
    A Tibetan nun listens to a speaker during a protest march held to mark the 65th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising against Chinese rule, in Dharamsala, India, March 10, 2024.
    (Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

    What does the Dalai Lama say about the future of Tibet?

    Beijing believes the Dalai Lama wants to split off the Tibet Autonomous Region and other Tibetan areas in Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces from the rest of the country.

    However, the Dalai Lama does not advocate for independence but rather a “Middle Way” that accepts Tibet’s status as a part of China and urges greater cultural and religious freedoms, including strengthened language rights that are guaranteed for ethnic minorities under China’s constitution.

    Do Tibetans living in exile protest in March?

    Yes. Every March 10, Tibetans and their supporters around the world organize protests and solidarity events marking the anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan National Uprising.

    These protests serve as a powerful reminder of Tibet’s ongoing struggle for freedom and human rights.

    Edited by Tenzin Pema, Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Dolma Lhamo and Tenzin Dickyi.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • China pushes patriotic education in Tibet with propaganda movies and storytelling

    Read original story in Tibetan

    As Tibetan students return to school for the spring term, they are being subjected to propaganda movies about heroic Chinese soldiers and storytelling contests extolling the greatness of the Communist Party, according to sources inside Tibet and state media reports.

    Students and teachers across Tibet are also being told to abandon “superstitious” thinking in a bid to eliminate Tibetan Buddhism, two sources from the region said.

    The renewed push for patriotic education is the latest example of Beijing seeking to eradicate Tibetan culture and assimilate all ethnic groups into the majority Han Chinese culture.

    State-run media reports say the campaign is aimed at promoting “ethnic unity” and cultivating the “red gene” in Tibetan children — a term that refers to the Communist Party’s revolutionary spirit and history. They include images of teachers showing propaganda movies to children.

    According to the two sources, teachers must provide in-depth explanations on “Chinese national spirit and warmth” and guide students about China’s socialist system under something called the “First Lesson of the Year.”

    Teachers must also boost students’ understanding of the “four consciousnesses” and achieve the “two safeguards” –- both of which refer to efforts to modernize Chinese society and upholding party rule with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the core, the two sources said on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

    Students are shown videos of the Dingri earthquake relief work, to combine ideological and political education using examples of quake aid, at a school in Nyingtri county, Tibet, March 8, 2025.
    Students are shown videos of the Dingri earthquake relief work, to combine ideological and political education using examples of quake aid, at a school in Nyingtri county, Tibet, March 8, 2025.
    (Citizen Photo)

    “We will certainly see more and more of education being used for propaganda purposes,” said Harsh V. Pant, vice president of studies and foreign policy at New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation and a professor of international relations at King’s College London.

    “This will manifest both in terms of official government policy, as well as in terms of how gradually the younger generation will be indoctrinated with certain ideas about China and its role in Tibet,” he told Radio Free Asia.

    ‘Red stories’

    Last month, the County Education Bureau of Pelbar (or Banbar in Chinese) County at Chamdo in the Tibet Autonomous Region launched an online storytelling competition for primary and secondary school children to narrate “red stories” about the greatness of the party.

    The competition resulted in 44 video submissions, with more than 100 students and parents taking part in the activity, county level announcements said.

    Students across the region have also been shown videos about the recent relief work conducted in Dingri County, where an earthquake struck in January, killing at least 126 people.

    Officials in the video said the work has “closely combined ideological and political education with vivid examples” from earthquake relief.

    The Public Security Bureau of Suo County carries out publicity activity at the county's middle school in Nyingtri county, Tibet,on March 8, 2025.
    The Public Security Bureau of Suo County carries out publicity activity at the county’s middle school in Nyingtri county, Tibet,on March 8, 2025.
    (Citizen Photo)

    The recent push in Tibetan schools stems from the October 2023 Patriotic Education Law, which put central and regional departments in charge of patriotic education efforts.

    “The government’s work report specifically highlighted political and ideological education as a priority alongside skills training, so the emphasis on the spread of propaganda in schools is likely to be higher,” said Anushka Saxena, a research analyst at Bengaluru, India-based Takshashila Institution.

    Abandon ‘superstitious’ thinking

    Authorities are also telling teachers and students to abandon religious and “superstitious” thinking in schools in a bid to eliminate Tibetan Buddhism and language study, the two sources said.

    The Chinese government issued directives on Feb. 25 entitled “Two Absolute Prohibitions” and “Five Absolute Restrictions” which includes strict bans on religious propagation in schools, the use of religious elements in the education system and the participation of teachers and students in religious activities.

    The directives also prohibit the wearing or carrying of religious symbols or clothing in schools.

    “Teachers are instructed to report to authorities every month, confirming that they are not teaching any religious course to their students while many Tibetan teachers are being dismissed citing lack of proficiency in Chinese as the reason,” the second source said.

    These policies are designed to strip children of their Tibetan identity and nature, said Tsewang Dorji, a research fellow at the Dharamsala, North India-based Tibet Policy Institute.

    “Xi Jinping’s emphasis on making education a priority will intensify these efforts,” he said. “And if such policies about political and ideological education continue to persist in the next 10 to 20 years, Tibetan language, culture, identity and Buddhism is under huge threat.”

    Translated by Tenzin Palmo. Edited by Tenzin Pema, Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Norzom and Tenzin Tenkyong for RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • US hands over Tibetan Buddhism relics to China

    The recent transfer of cultural artifacts, including several Tibetan Buddhist relics, from the U.S. to China may help advance the Chinese government’s efforts to distort Tibet’s history and appropriate its religion and culture, Tibetan scholars and other critics of the transfer told RFA.

    On March 3, the Manhattan district attorney’s anti-trafficking unit handed over to officials from China 41 “illegally exported” cultural artifacts, including a bronze money tree, pottery, jade pieces, Buddha statues and Tibetan Buddhist cultural relics, Chinese state-run media reports said.

    The transfer was conducted as part of an agreement between the two countries to protect cultural heritage and identity and prevent Chinese cultural relics from illegally entering the U.S. Since the pact was first agreed to on Jan. 14, 2009, the U.S. has sent 594 pieces or sets of cultural relics and artworks to China.

    The transfers have come as greater focus is paid to artifacts and other cultural items in Western museums and private collections obtained during colonization or other periods when the countries of origin were too weak to prevent the widespread pilfering of cultural items.

    But sending Tibetan artifacts to China has raised concern that Beijing will use them to justify its rule in Tibet, which the country annexed in 1950.

    “The Chinese government will certainly misuse these returned artifacts, and will use them to further promote their false historical narrative that Tibet has always been a part of China,” Vijay Kranti, director of the Center for Himalayan Asia Studies and Engagement, based in New Delhi, told RFA.

    The U.S. handed over 38 artifacts to China, including Tibetan Buddhist mural fragments seen here, in New York in April 2024.
    The U.S. handed over 38 artifacts to China, including Tibetan Buddhist mural fragments seen here, in New York in April 2024.
    (Xinhua)

    In January, Li Qun, the director of China’s National Administration of Cultural Heritage, said the country will work toward advancing “the return of key cultural relics to the motherland” and to use archaeology to “better explain Chinese civilization.”

    Critics say China has already misused ancient finds to back territorial claims over both Tibet and Xinjiang, a western region that is home to Uyghurs and other Muslim communities seeking greater autonomy from Beijing.

    “It is an outrageous act to return Tibetan objects in the diaspora to the People’s Republic of China, which is deliberately destroying Tibetan cultural heritage,” said Kate Fitz Gibbon, executive director of the Committee for Cultural Policy, a U.S. think tank that was established in 2011 to strengthen the public dialogue on arts policy.

    “Since China occupied Tibet, U.S. authorities have accepted that Tibetan artifacts belong to the Tibetan people, not China’s government,” Fitz Gibbon said in an email. “The turnover by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit directly challenges that policy.”

    An event that included Chinese and American officials was held March 3 in New York to mark the latest handover.

    Chinese state-run media said the items were seized in November 2024. China’s National Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Chinese Consulate General in New York verified that the artworks were Chinese in origin.

    This 18th-century Tibetan Buddhist bronze statue of Guru Padmasambhava was among the 38 artifacts handed over by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Anti-Trafficking Unit to China in April 2024.
    This 18th-century Tibetan Buddhist bronze statue of Guru Padmasambhava was among the 38 artifacts handed over by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Anti-Trafficking Unit to China in April 2024.
    (Xinhua)

    The Manhattan district attorney’s antiquities trafficking unit previously handed over 38 antiquities – the majority of them identified as Buddhist religious objects from Tibet – during a ceremony at the Chinese Consulate General in New York on April 17, 2024.

    But there’s little information about the transfers on the antiquities unit’s website, which does publicize materials that have been transferred to other countries.

    The antiquities unit did not respond to at least three separate requests from Radio Free Asia for comments. The U.S. State Department and its Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Department also did not immediately respond to RFA.

    According to China’s National Administration of Cultural Heritage, the latest 41 cultural artifacts include relics and artworks from the Neolithic Age (around 10,000 B.C. – 1,700 B.C.) to the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).

    The U.S. handed over 38 items to China, many of which were Tibetan Buddhist artifacts, in April 2024. Seen here are Tibetan wood carvings, Buddhist statues and a bronze pagoda.
    The U.S. handed over 38 items to China, many of which were Tibetan Buddhist artifacts, in April 2024. Seen here are Tibetan wood carvings, Buddhist statues and a bronze pagoda.
    (Xinhua)

    China had signed agreements similar to the one with the U.S. with governments of 25 other countries to promote the return of what it considers to be stolen property.

    ‘Lost Opportunities’

    Tibetans have expressed their disappointment over the U.S.’s handover of Tibetan artifacts and relics to China.

    Such handovers take away the chance for Tibetans to tell their own stories, said Dawa Tsering, director of the Tibet Policy Institute in Dharamsala, home to Tibet’s exile government.

    “With every Tibetan Buddhism relic that goes to the hands of Communist China in such handovers, we Tibetans lose the opportunity to present the truth of our identity and our country to the world,” Dawa Tsering said.

    Additional reporting by Youdon. Edited by Jim Snyder.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema and Tenzin Norzom for RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Dalai Lama book excerpt: Tibetans’ only leverage is ‘power of truth’

    In his newly published memoir, the Dalai Lama chronicles his 70-year struggle with China to secure a future for the Tibetan people.

    In “Voice for the Voiceless: Over Seven Decades of Struggle with China for My Land and My People,” the Dalai Lama shares his experiences since assuming the leadership of Tibet at the age of 16 before he fled into exile in India.

    The Tibetan spiritual leader also describes negotiating with a series of Chinese leaders, from Mao Zedong, to his more recent attempts to communicate with President Xi Jinping.

    In an excerpt published here with permission from the publisher HarperCollins, the Dalai Lama says China’s government could make Tibetans feel welcome within the People’s Republic of China, but instead communist rule remains that of an “oppressive occupying power.”

    He also rejects Chinese involvement in the selection of the next Dalai Lama and says whoever that is “will be born in the free world.”

    If Beijing were to look at past history, it would see that policies of repression and forced assimilation do not actually work. It is, in fact, counterproductive, with the main result being the creation of generations deeply resentful of Communist China’s presence on the Tibetan plateau.

    If the Chinese leadership truly cares about a stable and harmonious country wherein the Tibetan people could feel at home, its policies need to be grounded in respect for the dignity of Tibetans and to take serious note of their fundamental aspiration to thrive as a people with a distinct language, culture, and religion.

    If, in the end, Beijing deems our foundational objective to be incompatible within the framework of the People’s Republic of China, then the issue of Tibet will remain intractable for generations. I have always stated that, in the end, it is the Tibetan people who should decide their own fate. Not the Dalai Lama or, for that matter, the Beijing leadership.

    The simple fact is no one likes their home being taken over by uninvited guests with guns. This is nothing but human nature.

    Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama attends a prayer ceremony offered by his students and devotees at his temple in McLeod Ganj, about 10 km (6 mi) from Dharamsala, on Oct. 25, 2023.
    Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama attends a prayer ceremony offered by his students and devotees at his temple in McLeod Ganj, about 10 km (6 mi) from Dharamsala, on Oct. 25, 2023.
    (Money Sharma/AFP)

    I, for one, do not believe it would be so difficult for the Chinese government to make the Tibetans feel welcome and happy within the family of the People’s Republic of China. Like all people, Tibetans would like to be respected, have agency within their own home, and have the freedom to be who they are. The aspirations and the needs of the Tibetan people cannot be met simply through economic development.

    At its core, the issue is not about bread and butter. It is about the very survival of Tibetans as a people. Finding a resolution of the Tibetan issue would undoubtedly have great benefits for the People’s Republic of China.

    First and foremost, it would confer legitimacy to China’s presence on the Tibetan plateau, essential for the status and stability of the People’s Republic of China as a modern country composed of multiple nationalities willingly joined in a single family.

    In the case of Tibet, for instance, it has now been more than seventy years since Communist China’s invasion in 1950. Despite the physical control of the country, through brutal force as well as economic inducements, the Tibetan people’s resentment, persistent resistance in various forms, and moments of significant uprising have never gone away.

    Even though generations and economic conditions have changed, very little has changed when it comes to the Tibetan people’s perception and attitude toward those they still view as occupiers. The simple fact is that insofar as the Tibetans on the ground are concerned, the Communist Chinese rule in Tibet remains that of a foreign, unwanted, and oppressive occupying power.

    The Tibetan people have lost so much. Their homeland has been forcibly invaded and remains under a suffocating rule. The Tibetan language, culture, and religion are under systematic attack through coercive policies of assimilation. Even the very expression of Tibetanness is increasingly being perceived as a threat “to the unity of the motherland.”

    The only leverage the Tibetan people have left is the moral rightness of their cause and the power of truth. The simple fact is Tibet today remains an occupied territory, and it is only the Tibetan people who can confer or deny legitimacy to the presence of China on the Tibetan plateau.

    All my life I have advocated for nonviolence. I have done my utmost to restrain the understandable impulses of frustrated Tibetans, both within and outside Tibet.

    Especially, ever since our direct conversations after my exile began with Beijing in 1979, I have used all my moral authority and leverage with the Tibetan people, persuading them to seek a realistic solution in the form of a genuine autonomy within the framework of the People’s Republic of China.

    I must admit I remain deeply disappointed that Beijing has chosen not to acknowledge this huge accommodation on the part of the Tibetans, and has failed to capitalize on the genuine potential it offered to come to a lasting solution.

    At the time of publishing this book, I will be approaching my ninetieth year. If no resolution is found while I am alive, the Tibetan people, especially those inside Tibet, will blame the Chinese leadership and the Communist Party for its failure to reach a settlement with me; many Chinese too, especially Buddhists – some people told me that there are more than two hundred million in mainland China who self-identify as Buddhists – will be disappointed with their government for its failure to solve a problem whose solution has been staring at them for so long.

    Given my age, understandably many Tibetans are concerned about what will happen when I am no more. On the political front of our campaign for the freedom of the Tibetan people, we now have a substantial population of Tibetans outside in the free world, so our struggle will go on, no matter what.

    Furthermore, as far as the day-to-day leadership of our movement is concerned, we now have both an elected executive in the office of the Sikyong (president of the Central Tibetan Administration) and a well-established Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.

    People have often asked me if there will be a next Dalai Lama.

    As early as the 1960s, I have expressed that whether the Dalai Lama institution should continue or not is a matter for the Tibetan people.

    So if the Tibetan people feel that the institution has served its purpose and there is now no longer any need for a Dalai Lama, then the institution will cease. In which case, I would be the last Dalai Lama, I have stated. I have also said that if there is continued need, then there will be the Fifteenth Dalai Lama. In particular, in 2011, I convened a gathering of the leaders of all major Tibetan religious traditions, and at the conclusion of this meeting, I issued a formal statement in which I stated that when I turn ninety, I will consult the high lamas of the Tibetan religious traditions as well as the Tibetan public, and if there is a consensus that the Dalai Lama institution should continue, then formal responsibility for the recognition of the Fifteenth Dalai Lama should rest with the Gaden Phodrang Trust (the Office of the Dalai Lama).

    At his residence in Dharamsala, North India, March 10, 2025, the Dalai Lama recalled his escape into exile after the March 10 Uprising of 1959.
    At his residence in Dharamsala, North India, March 10, 2025, the Dalai Lama recalled his escape into exile after the March 10 Uprising of 1959.
    (OHHDL)

    The Gaden Phodrang Trust should follow the procedures of search and recognition in accordance with past Tibetan Buddhist tradition, including, especially, consulting the oath-bound Dharma protectors* historically connected with the lineage of the Dalai Lamas, as was followed carefully in my own case. On my part, I stated that I will also leave clear written instructions on this.

    For more than a decade now, I have received numerous petitions and letters from a wide spectrum of Tibetan people—senior lamas from the various Tibetan traditions, abbots of monasteries, diaspora Tibetan communities across the world, and many prominent and ordinary Tibetans inside Tibet—as well as Tibetan Buddhist communities from the Himalayan region and Mongolia, uniformly asking me to ensure that the Dalai Lama lineage be continued.

    In the official statement I issued in 2011, I also pointed out that it is totally inappropriate for Chinese Communists, who explicitly reject religion, including the idea of past and future lives, to meddle in the system of reincarnation of lamas, let alone that of the Dalai Lama.

    Such meddling, I pointed out, contradicts their own political ideology and only reveals their double standards. Elsewhere, half joking, I have remarked that before Communist China gets involved in the business of recognizing the reincarnation of lamas, including the Dalai Lama, it should first recognize the reincarnations of its past leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping!

    In summing up my thoughts on the question of the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama in that 2011 official statement, I urged that unless the recognition of the next Dalai Lama is done through traditional Tibetan Buddhist methods, no acceptance should be given by the Tibetan people and Tibetan Buddhists across the world to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China.

    Now, since the purpose of a reincarnation is to carry on the work of the predecessor, the new Dalai Lama will be born in the free world so that the traditional mission of the Dalai Lama — that is, to be the voice for universal compassion, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and the symbol of Tibet embodying the aspirations of the Tibetan people — will continue.

    Copyright @ 2025 by the Dalai Lama. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Dalai Lama says his successor will be born in ‘free world,’ outside China

    TAIPEI, Taiwan – The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, said his successor would be born in the “free world,” which he described as outside China. However, Beijing insisted that the selection of his successor must follow Chinese law, asserting its authority over Tibetan Buddhism and rejecting any succession outside its control.

    Tibetan tradition holds that the soul of a senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated in the body of a child on his death. The current Dalai Lama, who was identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor when he was two, had previously said the line of spiritual leaders might end with him.

    China took control of Tibet in 1950, leading to tensions and resistance.

    Nine years later, at the age of 23, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso fled to India with thousands of other Tibetans after a failed uprising against the rule of Mao Zedong’s Communists.

    China calls the Dalai Lama a “separatist” and insists it will choose his successor, but the 89-year-old has said any successor named by China would not be respected.

    “Since the purpose of a reincarnation is to carry on the work of the predecessor, the new Dalai Lama will be born in the free world so that the traditional mission of the Dalai Lama – that is, to be the voice for universal compassion, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and the symbol of Tibet embodying the aspirations of the Tibetan people – will continue,” the Dalai Lama said in his new book “Voice for the Voiceless” published on Tuesday, according to a review of it by Reuters news agency.

    He added he had received numerous petitions for more than a decade from a wide spectrum of Tibetan people, asking him to ensure that the Dalai Lama lineage be continued.

    He also wrote that his homeland remained “in the grip of repressive Communist Chinese rule” and that the campaign for the freedom of the Tibetan people would continue “no matter what,” even after his death.

    Human rights organizations and media outlets report that China suppresses Tibetan culture, religion, and freedom through strict surveillance, forced assimilation, and crackdowns on dissent.

    Tibetan children are placed in state-run boarding schools to weaken their cultural identity, while monasteries face heavy restrictions. Beijing denies these allegations, claiming it is promoting economic development, stability, and modernization in Tibet while combating separatism.

    When asked about the book, China’s foreign ministry said that the Dalai Lama was a “political exile engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the cloak of religion” and he “had no right to represent the people in Tibet.”

    “The Dalai Lama’s lineage, formed in Xizang, China, and religious standing and title which were affirmed by the central government, date back several hundred years,” said ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Tuesday.

    Xizang is the official Chinese name for Tibet, used by the Chinese government to refer to the Tibet Autonomous Region.

    “The reincarnation of Living Buddhas including the Dalai Lama must comply with Chinese laws and regulations as well as religious rituals and historical conventions, and follow the process that consists of search and identification in China, lot-drawing from a golden urn, and central government approval,” Mao said.

    China said last month it hoped the Dalai Lama would “return to the right path” and that it was open to discussing his future if he met such conditions as recognizing that Tibet is an inalienable part of China, whose sole legal government is that of the People’s Republic of China.

    That proposal has been rejected by the Tibetan parliament-in-exile in India.

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    Tibet is a ‘front line’ in struggle for freedom with Beijing: US official

    China and the Dalai Lama’s representatives have held several rounds of talks, with key discussions occurring between 2002 and 2010, but they failed to reach an agreement.

    No formal dialogue has taken place since 2010, as China insists Tibet has always been part of China, while the Dalai Lama continues advocating for Tibetan rights.

    China has appointed its own Panchen Lama, a significant Tibetan Buddhist figure, to control religious affairs in Tibet. The Panchen Lama traditionally plays a key role in recognizing the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.

    The Dalai Lama recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995, but China abducted him and replaced him with Gyaltsen Norbu, their state-approved Panchen Lama. Many Tibetans do not recognize China’s choice, and the fate of the real Panchen Lama remains unknown.

    Edited by Mike Firn.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Tibetans mark 1959 revolt with rallies in Europe, North America and India

    Tibetans around the world on Monday marked the 1959 uprising against Chinese rule with protests in cities across Europe, North America and India as thousands marched for an end to Chinese oppression.

    With faces painted in the blue and red of the Tibetan national flag –- and shouting slogans in a slew of different languages -– Tibetans and their supporters rallied in Sydney, Taipei, London, New York, Washington and Toronto, among others.

    Some of the protests took place outside Chinese embassies. In New Delhi, police clashed with dozens of Tibetan protesters as some demonstrators tried to enter the Chinese Embassy.

    On March 10th, thousands of Tibetans commemorated the 66th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising, with hundreds joining peaceful demonstrations worldwide

    Supporters carried banners that read “World Leaders, Stand up for Tibet,” “CCP, Stop Torturing Tibetans” and “Missing Home Since 1959.”

    The Tibetan national flag –- which is banned inside Tibet -– was widely seen.

    Demonstrations for the 66th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising were also held in Ladakh in north India, Guwahati in northeast India and Mysore in south India.

    Tibetans protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, March 10, 2025.
    Tibetans protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, March 10, 2025.
    (RFA Tibetan)

    China invaded and forcibly annexed Tibet in 1950. The revolt nine years later was sparked in part by fears that the Chinese would arrest Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled from Lhasa to India several weeks later.

    Thousands of Tibetans died in the 1959 uprising amid a subsequent crackdown by China. Since then, Tibetans have used March 10 to honor their courage, press China to stop its repression of Tibetans and voice their hope for a homeland where they can live freely.

    The date remains a politically sensitive one for Chinese authorities in Tibet, who routinely tighten surveillance and security measures in Tibetan areas of China to block protests ahead of the anniversary.

    ‘Freedom from Chinese forces’

    The Central Tibetan Administration, or CTA, led an official event in Dharamsala, India, where the Tibetan government-in-exile is located.

    “As we commemorate the Tibetan National Uprising Day, we honor our brave martyrs, and express solidarity with our brothers and sisters inside Tibet who continue to languish under the oppressive Chinese government,” CTA President Sikyong Penpa Tsering said at the event, which was attended by former Slovakian President Andrej Kiska and Estonian parliamentarian Juku-Kalle Raid.

    Tibetans protested in 1959 out of a “sense of real desperation,” the Dalai Lama said from his residence in Dharamsala.

    “There was no other way but to escape,” he said. “My heart was a little heavy. After I crossed a river, a local villager guiding my horse told me to take one last look at Lhasa as I won’t be able to see Lhasa beyond this point.

    At his residence in Dharamsala, North India, March 10, 2025, the Dalai Lama marks the March 10 Uprising of 1959.
    At his residence in Dharamsala, North India, March 10, 2025, the Dalai Lama marks the March 10 Uprising of 1959.
    (OHHDL)

    “So I turned and made my horse face Lhasa and said my prayers,” he said. “As I made my way southward, crossing the river and up through the passes, I felt a sense of happiness and freedom from Chinese forces.”

    Since then, despite Chinese efforts to “wipe Tibet from the face of the earth,” Tibet has endured, he said.

    Tight security in Lhasa

    In Europe, over 3,000 Tibetans and supporters from across various European countries gathered at The Hague in the Netherlands to participate in a rally that is organized every two years in a major city in Europe under the campaign, “Europe, Stand with Tibet.”

    Speaking at the rally were Dutch members of parliament, actor Richard Gere and former NBA player, Enes Kanter Freedom.

    “Tibetans inside Tibet are still experiencing a lot of problems under Chinese rule,” Kanter told Radio Free Asia. “So being a supporter of human rights and peace in the world, I fully support the Tibetan people and movement.”

    In Taipei, more than 500 people –- mostly Taiwanese and about 40 Tibetans –- gathered on Sunday. Representatives from Taiwan’s Human Rights Commission urged the Taiwanese people to stand with Tibetans to hold China accountable for human rights violations in Tibet.

    The Tibetan national flag was hoisted in various parts of the United States, including Berkeley and Richmond in California, Burlington in Vermont and East Rutherford in New Jersey. In Germany, more than 400 cities, districts and municipalities raised the Tibetan flag to recognize the ongoing oppression in Tibet.

    Inside Tibet, Chinese authorities have deployed police and military throughout Lhasa’s streets and religious sites, including the Jokhang Temple and Sera Monastery, since the beginning of March, two sources in the region told RFA.

    The sources added that police are conducting patrols even at 3 a.m. in predominantly Tibetan neighborhoods, while travelers from other Tibetan regions attempting to enter Lhasa are being turned away for even minor documentation issues.

    Edited by Tenzin Pema and Matt Reed.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Today, March 10, Tibetans worldwide commemorate the 1959 uprising in Tibet


    This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Latest Update From Anonymous – Operation Tibet

    The latest update from ‘Operation Tibet’ has today been posted on ‘X’. Our thanks to @sistercobra for sharing news on this important action in support of Lhasa Uprisings Day (March 10).

    We are sure Tibetans will be pleased to note such solidarity as they prepare for their protests and rallies demanding national freedom and human rights for Tibet and its people. From our perspective we consider these anonymous hacktivists to be doing amazing work towards Tibet’s just cause.

    It would be a very positive help towards increasing awareness of Tibet and its struggle to share this post and/or the video link across your social network. Thanks

    This post was originally published on Digital Activism In Support Of Tibetan Independence.

  • Tibet is a ‘frontline’ in battle with Beijing: US official

    Tibet’s struggle for autonomy in China is “one of the frontlines” in America’s battle with the Chinese Communist Party, a senior State Department official said at a Tibetan New Year celebration.

    Albert Gombis, the acting under secretary of state for civilian security, democracy and human rights, made the remark at an event marking Losar, or Tibetan New Year, at the State Department on Tuesday.

    Gombis told the gathering that U.S. national security was “inextricably bound to the battle of ideas and influence” with Beijing, which annexed Tibet in the early 1950s and has since governed the territory with an oppressively heavy-hand while seeking to erase Tibetan culture.

    “The decades-long struggle for Tibet’s autonomy is important not only to the six million Tibetans in China and the many tens of thousands in the Tibetan diaspora; their struggle constitutes one of the front lines in the global effort for freedom from the Chinese Communist Party’s repression,” Gombis said, calling for a renewed American focus on Tibet.

    “The CCP’s efforts to erase Tibetan identity and militarize the Himalayas reverberate across the region and threaten the safety of U.S. partners and the Indo-Pacific more broadly,” he added.

    Namgyal Choedup, the North American Tibet Representative, remarks at U.S. State Department’s Losar celebration, March 4, 2025
    Namgyal Choedup, the North American Tibet Representative, remarks at U.S. State Department’s Losar celebration, March 4, 2025
    (Myat Thu Kyaw/RFA)

    Beijing denies it represses Tibet or seeks to erase its cultural traditions, instead pointing to economic development in the region as evidence of its positive impacts on the population of about 6 million Tibetans.

    Losar celebrations

    Tibetans around the world held subdued celebrations this Losar – or Tibetan Wood Snake Year, which began Feb. 28 – due to the earthquake that struck Tibet in January and the death of Gyalo Thondup, the elder brother of the Dalai Lama, in February.

    The annual U.S. State Department gathering held Tuesday was the 11th such event organized by the department since the Tibetan New Year was first celebrated at its headquarters in February 2015. It was also the first held since the new Trump administration returned to office.

    It was a largely somber observance of the new year, with religious rituals by Tibetan Buddhist monks and participation of young Tibetan Americans explaining the significance of the Losar traditions.

    Last week, in what was the new U.S. administration’s first remarks on U.S. policy on Tibet, a State Department spokesperson told RFA Tibetan that the Trump administration will continue to call on China to return to direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives.

    Six Masters from Gyuto Tantric Monastery performing prayer at the U.S. State Department’s Losar celebration, March 4, 2025.
    Six Masters from Gyuto Tantric Monastery performing prayer at the U.S. State Department’s Losar celebration, March 4, 2025.
    (Myat Thu Kyaw/RFA)

    “We will also continue to call on China to cease its interference in the succession of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist lamas and to respect the freedom of religion or belief of individuals of all faiths,” the spokesperson said, noting long-running bipartisan support for Tibet.

    China invaded far-western Tibet in 1950 and has controlled the territory ever since. The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India amid a large-scale Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in March 1959.

    Since then, Beijing has sought to legitimize Chinese rule through the suppression of dissent and policies undermining Tibetan culture and language. More recently, China has also sought to control the reincarnation process of Tibetan religious leaders in an attempt to interfere in the selection of the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation.

    At Tuesday’s event, Gombis said Tibet should not be forgotten as the United States tries to counter Chinese expansion in other areas, such as its expansionist claims on the South China Sea and Taiwan.

    China’s Sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism, including its interference in the Dalai Lama’s succession process, he said, mirrors its “larger efforts to co-opt other religious traditions,” both within China and elsewhere.

    “We must challenge the CCP’s brazen efforts to undermine the ideals that are a key source of our strength and identity as a nation,” he said.

    Additional reporting by Tenzin Dickyi and Passang Dhonden. Edited by Tenzin Pema and Alex Willemyns.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tashi Wangchuk and Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.