05/07/2013 News

Tag: patriotic education

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05/07/2013 News
China implements measures to appoint political monks in guise of spiritual teachers
New measures to control Buddhist monastic teachers was approved at during the second session of the eighth council of Buddhist Association of China held on 25 November 2012.
New measures to control Buddhist monastic teachers were approved during the second session of the eighth council of Buddhist Association of China on 25 November 2012.

In the past weeks, there has been persistent speculation on ‘experimental’ moves by the Chinese authorities to overturn some of its decades-old vilification campaign against the Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. A handful of Tibetan monasteries in the Tibetan provinces of Amdo and Kham, located respectively in present-day Qinghai and Sichuan provinces, were given verbal permission to display portraits of the Dalai Lama and worship him as a religious, and not as a political figure. According to these verbal orders, monks and nuns are no longer required to denounce the Dalai Lama, which is an essential component in political education classes in Tibet’s monastic institutions.  Major international media outlets heralded this as a change in China’s Tibet policy.

Only a few days later on 28 June 2013, China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), the highest official body that regulates all recognised religions in the People’s Republic of China, denied any reversal of its long-standing policy on the Dalai Lama.

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18/02/2013 News
Tibetan farmer escapes imminent arrest for sharing religious texts

Ugyen Lhundup, 57, was a farmer at Thangka Village in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Township in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. In 1999, he came to India and lived for some time to study Buddhism. In 2001, after attending the Kalachakra teachings at Bodh Gaya in the north Indian state of Bihar, he returned to Tibet taking along some CDs and books containing religious teachings, which he shared with others on requests from friends and relatives. He also made free copies of the CDs and distributed them among his social circle. It was then that he became a prime target for supervision and surveillance. On 21 October 2012, to escape imminent arrest, he left his house and farm in the care of his neighbor, and secretly left Tibet and reached India on 15 December 2012. Ugyen Lhundup shares his ordeal:

“In 2002, the head of County Public Security Bureau officer, Loga, summoned me at his office. At the PSB office, the officer confiscated my passport and threatened me with five to six months’ detention, if I did not stop questioning the confiscation of my passport. I was let go but without my passport. 

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18/02/2013 News
Amdo Ngaba monk sheds light on repression in Tibet

Lobsang Samphel, 25, was born in Tsoduk nomadic village in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, in Amdo province. He became a monk at 13 and joined Gomang Monastery, which had over 900 monks prior to 2008. Lobsang Samphel saw first-hand the deaths of unarmed Tibetan protesters from police firing at a protest in Ngaba County town. He reached in exile in India in November 2012. He shares his story with TCHRD:

“After the widespread protests in 2008 in Tibet, the Chinese authorities appointed 25 permanent staff at Gomang Monastery, to carry out ‘patriotic education’ and oversee the entire teachings and administration at the monastery. Restrictions on day-to-day affairs have since increased at the monastery, posing great obstacles to the monks. Beginning 29 March 2008, the Chinese authorities launched an intensified three-month ‘patriotic education’ campaign at Gomang Monastery. The objectives of the campaign were to oppose and condemn ‘splittist cliques’ and ‘Dalai clique.’ Monks undergoing political education classes had to sit for exams every ten days, finding the correct answer for sensitive political questions such as ‘Is the Dalai clique responsible for ‘splitting’ the Chinese Motherland or not?’ Such derogatory remarks and baseless allegations against our root spiritual teacher filled our hearts with anguish and we felt as if our hearts have been wounded.

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31/05/2008 News
12 monks arrested for opposing “patriotic education” campaign

Chinese security forces arrested twelve monks of Dingri Shelkar Choedhe Monastery during a night raid for opposing the “patriotic re-education” campaign on 19 May 2008, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

The Chinese authorities re-launch and reinvigorate the “Patriotic re-education” campaign in the “Tibet Autonomous Region” (“TAR”) and other Tibetan areas in neighboring provinces for a stipulated two-month period covering almost every sections of society beginning primarily with the monastic institutions, party cadres, security forces and government employees, farmers and private entrepreneurs, educational institutions and common people, to denounce the Dalai Lama and the “Splittist forces”.

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15/05/2008 News
China arrests 16 monks for defying “patriotic re-education”

China arrests 16 monks and 2 lay Tibetans in Markham County according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

For over a month the Chinese authorities have been conducting “Patriotic re-education” campaign in Woeser Monastery and Khenpa Lungpa Monastery in Garthog Township, Markham ( Ch: Mangkang) County, Chamdo Prefecture, (Ch: Qamdo) “Tibet Autonomous Region” (“TAR”).

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24/04/2008 News
China launches renewed “Patriotic Education” Campaign across all sections in Tibet

The Chinese authorities in the “Tibet Autonomous Region” (‘TAR’) and other Tibetan areas in neighboring provinces have launched a two-months renewed “Patriotic Education” campaign covering almost every sections of society beginning primarily with the monastic institutions, party cadres, security forces and government employees, farmers and private entrepreneurs, educational institutions and common people, to denounce the Dalai Lama and the “splittist forces” in the coming two months.

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14/04/2008 News
Monks of Drepung Monastery detained during Patriotic Education campaign

A number of monks of Drepung Monastery in Tibet were detained by the Chinese security officials in and around 12 April 2008 following the monks’ protest against Chinese “Work Team” who paid a visit to the monastery to conduct “Patriotic Education” Campaign, according to confirmed information received from reliable sources by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

The “Tibet Autonomous Region” (“TAR” ) authorities sent the “Legal Information Education” “Work Team” as a part of the “patriotic education” campaign to Drepung Monastery in and around 12 April 2008, according to the official mouthpiece, Xinhua, dated 13 April 2008.

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16/09/2007 News
China conducts massive ‘patriotic education’ campaign in Lithang

Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) received confirmed information that the Chinese government has just unleashed a massive patriotic political campaign in Lithang.

According to confirmed information, in the first week of September 2007, the Chinese government summoned the leaders of townships and monasteries in and around Lithang to commence the Patriotic Political Education Campaign.

Similarly, the concerned offices and officials summoned the Tibetan people from the Lithang Monastery to receive political education. The Tibetan people were made to learn by the Chinese officials about how the aristocrats, officials and serfs of the old pre-1959 Tibet subjected the Tibetan commoners to oppression, torture and servitude. The campaign included telling Tibetans how the Chinese liberation of Tibet has empowered the Tibetan commoners to rise up and to hold denunciation sessions (Tib: Thamzing) to those serfs who had oppressed and suppressed them.

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29/11/2005 News
Mass silent protest in Tibet’s Drepung Monastery following China’s continued implementation of “patriotic education”

Drepung Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital is currently under intense restrictions following a crackdown order issued by the “Tibet Autonomous Region” (“TAR”) government authorities on monks sitting on mass silent protest, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). Reportedly the situation is tense and the monastery under tight control by the Chinese authorities.

Since the first week of October 2005, “work team” officials have been conducting the “patriotic education” campaign in the monastery. During the Campaign, on 23 November 2005, the monks were ordered to sign a document denouncing the Dalai Lama as a “separatist” and to pledge their loyalty to the Chinese government by accepting “Tibet as a part of China”. The monks showed their disagreement to the official directive and refused to sign the document. Among the monks, five showed strong reactions against the document and the officials. They were immediately expelled from the monastery and handed over to the Public Security Bureau (PSB) Detention Centres in their respective places of origin.

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29/11/2005 News
Tibetan Monks Arrested, Monastery Closed Amid Protests

The People’s Republic of China recommenced implementation of the ‘patriotic education’ campaign in monastic institutions in Tibet, according to testimonies received from Tibetan monks who fled into exile. There has been a noted rise in the intensity of the campaign, which is being carried out vigorously in the monastic institutions in and around Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Monks…

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