BESIEGED TIBETAN AREA EXPOSES CHINA’S ATTEMPT TO REMAKE TIBET
For Immediate Release
June 8, 2026
Contact: Lhadon Tethong / Tenzin Dorjee (Tendor) I [email protected]
Besieged Tibetan Area Exposes China’s Attempt to Remake Tibet
Temple Cemented Shut, Children Banned from Monasteries
Boston – New information obtained by Tibet Action Institute reveals the intensity of China’s forced assimilation drive in Tibet as the implementation date of its discriminatory new “Ethnic Unity Law” looms. Forced closure of a Tibetan Buddhist temple, a climate of intense repression at another already besieged monastery, and coercive measures to bar Tibetan children from religious life have been reported in Golok (Tibetan: མགོ་ལོག Chinese: Guoluo), a region in eastern Tibet long known for its strong Tibetan identity and resistance to Chinese rule.
In early May, sources from Tibet reported that Golok’s Zangdok Pari temple (Tibetan: ཟངས་མདོག་དཔལ་རི་ལྷ་ཁང་།) known for its public religious teachings and large prayer wheels, has been forcibly closed by Chinese authorities. Resident monks were expelled and forced to return to their homes; photos show windows and prayer wheel access blocked with cement (1).
Just weeks before, another monastery in the same area faced intensive repression during prayer ceremonies for religious leader Tulku Hungkar Dorjee Rinpoche––believed to have been killed in 2025––according to exile-based Tibet Times. The outlet quoted a Tibetan source in the area as saying, ”Right now, people are more afraid of living than dying. This time, the Chinese government has caused great difficulties.” Authorities warned in particular not to share images or information about the ceremonies (2). Tulku Hungkar Dorjee was known for supporting Tibetan-led schooling and for refusing to endorse the CCP-chosen claimant as the Panchen Lama. After being detained by Chinese authorities, he is believed to have fled to Vietnam, where he was reportedly arrested in the presence of Chinese officials and died in custody (3).
Close control of monasteries and monastics is accompanied by efforts to prevent children from accessing their religious heritage. In August 2025, parents in Golok were compelled to sign a “Letter of Commitment” that included provisions to “resolutely not send school-age children to temples,” or to “support, condone or force children…to participate in any form of learning, spiritual practice, or other activities in religious temples,” but instead to ensure they “…establish a correct world view, outlook on life, and values.” The document concluded by reinforcing the penalties for parents if they do not comply: “If I violate the above commitments, I agree to assume the corresponding legal responsibilities and consequences” (4).
Children are a cornerstone of the Chinese government’s efforts to alter Tibetans’ identity. Across Tibet, approximately one million Tibetan children are living in colonial boarding schools that are reminiscent of the residential schools used in Canada and the US to deliberately erase Indigenous languages and identities (5). In Golok, prominent, successful Tibetan-led schools have been forcibly closed while children have been placed in state-run boarding schools where they are subjected to indoctrination and linguistic erasure. Xi Jinping gave his personal stamp of approval to the system with a 2024 visit to the “Guoluo (Golog) Xining National Middle School” in Xining, which houses 800 Golok students – hundreds of miles from their homes (6).
Finally, Tibet Action Institute has documented the disappearance or decreasing visibility of Tibetan language signage on storefronts in the region even before the passage of China’s controversial new “Ethnic Unity Law” which mandates that Chinese should be front and center on all signage. Earlier photos show shop signs in Tibetan or Tibetan and Chinese; recent photos show signs with only Chinese (7).
“In Golok we see the Chinese government’s systematic attempt to dismantle the cultural and linguistic foundations of Tibetan society and identity,” said Gyal Lo, Tibet Specialist at Tibet Action Institute and an educational sociologist who recently escaped from Tibet. “Its goal is not only political domination but elimination of Tibetan identity itself, because our very existence as Tibetans is seen as a threat to Beijing’s authority.”
“Forcing Tibetans to become Chinese and devaluing our revered religious leaders, our language, and our identity is creating resentment and will backfire in the long run,” said Lhadon Tethong, Director of Tibet Action Institute. “Even as the space to exist is steadily shrinking, we see more and more Tibetans speaking out and imploring others to hold tight to our Buddhist traditions and our language. Just as they did through the Cultural Revolution, Tibetans in Tibet will find ways to hold on to all that is precious to them, come what may. China’s war on Tibetan identity is doomed to fail.”
Notes for Editors:
(1) Photos of Zangdok Pari temple showing windows and doors closed with cement:
(2) Tibet Times, “Venerable Ugyen Jangchub Arrested and Subjected To Beatings,” [དགེ་འདུན་པ་ཨོ་རྒྱན་བྱང་ཆུབ་ལགས་འཛིན་བཟུང་བྱས་ཏེ་གཅར་རྡུང་བྱས།] March 29, 2026, https://tibettimes.net/2026/03/29/249316/
(3) Joint Communication to the Ambassador for China, Mandates of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention et al, AL CHN 15/2025, August 8, 2025, https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=30164
(4) Letter parents were forced to sign:
(5) Tibet Action Institute, “When They Came to Take Our Children: China’s Colonial Boarding Schools and the Future of Tibet” (2025) https://tibetaction.net/when-they-came-to-take-our-children and “Separated from their Families, Hidden from the World: China’s Vast Network of Colonial Boarding Schools in Tibet” (2021) https://tibetaction.net/colonial-boarding-school-report.
(6) Xinhua, “’Xi Jinping’s Inspection Tour in Qinghai’” [习近平在青海考察调研], June 19, 2024, http://www.tibet.cn/cn/in/gdt/202406/t20240619_7647248.html
(7) Photos available on request.
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