China Stops Tibetans Leaving The Country on Vacation
2015-05-22
The ruling Chinese Communist Party has implemented new regulations banning Tibetans in China from traveling overseas on package tours, sources in the region told RFA on Friday.
According to online reports, the Chengdu municipal tourism office has issued a directive ordering travel agents not to accept Chinese citizens from Tibetan areas, any ethnic Tibetans regardless of origin, onto package tours leaving China between May 20 and July 15.
The new regulations require travel agents and package tour operators to change their promotional literature to include a disclaimer stating that tour packages are subject to tourists holding effective travel documents which must be verified by the travel agency before signing up for a trip, unconfirmed tweets reported.
An employee who answered the phone at the Guangda International Travel Agency in Chengdu on Friday confirmed that the rules are in place, however.
“For the time being, we aren’t accepting Tibetans,” the employee said, when contacted by an RFA journalist posing as a potential customer traveling with a passport-holding Tibetan friend.
Asked when Tibetans would be able to travel, she said: “After July 15. They can’t right now.”
The employee said she was unaware of when the regulations started, and that she didn’t know the reason for them.
“I’m not really sure about that,” she said.
Overseas tour groups off limits
An employee who answered the phone at the Huanqiu International Travel Agency in Chengdu on Friday also said Tibetans were barred from joining overseas tour groups.
“No, they can’t … that’s correct,” the employee said.
Asked when the rules came into effect, the employee said: “You’d better take a look at the news. I really don’t know.”
An official who answered the phone at the Chengdu municipal government tourism bureau said she had heard unconfirmed reports of the rules.
But asked if they were issued by her office, she said: “I don’t think they were.”
“I have heard this, but I can’t say for sure whether it’s true or not,” the official said.
“But I know about it because we received a complaint about it, and the complaint was about not being able to leave [the country] in the period up to July 15,” she added. “I won’t know if it’s true until we have investigated this complaint.”
Employees at a number of travel agencies in Beijing, and in Urumqi, regional capital of the troubled northwestern region of Xinjiang, said they had received similar orders regarding Tibetans, but that the mostly Muslim ethnic Uyghurs are still allowed to leave if they hold a valid passport.
Jamyang, a Chinese-language spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, said Tibetans have found it hard to get passports since a serious of regional uprisings in 2008.
“Since 2008, Tibetans’ haven’t been able to get passports, and we have seen fewer and fewer people coming out of [protest hotspots] Ganzi and Ngaba since 2008, because it’s so hard to get a passport,” Jamyang said.
But he said he hadn’t heard about the latest restrictions, which come after a wave of self-immolations by Tibetans in protest over Chinese Communist Party rule.
“Tibetans have been subjected to tight state controls and persecution in recent years after frequent incidents of Tibetan self-immolations, and there has been a build-up of troops in all the Tibetan areas,” Jamyang said.
News of the apparent travel ban on Tibetans emerged a week after hotel employees across China confirmed to RFA that special security measures are triggered whenever Tibetans and Uyghurs check into hotels around the country.
Sporadic demonstrations challenging Chinese rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008, with 140 Tibetans to date setting themselves ablaze to oppose Beijing’s rule and call for the return of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Exile Tibetans have described Lhasa, capital of the Himalayan region, as a vast prison, where visitors can only stay in designated locations and are subject to ID checks and constant surveillance.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials frequently describe Turkic-speaking Muslims from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as separatists and terrorists following a series of violent incidents that have left hundreds dead in recent years.
They have restricted Uyghurs in some parts of the region from wearing burqas, head scarves, veils and beards, and subject worshippers in mosques to strict controls and surveillance.
Reported by Qiao Long for RFA’s Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Tibetan Mother of Two Burns to Death in Protest
2015-05-27
A Tibetan woman living in northwestern China’s Gansu province set herself ablaze and died on Wednesday in the second self-immolation protest this month challenging Beijing’s rule in Tibetan areas, sources said.
Sangye Tso, aged about 36, staged her protest in the early hours of May 27 outside Chinese police headquarters in Chone (in Chinese, Zhuoni) county in the Kanlho (Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, sources in exile said, citing local contacts.
“Chinese police and other officials then came to her house to conduct an investigation,” one source said.
Tso, whose charred body was quickly removed from the protest site by authorities, is survived by her husband Tamdrin Wangyal and by a son named Tsering Dondrub and a daughter named Khatso, sources said.
Tso’s burning brings to 141 the number of self-immolation protests in Tibetan areas of China since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009, and was the second to occur this month.
On May 20, Tenzin Gyatso, aged 35 and a father of four, set himself on fire and died in the Khangsar township of Tawu (Daofu) county in Sichuan province’s Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, sources said in earlier reports.
Local Tibetans believe that Gyatso, who is survived by a wife and four children, had become upset when security forces were sent to Khangsar to prevent celebrations of the 80th birthday of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, one source said.
Speaking on Wednesday at a prayer service held in Dharamsala, India, Tibetan exile political leader Lobsang Sangay described Gyatso and Tso as members of a new generation of Tibetans now sacrificing their lives for Tibet.
“Over and over again, they send messages to us in the outside world that the Dalai Lama should return to Tibet and that Tibet should be free,” he said.
Reported by Lobe Socktsang for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.

China urged to release Panchen Lama after 20 years
May 18, 2015
BBC, May 17, 2015 – Tibetan exiles are calling for China to release a high-ranking monk who disappeared 20 years ago when he was just six years old.
The boy was detained by the Chinese authorities just three days after the Dalai Lama declared him to be the reincarnated Panchen Lama.
The Panchen Lama is the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism.
Many consider him to be one of the world’s longest-serving political prisoners.
China has refused provide details of the whereabouts of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.
In 1995 it anointed its own Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu, who while popular among some Tibetans has been described by exiles as a “stooge of the atheist Chinese Communist Party government”.
Wangdue Tsering, press spokesman for the Office of Tibet in London, told the BBC that events were taking place on Sunday across the world to mark the 20th anniversary of Gendhun Choekyi Nyima’s disappearance, including a candle-lit vigil outside the Chinese embassy in London.

Tibet’s competing Panchen Lamas
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima
· Named as the 11th Panchen Lama by the Dalai Lama on 14 May 1995
· Detained by Chinese authorities within three days of his appointment
China has divulged little information about him or his whereabouts – it says this is necessary to protect him from being “kidnapped by separatists”
Banned from meeting foreign visitors, China says he has attended school and is now leading a normal life in China
His parents are both employed by the state, China says, and his brothers and sisters are either working or at university
Gyaltsen Norbu
Chosen by Beijing as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama when he was six
The son of two Communist Party members
Spent his early childhood in Beijing before moving back to Tibet to study Buddhism
He was selected by drawing lots from a golden urn – a custom introduced in 1792 and used to select previous Lamas – but which critics say has been manipulated by the Chinese authorities
Gave his first appearance outside of mainland China to address more than 1,000 monks in Hong Kong in April 2012
“We are appealing to the world community to help us find out where the Panchen Lama is,” Mr Tsering told the BBC’s Asia analyst Michael Bristow.
“It has been 20 years since he disappeared and we don’t know where he is, where his family is and how he is. We want the Chinese authorities to give some information.”
The Dalai Lama has in the past strongly criticised China for “brazen meddling in the system of reincarnation” – especially the reincarnation of the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas.
The Chinese government views the Dalai Lama as a separatist
Tibet is governed as an autonomous region of China. Beijing claims a centuries-old sovereignty over the region, but many Tibetans argue that Tibet was colonised.
China sent in thousands of troops to enforce its claim on the region in 1950. Some areas became the Tibetan Autonomous Region and others were incorporated into neighbouring Chinese provinces.
In 1959, after a failed anti-Chinese uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama fled Tibet and set up a government in exile in India.
Beijing views the Dalai Lama as a separatist threat, although he has repeatedly stated that his goal is for Tibetan autonomy rather than independence. WTN – Canada

India’s cautious relationship with the Dalai Lama
May 11, 2015
India Today, May 11, 2015 – As he prepares for his visit to China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is cutting the ground from beneath his own feet by distancing himself from the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, all the while promoting India as the founding Buddhist nation.
A scheduled meeting between BJP president Amit Shah and the Dalai Lama on May 2 in Dharamshala was cancelled by the BJP leader at the last minute because the PM did not want the Chinese to be upset with the senior BJP leadership meeting the Tibetan spiritual leader they deem to be “splittist,” BJP sources confirmed.
“The prime minister will surely meet His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, upon his return from China. In fact, the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday is soon coming up in July… The BJP president cancelled his meeting with the Dalai Lama because the government did not want the Chinese to be upset with the meeting on the eve of the PM’s visit to China,” BJP sources said.
The tension between the government and the Dalai Lama is believed to have reached such a stage that the Tibetan spiritual leader, who has lived in India for the past 55 years since he fled the Chinese takeover of his homeland in 1959, will be travelling to California in early July for his birthday celebrations.
But with the last-minute cancellation of the Amit Shah meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader, Tibetan leaders in India are wondering if something is changing.
The BJP sources pointed out that the Chinese leadership believes the Dalai Lama is “splittist,” meaning, he wants to split Tibet from China, and therefore fundamentally dangerous.
But the Dalai Lama has said publicly that he wishes the People’s Republic of China and its leadership well, and believes that Tibet is an integral part of that country.
Fact is, the mother of Chinese president Xi Jinping – Modi’s host in China next week – is a devout Buddhist. Interestingly, Tibetan leaders from Dharamshala confirm that the number of “Mainland Chinese believers in Buddhism” attending the Dalai Lama’s teachings in Dharamshala has significantly increased.
“His Holiness’ teachings are often translated in several languages, including Russia and Chinese. We have begun noticing that several Chinese from mainland China have begun to attend his teachings along with Taiwanese Buddhists,” a Tibetan leader said.
The Dalai Lama has always enjoyed the status of a “holy leader” in India since he came to India in 1959 and then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru welcomed him on the condition that he wouldn’t propagate any political activities. Every prime minister since has met the Dalai Lama soon after he becomes the PM and both sides have reiterated that position.
Certainly, each government holds the Dalai Lama in high esteem, and he is very careful not to breach the promise he first made to Nehru. Each foreign secretary as well as every joint secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs incharge of China is also seconded to look after Tibetan affairs in India, especially the Dalai Lama.
At the same time, prime minister Modi has come to realise that the officially atheist Chinese have begun to “use Buddhism as a tool in a big way to expand its own sphere of influence,” the BJP sources said, for example, in helping fund the building of a Buddha temple in Lumbini in the Nepal Terai and close to the border with India.
It is only after India protested with the Nepalis, the BJP sources confirmed, that Kathmandu seems to have backed off. “India was uncomfortable with a huge Chinese presence in the Terai so close to India,” an official said.
The officials admitted that India expected China to now rain money in Nepal, after the earthquake, helping them rebuild the country with soft loans that Kathmandu won’t be able to refuse and India won’t be able to match. “The Modi government may have got the first-mover advantage in Nepal when it sent search & rescue teams to help the Nepalis, but see how the Chinese now move in,” the official added.
Clearly, Modi has learnt fast that diplomacy can be seamless in these last months as prime minister, which is why he wanted to know why India, a country where Buddha was born – a country called Nepal did not exist at the time in approximately 480 BC – did not make use of this inherent advantage.
So Modi led the Buddha Purnima prayers on May 5, the first time a prime minister has done so, pointing out “It has been said that the 21st century will be Asia’s century… Without Buddha, this cannot be Asia’s century.”
During his recent visit to Germany, Modi told a journalist at a press conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel that “Buddha was born in India.” Diplomats say they have been shy of making this assertion publicly as they don’t want to upset Nepal.
Modi’s new-found realisation that Buddhism can be used as an important tool to counter the Chinese will be in full display in Mongolia and South Korea, where he will travel after China. The visit to predominantly Buddhist Mongolia is the first-ever by an Indian prime minister, where he will address the country’s parliament on Sunday, May 17. In Korea, Modi is expected to plant a sapling from the Bodhi tree taken from the mother tree in Bodh Gaya.Certainly, Modi’s interest in Buddhism contradicts his determination to distance himself from the Dalai Lama, often described as a “living god” of Buddhism, certainly of its Gelugpa sect.
Certainly, too, it seems as if the Modi government hasn’t fully come to terms with the Dalai Lama’s presence in India. Health minister JP Nadda, who also hails from Himachal Pradesh, where the Dalai Lama also lives, is believed to promote the Tibetan cause but Modi himself isn’t so sure, the BJP sources conceded.

Tibetans Detained, Beaten For Protesting Construction Near Sacred Site
2015-05-01
Chinese authorities have cracked down on villagers protesting road work linked to plans for mining on a sacred mountain in Tibet’s Gonjo county, detaining an unknown number and leaving many badly injured, sources said.
Construction of the road leading to Mini mountain near Awong village in the Chamdo (in Chinese, Changdu) prefecture had resumed around April 2 after being blocked last year by local challenges to the project, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“Tibetan residents objected to the plan to mine on a sacred site and appealed to the authorities not to go ahead with it,” RFA’s source, Tashi Lamsang, said, citing contacts in the Gonjo area.
“As a result, the plan was temporarily halted,” Lamsang said.
When local Tibetans approved a separate project to develop bathing facilities at a local hot springs, work on the road began again, and a group of 10 village representatives approached local officials to demand an explanation.
“They were told the work order had been given by Norbu Dondrub, the Gonjo county chief, and were advised to accept money in compensation and keep their mouths shut,” Lamsang said.
The Tibetans were then taken into custody when they threatened further protests, Lamsang said.
“This led to a clash between local Tibetans and the police, and many Tibetans were injured,” he said, adding, “The local government hospital refused to treat those who had been hurt, forcing them to go instead to a private clinic for help.”
Exact numbers for those who were detained or injured in the clash were not immediately available.
A group of Gonjo-area traders were then detained in Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa when they went to the Chamdo Liaison office in the city to plead for an end to mining in their hometown, Lamsang said.
“They told the authorities that if the road work and mining are not stopped, they will appeal the case to central government authorities in Beijing,” he said.
Tibetan areas of China have become an important source of minerals needed for China’s economic growth, and mining operations have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms of disrupting sites of spiritual significance and polluting the environment as they extract local wealth.
Reported by Lobe Socktsang for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.

We have Truth on our Side: Sikyong on China’s White Paper on Tibet
April 30, 2015
By Staff Writer
DHARAMSHALA: Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Tibet Museum’s inauguration, Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay made a brief remark on the White Paper on Tibet published recently by China’s State Council Information Office.
Explaining what he called the Chinese government’s nervousness over its grip on occupied Tibet, Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay said the latest White Paper on Tibet is another attempt by the Chinese government to mislead the world about the real situation inside Tibet.
“Since the early 1990s, China has issued 13 white papers on Tibet. This means Beijing has issued a white paper on Tibet for almost each of the two years within this intervening period,” Sikyong said.
“China has issued two white papers on Xinjiang, one on Hong Kong and none on Inner Mongolia so far. The fact that China has published not one, not two, but 13 White Papers on Tibet, is a testament to the fact that the information provided, principally by the Central Tibetan Administration, as well as by other leading international Tibet support groups, are the ones considered factual and authentic by the world,” he said.
“White papers by nature are authoritative guides on complex issues that need to be resolved or commercially as sales and marketing documents. For the Chinese government to issue 13 white papers on Tibet means that it is having great difficulty in convincing potential customers to buy its arguments on Tibet. These white papers are a dozen too many, too unconvincing and too late to arrest the worsening conditions in Tibet,” Sikyong reasoned.
Describing truth and justice as its guiding principle, Sikyong said that “the Chinese government is economically much more powerful and has a large resource of manpower and finance at their disposal. The resources available with the Tibetan people pales in comparison to those of China. However, our wholehearted efforts to create awareness on the Tibet issue has been much more significant as we have truth on our side,” Sikyong asserted.
The latest whitepaper on Tibet issued by the Chinese government has been heavily criticised by the Central Tibetan Administration and Tibet support groups worldwide as another attempt to whitewash the tragic reality in Tibet.
The CTA has issued a press release earlier, in response to the White Paper, urging the Chinese government to open up Tibet to both international rights groups and media instead of issuing White Papers on Tibet.
“Let the international media do an objective report on the issue of Tibet and let the world be the judge,” the CTA has said.

Situation of Tibetans in Nepal after the Recent Earthquake

April 28, 2015 1:21 pm
DHARAMSHALA: According to reports received from the Office of Tibet, Kathmandu, Nepal on 27 April 2015, there has been much damage to property and minimum loss of lives of Tibetans in Nepal as a result of the recent earthquake.
As the telephone and net services are down because of the major earthquake and several aftershocks, the following report is what the Office of Tibet has gathered and gleaned from reports from various settlement offices spread across Nepal.
Solokhumbu/ Walung/ Rasogiri
According to the information sent by the Settlement Officer of these three regions, the wall of the public kitchen in Deling Solokhumbu settlement has cracked; otherwise there are no other major damages to life and property.
In upper Solokhumbu, a house has collapsed. Complete information is still not available.
In Rasogiri, a wall in the school building and house has cracked. No loss of lives has been reported so far.
The Office of Tibet has not been able to contact Tibetans in Walung region, which is at the border of Nepal and Tibet.
Kathmandu/ Swayambhu/ Lo-tserok
According to the information sent by the Settlement Officer and others from these regions, several walls of Tibetan homes in Lo-Tserok settlement have cracked. Cracks in the fields and agricultural lands have also been reported.
In Swayambhu, the red building near the Swayambhu stupa has not sustained any serious damage. However, a building had collapsed in nearby Kimtrol where two Tibetan brothers are staying in a rented room. One of them has died while the other has received severe injuries and is currently admitted in a hospital.
Boudha/ Jorpati
According to the information sent by the Settlement Officer and others in Boudha and Jorpati, a building housing 37 Tibetan families had sustained severe damages and is in danger of collapsing.
A 30-year-old Tibetan named Chime from Boudha has died after walls collapsed on him during the earthquake. Many people from Boudha have also reported damages to their homes and rented houses.
Libing Sendrak Rinpoche’s monastery had also sustained severe damage. Most of the monk’s quarters in the monastery have reported damages. However, there has been no loss of lives or injuries.
Many nunneries in the area have also reported damages. One nun has died in the earthquake while three nuns have sustained severe injuries and three others have reported minor injuries. Fortunately, Snow Lion Foundation’s medical aid team led by Mr. Sonam Tsering was on a visit to the monastery at that time, and doctors are currently treating the injured.
Pokhra
The Office of Tibet has not been able to contact the settlement office in Pokhra. However, private sources have confirmed that there wasn’t any loss of lives or major damages to property.
Jwalakhel Tibetan handicraft settlement
The main office of the Jwalakhel Tibetan handicraft center has sustained damages as a result of the earthquake. Moreover, the boundary walls of the settlement have cracked. However, no loss of lives has been reported.
Frontier Tibetan settlements in Dothang, Manang, Tsum, Nubri

The Office of Tibet has been unable to contact the Tibetan settlements and families residing in frontier regions like Dothang, Manang, Tsum and Nubri.
Office of Tibet, Kathmandu
The old staff quarters have developed major cracks and the pathway to the office is blocked with debris after walls from one side of the road collapsed.
(Almost all Tibetans in Nepal are currently staying in tents outside of their homes in open areas. People are still unable to go back to their homes fearing more aftershocks of the earthquake)

China: Greater Autonomy for Tibet ‘Not Up For Discussion’
VOA News
April 15, 2015 4:54 AM
The Chinese government has announced that a greater degree of autonomy for Tibet is “not up for discussion,” casting renewed doubts on the resumption of dialogue between Beijing and the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
In a harshly worded white paper released Wednesday, China said the Dalai Lama must first abandon what it views as his attempts to provoke violence and create an independent state in Tibet – things the exiled leader vigorously denies supporting.
“Any negotiations will be limited to seeking solutions for the Dalai Lama to completely abandon separatist claims and activities and gain the forgiveness of the central government and the Chinese people, and to working out what he will do with the rest of his life,” said the report.
“As the political status and system of Tibet is stipulated by the Chinese Constitution and laws, the ‘Tibet issue’ and ‘a high degree of autonomy’ are not up for discussion,” it continued.
The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in the 1950s following a Chinese takeover, has for decades insisted he is not pushing for independence in his homeland. The Nobel Peace Prize winner says instead he is seeking greater autonomy and other rights under what is referred to as the “Middle Way Approach.”
In the white paper, Beijing criticized the Middle Way as a deceptive attempt to “create a state within a state.” It also said the recent wave of Tibetan self-immolations was “manipulated and instigated” by the 79-year-old and his supporters.
More than 130 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in Tibetan areas of China since 2009 as part of a desperate protest against China’s rule and repressive policies in Tibet. China says the suicide protests are acts of terrorism.
The Dalai Lama and the Chinese government last held talks in 2010. In recent months, the Dalai Lama has said he is optimistic that Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, who came to power in 2012, could resume the negotiations.
One area of disagreement is over which party would represent Tibet. Beijing prefers to meet with the Dalai Lama and his representatives. The Dalai Lama, who retired from politics in 2011, says Beijing must meet with the Tibetan government-in-exile.
The Chinese government recently has stepped up its verbal attacks on the Dalai Lama. Most recently, it slammed the spiritual leader for suggesting he may not be reincarnated when he dies. Beijing exercises tight control over religious matters in China, and has said it alone can decide whether the Dalai Lama will be reincarnated.

Tibet Chief demands monasteries display Chinese flags
April 13, 2015
By Christopher Bodeen
Associated Press, April 9, 2015 – Tibet’s Communist Party chief has demanded that Buddhist monasteries display the national flag as part of efforts to shore up Chinese control over the restive region.
In an editorial appearing in state newspapers, Chen Quanguo wrote that national flags should be among the key elements found in monasteries.
Demands to display Chinese flags have frequently sparked protests by Tibetans who complain of heavy-handed Chinese rule. Tibetan monks and nuns are among the most active opponents of Chinese rule in the region and face some of the harshest restrictions on their activities.
Chen also called for stepping-up legal and patriotic education in the monasteries — particularly on China’s regulations and restrictions on religious life and institutions — along with activities to select model temples, nuns and monks who display “advanced patriotism and obedience to law.”
“Let the broad masses of monks and nuns be even more conscious of patriotism, obedience to law, and the promotion of religious harmony,” Chen wrote. “Guide them in the adaption of Tibetan Buddhism to socialist society.”
The flag display demand violates Tibetan Buddhist tradition and underscores the extent of China’s determination to control all aspects of the religion, said Bhuchung Tsering, vice president of the London-based advocacy group International Campaign for Tibet.
“While China continues to tell the world that Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and autonomy, its top official in Lhasa is engaged in an ideological campaign to turn Tibetan monasteries into ‘patriotic centers,'” he said in a statement.
Chen also said that newspapers, television, telephones and water and electrical connections should be made available in monasteries. He said measures would be taken to improve health care, stipends and pensions for monks and nuns to permit them to “personally feel the concern and warmth of the party and government.”
Chen’s demand was contained in a lengthy editorial that first appeared Wednesday in the party flagship People’s Daily and was reprinted in other papers on Thursday.
China claims Tibet has been part of its territory for seven centuries, but many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for most of that time. Communist forces occupied the region in 1951 following victory in the Chinese civil war.
Buddhist clergy objects particularly to demands to take part in patriotic education activities to enforce loyalty to the Communist Party, complaining that they waste time and resources from their religious studies.
Those activities and other restrictions were intensified after the 2008 riots in Tibet’s capital Lhasa sparked widespread protests across Tibetan areas. Troops were stationed in monasteries and monks and nuns deemed politically suspect were forced out.

Tibetan nun burns self in Kardze, total self-immolation reaches 137
April 10, 2015 2:58 pm
DHARAMSHALA: Yeshi Khando, a 47-year-old Tibetan nun in Kardze, set herself on fire on 8 April in an apparent protest against the Chinese government, media reports say. She is the 137th Tibetan since 2009 to self-immolate in protest against the Chinese government’s repressive policies in Tibet.
Yeshi Khando is a nun from Chogri Ngangang nunnery in Kardze town, Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (incorporated into China’s Sichuan Province). She burned herself near a local police station in Kardze at around 09:00 am in the morning.
During her self-immolation protest, she raised slogans calling for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet and freedom for Tibetans. She also shouted prayers for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and called for unity amongst the Tibetan people.
Chinese security forces arrived shortly after the incident and seized her body. It is currently not clear whether she is alive or dead. However, it is reported that eye witnesses and local people believe she may have expired after her fiery demonstration.
“Chinese authorities have summoned Yeshi Khando’s family to the police station on 9 April to inform them that she has died. However, they refused to hand over her body to the family members. So, it’s quite difficult to ascertain whether she is dead or alive,” a reliable source informed.