Lhasa: In a fresh crackdown against Tibetans, the Chinese government has allegedly banned the entry of minors (below 18 years of age) to monasteries.
This development came to light after a video surfaced on messaging platform WeChat. It has sparked concerns over violations of Tibetan cultural and religious rights, Phayul, a news portal about Tibet and Tibetans-in-exile, noted.
Chinese authorities have apparently put up notices stating, “Children under 18 are not allowed in the monastery” at the entrance of a monastery in Kham. This is being seen as a stringent enforcement of China’s long-standing policy of restricting participation of minorities in religious activities.
The timing is perfect. It coincides with the winter holiday period, when schools in Tibetan regions remain shut and many Tibetan children visit monasteries with their parents. The ban will now restrict their entry.
China clearly does not want children to be influenced by Tibetan culture and religion. It is part of a systematic effort to undermine Tibetan cultural transmission, Sonam Tobgyal, a researcher at Tibet Watch has said.
“In
recent years, a series of Chinese policies in Tibet — such as compulsory pre-nursery boarding schools for Tibetan children, the prohibition of Tibetan language instruction in monasteries during holidays, and the ban on children visiting monasteries during winter breaks — point to a deliberate deprivation of cultural nurturing during the most formative years of childhood,” Phayul quoted him as saying.
These measures together constitute a “colonial project aimed at erasing Tibetan cultural imprints from the everyday lives of young Tibetans,” Tobgyal said, according to the Phayul report.
According to the report in Phayul, state-run schools for Tibetan children include an additional administrative structure monitored by the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), an agency whose work is to manage ethnic minorities and religious groups. This department oversees Tibetan students, subjects them to ideological indoctrination, and promotes policies of forced linguistic and cultural assimilation.
Tibetan children are encouraged or forced to leave their native language and support the Chinese language, identity, and political loyalty through this system.
These measures are aimed at reshaping Tibetan children into individuals who speak, think, and identify as Chinese, critics say. Parents have reported that children, when they are home for winter and summer holidays, speak to one another in Chinese, respond to questions in Chinese and show fear or hesitation about visiting monasteries.