China’s new Tibetan plan: Less Tibet
‘Sinicize’ push seeks to rein in staples, even Dalai Lama
LHASA, China — A brisk wind ruffles yellow prayer flags as dozens of Tibetans, some on crutches, circle a shrine in a time-honored Buddhist ritual. Across the street, a red banner spells out a new belief system, one being enforced with increasing fervor, of China’s ruling Communist Party.
“Xi Jinping’s new socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics is the guide for the whole party and all nationalities to fight for the great rejuvenation of China,” the sign proclaims in Tibetan and Chinese script, referring to China’s leader, who has sought to put his imprint on virtually every aspect of life across the vast county.
Lately, that has increasingly encompassed religion, both in central China and on its fringes, such as Tibet. The party is pressing a program to “Sinicize” Tibetan life through programs to separate Tibetans from their language, culture, and especially, their devotion to the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s traditional spiritual leader who has lived in exile since 1959.
In the courtyard of the Jokhang Temple, one of the holiest sites in Tibetan Buddhism, the head monk, Lhakpa, said the Dalai Lama is not its spiritual leader. Asked who is, he said: “Xi Jinping.”
Tibetans in exile say they were effectively independent for centuries and accuse China of trying to wipe out Tibet’s Buddhist culture and language while exploiting its natural resources and encouraging Chinese to move there from other parts of the country. Beijing says Tibet has long been a part of China and that the Communists liberated hundreds of thousands of illiterate serfs when they overthrew the ruling theocracy in 1951.
Security has been tightened significantly since widespread anti-government protests in 2008 accompanied by redoubled efforts at economic development and the declining influence of Buddhism. In Baji, east of Lhasa, the capital, residents in traditional garments told journalists how poverty alleviation campaigns had changed their lives.
“Time has changed, so people’s demands have changed. People needed religious beliefs as their spiritual sustenance in old times, but now we don’t,” said Tsering Yudron, 25, an accountant.
The government points to the billions it has invested in roads, airports, railways, schools and hospitals, saying development has doubled life expectancy, brought electrification, jobs, and opportunities to a region that long lagged behind.
“Tibet has eradicated extreme poverty,” reads a 2019 government report on Tibet. “People now lead better lives and live in contentment. A brand new socialist Tibet has taken shape.”
The impact on traditional culture has been stark. Like Christians and Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists have increasingly been pressured to Sinicize their religions under a program put forth by Xi. While repression has been less harsh than in nearby Xinjiang, which has seen mass incarcerations of Turkic Muslims, residents are under extreme pressure to monitor each other and infractions can bring long prison sentences, rights groups say.
China has increasingly vilified the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule 62 years ago, and has in recent years relinquished his political role as head of the self-proclaimed Tibetan government-in-exile. Seeking to quell protests that pop up every decade or so, the party banned all images of the Dalai Lama in 1996, excised the exiled leader from books and broadcasts, and installed cadres in most villages, monasteries and nunneries.
While the Dalai Lama says he seeks only meaningful autonomy under Chinese rule, Beijing accuses him of supporting terrorism and seeking to split Tibet from China, and has cut off all contacts with his representatives.
With the Dalai Lama soon to turn 86, attention has increasingly turned to the question of his succession, or reincarnation as traditional belief holds. The successor is traditionally identified by senior monastic disciples, based on spiritual signs and visions. But China says that only Beijing can appoint the next Dalai Lama in a ceremony using a golden urn to pick from among candidates approved by the central government.
At the government-built Tibetan Buddhist College outside of Lhasa, more than 900 students study religion along with politics, law, computer science, Chinese and Tibetan. Among them are eight monks ages 7 to 11, recognized as reincarnations or “living Buddhas.”
Chalk art celebrating 70 years of China’s military takeover of Tibet adorns the wall next to a portrait of Xi in a class taught in Tibetan.
“We must adhere to the leadership of the party over the religious affairs and the Sinicization of religions. We must continue to accommodate the religions to the socialist system of China,” said Zhang Liangtian, the college’s top communist party official.
China has built a network of schools and institutions across Tibet to try and manufacture a “domesticated version” of Tibetan Buddhism to counter the leadership in exile, said Dibyesh Anand, the head of University of Westminster’s international relations department in London.
The goal, Anand says, is to change the core of Tibetan Buddhism by generating confusion about the Dalai Lama and his leadership, and eventually to dismantle his legacy.