Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Aug. 20: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Lhasa on Wednesday for his second visit to Tibet since 2021 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the so-called “Tibet Autonomous Region.” The so-called TAR, officially established by the People’s Republic of China in 1965, comprises less than half of Tibet’s historical and cultural territory, which includes the traditional province of U-Tsang and a part of Kham.
State media reported that Xi was greeted by “people of various ethnic groups” and called for building a “modern socialist Tibet” that is “united, prosperous, civilized, harmonious and beautiful.” Chinese outlets framed the visit as evidence of stability and progress, citing poverty alleviation, infrastructure expansion, and “ethnic unity.”
Despite the Chinese Communist Party’s pledge to respect Tibetan autonomy, six decades of Communist Party rule have brought sweeping restrictions on religious practice, the Tibetan language, and freedom of movement, alongside pervasive surveillance and policies that rights groups warn are assimilating an entire generation of Tibetan children away from their families, culture, and faith.
In a statement issued on August 6, 2025, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet accused Beijing of “decades of deception, repression, and cultural destruction,” stressing that the anniversary is not a celebration for Tibetans, who continue to face religious restrictions, language suppression, and forced assimilation under Chinese rule.
UN experts warned in 2023 that roughly one million Tibetan children are being separated from families and placed in Mandarin-medium state boarding schools, an alarm amplified by fresh research and media reporting in 2024–25. Human Rights Watch documented closures of private Tibetan-run schools, while Tibet Action Institute’s 2025 study collected first-hand accounts of political indoctrination and punishment for religious practice. European Parliament resolutions have similarly condemned the practice. Chinese authorities say such schools expand access in remote areas; Tibetans see cultural erasure.
Human Rights Watch and Citizen Lab have documented mass DNA collection across Tibetan areas, including children, and an intrusive “grid management” system of neighbourhood monitoring and “convenience police posts.” U.S. company Thermo Fisher said in 2024 it stopped selling human DNA identification tech to police in the TAR following pressure from lawmakers and activists.
Monasteries operate under Party committees and “patriotic education”; open veneration of the Dalai Lama is punished. HRW has chronicled cases where even advocating Tibetan-language education led to detention. The U.S. State Department continues to report “significant restrictions” on religious freedom in Tibet.
Critics say that the rare appearance at the once-a-decade TAR ceremony highlights Tibet’s growing strategic importance, bordering India and central to Beijing’s water, energy, and security ambition, while also reinforcing ideological campaigns against “separatism.” The visit, staged amid tightened restrictions on access for journalists and diplomats, highlights China’s effort to project confidence and control, even as Tibetans inside Tibet remain denied basic freedoms and continue to call for genuine autonomy and the Dalai Lama’s return.
Tibet was the most peaceful country in the world before the Chinese illegal and brutal occupation in 1949/50. James Hilton, the renowned English novelist and screen writer introduced SHANGRI-LA, a fictional paradise in his book Lost Horizon. Hilton based Shangri-La on 19th century Tibet from travelogues in 1933. IT GOES TO SHOW THE PEACEFUL NATION TIBET WAS. INDEPENDENT TIBET WAS THE VIRTUAL PARADISE FOR LONELY TRAVELLERS ACROSS ASIA. It attracted spiritual seekers such as Lama Anagarika Govinda, (aka.Ernst Lothar Hoffman), a German Buddhist scholar and writer who wrote the first Book on Tibetan Buddhism in the west called “THE WAY OF THE WHITE CLOUD”. This was the first book which introduced Tibetan Buddhism to the western world. It became famous! He studied under the tutelage of the fabled Dromo Geshe Rinpoche. It is said that Dromo Geshe Rinpoche could not be photographed! He would not appear in the photo even if taken! Lama Anagarika Govinda himself admits that Dromo Geshe Rinpoche had clairvoyance! We have French woman Alexandra David-Neel, the first woman to travel to independent Tibet in 1924. She wrote numerous books on Tibet. We also have the Japanese monk Ekai Kawaguchi who travelled to Tibet to study at Sera Monastery between 1900 and 1915. Kawaguchi wrote the book, THREE YEARS IN TIBET. It is recorded that both Alexandra David-Neel and Kawaguchi entered Tibet by disguising themselves as Tibetans since the country was closed for foreigners. Alexandra David-Neel applied soot on her face to look darker like Tibetans. Kunu (Kinaur) Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen Rinpoche travelled to Tibet to study and became a great saint! Sarat Chandra Das also travelled to Tibet disguised as a pilgrim but spying for the British. He wrote the first bilingual Dictionery in Tibetan and English. Tibet held a mystic attraction for travellers from around the world either for adventure such as the Swedish explorer Sven Heiden or Jesuit Fathers to spread their religion. It had a magnetic spiritual pool that held it under the gaze of western imagination through out the eighteenth and Nineteenth century. However, as the British left India in 1947, a power vacuum was created and with the Chinese communists seizing power in China, the peace and tranquility Tibet enjoyed for centuries was fast disappearing with clouds of invasion from communist China who was hell-bent to occupy Tibet. Until now, the spiritual connection between Tibet and China kept Chinese foreign rulers such as the Mongols and Manchus at bay. They had influence over Tibet under the “priest patron” relationship but that relationship was like Rome and the Vatican. Both parties were sovereign without being subordinate to either party. The Chinese communists distorted this and made baseless claims over Tibet and then used military might to occupy Tibet by forcing independent Tibet’s Government to sign under duress the so called 17 Point Treaty. The CCP lost no time to occupy Tibet and dismantle the legitimate Government of Tibet. Today, the CCP is putting an obnoxious charade of propaganda to hood-wink the world that everything is hunky-dory in occupied Tibet. The only thing the brutal occupation of 60 years has brought is DARKNESS to Tibet!!! The light of the holy Dharma was snuffed out by the infidel Chinese communists! 6000 BUDDHIST MONASTERIES WERE PILLAGED, RANSACKED AND RAZED TO THE GROUND! THE MONKS AND NUNS WERE FORCED TO DISROBE! More than 1.2 million Tibetan have been murdered as a direct result of chinese military occupation! TIBET’S PRICELESS NATURAL RESOURCES HAVE BEEN PLUNDERED UNASHAMEDLY WITHOUT ANY BENEFIT FOR THE TIBETAN PEOPLE WHO ARE THE CUSTODIANS OF THE COUNTRY! TIBET’S PRISTINE ENVIRONMENT HAS BEEN RAVAGED BY MINDLESS MINING AND EXTRACTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES FOR WELL OVER SEVEN DECADES. TIBET’S RIVERS ARE POISONED, FORESTS HAVE BEEN DENUDED, FLORA AND FAUNA HAVE BEEN DRIVEN TO EXTINCTION! TIBETANS HAVE BEEN OPPRESSED RELENTLESSLY SO MUCH SO THAT 160 TIBETANS FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE AND GENDER HAVE SELF-IMMOLATED TO PROTEST CHINESE ILLEGAL OCCUPATION OF TIBET! TIBETAN LANGUAGE, BUDDHISM, CULTURE AND IDENTITY ARE SYSTEMATICALLY DISMANTLED AND OBLITERATED! More than one million Tibetan children have been forcibly removed and hauled into colonial boarding schools to be stripped of their language, religion and culture and instead forced to be indoctrinated into communism, Chinese Han culture and language. Even the very name of TIBET IS ERASED by calling it by a sinister Chinese name! This name is extremely offensive to the Tibetans because of Chinese invasion and occupation of TIBET just like SHINA is offensive to the Chinese because of Japanese invasion and occupation of China!!! Tibetans are fast becoming a minority in our own country as Chinese colonisers are deliberately changing the demographic of occupied Tibet. Every so called development is taking away the land from the Tibetan people and used to accomodate Chinese consolidation of power and accomodation of Chinese vested interests. The dams that the Chinese are building are submerging precious Tibetan ancestral land, monasteries and agricultural land. However, the Tibetans are forced out of their own land against their will. There is nothing but misery, brutal occupation, enslavement, marginalisation and displacement in 60 years of colonial and imperialist occupation. The Yarlung Tsangpo dam bodes a catastrophic flooding tragedy waiting to happen if ever it comes to fruition. Beijing was recently flooded because of water being released from the surrounding dams! This tragedy will be multiplied many fold if the Yarlung Tsangpo project goes ahead! NO ONE SHOULD CALL TIBET BY THE DETESTABLE CHINESE NAME. IT IS VERY OFFENSIVE TO TIBETANS LIKE CALLING SHINA TO CHINESE IS OFFENSIVE TO THEM!