344

Archived

Palden Yeshi, a Tibetan monk and teacher from eastern Tibet, has reportedly been sentenced to six years in prison by Chinese authorities for teaching the Tibetan language to local children during school holidays, according to a report by the Dharamshala-based independent radio station Voice of Tibet (VoT).

He was a teacher at Karze Monastery in Tehor, Karze County, and was arrested on May 17, 2021, while serving at the monastery. According to sources cited by VoT, Chinese police suddenly arrived at the monastery and detained him without prior notice, forcibly taking him away.

Following his detention, authorities did not provide his family with clear information regarding the reasons for his arrest or the legal basis for the charges against him.

Sources indicate that the primary reason for his detention was his efforts to teach the Tibetan language to more than 300 local children during school holidays. The classes were reportedly organized for young students from nearby communities who wished to learn Tibetan reading and writing. Chinese authorities are believed to have deemed these voluntary language lessons illegal.

[...]

In related news, China bars Tibetan government employees from religious rites and family funerals.

Tibetans employed in government positions have been strictly forbidden from engaging in religious practices. While they are technically allowed to visit major religious sites such as the Jokhang Temple (Tsuglakhang) and the Potala Palace during Losar, their presence is limited to sightseeing purposes only.

They are expressly prohibited from offering prayers, making ritual offerings, performing prostrations, or displaying any other forms of religious devotion. Authorities reportedly warned that such acts would constitute violations of Communist Party discipline.

The restrictions extend into private family life. Government employees are said to be barred not only from participating in public religious ceremonies but also from attending last rites, weekly memorial prayer services, and cremation rituals for their own deceased relatives. A Lhasa resident told TT that even the traditional seventh-day prayers for the departed cannot be attended by those in state employment.

[...]

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] davel@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Why would the Chinese state “disappear” someone for teaching Tibetan when the same Chinese state funds public schools to teach Tibetan, just as it does for Cantonese, Uyghur, and many other regional languages?

What’s very convenient for telling us these stories is that we live far away from China and can’t read or understand any of those languages, so we’ve got nothing to go on but what our governments, corporations, and NGOs tell us. Getting information any other way requires significant time & effort, which few can afford and even fewer are inclined to do thanks to more than a century of anticommunist propaganda.

The next convenient, orthodox excuse that’s reliably used is that it’s impossible to investigate because China is wily, secretive, and duplicitous. Another non-falsifiable claim that panders to preconceptions planted by a lifetime of anticommunist propaganda.

Who’s going to investigate whether this person actually was “disappeared” for decades? Who has the time & resources to verify every such story, when the imperial core has the resources to crank out dozens of slop stories every day, which @Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org and his “friends” dutifully post every day?

[-] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca -1 points 4 days ago

Why would the Chinese state “disappear” someone for teaching Tibetan when the same Chinese state funds public schools to teach Tibetan, just as it does for Cantonese, Uyghur, and many other regional languages?

That's not true, at all. It has been official Chinese policy for years now, that the teaching of Tibetan was outlawed. This is all a part of China's "sinicization" efforts to "unify Chinese culture". This has been expanded more recently to include all of China...not just Tibet.

[-] davel@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

The law will require ethnic minorities to use Mandarin Chinese as their main language of instruction

  1. It’s very common worldwide for there to be a standard, lingua franfa language for education in multilingual countries, which is most countries. Are you going to excoriate France as well, which has been much more suppressive of regional languages than China? The entire southern third of France used to speak Occitan, and now very few are left who even understand it.
  2. The use of Mandarin is not exclusive; it’s only mandatory. China has not stopped providing minority language education in primary schooling.
[-] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I think you missed the part where teaching minority languages is now being "criminalized" in mainland China...and has been illegal for some time now, in Tibet.

That is vastly different than simply having a standardized curriculum. Being able to speak those languages may not technically be a crime. But, teaching them to younger generations, is. You will go to prison for violating these laws. By definition, that absolutely counts as "stopped providing minority language education in primary schooling". It is now illegal.

[-] davel@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago

I didn’t miss it. It simply isn’t true.

It’s possible to see through the propaganda, though it does take some time & effort, which most people don’t have the time and inclination for.

[-] Objection@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

You're misinformed, and your sources don't claim what you're claiming.

Your first source is specifically about instruction in monestaries. The second source, as davel literally just explained, is about the language of instruction, not about a language being exclusive.

You can criticize those things if you like, but the idea that China has banned the language outright, or even that it's stopped teaching it in schools, is an outright lie with nothing to back it up.

this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
344 points (95.7% liked)

China

182 readers
15 users here now

Genuine news and discussion about China

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS