Monks reveal brutal state crackdown

Richard Spencer
The Telegraph
Feb. 20, 2007

Tibetan monks suffer harassment and imprisonment at the hands of the authorities, who attempt to force them to renounce the Dalai Lama.

They are rarely able to talk openly about their experiences under Chinese rule. But The Daily Telegraph used new rules relaxing reporting restrictions in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics to meet monks without information ministry minders being present.

"The situation here is tense," said one monk. "We have 20 police living in my monastery – they keep check on us. They told us we all had to say we opposed the Dalai Lama. Of course, we cannot do that. How can we?

"We all revere the Dalai Lama. Five lamas who refused were taken away by police. They are all still under house arrest at home or at the police station. They have not come back."

Monks are particularly opposed to the "Chinese Panchen Lama". In 1995, the Dalai Lama's representatives identified a five-year-old boy as the new Panchen, Tibetan Buddhism's second highest figure. The authorities arrested the child and appointed their own Panchen.

"I was sent to prison for five years for disseminating literature opposing the Chinese Panchen," said another monk.

"I have not been allowed to return to a monastery. My monastery was closed. While in prison I was beaten, but I survived. Another monk was killed."

Small pictures of the Dalai Lama are sometimes displayed illegally at remote monasteries, but in the principal places of worship there is only the "Chinese Panchen" on display.

Monks are reminded of their duty to the state at patriotic education classes.

Turmoil of Tibet

• Tibet fell under British influence from 1904 when an army led by Sir Francis Younghusband overwhelmed Tibetan forces at Gyantse

• China conquered Tibet in 1950, claiming it was historic Chinese territory.

• The Dalai Lama fled after a failed uprising against the Chinese in 1959. Public photographs of him are banned.

• Campaigners claim 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed under Chinese rule.

• Buddhist monasteries were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.