Chinese authorities interviewed and owned local Tibetans who published online photos and messages from the loss of an influential Tibetan Buddhist leader who died while he was in detention in Vietnam, two sources in the region at Radio Free Asia.
Heads of the County of Gade in the Gologie prefecture in the province of Qinghai placed the monastery of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, who died at the age of 56, under the surveillance of the police 24th, carrying out random inspections of the inhabitants of the inhabitants to curb information on his death, the sources said. Both spoke under the cover of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
On April 3, the Lung Ngon monastery in Gade County confirmed that his abbot, Tulku Hungkar Dorje, died on March 29 at Ho Chi Minh from Vietnam. His disciples say that the Buddhist chief, who had disappeared for more than eight months, had fled to Vietnam to escape the persecution of the Chinese government for his work as a Educator and promoter of the Tibetan language and culture.
Since April 2, the authorities of the Prefecture of Golog and the County of Gade have carried out inspections in the monastery and the local village, imposing close restrictions and prohibiting the commemorative services for the abbot, the sources said in RFA.
“After the death of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, the local Tibetans faced complete restrictions. Many local residents who expressed condolences or shared photos of the Rinpoche on social networks were summoned for interrogation by the Chinese authorities,” said the first source.
“Several Tibetans have also been detained, although detailed information cannot be obtained due to strict controls and meticulous examination,” he added.
Tulku Hungkar Dorje was renowned as a philanthropist, educator and ecologist, who promoted Tibetan language and culture. Supporters and rights defending rights say he was the victim of a transnational repression by China and asked the Vietnamese government to allow an independent investigation into its death, which, according to them, took place in suspicious circumstances after being arrested during a joint operation led by local Vietnamese police and Chinese government agents.
Vietnamese authorities have not publicly commented on the case.
The monks of the Lung Ngon monastery who traveled with Chinese officials in Vietnam on April 5 to recover the body of Tulku Hungkar Dorje initially refused permission to see the body of their abbot and participate in meetings held at the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, said Tibetan rights groups, citing familiar sources in the area.
However, on April 10, the monks were allowed to see the face of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, but were not allowed to see the rest of his body, said Ju Tenkyong, director of Amnye Machen Institute, a Tibetan center based in Dharamsala for advanced studies.
Currently, there is no clear information on the status of the body of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, who is said to be at the International Hospital of Vinmec Central Park in Ho Chi Minh, Tenkyong said.
Tibetans around the world have united in their call for an in-depth investigation into the death of the respected Buddhist teacher, organizing peaceful marches in several countries, especially in India and the United States, with demonstrations outside of Chinese and Vietnamese embassies and consulates in New Delhi and New York as well as vigilles in candle, prayer ceremonies.
Closing Tibetan language schools
Tulku Hungkar Dorje was a renowned Tibetan educator in a region where Chinese authorities are accused of having smothered the Tibetan language and culture and seeking to assimilate Tibetan children in the greatest ethnic culture Han.
The abbot has founded several schools and professional centers to provide free education to children from local nomadic families. These schools, which included the Hungkar Dorje Ethnic Vocal School and the Mayul Center for Studies, were closed shortly after having disappeared last year, sources told RFA.
In another indication of the tendency of the Chinese authorities removing Tibetan education, an eminent school, also in the Gologie prefecture, announced Tuesday that it was reopening but would not teach Tibetan language and culture as before.
In July 2024, Chinese officials closed Ragya Gangjong Sherig Norbuling School, a deemed Tibetan vocational school led by an eminent Buddhist professor, Jigme Gyaltsen, citing the lack of compliance with the provincial standards of the Communist Party. The closure aroused a widespread concern among the Tibetans at the time on Beijing’s efforts to eradicate Tibetan language and culture.
On Tuesday, Gyaltsen told hundreds of local monks, students and Tibetans during a public event that the vocational school will focus on the supply of practical training on technology and technical skills to allow Tibetans to keep up with the rate of the current technological era.
Tibetan Internet users welcomed the reopening and praised Gyaltsen as “invincible” and “indestructible”. We have also expressed the hope that the “glory of the Tibetan language and script will shine as before”. However, sources have told RFA that the school will reopen without its departments of Tibetan language and culture, for which it was famous.
Translated by Tenzin Norzom. Published by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.