Hundreds of Tibetans have turned to social media to demand that China restores Tibetan language studies in schools, just a few days after Beijing has published a white paper claiming that the right to use the Tibetan language is guaranteed in Tibet.
In the March 28 report on Human Rights in Tibet, China said that the use of the Tibetan language is widespread in government documents, public opinions, media and schools, and that Mandarin and Tibetan courses are taught in primary and secondary schools in the region.
But the Tibetans say that it is not true and that China has actively decided to remove the use of the language – which they see as part of a wider plan to completely eliminate Tibetan cultural identity.
In 2020, for example, Mandarin was made the main means of teaching in all primary and secondary schools in Tibet. His name was “bilingual” education but in reality, Mandarin was much more used.
In 2023, China launched a Mandarin policy only for students who pass the annual entry exam to college, putting many ethnic minorities, including Tibetan children – who were previously authorized to take the test in their mother tongue – in a disadvantage.
Even the title of the White Paper – “Human Rights in Xizang in the new era” – used the term “Xizang” promoted by Beijing to refer to Tibet, another clear sign of attempts to assimilate Tibetans under Chinese Han culture.
‘Precious wealth’
In response to the white paper, the Tibetans have left thousands of angry comments under several videos published on the WeChat social media platform showing that Chinese officials discuss the content of the white paper.
“Language and culture are the most precious wealth in the world … Restoring the Tibetan language with entrance exams to college,” said a Tibet surfer.
“Whatever nationality, as long as there is a language, it must be supported by the government and included in the textbooks so that children can learn their mother tongue,” said another Tibetan.
“The Tibetan script and language bear a long and rich history and a culture of the Tibetan people,” said another article. “However, at present, the Tibetan language is not seen in the entrance exams in college and many workplaces do not use the Tibetan language.”
External experts also said that Beijing had actively tried to remove the use of the Tibetan language.
“The Chinese government has made sure that the Tibetan language remains practically useless in everyday life, whether for education or to earn a living,” said Dawa Tsering, director, Tibet Policy Institute, at Radio Free Asia.
Government’s statements are not stimulated with reality
The white paper has focused on the use of Tibetan in the Tibetan autonomous region, or TAR, an administrative region designed by the Chinese government which constitutes part of the largest region that Tibetans call “the largest Tibet”, which includes pieces from the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai and La Yunnan.
He said there were 17 periodicals and 11 newspapers available in Tibetan language, and that the government has published 46.85 million copies of 8,794 Tibetan language pounds by the end of 2024.
“The right to study and use the Tibetan language in public administration is guaranteed,” said Karma Tsetan, president of the TAR government at the press conference on March 28.
“The right to study and develop the Tibetan language is also guaranteed in education and in standardization of important terms. Standard and Tibetan Chinese courses are taught in primary and secondary schools, “he said.
But that did not stimulate with reality on the ground.
In July 2024, Chinese officials announced the closure of the Gangjong Sherig Norling school, known for its education on culture, philosophy and Tibetan religion, in the county of Golog in the historic region of Tibet.
The same month, the monastic schools of the Kirti monastery in the county of Ngaba and the monastery of Lhamo Kirti in the county of Dzoge were closed and a total of 1,600 young monks were forced to register in residential schools managed by the State which say the analysts aim to make young Tibetans more faithful to the Chinese communist part than to Buddhism.
And in all Tibetan regions, children as young as 6 are required to register for boarding schools who now have military veterans published as “welding instructors” to instill loyalty to the party.
Restricted access
China has seriously prevented foreigners from entering Tibet, which makes it extremely difficult to describe the situation on the ground.
But the external experts who have managed to visit Tibet say that Mandarin has become the dominant language.
In December 2024, three members of the Think Tank India foundation based in New Delhi, which made a supervised visit to the capital of Tibet Lhasa, told Radio Free Asia that Tibetan “now plays the second violin” in Mandarin and was treated as a second language, with all the main signage of Mandarin.
China’s statements concerning Human Rights in Tibet do not reflect reality on the ground and have urged Beijing to allow unhindered access to external observers, independent researchers, said Maya Wang, director of China associated with Human Rights Watch.
“Over the past two decades, the Chinese government has implemented increasingly tightened control over Tibetans, as part of its wider efforts to force minorities,” she said.
“This high level of repression has long documented by human rights organizations and media organizations in exile strongly contrasts with the allegations of the Chinese government on the protection of human rights in Tibet.”
The United States has pressed China to open access to Tibet.
On March 31, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington imposed restrictions on visas against Chinese officials engaged in efforts to restrict American diplomats, journalists and other international observers access to Tibet, even if Chinese diplomats and journalists enjoy wide access to the United States.
“I urge the Chinese Communist Party to immediately approach the lack of reciprocity and to allow diplomats, among other things, access without restriction to tar and other Tibetan areas,” said Rubio.
A spokesperson for the State Department declared that he could not appoint Chinese officials affected by visa restrictions, as US law requires that individual visa files be confidential.
“We continue to invoke the Chinese government to protect the human rights of the Tibetans, to preserve their unique identity and to resume dialogue with His Holiness Le Dalai Lama or its representatives, without prior condition, to work towards a negotiated solution and a significant autonomy for the Tibetans,” said the spokesperson for the State Department at Radio Free.
Tenzin Lekshay, spokesperson for the Central Tibetan Administration – The Tibetan government in exile – in Dharamsala, India, welcomed the American move, the appellant “in a timely manner” because it comes only a few days after the Chinese government said it had made “all -terrain and historical progress” to ensure human rights inside Tibet.
“The Chinese government said that Tibetans in Tibet have total freedom, but unrestricted access to international impartial observers in Tibet will prove that this is not the case,” Lekshay told Radio Free Asia.
Additional Tenzin Norzom and Dorjee Dolma reports. Edited by Malcolm Foster.