Chinese authorities arrested two Tibetan singers, A-sang and Pelkyong, in northeastern Tibet soon after they sang a song for the Dalai Lama to celebrate his 90th birthday (The Tibet Post International, August 1, 2025).
The Chinese government detains, arrests, imprisons and tortures to death Tibetans who keep photo of their exiled spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, including his teachings, books and videos. Many Tibetans are imprisoned for simply keeping a picture of their beloved spiritual leader [or for] writing and singing songs for him to express how much they miss His Holiness and long for his return.
The Tibet Post mentions two other Tibetan singers imprisoned in recent years for singing songs that target Chinese rule.
Gyegjom Dorjee was “detained by Chinese authorities in February 2024 for singing ‘Tearful deluge of a sorrowful song’ on January 15, 2024. The lyrics read: ‘In this land where the victorious one is absent, leaders exist, but false ones. The Tibetans are bereft of direction, like a deer lost in the midst of a fog.’ ”
Arrested in 2019, Lhundrub Dakpa was sentenced to six years in prison “for singing a song entitled ‘Black Hat’ criticising the Chinese government’s repressive policies in Tibet.”
Happy birthday
Various political leaders have been visiting the Dalai Lama or offering their good wishes on the occasion of his 90th birthday. The Chinese government can’t arrest and imprison these well-wishers, so it issues stern condemnations.
When the president of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, visited the Dalai Lama in India recently, China declared that it was “resolutely opposed” to the meeting (no one asked, China) and that the Czechs should stop sending “any wrong signals to ‘Tibetan independence’ separatist forces.”
The Dalai Lama continues to say that he is no longer holding out for an independent Tibet but simply wants a Tibet in which the Tibetan people are free and left alone—which amounts to the same thing, though. The Chinese government will never leave the Tibetan people alone as long as it continues to occupy Tibet.
Reuters notes that the Czech Republic’s relations with China “have cooled in recent years. The Czechs accused China in May of being behind a cyberattack on the foreign ministry, while Czech politicians have visited Taiwan and former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visited Prague last October.”
