In the 1960s and 1970s, “China razed over 6,000 Tibetan monasteries and demolished hundreds of thousands of sacred Buddhist scriptures.” By destroying more than 300 stupas (dome-shaped Buddhist shrines) in Tibet this year, the Chinese Communist Party has again reverted to the annihilative practices of the Cultural Revolution, Tenzin Lhadon suggests (The Tibet Post International, July 23, 2025).
In May and June, the CCP destroyed “more than 300 medium-sized Tibetan Buddhist stupas and three larger Buddhist stupas at Lungrab Zang-ri near Janggang monastery” in eastern Tibet.
We are hearing about the demolitions and their traumatic effect on Tibetans despite a ban on saying anything to anybody about what happened. Violating the prohibition risks being imprisoned for “divulging state secrets.”
The PRC government, which also restricted travel to and from the region in which the destruction took place, has long felt that any report of its oppressive policies and conduct constitutes a grave risk to national security.
Decree 22
One unnamed source told Tenzhin Lhadon that this latest crackdown was precipitated by Decree No. 22, “issued by the National Religious Affairs Bureau on December 1, 2024, which mandates that all monasteries must operate under strict government control starting January 1, 2025, through the implementation of Article 43 of the Monastery Management Regulations.”
The Central Tibetan Administration, the government in exile of Tibet, observed that the destruction “aligns with China’s broader strategy of cultural genocide in Tibet, designed to erase Tibetan culture by forcibly aligning religious practices with the Chinese Communist Party’s political agenda…. Tibetans who refuse to comply with the Chinese government’s assimilationist ‘re-education’ campaigns are subjected to arbitrary detention on fabricated charges, long-term imprisonment, and systemic social exclusion. In the most egregious cases, they have disappeared or been secretly executed.”
Also see:
The Tibet Post International: “Tibetan activist urges international community to pressure China to release the 11th Panchen Lama” (May 26, 2025)
“Tibetan activist Jamyang Tenzin, 65, arrived safely at Mcleod Ganj, Dharamshala, on May 25, 2025. He was welcomed by Tibetans, members of the Tibetan Youth Congress and journalists. This is his sixth solo Tibet awareness rally, with the aim of raising awareness of Tibet and freeing the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet.”
