The Vanishing Horizon: Tibet
In the shadow of the Himalayas, a profound transformation is taking place. For over six decades, the Chinese government has implemented increasingly aggressive policies aimed at absorbing Tibet into the fabric of China. What began as military occupation has evolved into a sophisticated campaign of cultural erasure that targets every aspect of Tibetan identity—from language and religion to education and even the very name of the land itself from. As international attention has waned, China’s efforts to simonizes Tibet have accelerated, employing modern surveillance technology, massive infrastructure projects, and most alarmingly, an educational system designed to separate Tibetan children from their cultural roots. This systematic approach represents what many experts now describe as a form of “cultural genocide”—one that operates not through mass killings, but through the methodical dismantling of a civilisation’s foundations, piece by piece, generation by generation.
Educational Capture: Dismantling Cultural Foundations
China’s most profound strategy to control Tibet operates through its education system. In 2021, researchers from the Tibet Action Institute documented that over 1 million Tibetan children—approximately 78% of all Tibetan students—had been placed in state-run colonial boarding schools. This represents a dramatic acceleration of policies that began decades ago but have intensified under Xi Jinping’s leadership.
The closure of the Gangjong Sherig Norling vocational school in Golog county, Qinghai province, in July 2024 exemplifies this approach. Operating for 30 years as an institution preserving Tibetan culture and language, the school’s sudden shutdown left 110 students visibly distressed during their final graduation ceremony, as documented in footage obtained by a reputed media. This closure is not an isolated incident but part of a systematic campaign to eliminate educational alternatives.
Dr. Gyal Lo, a Tibetan educator who fled to Canada in 2020 after witnessing these policies firsthand, discovered the extent of China’s preschool boarding system during his research across Tibet. He documented how his own grandnieces returned from just three months in such schools speaking only Chinese and rejecting traditional Tibetan food. “When they returned home, they only spoke in Chinese and didn’t like the Tibetan food at home,” he reported after visiting over 50 schools across the Tibetan plateau and five provinces.
The consequences of this educational approach can be severe. In April 2024, 17-year-old Kunzang Longyang, a monk at Yulung Monastery, took his own life after being forcibly transferred to a state-run boarding school in Qinghai’s Drakkar County. Chinese law requires all children to attend state schools until age 18, forcing young monks out of monasteries and into the state educational system.
Another disturbing incident occurred in September 2023, when video footage emerged showing five young monks attempting suicide by jumping into a river. One monk was recorded saying, “It’s unbearable to stay in the local school. It’s like a prison. They don’t give us food, and they beat us.” This testimony aligns with other reports of abuse, including a November 2024 video that went viral on Chinese social media showing Dang Qingfu, a school principal at Tsokhyil Township Ethnic Boarding Primary School in Tsolho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, physically assaulting a young student while other terrified children watched.
Language Erasure: Silencing Tibetan Identity
China’s erasure of Tibet reaches even to its name, systematically replacing “Tibet” with “Xizang”(西藏) in documents, maps, and international communications. This calculated linguistic shift attempts to sever the world’s cultural connection to Tibet, stripping away the identity of a land and people who have existed for centuries.
China’s language policies in Tibet are directly tied to Xi Jinping’s 2021 national goal of having 85% of China’s population speaking Mandarin by 2025. In practice, this has meant the systematic removal of Tibetan language from educational and public spaces.
In urban areas of Qinghai Province, Tibetan-language public signage has been progressively replaced with Chinese characters. Schools that once taught primarily in Tibetan now use Mandarin for all substantive instruction, with Tibetan relegated to a minor subject status. This shift has been implemented despite provisions in China’s own constitution that supposedly guarantee minority language rights.
A Tibetan teacher who requested anonymity reported to media in 2022 that even in schools where Tibetan language instruction technically exists, teaching materials focus on translating Chinese political slogans and Communist Party ideology rather than authentic Tibetan literature or history. Teachers who attempt to incorporate traditional Tibetan content face penalties, including loss of employment.
Religious Suppression: Controlling Spiritual Leadership
China’s control over Tibetan Buddhism represents another key aspect of its Tibet strategy. In May 2023, Chinese authorities bulldozed a 99-foot-tall Buddha statue in Drago county, Sichuan province, that had stood for only a year. According to witnesses cited by the International Campaign for Tibet, monks were forced to witness the destruction and were prevented from documenting it.
The fate of the Panchen Lama exemplifies China’s determination to control Tibetan religious leadership. In 1995, the 14th Dalai Lama recognized six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama. Chinese authorities immediately detained the child and his family, who have not been seen in public since. China instead installed its own candidate, Gyaltsen Norbu, who has been groomed to promote Communist Party ideology within Tibetan Buddhism.
In January 2024, Chinese authorities announced new regulations requiring all reincarnated Tibetan lamas to receive government approval—a clear attempt to control the eventual succession of the current Dalai Lama. These regulations explicitly forbid any “foreign influence” in the recognition process, effectively banning the Tibetan government-in-exile from participating in this crucial religious tradition.
At Larung Gar, once the world’s largest Tibetan Buddhist academy, Chinese authorities have carried out extensive demolitions since 2016, reducing the resident population from over 10,000 monks and nuns to approximately 5,000. Satellite imagery analyzed by Human Rights Watch confirmed the destruction of thousands of dwellings and the construction of surveillance infrastructure and police stations throughout the complex.
Digital Surveillance: Creating a High-Tech Prison
Tibet has become what experts describe as a “digital prison” under China’s advanced surveillance system. According to a 2022 report by the Jamestown Foundation, Tibet serves as a testing ground for surveillance technologies later deployed in other regions like Xinjiang.
In Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, authorities have installed a comprehensive network of facial recognition cameras and AI-powered monitoring systems. The “grid management” system divides the city into sections, each monitored by dedicated surveillance teams. Chinese officials have publicly described this as “nets in the sky and traps on the ground.”
A 2023 investigation by the International Tibet Network documented the mandatory installation of the “Jingwang” (Web Cleansing) app on Tibetans’ smartphones. This application monitors communications, scans for prohibited content, and reports user activity to authorities. Tibetans caught without the app or attempting to circumvent it face detention and interrogation.
During traditional Tibetan festivals, such as Losar (Tibetan New Year), security forces deploy in overwhelming numbers. In February 2024, Radio Free Asia reported that Lhasa was placed under effective lockdown during Losar celebrations, with armed police stationed throughout the city and checkpoints established on all major roads leading to monasteries and temples.
Infrastructure Development: Remaking Tibet’s Physical Landscape
China’s infrastructure projects in Tibet serve multiple purposes: economic integration, military access, and demographic transformation. The Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway, completed in June 2021 at a cost of $5.6 billion, connects Tibet’s capital to areas near the disputed border with India. This 435-kilometer electric railway not only facilitates troop movements but also enables increased migration of Han Chinese into traditionally Tibetan areas.
The controversial Lianghekou Dam on the Yalong River, part of China’s hydropower development in Tibet, began operations in 2023 despite concerns about its environmental impact. Standing at 295 meters tall, it’s one of the world’s largest dams and required the relocation of over 6,000 people, predominantly Tibetans, from their ancestral lands. Environmental experts warn that such massive projects threaten Tibet’s fragile ecosystem and downstream water supplies for millions of people across Asia.
In Lhasa itself, Chinese authorities have systematically reconstructed the historic center, demolishing traditional Tibetan structures and replacing them with Chinese-style buildings housing government offices and businesses. The iconic Barkhor area surrounding the Jokhang Temple, once the spiritual heart of Tibet, has been transformed into a commercial tourist zone with souvenir shops and restaurants primarily owned by Han Chinese immigrants.
Tourism Development: Commodifying Culture
China’s “red tourism” initiative in Tibet represents another facet of control. In 2023, over 42 million tourists visited the Tibet Autonomous Region, according to official Chinese statistics—a number that exceeds the entire Tibetan population by more than 10 times. The vast majority of these tourists are Han Chinese, and their visits are carefully managed to present a sanitised version of Tibetan culture.
The Potala Palace, once the winter residence of the Dalai Lama, now functions as a museum where visitors follow a strictly controlled route. Guides present a narrative that emphasises Chinese development and downplays Tibetan cultural autonomy. According to testimonies from former guides collected by the International Campaign for Tibet, employees must pass political reliability tests and adhere to approved scripts that emphasize China’s historical claims to Tibet.
In 2024, authorities completed a new highway connecting Lhasa to Nyingchi, cutting travel time from eight hours to four. This road, part of China’s tourism infrastructure development, runs through environmentally sensitive areas and has been criticized by environmental groups for fragmenting wildlife habitats and accelerating glacial melt through increased human activity.
Demographic Engineering: Changing Tibet’s Population
China’s policies actively encourage Han Chinese migration to Tibet through economic incentives and preferential policies. Government employees receive substantial bonuses for working in Tibet, sometimes up to 50% more than their base salary. New urban developments in Lhasa and other cities primarily house Han Chinese migrants, while many Tibetans are relocated to new settlements away from their traditional communities.
In 2022, Chinese authorities accelerated the “labor transfer” program in Tibet, which officially aims to provide employment opportunities but effectively moves Tibetans from rural areas to urban industrial zones. A Reuters investigation found that over 500,000 Tibetans had been placed in such programs, often with limited choice about their participation or destination.
Resource Extraction: Exploiting Tibet’s Natural Wealth
Tibet’s mineral resources have become a major focus of Chinese economic activity. The Gyama (Jiama) copper-gold mine near Lhasa, operated by the state-owned China Gold International Resources Corp, expanded operations in 2023 despite previous environmental incidents, including a landslide in 2013 that killed 83 workers. Local Tibetans have reported water pollution affecting downstream communities, but authorities have suppressed attempts to document these impacts.
Lithium extraction has accelerated in Tibet’s salt lakes, particularly in the Qinghai region. As demand for electric vehicle batteries grows globally, China has positioned itself as the world’s largest lithium processor, with Tibetan resources playing a crucial role. The environmental impacts of this mining include water depletion and chemical contamination of soil and water sources.
The Quiet Erasure of Tibet: China’s Cultural Assimilation Campaign
International Response and Resistance
International attention to Tibet’s situation has recently increased. In July 2024, the United States signed the “Resolve Tibet Act,” which reaffirms support for Tibetan human rights and calls for renewed dialogue between China and representatives of the Dalai Lama. The act explicitly rejects China’s claim to have sole authority over the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation.
The United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in October 2024 saw 15 member states, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan, issue a joint statement calling on China to address human rights violations in Tibet. This marked the strongest collective diplomatic action on Tibet in recent years.
Despite these developments, China maintains its grip on Tibet through a comprehensive system of control that touches every aspect of Tibetan life—from education and religion to the physical landscape and digital communications. The combination of forced assimilation through education, language suppression, religious control, infrastructure development, surveillance, and economic transformation constitutes what many observers describe as a systematic effort to erase Tibetan identity and replace it with a Chinese-defined alternative.
As former U.S. war crimes ambassador Stephen Rapp noted, “You can wipe out the identity of a group over several generations without killing anybody. And that can be genocide if your intent is to destroy that national group, which can be inferred from the continuous pursuit of such a policy.”
A Final Reflection
The world watches as Tibet fades—not through violent conquest but through bureaucratic erasure. While governments issue statements and pass acts of solidarity, a civilization that has endured for centuries struggles against methodical dismantling. The international community’s response remains largely symbolic, with economic partnerships consistently outweighing human rights concerns. Unless concrete action follows diplomatic rhetoric, future generations may know Tibet only as a footnote in history—a culture that disappeared not in battle but in boardrooms, classrooms, and policy documents. The question remains whether global powers will move beyond expressions of concern to meaningful intervention before Tibet’s distinct identity exists only in exile and memory.
