Ban on All Tibetan Religious Activities in Golog

By Tenzin Samten / October 7, 2021;

Members of the Communist Party of China, both current and former, living in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the Tibetan province of Amdo [Ch: Qinghai] have been issued with a strict ban on any religious activities, reports the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). Homes are being searched and an army of informers has been deployed. Party members are expected to educate their families to adhere to the Party’s founding principles and mission. TCHRD says this violates people’s rights to freedom of thought, religion and privacy.

The report further elaborates that in Darlag County in Golog, “the ban is being enforced by the deployment of a large number of informers to ensure no Tibetan party member engages in religious rituals such as going for kora (circumambulation of sacred structures), using rosary, digital prayer beads and other religious objects” and their homes were searched for the photographs of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Chigdril County, Golog
Photo: TCHRD

The ban on all religious activities associated with the Tibetan way of life includes a ban on sending children to monasteries to join as nuns or monks, inviting monks or nuns to perform prayers and engaging in any online religious activities. This all reflects the six point “code of conduct” imposed earlier this year in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Party members are expected to adhere to Marxism materialism and atheism as well as showing loyalty to the Party and its constitution. Members are expected to educate their family on the “incompatibility of religion with the Party’s founding principles and mission” says the TCHRD report.

TCHRD believes that the drive is linked to the National Political and Legal Team Education and Rectification Leading Group’s meeting which was held in Beijing on September 13. Guo Shengkun, the Group’s leader, who presided over the meeting, said that Party members must take the lead in implementing the “second batch of education rectification campaign with higher standards and stricter requirements to ensure that tangible results are achieved”.

TCHRD, which is a Dharamshala-based non government organisation, reports that the ban is likely to be imposed on other parts of Golog and Yuhsu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, as well as the remaining prefectures and counties outside the TAR in the coming days.