Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Seda County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, was once again forcibly demolished by the authorities.
Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Seda County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, was forcibly demolished again around July 13. A large number of military and police personnel entered the academy, and authorities planned to demolish approximately 2,000 monks' quarters and forcibly repatriate the monks and nuns whose homes were demolished. On August 11, a monk held up a portrait of the 10th Panchen Lama in protest, and subsequently disappeared.
According to a report by Voice of Tibet on the 19th, authorities stated that the vacated land will be used to build parks and flower beds. Monks and nuns from other parts of Tibet, after their residences were demolished, were asked to return to their original monasteries or hometowns; some have already been forcibly repatriated. Local monks and nuns in Seda are also unable to continue their studies at the Buddhist academy and have been asked to return to their respective townships. Authorities have also deployed a large number of military and police personnel to the Buddhist academy and further restricted the entry and exit of monks, nuns, residents, tourists, and pilgrims.
Demolition and rectification are cyclical
Kelsang Gyaltsen, the Central Tibetan Administration's representative in Taiwan, who is in exile, told this station that this is not the first time the Chinese Communist Party has targeted Larung Gar Buddhist Academy with demolition and rectification; such actions have occurred multiple times over the past two decades. He believes that these actions have become cyclical.
Gesang Jiancan said, “I think the CCP’s demolition and rectification of Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Seda probably started around 2002. Since then, there has been a demolition and rectification every seven or eight years or ten years, which has become a periodic political movement. What this exposes is how chaotic the CCP’s so-called supervision of Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Seda is, and there is no system to speak of.”
Photos from the scene show that a section of the Buddhist academy has been demolished, with bricks and building materials scattered on the ground. Two excavators are parked in the demolition area, and about 11 construction workers wearing hard hats and reflective vests are working on site. Dense clusters of red buildings can still be seen in the surrounding area.
Larung Gar Buddhist Academy underwent a large-scale demolition in 2001. According to the International Campaign for Tibet, the demolition operation began around July 13th, and by July 15th, six monks' and nuns' residences had been demolished, with at least 1,060 residences slated for demolition. Sources also indicated that some of the demolition work was carried out at night.
Park and green spaces will be built after the monks' quarters are demolished.
Gesang Gyaltsen said that in the past, after demolishing monks' quarters, the authorities would also change the appearance of the original site. He said, "Those monks' quarters included places where monks lived and places where nuns lived. After the monks' quarters were demolished, in order to prevent outsiders from seeing the traces of the demolition, grass and plants were planted to beautify the area and turn it into a park. Of course, they would do many things like that."
Military and police presence restricts tourist activities
Currently, tourists and pilgrims from other parts of Tibet and across China are restricted from entering the Buddhist academy. The few who are allowed entry must use public transportation arranged by checkpoints; private or rental vehicles are prohibited, and they are restricted to designated areas. Voice of Tibet reports that large numbers of uniformed and plainclothes personnel have been deployed inside and outside the academy to monitor monks, nuns, local residents, and visitors. Following the commencement of demolition, authorities have also banned drones from filming over Larung Gar.
Gesang Gyaltsen said, “Since you have clear regulations on how many people a monastery can have according to its size, why is it not well supervised and allowed to develop arbitrarily? When it exceeds a certain size, it is demolished. Why is it being rectified like this? I think it serves as a deterrent to the Tibetan people, saying, ‘I can do whatever I want to you. I can remove you one day and demolish it.’ So it is all done according to the preferences of CCP officials.”
A Tibetan who runs a guesthouse in Ganzi, Sichuan, told reporters that the authorities are stricter with Tibetans than with Han Chinese: "They are very strict. You have to carry your ID card wherever you go. If you lose your ID card, it takes a long time to get a replacement. You are also not allowed to enter monasteries. I can't say any more. Please don't record me."
Demolition and Ethnic Policy Changes
This demolition occurred after the "Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress" came into effect on July 1. Gesang Jiancan believes that this demolition is related to changes in ethnic policies: "Especially this time, it is closely related to the so-called Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress passed by the CCP. After all, Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Seda is a center for learning Tibetan traditional religion, language, and culture. Such a center directly threatens its so-called requirement to learn the national common language and script, including the so-called construction of the Chinese nation in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. You can't highlight your own ethnic characteristics, so they came to demolish it."
According to Voice of Tibet, on August 11, a monk from a Buddhist academy held up a portrait of the 10th Panchen Lama in protest, and subsequently disappeared. Currently, publicly available information does not indicate any explanation from relevant authorities regarding the monk's whereabouts.
The number of people in the temple has decreased from over 10,000 to 800.
Gesang Gyaltsen said that the Chinese authorities also adopt different management methods for different Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. He said, "The policies for different sects of Tibetan Buddhism are different. Some are treated as key targets for co-opting, allowing them to expand without limit; while some Tibetan Buddhist monasteries are controlled quite strictly. In the past, the three famous monasteries in Tibet had tens of thousands of monks, but now they can only have more than eight hundred monks, which cannot exceed the number they have set."
Larung Gar Buddhist Academy was founded in 1980 by Jigme Phuntsok. It once housed approximately 10,000 monks, nuns, and students, serving as an important center for Tibetan Buddhist education. In 2001, authorities entered the academy and demolished its premises on a large scale. After 2016, the academy underwent further demolition and staff evictions, with authorities simultaneously limiting the number of resident monks and nuns.
