Dharamshala, India — Chinese authorities arrested eight Tibetans from Wonpo Village over their efforts to teach Tibetan language to local Tibetans in Wonpo Village, Sershul County, Dzachuka, Eastern Tibet.
According to a reliable source, Chinese authorities arrested two Tibetan women from Wonpo village and six monks from Wonpo Monastery again on September 3, 2021, over teaching Tibetan language to local Tibetans in the Wonpo Villages.
"First, the local Chinese authorities called the Tibetan monks from Wonpo Monastery to the local Chinese authorities' office for investigation, then they commanded the monks to return to their rooms, with five to six Chinese authorities and police officers accompanying the monks. After reaching the monks' rooms, the Chinese authorities searched all the rooms and then they arrested the monks and detained them in Sershul County, where their names will not be made public for the safety of the arrested Tibetans," the source said, citing sources in the area.
"The reason for the arrest of the aforementioned Tibetans is unclear, but the source said, "The Chinese government has minimized Tibetan language classes in Tibetan schools in recent years, and as a result, many Tibetans, especially Tibetan monks, have volunteered to teach Tibetan to local Tibetans. For many years, Tibetans and monks in Wonpo have volunteered to teach Tibetan to local Tibetans, and there is a group in Wonpo called the "Mother Language Protection Group". The Tibetans detained above are members of this group and they are also involved in the program to teach Tibetan to local Tibetans," the source further said.
From August 22 to 29, 2021, Chinese authorities detained 113 Tibetans in Wonpo for photographs of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and communication with Tibetans in exile. On September 3, 2021, Chinese authorities again arrested eight Tibetans from Wonpo for teaching the Tibetan language to local Tibetans, thus, from August 23 to September 3, 2021, Chinese authorities arrested a total of 121 Tibetans from Sershul County, Dzachuka, Eastern Tibet.
Over the past 70 decades, there has been ongoing political repression, social discrimination, economic marginalization, environmental destruction, and cultural assimilation, particularly due to Chinese migration to Tibet which is fueling intense resentment among the people of occupied Tibet.
The communist-totalitarian state of China began its invasion of Tibet in 1949, reaching complete occupation of the country in 1959. Since that time, more than 1.2 million people, 20% of the nation's population of six million, have died as a direct result of China's invasion and occupation. In addition, over 99% of Tibet's six thousand religious monasteries, temples, and shrines, have been looted or decimated resulting in the destruction of hundreds of thousands of sacred Buddhist scriptures.
Until 1949, Tibet was an independent nation in the Himalayas which had little contact with the rest of the world. It existed as a rich cultural storehouse — a unifying theme among the Tibetans — as was their own language, literature, art, and world view developed by living at high altitudes, under harsh conditions, in a balance with their environment.