Dharamshala — The Chinese government deployed a large number of soldiers at Kumbum monastery and restricted thousands of Tibetan Buddhists from freely attending the Butter Flower Festival (religious festival) on February 12, 2024. China is once again violating the fundamental freedom and in particular the religious freedom of Tibetans in Tibet.
Kumbum Jampa Ling Monastery held the Butter Flower Festival at Kumbum Monastery, Kumbum District, Tsiling (Ch:Xining), Amdo Province, Northern Eastern Tibet, on February 12, 2025. Thousands of Tibetans, Buddhists and tourists flocked to Kumbum monastery to attend the Butter Flower Festival.
The Butter Flower Festival features the biography of Buddha, great Buddhist masters and butter flowers, prepared by the monks of the monastery over three or four months for the festival. This is a rare and important festival for Tibetan Buddhists of the Gulug sect, who go there to accumulate fortune and good karma. This is why thousands of Tibetans flock to the festival every year.
But the Chinese government deployed a large number of soldiers at Kumbum Monastery and prevented Tibetan Buddhists from approaching the butter flower offering, a large and high structure, on which are statues of Buddha, his disciplines as well as biographies of Buddha and other great masters of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Chinese government prevents Tibetans from visiting monasteries and making offerings during religious festivals, such as Gaden Ngacho, or Tibetan Lamp Festival, a special day to commemorate the death of Lama Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Chinese authorities also prohibit Tibetan employees and their children from visiting monasteries and making offerings. In particular, they require them to sign documents pledging not to believe in Buddhism, not to visit monasteries and not to make offerings. If they do, the Chinese authorities expel them from their jobs.
Chinese authorities in Wolong Township, Wenchuan County, eastern Tibet, forced Tibetan officials to sign a pledge: "not to believe in religion, not to participate in religious activities, never to promote or spread religion anywhere and always to listen to the Chinese Communist Party, be grateful to the Party, follow the Party". They intend to cut Tibetans off from their religion, their lamas, their monks and their beloved spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. But they can't succeed, because the Chinese authorities can prevent Tibetans from physically visiting monasteries, but they can't stop them from inwardly worshipping the religion and their spiritual leaders.
Photographs and teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama are banned in Tibet, even though His Holiness is their beloved lama and the most respected spiritual leader of Tibetans. Tibetans who keep the portrait and book of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, if found by the Chinese police, will be arrested, detained, imprisoned for many years and tortured.
The Chinese government has intensified its attempts to propagate the so-called "thoughts of Chinese President Xi Jinping", "Chinese Modern Socialism" and "Ideological and Political Education" among children in primary, secondary and higher education, as well as in universities, particularly Tibetan children in Chinese colonial-style boarding schools, in 2024.
The Chinese authorities believe that what they have done is not enough to make Tibetans like Chinese people and be loyal to the Chinese government. Therefore, they have stepped up activities aimed at propagating “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” and providing ideological and political education to Tibetan children.
