Dharamshala — Chinese authorities in Tibet intensified restrictions on religious activities and Tibetan internet users, particularly livestreamers, by detaining and summoning them to police stations, and issuing warnings based on various accusations.
According to the source, Lhakpa and Karma went live on their social media app, on April 7, 2026, and talked about religious activities such as help making Sang Sol (purification offering). They were subsequently interrogated by the Chinese authorities at the police station in Ngari Prefecture, western Tibet. They were warned that their actions violated so-called "Chinese internet law" and "legislation on religious activities". In November 2020, the Chinese authorities banned the traditional Tibetan 'Sang Sol' practice outside the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet.
Sang Sol' (Tibetan: བསང་གསོལ, "purification offering") is a traditional Tibetan practice involving burning fragrant substances, primarily juniper, to cleanse, purify, and offer to enlightened beings and local spirits. It serves as a ritual to remove negative energy, clear obstacles, repay karmic debts, and accumulate merit by generating generosity. However, the Chinese authorities imposed restrictions on the Sang Sol and other religious activities in the midst of the sinicisation of Buddhism.
Chinese police in Tengchen County, Chamdo, eastern Tibet arrested a Tibetan man named Uygen. He was accused of discussing "illegal topics and deceiving ordinary people," which allegedly had a "negative impact" on society. Such accusations are often used to illegally arrest and imprison Tibetans in the absence of concrete evidence. He was later sentenced to six years in prison by the Tengchen County People's Court. Due to the strict restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities on information relating to Tibet, the date of arrest and sentencing, and the location of his place of imprisonment remain unknown.
Most often, Tibetans have been secretly sentenced on political grounds, even though they had committed no illegal acts. Although they engage in no illegal activities, by preserving Tibetan language, culture and religion, the Tibetan scholars, teachers, and writers have been arrested in recent years, with the aim of eradicating the Tibetan language and religion.
Chinese authorities sentenced a Tibetan teacher named Palden Yeshe to six years in prison for teaching the Tibetan language to 300 students during their vacation. His whereabouts was only revealed recently, nearly five years disappeared after his arrest by Chinese police.
The National People's Congress (NPC) passed a law on March 12, 2026, titled “Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress in the People's Republic of China (PRC).” This law reinforces policies of “Sinicization” and “assimilation,” particularly with regard to Tibetans and other oppressed peoples of Mongolia and East Turkestan. It mandates the Sinicization and assimilation of the Tibetan people, using parents, monasteries, various social organizations, and state institutions as instruments of implementation; the law is scheduled to officially take effect on July 1, 2026.
Chinese government is doing everything in its power to eliminate Tibetan identity, religion and culture through repressive policies. It has banned Tibetan children from learning their language, visiting monasteries or becoming monks, and prohibited the construction of new monasteries. It is enforcing new policies and prohibiting the display of Tibetan thangkas and the wearing of Tibetan hats.
China-Tibet: The one-thing you need to know:
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 Buddhist nation in the Himalayas which had little contact with the rest of the world. It existed as a rich cultural storehouse of the Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings of Buddhism. Religion was 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.
