Dharamshala — Chinese government (CCP) continued and intensified its restrictions and oppressive policies on Tibetans, it's religion, culture, language, education and environment in 2025. CCP deployed armed forces to prevent Tibetans from celebrating the 90th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and arrested over 80 Tibetans for protest illegal mining. They demolished over 300 Buddhist stupas and arrested the Director of the Dorje Ten Ethnic Vocational School and closed the institution. China has also destroyed Tibet's fragile environment by constructing railways, dams, conducting illegal mining activities.
The Chinese Communist government continues to destroy Tibet's fragile environment by engaging in illegal mining activities, building large dams, digging into Tibetan mountains, and carrying away minerals. China imprisoned a Tibetan man for 16 months for denouncing illegal mining in Tibet and has banned Tibetans from building their homes on their land, while allowing Chinese to build hotels on that land.
Chinese authorities have arrested approximately 80 Tibetans for protesting against illegal gold mining activities carried out by a Chinese company in Kashi, Sershuk County, Zachukha, in eastern Tibet, in November, 2025. The Tibetans were beaten; some had broken ribs, and were treated inhumanely while in detention in the county.
The Chinese government has officially renamed Tibet to so-called “Xizang” in order to erase Tibet from the present world and history. The CCP is not only attempting to change the name of Tibet to “Xizang” in Tibet and China, but it is also reaching out to other countries, over which it can easily exert influence and give orders. It has even reached out to museums and libraries around the world in 2025, including the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac Museum and the Guimet Museum in Paris, as well as the British Museum in London. The CCP aims to completely erase Tibet from world history.
China is also carrying out transnational repression, notably by threatening and humiliating Tibetan activists in free countries, refusing entry to American or European Tibetans into Tibet, and forcing them to accept the 15th Dalai Lama appointed by the Chinese government. Even more unbelievably, Chinese police killed a Tibetan high lama in another country.
The Chinese authorities continue to force children, monks, nuns, and Tibetans to attend classes and workshops, designed to indoctrinate them with Chinese ideology. The government also continues to force Tibetan children to attend colonial boarding schools and separate them from their families, traditions, religion, and language.
The well-known Tibetan spiritual leader, scholar, and humanitarian Tulku Hungkar Dorje, was murdered by the Chinese police on March 29, 2025 in Vietnam, after he had been missing for six months. He was accused of not having formally acknowledged the Chinese government-appointed Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu and writing a poem of a long-life prayer for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Chinese authorities jailed the young Tibetan man for 16 months on October 27, 2024, for openly criticising the Chinese government's failure to take action, against the Chinese company that was illegally extracting sand and destroying vast areas of riverbank, during the construction of a road on the banks of a river in Gakog County, Ngawa, Tibet.
More than a hundred people have arrested in Lithang County in eastern Tibet, in early October, 2025, many of whom face prison sentences, while several others have also been detained in various areas of Nyagchukha County in eastern Tibet. At the same time, according to reliable local sources in Tibet who spoke with TPI, a larger deployment of police personnel has been reported in the form of a joint force in both counties.
While Chinese President Xi visiting Tibet, on August 20, 2025, Gonpo Kyi, the sister of Dorjee Tashi, a Tibetan businessman and political prisoner, attempted suicide after being repeatedly denied the right to visit her brother and being detained and tortured as if she were a prisoner by the Chinese authorities. She was in critical condition after jumping from the second floor of a hotel. Tibetans are suffering under Xi's cruel leadership, just like these two siblings and many other Tibetans.
Chinese authorities arrested a Tibetan monk from Kirti Monastery and prohibited the display of photographs of His Eminence the 11th Kirti Rinpoche in his monasteries in Tibet starting in July, 2025. China already banned all photos of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and now they are banning Kirti Rinpche's photo, the authorities’ aims to cut off ties between Tibetans inside Tibet and their exiled spiritual leaders.
A high-ranking Tibetan lama, Tulku Palden Wangyal, from Choegyal Monastery in Gonjo County, eastern Tibet, died in a Chinese prison on July 19, 2025, after suffering brutal torture and inhumane treatment for seven to eight years. China had arrested him for working for the welfare of the local Tibetan community, advocating for the preservation of Tibetan culture, Tibetan identity, and teaching the importance of unity by discouraging internal conflicts among Tibetans.
The Tibetan monk Shersang Gyatso, abbot of Tsang Monastery in Ba County, north-eastern Tibet, committed suicide on August 20, 2025, to protest the Chinese government's recent crackdown on his monastery, which included raiding the monks' rooms, disrupting their studies and religious practices, organising Chinese political indoctrination sessions, and expelled all monks under the age of 18 from the monastery.
Chinese authorities also arrested a Tibetan monk from Tsang Monastery in Ba County, north-eastern Tibet, on July 2, 2025. At a time when the Chinese government was monitoring and imposing strict restrictions on Tibetans living in Chinese-occupied Tibet, as Tibetans and millions of followers of His Holiness the Dalai Lama around the world celebrating his 90th birthday.
The Chinese government has deployed the Chinese army, armed police and special forces omnipresent in the Tibetan regions of Amdo, Kham and Utsang, particularly in Lhasa, marching in the streets with weapons in June and July, 2025, controlling Tibetans and raiding their homes to see if they are celebrating the 90th birthday of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama or protesting against the Communist Party of China (CPC) and demanding the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The Chinese authorities arrested two Tibetan singers named A-sang and Pelkyong from Ngawa (Ngaba) county, north-east Tibet. After they sang an honoring song entitled "Prince of Peace" for His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, on the occasion of the 90th birthday of the spiritual leader of Tibet. A-sang was shortly released in August, but Chinese authorities rearrested him again after few days of his release and the Chinese authorities initially granted A-sang's family members permission to visit him in detention in October 2025, but later denied that permission.
The Chinese government compelled Tibetan-Europeans to accept the 15th Dalai Lama appointed by the Chinese government and to demonstrate no faith in His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama while visiting family members and relatives in Tibet. This is another repressive action by the Chinese government against Tibetans.
The Chinese authorities destroyed more than 300 Tibetan Buddhist stupas and the statue of Padmasambhava in Drakgo County, Karze, eastern Tibet, in June 2025. This is the second time the authorities have destroyed a large number of stupas and statues in Drakgo county in recent years, in a bid to eradicate Tibetans' faith in Buddhism.
Chinese authorities stepped up restrictions on Tibetans, particularly monks, to mark the 90th birthday of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. The Chinese authorities restrict the movements of Tibetan monks, and when they have to leave the monasteries, they have to keep their identity documents in the Chinese authorities in the Monasteries.
Chinese authorities in Tibet stepped up their political propaganda in Tibetan monasteries, schools and villages. They inscribed “be grateful to the CCP, listen to the CCP and follow the CCP”, on the gates and walls of Monasteries. Sarcastically, the Chinese authorities want Tibetans to be loyal to the CCP, after they invaded Tibet and killed their ancestors.
Buddhists across Asia celebrated Gautama Buddha's birthday (Saka Dawa) with joy and freedom on Monday. But the Chinese authorities restricted Tibetans from celebrating, and even the limited celebrations were surrounded by large numbers of Chinese police and strictly under their surveillance.
China allows citizens of more than 70 countries to entry the country without applying visa under its visa-free entry policy for business, tourism, family visits. However, many Tibetans are denied to entry to visit their families and relatives in June, 2025, even if they are foreign nationality, discriminating them from other nationalities.
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, 2025. China once again violated the fundamental freedom and in particular the religious freedom of Tibetans in Tibet.
During the Tibetan New Year (Losar), China tightened its grip on Tibetans by deploying massive troops in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. The Chinese government showed the world that Tibetans were happy during Losar via state TV, but in reality, China deployed large numbers of soldiers, troops, special police, armed policemen and firemen to control their every move. The Tibetan New Year, a significant annual event in the Tibetan calendar, is observed on February 28, 2025.
On the 66th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day, the Chinese authorities intensify their repression against Tibetans in Lhasa, the Capital of Tibet, and throughout Tibet, confining them to their homes, authorising the armed forces to patrol the streets, weapons in hand, to prevent Tibetans from protesting against China, and placing monasteries under heavy surveillance.
Tibetans inside Tibet and in Exile mourned the demise of the well-known singer Lobsang and expressed their gratitude for his songs. He sang songs about His Holiness the Dalai Lama, world peace, the fate of Tibet, unity among Tibetans and the importance of Tibetan language and culture. He was detained by China several times for his songs.
Chinese authorities in central Tibet continue to force Tibetan children to undergo military training in the name of "education for the national defence". Children aged five to eleven are forced to run long distances, climb mountains, jump over high barriers, and perform other training exercises.
The Chinese authorities in Markam County, eastern Tibet, seized local Tibetan land for mining and construction without the consent of local residents, and built buildings on their farmland without any compensation. These activities seriously damaged the local ecological environment and endangered the lives of the local population.
While constructing the railway line connecting Chengdu to Lhasa, the Chinese emptied the Tibetan mountains and transported tons of minerals by truck during the night, forbidding Tibetans from approaching the mountains for fear that they would discover their secret. They dug up five mountains in a single village. How many mountains did they dig, and how many more will they dig to extract minerals from Tibet during the construction of the 1,629 km railway line connecting Chengdu to Lhasa, Tibet?
The fireworks display in the mountainous areas of Gyantse County, Shigatse City, Tibet has drawn criticism from many Tibetans. They believe the actions of Chinese artists have damaged Tibet's fragile ecological environment, harming wildlife, water sources, and grasslands. One Tibetan stated: "This fireworks show has destroyed the last pristine land on Earth—Tibet."
The Chinese authorities in Tibet imposed restrictions on the construction of residential buildings by the Tibetan populace, requiring the submission of extensive documentation. Conversely, they have granted permission to Chinese individuals and entities to construct hotels without imposing such restrictions.
Chinese authorities of the Lhasa Public Security Bureau punished 21 Tibetan netizens for telling the truth about the number of deaths or injuries of Tibetans and the massive destruction caused by the 7.1-magnitude earthquake in Dingri County, on January 7, 2025.
A Tibetan netizen in his fifties from Central Tibet has came forward to describe the harsh methods used by the Chinese government to silence dissent and maintain conformity to their rule amongst the local Tibetan servants and publics. Becoming a voice against an oppressive regime, the whistleblower describes how, when the Central and provincial leaders or foreign delegations’ tours, the villagers and officials are put to silence regarding what can or cannot be said is kept hidden
