Palden Yeshi, a Tibetan monk and teacher from eastern Tibet, has reportedly been sentenced to six years in prison by Chinese authorities for teaching the Tibetan language to local children during school holidays, according to a report by the Dharamshala-based independent radio station Voice of Tibet (VoT).
He was a teacher at Karze Monastery in Tehor, Karze County, and was arrested on May 17, 2021, while serving at the monastery. According to sources cited by VoT, Chinese police suddenly arrived at the monastery and detained him without prior notice, forcibly taking him away.
Following his detention, authorities did not provide his family with clear information regarding the reasons for his arrest or the legal basis for the charges against him.
Sources indicate that the primary reason for his detention was his efforts to teach the Tibetan language to more than 300 local children during school holidays. The classes were reportedly organized for young students from nearby communities who wished to learn Tibetan reading and writing. Chinese authorities are believed to have deemed these voluntary language lessons illegal.
[…]
In related news, China bars Tibetan government employees from religious rites and family funerals.
Tibetans employed in government positions have been strictly forbidden from engaging in religious practices. While they are technically allowed to visit major religious sites such as the Jokhang Temple (Tsuglakhang) and the Potala Palace during Losar, their presence is limited to sightseeing purposes only.
They are expressly prohibited from offering prayers, making ritual offerings, performing prostrations, or displaying any other forms of religious devotion. Authorities reportedly warned that such acts would constitute violations of Communist Party discipline.
The restrictions extend into private family life. Government employees are said to be barred not only from participating in public religious ceremonies but also from attending last rites, weekly memorial prayer services, and cremation rituals for their own deceased relatives. A Lhasa resident told TT that even the traditional seventh-day prayers for the departed cannot be attended by those in state employment.
[…]
Tankies will look you dead in the eyes and tell you this isn’t colonialism.
I tap three green mana and summon a 1/5 Tankie. Cannot be the subject of reason or debate.
ITT
“It’s a lie!” “It’s the truth!” “Nuh-uh!” “Uh-huh!”
It’s almost as if obfuscation of the truth were the goal. I wonder who that benefits…
Today they kill Tibetan Language, tomorrow they’ll kill Cantonese Language (I mean they are already trying to kill it right now), My Native Language
Have you met anyone from China who doesn’t speak their native language in addition to mando?
The Chinese I asked about it seemed more concerned they could hardly understand the accent in other areas, which IDK whether to interpret as they didn’t care an integral part of their cultures was eroding or they were saying these people barely speak mandarin, obv they aren’t losing their native language.
Hello. I’m noticing at least 3 people don’t like your opinion. Does that mean your written and spoken words are irrelevant and it’s alright to erase them?
Some people like jerking off to the idea that China is full of mustache-twirling villains who do endless evil for absolutely no reason. Look at OP’s post history for example, averaging >10 anti-china posts per day for over a year. If you don’t want anyone’s logic or experience having lived in China to potentially get in the way of that, you’re best off blocking me.
China’s nationalistic tendencies and unification policies are its official stance. Its own government has admitted that some officials are overzealous in their pursuit for Han culture dominance. And they do little, if anything at all to curb these abuses, officially.
Ignorance is not logic. It’s bias.
China’s nationalistic tendencies and unification policies are its official stance. Its own government has admitted that some officials are overzealous in their pursuit for Han culture dominance
True, and I’ve noticed some underlying views in my conversations with Chinese people, but I’m still 99% sure this is made up given the source.
And they do little, if anything at all to curb these abuses, officially.
They have officially put minority rights into their constitution and leave Tibet significant autonomy. I’ve never been to Tibet so I can’t speak towards the specifics of how it’s implemented, but I doubt anyone here can either.
Ignorance is not logic. It’s bias.
The comment I’m getting downvoted for is asking the only other person in this thread with direct experience to share their relevant experience. Who exactly are you calling ignorant, the person who has lived in China or the people whom uncritically accept hostile evidence?
I’m calling ignorant those who ignore or downplay the harm caused due to whatever reasons, regardless of affiliation. Doesn’t matter who, doesn’t matter why, those who suffer unjustly deserve their recognition.
Is it downplaying or ignoring harm to ask the other person who has experience “Hey does this match what you’ve observed? Can you help me contextualize my observations?”
Cantonese is more
expressiveeconomic than Mandarin.In Mandarin, the ‘Shīshì shí shī shǐ’ poem is incomprehensible when read aloud, since only four syllables cover all the words of the poem. The poem is somewhat more comprehensible when read in other varieties such as Cantonese, in which it has 18 different syllables accounting for tone differences, or Hokkien, in which it has 15 different syllables.
So Mandarin is the worst branch of the Chinese languages to simp for.
I don’t think having more distinct sounds makes a language more expressive.
Mandarin has to use two syllabel words.
Cantonese often times can use one syllabel words due to it having more unique combination of initials+finals + more tones
Example:
Chair: 櫈 vs 椅子
Clothes: 衫 vs 衣服
Shoes: 鞋 vs 鞋子
Table: 枱 vs 桌子
Ruler: 尺 vs 尺子
This is silly. Tibetan language remains a core subject in Tibet’s schools, with bilingual education policy in place since the founding of modern schooling in the region. The Tibet Autonomous Region government confirms that over 400 types of Tibetan-Chinese bilingual textbooks have been compiled, and terminology databases covering 12 academic disciplines support Tibetan instruction across subjects. Public signage, government documents, and media in Tibet routinely use both languages. Tibetan is also widely spoken throught the region.
Mandarin is promoted as the national common language because it gives Tibetan speakers practical access to higher education, civil service exams, legal aid, healthcare systems, and economic opportunities beyond local borders. China’s Constitution and the National Common Language Law explicitly protect the right of all ethnic groups to use and develop their own languages while establishing Mandarin as the common language for national communication. In schools across Tibet, both Tibetan and Mandarin courses are offered, and students who wish to pursue Tibetan-language university programs can still take Tibetan language exams organized by the region.
China’s Constitution
China’s Constitution also said free speech but why do you need a VPN to access most western sites? Meanwhile I can browse Baidu BaiKe (Baidu’s Wikipedia) and Tencent News from the US without needing a VPN?
(And yes I do realize the US’s government is also corrupt, but at least we don’t have that firewall thing… (for now at least))
Since you are so Pro-CCP, why do you violate their policies/laws and bypass the firewall? What’s your opinion on the PRC’s firewall and censorship?
🤔
You ignored every single point about Tibetan language policy because you couldn’t actually refute them. Tibetan is taught as a core subject in Tibet’s schools. Bilingual textbooks are used in classrooms. Street signs, government documents, and local media in Tibet appear in both Tibetan and Mandarin. Tibetan is spoken widely across the region in daily life, in markets, homes, and monasteries. These are not policy claims. These are observable facts.
Again mandarin is promoted because it is the common language that connects people across China. Knowing Mandarin lets Tibetan speakers apply to universities nationwide, take civil service exams, access legal aid, and find work beyond their local area. That is a practical benefit. Schools in Tibet teach both languages. Students can still take Tibetan-language exams for university admission. Promoting a common language does not erase a mother tongue.
On the firewall. It was originally created to foster and protect China’s fledgling digital infrastructure and data sovereignty. That was a legitimate policy choice. Many countries regulate foreign platforms and data flows. China built its own ecosystem instead of depending on foreign companies. We have seen what happens when foreign platforms operate without local oversight: Facebook facilitating genocide in Myanmar, coordinated anti-vax disinformation campaigns in Southeast Asia, algorithm-driven radicalization. The firewall makes those kinds of external influence operations harder to run at scale.
VPNs for personal use are not illegal. The regulations target unauthorized commercial VPN services.
Also it is CPC, not CCP.
I support the firewall even though it can be inconvenient (so long as vpns remain accessible and legal). I have seen the alternatives. The trade off makes sense to me.
But none of this changes the core point you dodged. Tibetan language education continues. Mandarin promotion expands opportunity. Both can be true at the same time. That is the reality.
Destruction of culture.
AKA cultural genocide.
That’s what it is. It is the purposeful drive to homogenize Chinese empire under Han culture and language and erase the existence of other races their culture identity and history.
theocrat slaver culture*
It’s sad that the government is trying to destroy the aspects of Tibet that make it unique.
It is called cultural genocide
Who says China is an authoritarian regime? You can’t prove that. /s
Just saw a post about their social credit score and lots of comments telling how 90% of their population is very happy and very supportive of the government. Idk if they are bots or people believing this.
to be fair the social credit score as it is imagined by westerners with AIs tracking your every move to make a number go up or down that determines your standing in society is fiction. What does exist are two separate systems; one for creditworthiness like all creditworthiness systems around the world and another system that leaves you on a blacklist if you intentionally don’t pay off your debts. that system can actually prevent you from taking high speed rail (among other things i can’t remember), and some people who are not very aware of the world may have gotten into debt, didn’t notice, didn’t pay their debts, got blacklisted and only noticed when they tried to take the high speed rail somewhere.
to be fair to critics of china too, this (meaning this lemmy post and other political persecution up to possible genocide) is absolutely terrible and inexcusable. i sincerely detest nationalism, but that’s what the ccp leadership wants, using many means, and I can’t square that circle.
I’m sure the blacklisting system has been abused before too. i just don’t interact a lot with chinese news and the chinese internet, and i might not even be able to check if i did try. i know there was that boxer who beat up martial artists who was on the blacklist system, but I don’t know if that was from debt or from persecution. i know the general media vibe here in the west was persecution, but there’s no way I’m going to trust vibes about that.
the social credit score as it is imagined by westerners with AIs tracking your every move to make a number go up or down that determines your standing in society is fiction.
No, it isn’t fiction. It is real.
Every Chinese citizen gets a score, to which points are added or deducted depending on individual everyday actions.
The system rewards citizens based on their accumulated “score,” which basically reflects their alignment with state-approved values. A high score grants valuable incentives and preferential access to public services. For example, citizens with good credit may be exempt from paying deposits when using public hospitals or libraries, receive discounts on public transportation, and benefit from streamlined processes for certain international visas. Conversely, acts like running a red light or jaywalking can result in public shaming and a loss of points.
Based on this social credit system, the Chinese population is divided into 4 classes of citizens, depending on your score.
There is a documentary by a French journalist and his (Chinese) wife who were living in China’s capital Beijing. The documentary has been made in 2023, but there is an edited version from 2025 (I watched the film back in 2023 and also the 2025 version; as far as I remember, the 2025 edits reflect the role of AI in the system).
Here is a YT link: Life Under China’s Social Credit System: A Dystopian Reality?
Here an alternative Invidious link: https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=p19nYrjZ1dQ
The documentary lasts 52 minutes.
[Edit typo.]
I just read more about it, specifically here: https://thechinaproject.com/2022/02/03/how-chinas-laws-and-social-credit-system-actually-work-explained-by-jeremy-daum/ from 2022, and it seems at the time there were pilot projects to do something like a real social credit score system.
What it really is, is sort of a regulatory credit check system. It’s primarily aimed at businesses, not at individuals. And social credit is pretty routinely defined as a measure of people’s compliance with laws and legal obligations. So, it’s not a holistic measure of all your behavior. It’s not an algorithmic formulation based on what you did online, what you bought, who your friends are, what you said, what you posted about. It measures whether or not you’ve received administrative punishments, criminal punishments, whether you’ve applied for permits, or a registered a business, things like this.
So, most of the information going into it is what they call public credit information, which is information created or collected by the government in the course of its normal business. So that’s to say that the creation of the idea of the Social Credit System didn’t involve collecting much more information.
What it did involve was sharing information between regulatory agencies, and they’re now making it so that if you violated say a food safety law… In the past, you might… The food safety regulators would know that that had happened, but it’s now available for the public to see in most cases. And also, other regulatory agencies will see this.
What I strongly disagree with though is the dramatized and biased view your video approaches the topic with. Analyzing these things should be sober, not like that. I couldn’t watch past the first few seconds. “Do we have no privacy? (in response to filming themselves for a year) We don’t have any anyway (to point out the evil state monitoring their every move)”
Watch the documentary. Each individual gets a score, and this score changes depending on your behaviour and the everyday decision you make - what you drink you buy, what food you eat. Whatever the party deems as desired or undesired behaviour, the score is increased or decreased.
I will probably do that. But do you realize that the first app she opens isn’t from the state? It’s sesame credit from alibaba/alipay. It’s a private bonus credit thing/loyalty program from a private company. It has nothing to do with the state. If you go on a shopping spree in their apps then your credit rises and you may get a few gifts.
You cant even accurately track this much data without sensors, cameras, and APIs shoved into literally every corner of everywhere. This is impossible to do based on a general “every action.”
And you do your job spreading anti-western and tankie propaganda, get off your high horse.
Well, this article certainly doesn’t prove anything. It’s 100% baseless speculation.
What “proof” would you believe?
Well, to start with, something more credible than “sources indicate” lmao. Y’all really just believe anything bad about China no matter how flimsy it is.
The man’s been missing for the last 5 years, after Chinese authorities arrested him. That’s confirmed by his family…not “unnamed sources”. So, either this report is true, and he’s been in prison the whole time…or those Chinese authorities killed him.
Which scenario do you consider more credible? Because those are the only ones that explain his absence. Up until recently, his family assumed the latter.
The man’s been missing for the last 5 years, after Chinese authorities arrested him. That’s confirmed by his family…not “unnamed sources”.
This source doesn’t even claim he’s been “missing.”
So, either this report is true, and he’s been in prison the whole time…or those Chinese authorities killed him.
I swear, you don’t even need propaganda to make up lies to tell you, you’ll just invent the lies yourself based on nothing. Absolutely ridiculous.
Oh, ok. So, you’re just one of those lazy disbelievers, that doesn’t even bother to look into anything before dismissing it, out-of-hand? Cool. I guess it’s easier to have an uninformed opinion than it is to use Google?
I’ll do your homework for you this time, but after this, you’re going to have to start helping yourself. Or, you can just continue to make yourself look ignorant online. It’s really up to you.
“Lazy disbelievers” lmao what? That’s called reasonable skepticism. The burden of proof is on the person making the claim. If you understood and practiced that, maybe you wouldn’t be so gullible and succeptable to propaganda.
I’ll do your homework for you this time, but after this, you’re going to have to start helping yourself
No, you’ll do your homework, since you’re the one making the claim. I don’t have to go out and find every claim that’s ever been made about Bigfoot before I’m allowed to disbelieve in him.
Note also that what I said was "this source doesn’t even claim he’s been ‘missing,’" which is true. I never said that was no source out there that claimed that.
I believe anything bad about most countries because it’s a pretty safe default.
I don’t believe claims made without evidence because it’s an even safer default.
it was either illegal or legal to teach those kids that ‘forbidden’ language. I don’t really care about what an unnamed source believes the law to be. It’s not like you can’t just look laws up or ask officials for comment.
No smoke, no fire.
the UK and Australian Governments imprison climate change protestors for years…
it’s intrinsic in all governments to be authoritarian, they own the monopoly on violence
independent radio station
Voice of Tibet
It receives funds from the United States National Endowment for Democracy
Yeah no, they’re just making shit up lmao.
🤣🤣👌👍
Literally the only source for this is from known CIA fronts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_Tibet_(Norway)?wprov=sfla1
Sources indicate that the primary reason for his detention was his efforts to teach the Tibetan language to more than 300 local children during school holidays. The classes were reportedly organized for young students from nearby communities who wished to learn Tibetan reading and writing. Chinese authorities are believed to have deemed these voluntary language lessons illegal.
Lmao y’all are incapable of critical thought.
My sources indicate that gullible is written on the ceiling.
