(TibetanReview.net, Oct22’25) – Chinese authorities recently launched a surprise raid in the biggest Tibetan Buddhist monastery and surrounding religious places and villages in Sangchu (Chinese: Xiahe) County of Gansu province with a specific agenda to confiscate pictures of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said the Tibetan-language tibettimes.org Oct 21, citing ‘reliable information’. From one village alone, the raiding officials were stated to have carted away four large bags of confiscated items.
The raid was stated to have been carried out by three ethnic Tibetan officials of the Chinese government who arrived at Labrang Tashi Khyil Monastery on Oct 16. The have carried out their search at the monastery as well as other religious places and homes in surrounding areas that included the villages of Thangnag, Ngonchag, L’edrug, Sangkhog, and Marteng and so forth.
The raid was stated to have continued for four days, involving door-to-door searches. The search was stated to be particularly strict in Marteng Village from which alone the search officials were stated to have collected four large bags of confiscated pictures of the Dalai Lama, with only the fourth one being not as full as the others.
The officials were stated to have told the monks and villagers that keeping any photo of the Dalai Lama was illegal and they were acting on orders from both the local and central government authorities. The officials have praised those from whom no photos were found, although a section of them had likely managed to hide their Dalai Lama pictures in time.
Communication links to the area were stated to have been cut off from Oct 19, making it impossible to find out if people were arrested and any violence used during and after the raids. The report said no such incident was stated to be known to have taken place until that time. However, the intimidating manner of the search was stated to have compelled many to own up and turn over their possessions.
The Labrang Monastery is one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism founded by Je Lama Tsongkhapa. This historically largest monastery in terms of monk population outside Tibet autonomous Region is located in Labrang Town of Sangchu County, Kanlho (Gannan) Prefecture, in the traditional Tibetan province of Amdo. It is now part of Gansu province of the People’s Republic of China.
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China has for long beaten, arrested, jailed, and even disappeared Tibetans for possessing pictures or others items related to the Dalai Lama after searches of their homes, cell phones, and so forth and crackdowns of this kind have occurred fairly frequently.
For example, on Mar 17, 2021, authorities searched every Tibetan household in Dza Wonpo Village in Sershul (Shiqu) County of Kardze (Ganzii) prefecture, Sichuan province. At that time, Tibetans were forced to take down their photos of the Dalai Lama and replace them with pictures of China’s top leaders, the report noted.
Tibetans were also stated to have been made to sign a five-point pledge not to make any display of any kind of picture or depiction of the Dalai Lama. Violators faced punishments that included denial of any kind government aid and subsidy.