(TibetanReview.net, Apr16’25) – China has launched a crackdown on Lung-ngon Monastery and surrounding Tibetan villages in Gade (Chinese: Gande) County of Golok (Guoluo) prefecture, Qinghai Province, even as it remains tight-lipped about the circumstance of the death of its abbot Hungkar Dorje in the custody of its visiting police in Vietnam late last month, reported the Tibetan service of rfa.org Apr 15.
Officials have placed the monastery under round-the-clock police surveillance, conducting random inspections of locals’ mobile phones to curb information sharing about his death, the report cited local sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, as saying.
The abbot had died on Mar 29 in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, after missing for over eight months. He was found to have fled to the country to escape Chinese government persecution for his work as an educator and promoter of Tibetan language and culture. This went counter to China’s ongoing campaign to Sinicize Tibet, including Tibetan Buddhism. He was stated to have been caught from a hotel room in a joint operation between Chinese intelligence officials and Vietnamese police and handed over to a visiting Chinese police team.
The report cited sources as saying that since Apr 2, prefecture and county-level authorities had been conducting inspections at the monastery and local villages, imposing tight restrictions and forbidding public memorial services for the late abbot.
“After Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s death, local Tibetans have faced comprehensive restrictions. Many local residents who expressed condolences or shared photos of the Rinpoche on social media have been summoned for questioning by Chinese authorities,” the report quoted one source as saying.
“Several Tibetans have also been detained, although detailed information cannot be obtained due to the strict controls and scrutiny,” he has added.
Currently, there is no clear information about the status of Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s body, which is reportedly at Vinmec Central Park International Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Ju Tenkyong, director of the Amnye Machen Institute, a Dharamsala-based Tibetan centre for advanced studies, ha said. He has been monitoring developments in the case.