(TibetanReview.net, Jun10’26) – China says it has discovered two buildings in Tsona (Chinese: Cona) County of Lhokha (Shannan) City in Tibet which had been the former residences of the sixth Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso. However, China’s state news agency Xinhua, cited by the PTI news agency Jun 9, does not seem to have explained how the centuries-old buildings were determined as such. Perhaps from scrawling on the walls?
The Tibetan common knowledge thus far is that Tsangyang Gyatso was born in Urgenling Monastery in today’s Arunachal Pradesh state of India in 1682.
He did pass through Tsona on his way to Lhasa in 1688 at the age of around 6, following his recognition as the reincarnation of the fifth Dalai Lama.
The boy was brought to Nankartse, a place near Lhasa, where he was educated by teachers appointed by the Regent of Tibet, Sangye Gyatso, until 1697, when he was officially revealed as the sixth Dalai Lama.
But the suggestion that he grew up in Tsona in his early growing and study years appears to be a new discourse from the Chinese government version of Tibetologists.
The Xinhua report Jan 9 has cited Pasang Norbu, former vice president of the Tibet regional academy of social sciences, as saying Tsangyang Gyatso lived in the city of Tsona Dzong before moving to the Potala Palace in 1697.
Before being declared “soul boy”, the reincarnation of the fifth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso lived with his family in a two-storey wood and stone building in downtown Tsona Dzong. The government had added it to the regional heritage list, the report said.
The second building is stated to be in a village where, at the age of three, Tsangyang Gyatso reportedly moved after he was designated “soul boy” in 1686. This building is stated to be larger and in better condition than the first.
“In that building Gyatso began learning literature and the basic theory of Buddhism,” Pasang Norbu has claimed, adding the discovery “will help us learn about his life”.
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On May 10, Beijing hosted an achievement exhibition and celebratory event marking the 10th anniversary of the Tsangyang Gyatso Cultural Research Association of Xizang, reported China’s official eng.tibet.cn May 20, 2026, using the sinicized name “Xizang” for ‘Tibet”.
“Any attempt by the Indian authorities or other external forces to sever Tsangyang Gyatso from his Chinese roots and justify illegal claims over the Zangnan region distorts history. It desecrates a revered sage and affronts the dignity and sentiments of the Chinese people. Such schemes are misguided illusions, destined to fail,” the report said. “Zangnan” or “southern Tibet”, is China’s name for Arunachal Pradesh.
More recently, at a symposium marking the 40th anniversary of the China Tibetology Research Center held in Beijing on Jun 2, Li Ganjie, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the CPC Central Committee’s United Front Work Department, has said the centre had enriched work related to Xizang in the country, building an independent Chinese knowledge system for Tibetan studies, strengthening academic communication and improving the research landscape.
And he called for deeper theoretical work, greater strategic awareness, improved international communication, better integration of research resources and stronger talent development in the field of Chinese Tibetology, reported China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Jun 4.