(TibetanReview.net, Dec16’23) – China has opened on Dec 15 an exhibition of cultural relics on the theme of the successive Panchen Lamas and Buddhism art in its Macao Special Administrative Region in an apparent move to further promote Gyaincain Norbu chosen by it as Tibet’s 11th Panchen Lama to replace the candidate recognize and proclaimed by the Dalai Lama.
Gyaincain Norbu is expected to play a key role in “recognizing” the reincarnation of the current, 14th Dalai Lama chosen by Beijing, although his lack of legitimacy and China’s right to play any role in the process is all too obvious.
The Panchen Lama is Tibet’s second most prominent religious figure after the Dalai Lama. China kidnapped into oblivion the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima recognized by the Dalai Lama within days of his proclamation of it in 1995.
China has been taking Gyaincain Norbu on extended tours of monasteries and other areas across occupied Tibet recently as its false assertions of “legal” and “historical” rights to choose the reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama grew.
The exhibition in Macao features 137 rare items from the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Tashilhunpo Monastery Tibet Autonomous Region, one of the great religious sites of the Gelug sect, a branch of Tibetan Buddhism, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Dec 15.
Underlying the exhibition’s political agenda, the report said, “The exhibits, most notably cultural relics related to the 6th Panchen Lama’s audience with Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) in Beijing, served as witnesses to the close contacts between the plateau region and the Chinese central government in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) as well as the artistic and technological interactions between the region and the Qing court.”
The report said the exhibition will run through Mar 17, 2024.