(TibetanReview.net, Sep14’24) – Chinese authorities had been persecuting a Tibetan social media influencer, suspending his account and detaining him, between August and early this month, due to the growing popularity of his Tibetan language-promotion activities, according to Dharamshala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy Sep 13. The centre said he was arbitrarily detained from Sep 1 to 3 and beaten.
The centre cited Tibetan language content creator and live-streamer Tashi Nyima, also known as Gang Lhaja, as saying in a video posted on the Chinese social media platform KuaiShou on Aug 28 that his live-streaming activities had been abruptly suspended following orders from the local police.
He has explained that he was targeted particularly for his Tibetan language series “Outdoor Livestream on The Plateau” which had become increasingly popular among the Tibetan communities.
The suspension of his account was apparently temporary because the centre said that on Sep 7, he released another video in Tibetan, with its transcript posted in Chinese translation, expressing frustration and disappointment over his situation.
In it he has spoken of having felt that this might be the last livestream in his life, of having been terribly scared, and of even having trembled from it terribly, until he was able to go online again.
He has spoken of having readied over 200,000 yuan to spend on traveling through the three historically Tibetan regions of U-Tsang, Amdo, and Kham, but being disappointed that this won’t be possible now.
“I feel defeated and sad. However, I know that the greater one’s influence on society, the more obstacles and pressure one faces,” he was quoted as saying.
Gang Lhaja is said to belong to Yuthok village in Dege County in Kardze prefecture, Sichuan province. The centre said he is a former monk who had his early education in a local monastery and graduated from a Shedra (Tibetan Buddhist monastic university). He then moved to Chengdu, where he sold coffee on the streets while continuing his Tibetan studies.
His small coffee business having failed, Gang Lhaja transitioned to creating online contents and garnered widespread support for his efforts to promote the Tibetan language and culture, the centre said.
It called the recent restrictions on Gang Lhaja as part of a broader pattern of repression against Tibetan language and culture.
Tibetan language is said to be generally banned, though not explicitly, on major Chinese social media platforms as a part of President Xi Jinping’s drive to Sinicize the ethnic minority regions in the name of promoting a strong sense of community for Chinese nation.