China allows Tibetan festival after a 20-year ban

10.08.2022

Human Rights Researcher

Tibet Team,

Global Human Rights Defence.

A Tibetan community festival has been allowed by the Chinese government following a 20-year ban when a popular religious leader was arrested with no explanation given for the unexpected lift of the ban. The Summer Festival or Horse Festival is one of the most popular summer events across Tibet, including Nyagchuka (in Chinese Yajiang) county in Sichuan’s Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, formerly a part of historic Tibet, which is characterised by horse races and picnic. The protection and promotion of culture is a human right essential by guaranteeing everyone access and participation in their cultural heritage and cultural expression.

However, “[…] since 2002, the year when Tulku Tenzin Delek was arrested on a charge of bombing a public square, the Chinese authorities had barred Tibetans in the region from celebrating the annual event”, a source close to RFA said, while keeping its anonymity. The source continued to explain that the reason behind the sudden lifting of the ban on the festival remains vague, but it is plausible that Chinese authorities will use the festival to gather media attention surrounding it before welcoming the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in the coming month. 

The annual festival has been an important event in the region even before the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950. “But it became even grander after Tulku Tenzin Delek lived there. During the picnic, religious teachings were given and plays were performed on the life of the Tibetan yogi and poet Milarepa”, the source commented. 

Tulku Tenzin Delek, a Tibetan Buddhist leader, died under ambiguous circumstances on July 12, 2015, while being convicted to a 22-year sentence following what human rights activists defined as a wrongful conviction on a charge of bombing a public square in Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu in April 2002. Human rights groups had called Chinese authorities to release him on medical parole, which was denied. Tulku Tenzin Delek was widely respected among Tibetan for his work to defend Tibetan culture and the environment, whose sentence was initially a sentence to death, later commuted to life imprisonment. Following his death, an assistant, called Lobsang Dondrub, was executed almost immediately, leaving human rights activists wondering about the fairness of the trial. 

The source added that “there was so much respect for Tulku Tenzin Delek”, prompting Chinese authorities to remove all religious mentions of Tulku Tenzin Delek from official Tibetan histories and in January confiscated a life-size statue of the religious leader that was being taken into Tibet, arresting those smuggling the statue into the region, sources told RFA in previous reports. 

Sources and further reading: 

Radio Free Asia (RFA) (2022, August 3). Tibetan festival allowed by China to resume after 20-year ban. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/festival-08032022113538.html. 

The Tibet Post (2022, August 9). China allows major summer festival after banning it for 20 years, to propagate the “20th Congress”. https://www.thetibetpost.com/en/news/132-tibet/7390-china-allows-major-summer-festival-after-banning-it-for-20-years,-to-propagate-the-20th-congress.