Closing the temple gates: Tibetan children barred from monasteries

Public signage newly displayed at Tibetan Buddhist monasteries ahead of the Tibetan New Year (Losar) period last week prohibits children under 18 from entering the temple during the holiday period, amidst a new wave of school letters and Education Bureau announcements stating that children are not allowed to visit monasteries in school holidays. The new signs reinforce a Chinese government policy that forbids children under 18 from joining monasteries or receiving even informal language classes from monks.

At Woeser Monastery (འོད་ཟེར་དགོན།) in Mankang (Markham) County in Chamdo, the Tibet Autonomous Region, notices posted on pillars inside the monastery gate state in both Tibetan and Chinese: “Minors are prohibited from entering the monastery”. In images circulating on Tibetans’ social media, above the gate, banners proclaim: “Long live the great Chinese Communist Party” and on the mountain behind the monastery, the slogans “Listen to the Party, be grateful to the Party, follow the Party” are visible.

Closing the temple gates: Tibetan children barred from monasteries

Tibet Watch