Since the 2000s, and intensifying through the 2020s, the Chinese government has pursued a wide ranging campaign to bring Tibetan Buddhist religious life under state control: transferring an estimated one million Tibetan children into state run boarding schools, requiring monasteries to undergo mandatory patriotic education and state supervision, banning new monk recruitment at some monasteries, prohibiting traditional festivals including Saga Dawa in Lhasa, asserting state control over the recognition of reincarnate lamas including the Dalai Lama's own succession, and demolishing more than three hundred Buddhist stupas and statues at Lungrab Zang-ri near Janggang Monastery in Drakgo County, Sichuan province, between late May and June 2025. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom's 2026 annual report documents these measures and recommends China be redesignated a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom.
USCIRF's 2026 report characterizes this campaign as cultural genocide aimed at dismantling Tibetan Buddhist identity, a characterization Tibetan advocacy organizations including the International Campaign for Tibet share. The Chinese government presents the same boarding school system, monastery oversight and language policy changes as ordinary administrative, educational and development measures applied uniformly across its territory rather than as religious persecution specifically targeting Tibetan Buddhism. This atlas records both readings rather than adopting either as settled.
Facts
Status
Current StatusAs of its 2026 report, USCIRF recommends the United States government redesignate China a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom violations and impose targeted sanctions on officials responsible for the campaign against Tibetan Buddhism, alongside its continued documentation of the Chinese government's enforced disappearance of the eleventh Panchen Lama, missing since 1995, and its stated intention to control the selection of the next Dalai Lama. 2 Official RecognitionRecognition is contested 2 Recognition BasisThe United States Commission on International Religious Freedom characterizes the campaign as cultural genocide in its 2026 annual report and recommends China be redesignated a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom violations. No United Nations body, international court or foreign government has formally recognized the campaign as genocide or crimes against humanity under international law, and the Chinese government disputes the characterization entirely, describing its policies in Tibetan areas as ordinary governance. 2 Consequences
Death TollThe International Campaign for Tibet's continuously updated tracker documents 159 self-immolation protests inside Tibet and China since February 2009, of which 127 are confirmed to have resulted in death, the conservative documented count used here. The tracker's own methodology notes that Chinese authorities restrict information reaching the outside world about these protests, so the list cannot be guaranteed fully comprehensive and no independently corroborated maximum is recorded. Displaced (Low Estimate)Human Rights Watch documented over two million Tibetan farmers and herders forcibly rehoused into government built housing since 2006 under China's Build a New Socialist Countryside program, distinct from the transfer of an estimated one million Tibetan children into state run boarding schools recorded elsewhere on this page. Origins
Defining MomentBetween late May and June 2025, authorities demolished more than three hundred Buddhist stupas and sacred statues at Lungrab Zang-ri near Janggang Monastery in Drakgo (Luhuo) County, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province. Khenpo Tenga, the monk who oversaw the stupas' construction, was placed under house arrest and barred from meeting devotees or performing religious duties. 2 The Event
When It HappenedOngoing since the 1950s, intensifying after the 2008 Tibetan unrest and continuing into the present. 1 Victim GroupTibetan Buddhist monks, nuns and lay practitioners across the Tibetan Autonomous Region and Tibetan areas of Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces, along with Tibetan children enrolled in state run boarding schools. 2 Perpetrator RegimeThe government of the People's Republic of China, whose religious affairs bureaus, education authorities and local governments in Tibetan areas administer the boarding school system, monastery oversight and the demolition of unauthorized religious structures. 2 History
Historical NoteUSCIRF's 2026 report documents the transfer of an estimated one million Tibetan children into a state run boarding school system, and the removal of Tibetan language as a core subject from China's college entrance examination beginning in 2026, changes the Commission says are designed to sever the connection between Tibetan children and their traditional language and culture. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Lhasa, Cities This source names Lhasa directly: "festivals including Saga Dawa in Lhasa, asserting state control over the recognition of reincarnate lamas including the Dalai Lama's own succession, and demolishing more than three hundred Buddhist..."
This source names Sichuan directly: "Janggang Monastery in Drakgo County, Sichuan province, between late May and June 2025."
Sources
1. Human Rights Watch, "They Say We Should Be Grateful: Mass Rehousing and Relocation Programs in Tibetan Areas of China" (2013)
Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch, 2013hrw.org, "They Say We Should Be Grateful" (2013)View the Source 2. USCIRF 2026 Annual Report, China Chapter
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2026View the Source 3. Self-Immolations, International Campaign for Tibet
International Campaign for Tibet staff, International Campaign for Tibet, 2026International Campaign for Tibet, "Self-Immolations" tracker (accessed 2026)View the Source Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.