From The Times
July 7, 2008
Tibetan monasteries empty as China jails monks to silence Olympic
protests
Tibetan monks have angered China by taking opportunities to protest to
the media. The authorities have cracked down at least until the
Olympics

Tibetan monks have angered China by taking opportunities to protest to
the media. The authorities have cracked down at least until the
Olympics
Jane Macartney in Beijing

Chinese authorities tightened security around Tibet's main monasteries
and banned visits to a sacred site on the edge of the capital, Lhasa,
for fear of a fresh outburst of unrest on the Dalai Lama's birthday.

Few monks remain, however, in the province's three most important
monasteries. Many have disappeared, their whereabouts a mystery.
Chinese officials have deployed troops and paramilitary police around
the ancient religious institutions, suspecting these sprawling
hillside communities are at the heart of the unrest that has swept the
region since early March.

Dozens, possibly several hundred, have been arrested or are detained
and under investigation for their roles in the anti-Chinese
demonstrations and riots that hit Lhasa on March 14. This, however,
does not account for the empty halls in the three great monasteries,
Drepung, Sera and Ganden, that lie near the city. Several hundred
monks are believed to have been living in each of them before the
violence erupted.

Now Tibetan sources have revealed that most of the monks, more than
1,000 in total, have been transferred to many prisons and detention
centres in and around the city of Golmud in neighbouring Qinghai
province. The detained monks are all young ethnic Tibetans from
surrounding regions who had made their way to Lhasa, their spiritual
capital, to study and pray in the most prestigious spiritual centres
on the Roof of the World.
Related Links

    * Real crackdown will come after Olympics

    * Tibet reopened to foreign tourists

Their detention is part of a policy to rid the monasteries of any
monks not registered as formal residents of the administrative region,
known as the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Family members say that the monks have been told they will be
incarcerated in Golmud only until the end of the Olympic Games in
Beijing. The policy is part of a campaign by the Chinese Government to
ensure that the Games, opening on August 8 and lasting for two weeks,
pass off without a hitch and without protests from the restive
Tibetans, they told The Times.

“After that they have been told that they will be allowed to leave,
because they are not guilty of a crime,” one man whose brother is
among the detained said. “But they will be ordered to return to their
home villages and will not be permitted to go back to the monasteries
in Lhasa.” There were no reports that any of those being held were
being mistreated, he added.

The monks' detention is, in effect, a decision by China to implement a
policy first promulgated in 1994 to limit the size of Tibet's
monasteries, because increasing religious freedoms were attracting
growing numbers.

Sera monastery, for example, is supposed to house no more than 400
monks but is believed to have grown to more than 1,000. In Drepung -
at its height the largest monastery in the world - has been allocated
a similar quota but has allowed as many as 900 monks to live in its
high-walled compounds. The monasteries have for years allowed young
boys well below the age of 18 to enter in direct contravention of the
rules but the authorities had turned a blind eye.

The abbots have encouraged the unofficial monks because they found
that those from other regions tended to be the most devoted and
diligent, Tibetan sources said.

Registered monks are given a monthly stipend that can sometimes be as
much as 5,000 yuan (£350) depending on the donations to a monastery
and entrance ticket sales. Many prefer to spend their days playing
video games and DVDs rather than reading the scriptures, they said.
They voiced concern that the monasteries could lose many of their best
Buddhist scholars if the monks were not allowed to return after the
Olympics.

Authorities have ordered all Tibetans without a Lhasa residence permit
to leave the city and to return to their homes. Reports are increasing
of the authorities targeting individuals whose dress, haircut or even
teeth - Tibetans from Sichuan and Qinghai favour gold fillings - mark
them out as coming from neighbouring regions.

Tibetan residents of Lhasa say that they prefer not to wear Tibetan
dress for fear they will be stopped and questioned on the street by
police or soldiers. Men say that they are growing their hair so as not
be mistaken for a monk and interrogated.

One man, from the Khamba group that lives in western Sichuan province
and is renowned for its warriors, told how he was arrested after the
March 14 riot because his long hair identified him as being from that
region.

The huge security operation has,however, failed to halt protests by
Tibetans demanding the return of the Dalai Lama and independence for
their homeland. On June 18 six took place in Ganze county alone.

One Tibetan source said: “They know they are going to be arrested but
people still go out and demonstrate. And then you can see the cats
come out and catch them like mice.”

Ancient traditions

Drepung monastery

The largest of Tibetan monasteries, whose name means “rice heap”. Its
population numbered as many as 7,700 in the 1930s and sometimes up to
10,000. Founded in 1416, it has long been been regarded as the most
academic monastery of the Gelukpa – or Yellow Hat – sect

Sera monastery

Its name means “Enclosure of Roses”. Also founded in the early 15th
century. Began as a scholarly institution but became known as the home
of warrior monks whose responsibility was to defend Tibet and its
Buddhist traditions

Ganden monastery

The oldest of the three great monasteries, its name means “continent
of completely victorious happiness”. It is 35 miles from Lhasa and has
long been the smallest house. It suffered most during the 1966-76
Cultural Revolution, when it was dynamited by the Army and Red Guards

    * Have your say

Most of the tourists won't know the history of the monasteries, or the
numbers of monks who were there. The news media have not focused on
the continued oppression of the Tibetan people, nor the arrests for
practicing their religious traditions.

Bayla, Boulder, USA

i hope this disgraceful government is never given the olympics again,
shame on them and shame on the olympic committee for filling their
pockets with money so these thugs and tyrants can get some
legitimacy... they have enslaved chinese people for decades it time
something was done to free them

william gibbons, chengdu, china

Will the tourists notice the reduction in monks?

Owen, SG,