> 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,