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00:21We are not seeking independence.
00:23We are very much willing to remain within the People's Republic of China,
00:27provided they should respect Tibetan culture, Tibetan unique language and Tibetan environment.
00:34With questions about succession as the Dalai Lama approaches his 90th birthday.
00:39If they mishandle the death of the Dalai Lama, they could face a calamitous pushback from the Tibetan population.
00:46An investigation into China's rule.
00:48Anyone really caring for Tibetan well-being should care about Tibet being part of China.
00:54Surveillance is at the heart of this process of subjugating the Tibetan people.
00:59People who respected the Dalai Lama are deemed to be enemies.
01:03With undercover footage.
01:04And first-hand accounts.
01:11The struggle over the future of the region.
01:21For the Chinese nation, the thing is very simple.
01:24There is only one China and Tibet is part of China.
01:27We need to defend China's sovereignty and territorial integrity very fiercely.
01:32China believes in order to continue controlling Tibet is to have their own Dalai Lama.
01:39Now on frontline, battle for Tibet.
01:42It's a momentous struggle between a Communist Party and Tibetan civilization.
01:49This program contains graphic imagery. Viewer discretion is advised.
01:59What is China's knesys met such as China and Tibet.
02:02It's a momentous struggle between China and Tibet.
02:03What is China's economy?
02:04Now on the Chestnut and Tibet.
02:08You know, China's hails met as China.
02:10You know, China came to Westidamente.
02:13And the Chinese China, the Japanese China's war.
02:14And the Chinese China and Taiwan嘿sou, the Chinese Chinese justice,
02:16the European China.
02:17In 2023, after protesting Chinese rule, Nam Chi fled her home in Tibet, making a perilous
02:33journey across the Himalayas.
02:47This is Tibet China, the roof of the world.
03:15Its cultural heritage is well protected.
03:20Freedom of religion is fully guaranteed.
03:23It's a place where the world is now.
03:30It's a place where the world is now.
03:35It's a place where the world is now.
03:45Namqi is part of a struggle that has raged for 75 years,
04:06since China, which has long claimed Tibet,
04:10invaded the mountain territory.
04:13It is part of a struggle that is not a struggle,
04:17but it is part of a struggle.
04:20It is part of a struggle that is not a struggle.
04:33Ladies and gentlemen, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
04:37At the center of the struggle,
04:41Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama,
04:45who for the past six decades has been the living symbol
04:49of resistance to China.
04:51Namqi has been the court in Myanmar.
04:57As a child, Namqi watched as protester
05:08As a child, Namqi watched as protests against China escalated.
05:38In 2008, protests by monks led to widespread demonstrations that were violently put down by Chinese authorities.
06:08After the crackdown, some Tibetans resorted to extreme acts of protest.
06:18Human rights organizations say around 160 Tibetans have burned themselves alive since 2009.
06:30Despite China's tight control, occasionally, footage of these protests has surfaced.
06:39This one, from 2012, shows 22-year-old Nawang Noorpel and his friend.
06:45People are...
06:51..I think they're forced to hou talvez that is in the same situation.
06:53alon, tony.
06:54The ground was the answer.
07:01The ground was the best.
07:24In 2015, she started her own protest outside a monastery in the town of Nawa.
07:50The protest was filmed and later posted online.
07:54She was 15 at the time.
08:21The police arrested her and she was charged with separatist acts against the nation.
08:27During her time in prison, she says a Communist Party official subjected her to political re-education
08:43sessions.
08:45After her release, she says she was under relentless police surveillance.
08:55After her release, she says she was under relentless police surveillance.
09:08Eventually, she made the painful decision to flee to India, knowing she might never see her
09:21family again.
09:38India has become the de facto refuge for many Tibetans.
09:55The Dalai Lama has remained there since his own exile in 1959, living in a heavily guarded
10:03compound in Dharamsala.
10:08Approaching 90, he now rarely grants interviews.
10:11But he has repeatedly said he is no longer seeking Tibetan independence and would accept self-rule
10:19within China.
10:20Nevertheless, China has continued to call the Dalai Lama an anti-China separatist.
10:32And taken a hard-line stance on him.
10:45Professor Robert Barnett is a renowned expert on Tibet, where he's worked and lived.
11:04In 1994, he obtained China's internal policy documents on Tibet and the Dalai Lama.
11:21Among those documents was a little booklet, and it was called A Golden Bridge Leading into
11:27a New Era.
11:28We gradually realized this is extraordinary.
11:31This is exceptional.
11:33This was directly saying what policies were going to be, and they were new policies.
11:39This is what seems to be a major turning point from a, shall we say, a soft policy towards
11:45the Dalai Lama, slightly cooperative to a hard policy.
11:50This paragraph says,
11:52The focal point in our region's fight to oppose separatism is to oppose the Dalai clique.
12:00As the saying goes, to kill a serpent, we must first chop off its head.
12:08If we don't do that, we cannot succeed in the struggle against separatism.
12:14Clearly, the decision here is that he's the enemy.
12:18They're saying we must treat him as a hypocrite, as someone who's always lying, who's someone
12:23who's always trying to get independence, whatever he says.
12:26We can only destroy that movement by eliminating the Dalai Lama's strength, by destroying him as a political force.
12:38And their method of destroying him was the demonization of the Dalai Lama.
12:44All Chinese policy since 1994 has been based on that decision.
12:49Demonize the Dalai Lama, blame him for everything as an individual.
12:59The Chinese government wouldn't agree to an interview, but in written responses,
13:03it repeated its position that the Dalai Lama is a separatist working under the cloak of religion.
13:10It said Tibet has been part of China since ancient times.
13:15For China, it's a life or death issue.
13:19Any attempt to push for Tibetan independence will be crushed with force.
13:26And anyone trying to agitate for Tibetan independence,
13:31either at home in China or abroad, will end up with miserable failure.
13:38Victor Gao is a well-known defender of China and advocate of its rule in Tibet.
13:45He runs a think tank in Beijing.
13:47For the Chinese government, for the Chinese nation, the thing is very simple.
13:53There is only one China and Tibet is part of China.
13:56We need to defend China's sovereignty and territorial integrity very fiercely.
14:02And China is always ready to defend China's sovereignty and territorial integrity,
14:08regardless of whoever who wants to instigate some crisis or confrontation.
14:14We are all one family, and the Tibetans are our brothers and sisters.
14:18They are an integral part of the Chinese nation.
14:21China heavily restricts the international media's access to Tibet.
14:34But we worked with a journalist who agreed to travel there and film undercover.
14:40For his safety, we're concealing his identity.
15:07The Tibetan population lives in what China calls the Tibet Autonomous Region
15:14and parts of neighboring Chinese provinces.
15:19The region makes up about a quarter of modern China.
15:26It is a sparsely populated and rugged territory.
15:33Our colleague is on his way to Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.
15:46Our colleague is on his way to Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.
15:58In the city center, he estimates there are police posts every 500 meters.
16:19gucken-channes go you to Lhasa, the plasma.
16:20And the police would away and repair aerosto's eye getting on him.
16:24NC has found timeless soybeans forequ BÜNDNIS 6.
16:26And the table without having a외
16:30seen enough economic losses as a visitor.
16:31We're both keeping increasing funzionist,
16:32and the local channel where China compares the財産 inquiry to one.
16:33A local unionist comes to other guests experiencing
16:34which hands areiceless.
16:36I found a default approach to triggering care just after each individual
16:37and thought that it is stillButton'
16:42In another city, a Chinese man who moved to Tibet
16:47moved to Tibet, says that protests against Chinese rule
16:50continue despite the surveillance.
17:17Tibet's monasteries have historically been at the heart of resistance to Chinese rule.
17:36The security is tight for worshippers and visitors alike.
17:45We usually need to find a proof of evidence.
18:00Inside, there are surveillance cameras throughout the monasteries.
18:15In a cafe near one monastery, a Tibetan official says that Tibetans working for the Chinese government
18:22are prohibited from even going into monasteries.
18:26What do you have to share with us?
18:33The big jump, the small jump?
18:34The national democracy.
18:36The national democracy.
18:37The national democracy is the country.
18:39The national democracy.
18:40You can't be a winner, but you can't do it.
18:43Before you've seen this, you can't do it.
18:49I need to be a member of the country.
18:52I'll go first and meet the people of the country with the people of the country.
18:57What's that?
18:59If you've seen it, you'll be a member of the country.
19:10In its responses, the Chinese government did not address its use of surveillance,
19:15but insisted that Tibetans' religious freedoms are being protected
19:19and that human rights are at their historical best.
19:26The Chinese government has no interest in doing surveillance of religious practices.
19:33What the Chinese government is interested in is preventing anyone from misusing
19:39or abusing religion as a pretext to launch terrorist attacks.
19:46Surveillance is at the heart of this process of subjugating the Tibetan people.
19:55Live face recognition systems, scanning systems that will monitor your mobile phone signal,
20:03internet surveillance in terms of what people are browsing.
20:09Greg Walton is a surveillance expert who has studied the systems China is using.
20:15Digital surveillance in the monasteries is supplemented, augmented with perhaps
20:216,000 or 7,000 party officials installed in the monasteries.
20:28The desire to control, to instill a sense of fear, very deliberately create a chilling effect
20:48society-wide.
20:50Our colleague filmed at the Potala Palace in Lhasa.
20:51Our colleague filmed at the Potala Palace in Lhasa.
20:52A world heritage site from where he was in
21:22where the Dalai Lama once ruled Tibet.
21:27But there are no pictures or mention of the Dalai Lama there today.
21:52The Dalai Lama's rule is that the Dalai Lama's rule is not clear about the Dalai Lama.
21:59The Dalai Lama, whether it's the Dalai Lama, or the Dalai Lama,
22:04has already had a certain state of law.
22:09They know what to say and what to say.
22:16Images of Chinese President Xi Jinping hang over the streets.
22:21The taxi driver says that Communist officials are stationed in Tibetan villages and neighborhoods.
22:51You can see why Communist officials would be really very uncomfortable about a charismatic leader like the Dalai Lama.
23:01They think that loyalty should be to the party, especially under Xi Jinping.
23:07They're gradually reducing the content of the religion, but not eliminating.
23:16This is what they call sinicization of religion, so that it becomes less Tibetan.
23:21This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:23This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:25This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:27This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:29This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:31This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:33This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:35This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:37This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:39This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:41This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:43This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:44This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:45This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:46This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:47This is what they call sinicization of religion.
23:49当地光为照我心
23:58没有共产党就没有姓中国
24:06没有共产党就没有姓中国
24:10我准备给江南拉伯军
24:15我说这是什么
24:22家里民的 invoice
24:25外公寓方计划
24:25西 Рингmental
24:27西蝇瘤 逼了
24:28蜘子
24:29西里封
24:29西出封
24:31西方
24:32西方
24:33在印尽
24:34西方
24:35西方
24:36西方
24:38西方
24:39西方
24:39西方
24:41西方
24:42西方
24:43He says the police who arrested him had a print-out of his messages.
24:58He admitted to sending the messages, but refused to confess to campaigning for Tibetan independence,
25:18a charge that can lead to a 20-year prison sentence.
25:23I was told that I was a slave.
25:28If someone called me, I thought I would say that they had to be in peace.
25:35But I was told that I was a slave.
25:41I was told that I was a slave, but I was told that I was a slave.
25:46I was able to get my own knowledge,
25:49and I was able to get my own issues.
25:57In the years after being released,
25:59he began providing information to a foreign news outlet
26:02about conditions in Tibet.
26:04But he eventually feared he'd be arrested again and fled.
26:09The fact is that sometimes he had the same number of people
26:17who were inosos, they took the same number of friends.
26:19In other words,
26:22then there was a sign.
26:27So he got in touch with the people,
26:31and he put the same number of people.
26:36He felt that he was in a country.
26:38China's efforts to maintain control over
27:08Tibet are playing out in other ways.
27:13It has long been pursuing a campaign to choose the next Dalai Lama.
27:38Arja Rinpoche now runs a monastery in the United States.
27:48But until 1998, he lived under Chinese rule in Tibet, holding senior positions within
27:54Tibetan Buddhism.
27:55He says he was at the heart of a power struggle, to decide who would select the
28:24next Dalai Lama.
28:25Arja Rinpoche became a top aide to the Panchen Lama, a Buddhist leader tasked with identifying
28:31the successor to the Dalai Lama when he dies.
28:32Arja Rinpoche became a top aide to the Panchen Lama, a Buddhist leader tasked with identifying
28:49the successor to the Dalai Lama when he dies.
28:56But suddenly, in 1989, the Panchen Lama died.
29:03One of Tibet's most senior religious leaders, the Panchen Lama, has died of a heart attack.
29:10He was second only to the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India for 30 years.
29:17It would be a crucial moment for China's influence on the Tibetan hierarchy.
29:23And while we were, I surely remember that it had been to the values thatmen wanted to
29:28do so many parts of the Dalai Lama.
29:31I always was making a조濃ari relate to the Americans of Dutch that were raised when
29:38they were raised with me.
29:43So you had a sytuację of how are you?
29:45Whether it was ações that are brought to me,
29:48Chinese authorities placed Arjo Rinpoche on a committee to select the next Panshan Lama.
30:10Behind closed doors, he says the authorities made it clear they were in charge.
30:18According to Tibetan Buddhists, when a Dalai Lama or Panshan Lama dies, he is reincarnated into a new person.
30:36According to Tibetan Buddhists, when a Dalai Lama or Panshan Lama dies, he is reincarnated into a new person.
30:43The committee searched for boys who might be the Panshan Lama's reincarnation.
30:52Secretly, the head of the search committee sent their names to the Dalai Lama in India.
30:57He made his choice, without consulting the Chinese government.
31:07Welcome to the Voice of America in Tibetan.
31:11Welcome to the Voice of America in Tibetan.
31:18In the Bible, the people who did not be the Panshan Lama were in one place where they were born.
31:23Within days, the six-year-old boy the Dalai Lama had selected was taken away by Chinese authorities.
31:53Along with his family, his whereabouts have remained a mystery.
32:16Chinese soldiers surrounded the monastery of the monks who identified the boy after they refused to denounce the Dalai Lama.
32:23We spoke to one of the monks who now is in exile. He asked that his identity be concealed.
32:33He said that he was in exile. He was in exile. He was in exile. He was in exile. He was in exile.
32:43He has plenty of experience too late after being targeted and the Pigsyi barks.
32:48But that сыng was in exile and was the first provocation of the Viking Sea they saw again.
32:53So when they were in exile, the Resurrection.
32:57The monastery's abbot, Shadrel Rinpoche, had led the search committee.
33:20He was arrested and detained, and never publicly seen again.
33:29Arjia Rinpoche and the remaining members of the search committee were summoned to Beijing.
33:50The committee was ordered to start a new search.
33:57We will continue to complete the order of the
34:17search.
34:20As ordered, new candidates were found.
34:26On November 29, 1995, a golden urn lot-drawing ceremony in line with religious rituals and
34:33respecting historical customs was solemnly held in front of the statue of Shakyu Muni
34:38at Zhokang Temple in Lhasa.
34:43The Chinese government provided this video.
34:46Arjia Rinpoche said it shows that the process followed Buddhist traditions.
34:51The sealed names were placed in the golden urn by monks Shering of Tashaluhunpo Monastery.
35:03Arjia Rinpoche says he and other Buddhist officials were taken there late at night.
35:10The temple was surrounded by soldiers.
35:12Arjia Rinpoche says he and other Buddhist officials were taken there late at night.
35:16The temple was surrounded by soldiers.
35:19He and other Buddhist schools were taken there late at night.
35:34The selection of the boy who would become the Panchen Lama
35:48was broadcast on China State TV.
35:51Giazhen Norbu, the son of two Communist Party members,
36:15was now the Chinese-approved 11th Panchen Lama,
36:18the figure who, according to Tibetan Buddhism,
36:22could one day determine the next Dalai Lama.
36:48Argya Rinpoche says he was asked to tutor the new Panchen Lama.
36:57But instead, he fled abroad.
36:59The boy went on to be educated in Beijing,
37:07and as he has grown up, has publicly advocated for Chinese rule in Tibet.
37:13The boy went on to be educated in Beijing,
37:23and as he has grown up,
37:26has publicly advocated for Chinese rule in Tibet.
37:29We obtained undercover footage from a remote part of Tibet.
37:31We obtained undercover footage from a remote part of Tibet.
37:33Lari, where the missing Panchen Lama was born.
37:37We obtained undercover footage from a remote part of Tibet,
37:40Lari, where the missing Panchen Lama was born.
37:53We obtained undercover footage from a remote part of Tibet,
37:56Lari, where the missing Panchen Lama was born.
38:02We were told police subject visitors to extensive checks,
38:14including facial recognition.
38:19Chinese flags and party slogans were visible on the streets.
38:28But there was no sign of the boy's life there.
38:32The issue of the Panchen Lama is treated as a matter of national security.
38:39And that's tied to the survival and legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party.
38:46So the stakes couldn't be higher.
38:48So that means if you even talk about the disappearance,
38:52if you even have some sort of tiny little picture of him as a child in your home,
38:59all of that can be penalised.
39:01He was penalised, seriously penalised.
39:07Kate Saunders has done extensive research on the story of the Panchen Lama.
39:17She tracked down a rare photo of the missing boy.
39:19The Tibetan script reads photograph of a family reunion.
39:30It seems to show Gendon Choki Nima.
39:36He's got a toy helicopter.
39:38He's sitting on his father's lap.
39:41He could be around 10, around 11.
39:43This looks as though it's in some sort of official compound.
39:50And it does show us that the family was still together at that point.
39:56I believe it's genuine, but we still haven't been able to fully confirm that.
40:05It shows how successfully China has been able to disappear,
40:10not only the child, but also his entire family,
40:16and to exclude them from any sort of public gaze whatsoever.
40:22The Chinese government told us the so-called reincarnated child
40:34is an ordinary Chinese citizen living a normal life.
40:38Poverty here is a thing of the past.
40:56The Chinese government also stressed to us that because of its rule,
41:00life in Tibet is significantly better for the people.
41:04Tibet's children now enjoy 15 years of public-funded education.
41:21But inside Tibet, a reporter meets a mother who says
41:25ever since her children went to school,
41:27they've stopped speaking Tibetan.
41:35They must be able to try to come out.
41:36They should be in the past.
41:38After that, they still have to come out.
41:39Yes.
41:40If they do not want to talk to us about it too much.
41:42This is how...
41:44our children is beginning to take us to school.
41:47Now...
41:49we...
41:49we will hear what they don't hear,
41:51They will be saying an old-fashioned word.
41:53No...
41:54No...
42:04Chinese President Xi Jinping's government has placed around 800,000 Tibetan children
42:16into boarding schools, where they are taught in Mandarin.
42:34The government told us the boarding schools are important in a region with a highly scattered
42:41population, and are examples of human rights and cultural heritage protection.
42:47In recent years, the program has expanded to include children as young as four.
42:54I hope every Tibetan will speak both Tibetan language as well as Mandarin.
43:01Why? Because if you do not speak Mandarin, then it will be more difficult for you to find
43:08a more meaningful job, and you will be more handicapped in communicating with the rest of the country.
43:18The Xi Jinping mission is to say, we have to start from childhood.
43:23So now the policy is to have kindergartens teaching in Chinese language,
43:29to get them speaking Chinese, and basically only Chinese, when they're in a kindergarten.
43:36They're all going to become more Chinese.
43:38They're all going to become more Chinese.
43:49The Xi Jinping is a sociologist and advocate who was born in Tibet.
43:51The Xi Jinping is a sociologist and advocate who was born in Tibet.
43:57In 2016, he was living in one of the Chinese provinces, when his brother called him concerned about his grandchildren.
44:12I was born inたい.
44:21I was also born with Seven total conservative seniors.
44:26I worked out for a brand of elementary schools for members to go deeper and wardens.
44:29Thanks for working with me.
44:34Gyalo set out to investigate what was happening in schools across Tibet.
44:55Keeping a low profile, he visited more than 50 kindergarten boarding schools for Tibetan
45:15children.
45:17He says he discovered that despite official claims, there was often little teaching of
45:22Tibetan language or culture.
45:26At the time of my life, there were also many people who were able to tell me about it.
45:44I can't do this.
45:47When I first met up as a person in the world,
45:51it was a NEIL.
45:56At the same time,
45:59I would not like to meet them.
46:03But like if I wanted to do this,
46:07my way would allow me to get to go.
46:10My way is the place,
46:12There have also been concerns raised about episodes of abuse at schools.
46:38Like in this video from one boarding school, and this CCTV footage that prompted Chinese
46:56authorities to suspend the teacher.
47:03In this video, uploaded on Chinese social media, as part of a boarding school assignment,
47:10a young Tibetan girl has a message for other children.
47:16Today, I'm going to tell you a funny story.
47:23Today, I'm going to visit my mother.
47:25And my mother always talks about the language.
47:29The boss doesn't understand the language.
47:31What's your name?
47:32Please, please.
47:33Please, please.
47:34Please.
47:35Please.
47:36Please.
47:37Please.
47:38Please.
47:39Please.
47:40Please.
47:41Please.
47:42Please.
47:43Please.
47:44Please.
47:45Please.
47:46Please.
47:47Please.
47:48Please.
47:49Please.
47:50Please.
47:51Please.
47:52Please.
47:53Please.
47:54Please.
47:55Please.
47:56Please.
47:57Please.
47:58Please.
47:59Please.
48:00Please.
48:01Please.
48:02Please.
48:03Please.
48:04Please.
48:05Please.
48:06Please.
48:07Please.
48:08Please.
48:09and the people who are living in the world,
48:14and the people who are living in the world,
48:17and the people who are living in the world.
48:21Gyal Lo became outspoken about the need
48:24to preserve Tibetan language and culture,
48:27but he says he eventually lost his university teaching job
48:31and was worried he might be arrested.
48:34In 2020, he fled to Canada.
49:04Prayed by Shri Mataji
49:09As the Dalai Lama approaches his 90th birthday in July 2025,
49:37Tibet is at a critical juncture.
49:42He has said he will soon decide how his successor should be chosen after his death,
49:47or even whether to end the institution of the Dalai Lama.
49:53China insists whatever happens must follow its laws,
49:58and it must have the final say.
50:01If they mishandle the death of the Dalai Lama,
50:04the critical juncture which they have been planning for years,
50:09they could face a calamitous pushback from the Tibetan population.
50:15In a new book, the Dalai Lama criticizes China for oppressive policies enforced through state-of-the-art surveillance and control.
50:26But he says he still holds out hope for a peaceful resolution to Tibetans' long struggle for freedom.
50:39Chinese officials have recently suggested he could finally return to Tibet
50:44if he recognizes China's right to rule.
50:51I'm fully aware of these very intimate back channels of discussions with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and people around him.
50:59The Dalai Lama himself mentioned on many occasions that he would not call for independence of Tibet.
51:08That's a very good starting point.
51:15China's door should remain open.
51:20On one condition.
51:23And one condition only.
51:27That is, there is only one China.
51:31And Tibet is part of China.
51:37Will the Chinese win?
51:40Will that eradicate Tibetan local knowledge?
51:46Tradition?
51:48Affiliation?
51:51Sentiment?
51:56Probably not.
51:57But it might.
51:59It might.
52:01For more on this and other Frontline programs, visit our website at pbs.org slash frontline.
52:26website at pbs.org slash frontline.
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