On 11th March 2026, Tibet Support Groups (TSGs) from across India gathered in Dharamshala to offer a Tenshug to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. While conventionally a religious act expressing devotion and a wish for longevity, TSGs approached the Tenshug as a considered action in addition to a prayer. In this construction, […]
Every culture, to survive, must find its footing in the technologies of its time. For Tibetan language—a language with a literary tradition spanning more than a millennium—that means confronting the digital age directly and on its own terms. The Monlam Tibetan IT Research Center has pursued this mission for the past 14 years, building the […]
For Tibetans, Beijing’s rigid stand on the issue of reincarnation of the Dalai Lama reflects its intransigent and uncompromising policy toward Tibet.
Since its establishment in April 1959, the Tibetan Government-in-Exile (TGIE), formally known as the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), has evolved into a uniquely functioning democracy with all three pillars of democracy. It works as a de facto government—albeit without a territory—with which the international community interacts. In the process, it has become a topic of […]
The Tibet question today is often framed in terms of human rights,[1] geopolitics,[2] history,[3] sovereignty, and assimilation.[4] Yet such a framing, while relevant, remains insufficient to define the ongoing stalemate of Tibet-Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) dialogue. At its core, the stalemate since 2010 between Beijing and Dharamshala[5] reflects a deeper clash—not merely of interests, but […]
A favourite topic among Chinese economists is comparing provinces. Since all 31 provinces and ‘autonomous regions’ annually publish a statistical report, usually at least 1,000 pages each, there is plenty of basis for comparing growth, consumption, productivity, which industries are flourishing, wealth accumulation, and much more. Yet, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) established in 1965 is […]
One winter we went to Pong Dam, an earth-fill dam in Himachal Pradesh, India, known for its wildlife—especially birds that nest in winter and migrate from as far away as Russia and Tibet. When evening fell and the sun went down, we started a bonfire. As the fire crackled, I heard tiny popping sounds and […]
The ‘Roof of the World’ or Tibet, presents one of the most formidable challenges to modern governance and statecraft. Spanning about 2.5 million km2, with an average elevation beyond 4500 metres, Tibet comprises of Amdo, Kham, and U-tsang with Tibetan inhabitants. In 1965, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) established the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), […]
Surveillance in Tibet is often described as ‘Orwellian’, reflecting the alarming reality of China’s extensive digital population control system. This apparatus represents one of the most sophisticated and comprehensive forms of surveillance seen in the modern world. Across the Tibetan plateau, what has been systematically established transcends traditional coercive measures; it is a multi-layered, artificial […]
Introduction The expansion of China’s colonial boarding school system in Tibet represents one of the most far-reaching sociocultural transformations in the region’s modern history. While Chinese officials present these institutions as vehicles for ‘poverty alleviation’ and ‘modernisation’, a growing body of scholarship argues that their design reflects settler-colonial logics aimed at restructuring Tibetan identity, language, […]
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