– By Tsering Yangkey for Tibetan Review, 19 March, 2026
The need to adopt a pro-active approach towards preserving the Tibetan national identity especially through the inculcation of linguistic skill has become ever more pressing today not only because of China’s ongoing coercive Sinicization drive in Tibet, which has seen the country’s Communist Party rulers adopt a new Law on ‘Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress’ recently, but also in view of the fact that the once closely-knit Tibetan communities in India, Nepal and Bhutan have been hollowing out with their youngsters dispersing across the free world in quest for better opportunities and life, writes Tsering Yangkey. *
I believe that, as Tibetans, we all share a deep and unwavering faith in His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, and an innate patriotism toward Tibet. To me, these two qualities are indispensable conditions for calling oneself Tibetan. Fulfilling the aspirations of His Holiness and serving the cause of Tibet are inseparable, for His Holiness and Tibet are like the two faces of the same coin. As Tibetans, the purpose of our lives is to serve these two sacred causes. The preservation and protection of the Tibetan language is not only our moral responsibility but also one of the four principal commitments of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
We all know that our forefathers fled their homeland, following His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with a single mission and purpose: to struggle for our freedom in exile and eventually return home. They did not leave Tibet in search of better jobs, improved educational opportunities, or a more comfortable livelihood, as many of us do today.
With his profound vision and determination, His Holiness requested the Government of India to allow the establishment of separate Tibetan communities. He did this with a single aim—to preserve our identity as Tibetans. As a result, despite living outside our homeland and being few in number, we have been able to preserve, promote, and nurture our religion, culture, and language. This achievement is largely due to His Holiness’s far-sighted leadership and tireless efforts, which won recognition for him with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
Today, however, the situation is changing—both inside Tibet and in exile. First, His Holiness is advancing in age, even though he has reassured us that he hopes to live for several more decades. At the same time, Tibetans living in India, Nepal, and Bhutan—especially young people—are increasingly migrating to Western countries. As a result, Tibetan settlements, schools, and monasteries are gradually emptying. Since many people of reproductive age are leaving for work abroad, population growth within our communities in South Asia has slowed significantly.
Back in Tibet, the government of the Chinese Communist Party is determined to eradicate our identity. The establishment of so-called boarding schools in Tibet has led to Tibetan children being forcibly enrolled in them, depriving them of their right to study their own language and cultural heritage. Recently, authorities have implemented policies requiring preschool children to begin learning Mandarin and threatening criminal law action against individuals overseas seen as “undermining ethnic unity.” Private Tibetan language schools have been systematically shut down, and teachers associated with them have been detained or disappeared. The message is clear: erase the language, erase the people.
The survival and identity of any people depends fundamentally on the preservation of their language. Religion, culture, history, and collective memory are all preserved and transmitted through language. If a language disappears, the identity of that people gradually fades with it. With Tibetan children in Tibet being denied the right to learn their own language, we are approaching a critical threshold that threatens our existence as a distinct people in the world.
Tibetans in Tibet are not in a position to preserve our language due to such restrictions. Meanwhile, many Tibetans in the diaspora—particularly those living in the West and in major Indian cities—are gradually losing their language, often citing a lack of environment or opportunities to learn and practice it. For many years, Tibetan communities in India, Nepal, and Bhutan have served as the guardians of our identity. But now, as more people move abroad, our once close-knit communities risk becoming increasingly dispersed. This raises a serious question: who will preserve and carry forward our identity in the future?
Until recently, the preservation of our identity was not considered an urgent issue. Today, however, it has become as serious as our political struggle. We must recognise the reality faced by Tibetans inside Tibet under Chinese control. Our brothers and sisters there are helpless. In contrast, those of us living in the free world have the freedom, opportunity, and resources to speak and learn our language. No one prevents us from speaking Tibetan at home or with fellow Tibetans.
I would like to emphasise that parents play the most crucial role in this effort. In addition to speaking Tibetan at home, parents can send their children to Tibetan weekend schools, encourage them to attend online Tibetan language classes, and take them to summer camps in India—such as programs organised by institutions like the Sarah College, Tibetan Children’s Villages, Sera Jey Monastic University, Gyumed Tantric Monastery, and the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts. If we do not encourage and support our children in learning Tibetan, how will they pass it on to the next generation when they become parents themselves?
Our religion and culture teach us morality, love, compassion, peace, harmony, universal responsibility, mindfulness, meditation, environmental protection, and many other values that benefit humanity as a whole. People around the world admire Tibetan culture, including scientists who are deeply interested in Buddhist philosophy—especially Buddhist psychology and the study of the mind. Therefore, learning and preserving our language and culture is not selfish—it is a service to the world.
Although we cannot directly change the situation inside Tibet, we can do our part to preserve our identity—an identity for which our brothers and sisters in Tibet continue to struggle. When Tibetan children in Tibet are prevented from learning their own language, we should speak and learn Tibetan even more actively in exile. When birth rates in Tibet are controlled, we should strengthen our communities abroad. When mixed marriages are encouraged to dilute our identity, we must marry within our community. In this way, we can respond peacefully, without hatred or violence.
To the Lhakar Gorshe groups, I also have a small request: please take some time—perhaps half an hour—to learn the lyrics of the songs you perform and understand their meanings. Through them, you will discover the richness of our culture: the lives of nomads and farmers, offerings and praises to our spiritual masters, the beauty of our snow-capped mountains, the purity of our rivers, the vast green grasslands, and the majesty of our animals—yaks, sheep, and the loyal Tibetan Mastiffs.
My dear fellow Tibetans, I urge you: speak Tibetan, learn Tibetan, think Tibetan, and act Tibetan. Make this your next birthday resolution. Remember that where there is a will, there is always a way. We have already seen many Tibetan children born in the West who can speak Tibetan fluently and read and write the language beautifully. This shows that it is indeed possible, if we truly care and make the effort.
The survival of our identity is in our hands now. Let us not be the generation that breaks the chain. Let us be the generation that strengthens it.
I may sound like a hypocrite for writing this appeal in English rather than in the Tibetan language. However, I chose to write it in English so that our younger generation can fully understand it and reflect upon it. Otherwise, I normally write in Tibetan when communicating with fellow Tibetans.
– Tsering Yangkey, the Representative of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) at the Office of Tibet, London, has written this piece in her personal capacity.
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