Nuns stage sit-in protest
Video footage has emerged from Linxia in Gansu province in north central China showing the Chinese authorities shutting down Kharmar [ch: Hongcheng] Monastery, a Tibetan monastery known as the Red City Temple, or Royal Order of Pagoda Temple, and forcibly evicting the monks and nuns living there from their residences. Chinese diaspora media outlet mingdemedia.org reports that monks and nuns staged a sit-in protest against the eviction, many were crying, with some monks threatening to jump from a roof, some holding banners that read “Forcible defrocking of monks is illegal and unacceptable!”
The motive behind the forced shut down of the monastery is unclear although, according to the report by Mingde, the incident is linked to a donation of 300,000 yuan [$ 46,500/ £ 33,500] the monastery made as a gesture of compassion towards combatting the COVID-19 pandemic in China. The authorities have apparently used that as a pretext to demand the monastery share its wealth equally with the government.
Plain clothed officials force evicting monks and nuns
Four videos published by Mingde show a group of nuns staging a sit-in protest, chanting prayers and holding a banner in the Chinese language that reads “Forcing the monastics to return to the secular life will not be tolerated by the national laws”. A second clip shows a group of nuns crying inconsolably;the third shows plain clothed officials forcibly evicting the nuns, with female officials in civilian clothes also arriving to take part in the nuns’ eviction. The fourth video shows a monk threatening to jump off the roof while shouting “go away” to the officials on the monastery premises.
“The shocking videos of the suffering of monks and nuns as they are evicted from Kharmar Monastery are a reminder of the human toll of China’s war on religion. China’s persecution of Tibetan Buddhists is a tragedy that not only threatens the survival of Tibetan culture but also undermines the very idea of religious freedom around the globe. With China continuing to erode international norms and values, the world must speak for the rights of Tibetan monastics,” said International Campaign for Tibet, the United States based advocacy group working to promote democratic freedoms for Tibetans.
A monk threatening to jump off the roof
Speaking to Radio Free Asia, a Gansu based historian named Gao said that the move was in line with the Communist Party of China’s campaign of Christian church demolition and the removal of religious crosses. “Now they are targeting Tibetan Buddhism, forcibly defrocking monks and nuns. There is a fundamental lack of respect,” Gao continued.
Kharmar (literal meaning “red fort”) monastery belongs to the Sakya sect of Tibetan Buddhism and is an historic monastery. The monastery was completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and then rebuilt in 2011 using donations gathered by Gentsong Rinpoch, a religious leader.
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