cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/56455840

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Chinese authorities have launched a devastating new wave of demolitions at the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, the world’s largest Tibetan Buddhist institute, located in Serthar (Ch: Seda) County, Karze, Tibet’s traditional Kham province, now incorporated into China’s Sichuan Province.

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The demolitions began around 13 July 2026, initially deliberately carried out during night to evade public documentation, media reporting, and satellite surveillance, but have now brazenly escalated into broad daylight. As of 15 July, at least six residences have already been torn down, and in the coming weeks and months, authorities are set to systematically destroy an estimated 1,060 quarters belonging to monks and nuns.

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The renewed crackdown follows a relentless, decades-long campaign of state-led cultural erasure. Following the catastrophic demolitions in 2001 and 2016–2017—which saw over 7,000 monastic dwellings destroyed, and thousands of residents forcefully evicted—the government of the People’s Republic of China, has continued to tighten its grip on the Tibetan Buddhist Institute. In 2019, it imposed strict zero-enrollment bans and 24-hour surveillance, followed by the aggressive deployment of military personnel, helicopter surveillance, and residency caps in late 2024. Last year, Chinese authorities reportedly expelled over 1,000 Tibetan monks and nuns from the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy under the pretext of lacking proper residency documentation, as officials ruthlessly mandated a reduction of the resident clergy population from 6,000 to 5,000.

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Over the years, major international bodies—including the European Parliament, UN Special Rapporteurs, the U.S. government, and leading human rights organisations—have repeatedly issued official resolutions, joint communications, and formal declarations condemning Beijing’s systematic demolitions and cultural erasure at Larung Gar.

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