Dharamshala, 5th January: According to tibet.net, the Chinese government has dismantled a 99-foot-tall Buddha monument in Kham Drakgo, Sichuan Province. In addition, 45 massive prayer wheels erected at Drakgo Monastery were demolished, and prayer flags were set ablaze.
The bronze statue was erected in Drakgo, near a crossroad, with considerable labor and significant contributions from local Tibetans, at a cost of roughly 40,000,000 Yuan (around 6.3 million USD). Drakgo was devastated by a huge earthquake in 1973, which resulted in significant destruction and the deaths of thousands of people. On October 5, 2015, a 99-foot-tall Buddha monument was erected to stave off future natural calamities.
According to the source, the bronze monument was erected after all necessary permits were obtained from the district office, and it was even praised by local officials at the time. However, higher officials who visited the area in the last two or three years have criticized the statue’s size. The county authorities ordered its demolition on December 12, 2021, after invalidating the documentation and stating that a statue of such height is illegal. Such a rationale is insufficient to justify the destruction of 45 prayer wheels, which cost over 1,800,000 Yuan (approximately 282,500 USD) to construct, as well as the burning of prayer flags in the area.
Tearing down Buddhist statues and structures is a direct attack on Tibetans’ centuries-old traditions, which include erecting religious structures to ward off disasters, and spinning prayer wheels to amass mantras for the well-being of others. “The Chinese authorities’ actions are direct attacks on Tibetan religion, language, and culture. The attack on Tibetan Buddhism and the current circumstances in Drakgo is reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution. Collecting photographs and videos of the actual destruction is now difficult due to the region’s stringent limitations on information flows.
The Gaden Namgyal Monastic school at Drakgo Monastery was dismantled last month on the spurious grounds of not having sufficient documentation and violating the land use law. The school was chosen because, since its inception, it has acted as an essential hub of education in the area, offering a variety of programs such as Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan language, Chinese Mandarin, and English. The school’s 130 students were forced to return to their communities once it closed, with no access to or enrollment in other schools. The Tibetan people’s fundamental rights, including religious freedom, linguistic rights, and the right to retain and practice one’s own culture and tradition, have all been severely violated by the Chinese government.