China restricts use of Tibetan language in video services, streaming service
Mar 25, 2022
Lhasa [Tibet], March 25 : As China continues its crackdown against Tibetans' culture, the video services and other online platforms will no longer use the Tibetan language.
Citing Tibetan sources, Radio Free Asia reported that the Chinese government has imposed restrictions on the use of the Tibetan language in video services and other online platforms. Following this decision, China-based language learning app Talkmate and video streaming service Bilibili have removed the Tibetan and Uyghur languages from their sites.
Last year, on December 20 the Chinese authorities issued an order where foreign organisations and individuals were not allowed to spread 'religious content' online in China or Tibet, which came into effect on March 1. Such restrictions are also seen on social media platforms, according to the source.
A researcher at the Dharamsala, India-based Tibet Policy Institute named Phentok confirmed that China's new restrictions had gone into effect on March 1.
"Specifically, those platforms where users go live to perform and communicate with their audiences have seen more restrictions put in place," a source was quoted as saying by RFA.
"Tibetans are forbidden to speak in Tibetan while communicating, and if any Tibetan artist tries to represent Tibetan culture and tradition on their social media platform, their accounts are disconnected," the source said.
"And if such performances go live, they are immediately interrupted by the government," the source added.
According to sources, northwest China's Qinghai province has already banned Tibetan social media groups tied to religion. They have also warned the group members that if they continue to use those media groups then they will be investigated and even can be jailed.
Earlier, the teachers in the Lhasa region are given workshops on teaching children in the Chinese language to brainwash them. Even the textbooks have now been translated into Chinese in Golog (in Chinese, Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of northwestern China's Qinghai province.
Recently, the focus on teaching in Chinese has increased in all Tibetan schools and the political ideology of Chinese President Xi Xi Jinping is now the main theme for instruction.
Chinese troops occupied Tibet in 1950 and later annexed it. The 1959 Tibetan uprising saw violent clashes between Tibetan residents and Chinese forces.
The 14th Dalai Lama fled to neighbouring India after the failed uprising against Chinese rule. The Dalai Lama, the supreme Tibetan Buddhist leader, established a government-in-exile in India.
