Beijing is ramping up its campaign of “Sinicization of religion” in Tibet, and the new Ethnic Unity and Progress Law, which took effect in July, is its latest tool in repressing not only Tibetan identity, but also that of other religious minorities such as the Uyghurs and Christians of China.
The law imposes compulsory Mandarin Chinese in place of Tibetan, tightens restrictions on cultural practices, and intensifies ideological control and coercion of religious activities.
Earlier this month, the newly appointed party secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Hu Changshang, toured Buddhist monasteries, met the CCP-appointed fake Panchen Lama, and made it clear he was there to assess the progress of the Sinicization policy.
As Bitter Winter put it, “he arrived to check whether the Buddha had finally learned to quote Xi Jinping Thought verbatim.” Hu told his audiences they must “listen to the Party, feel the Party’s kindness, and follow the Party.”
His colleagues are doing the same elsewhere, checking among Christian and Uyghur communities whether Jesus Christ and the Prophet Mohammed have learned Xi Jinping Thought too, and arresting those who have not.
Hu has served as a CCP official all over China, including in Qinghai, Fujian, and Heilongjiang, and was most recently party secretary in Gansu before he took up his new role in Tibet last month.
Born in Jiangxi province, he studied in Shandong and began his political career in Sichuan. To have been appointed to this sensitive role in Tibet means he must be trusted by Xi Jinping as a devoted apparatchik — no one whose loyalty is in any doubt would be given such responsibility. So, the fact that he is a CCP propaganda mouthpiece should be no surprise.
During his visit, Hu toured two of Tibetan Buddhism’s most important monasteries at Sakya and Tashi Lhunpo, seats of religious scholarship for centuries. At Tashi Lhunpo, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, Hu met a man called Choekyi Gyalpo (Gyalcain Norbu in Chinese).
He was appointed by the Communist Party as the 11th Panchen Lama — a religious leader who is, for Tibetans, second only in importance to the Dalai Lama — but he only bears that title because the CCP conferred it on him. He is a fake.
The real Panchen Lama — Gedhun Choekyi Nyima — was kidnapped by the CCP on May 17, 1995, at the age of six, three days after his recognition as Panchen Lama was announced by the Dalai Lama. His whereabouts and well-being, as well as those of his immediate family who were detained alongside him, are unknown; he has never been seen or heard from since his abduction, despite multiple requests from UN bodies and international leaders.
The CCP is stepping up its efforts to promote Choekyi Gyalpo’s profile as part of its elaborate plans to control any future succession process of the Dalai Lama, even though the Chinese government promotes atheism and has no spiritual authority to interfere with the selection of Tibet’s Buddhist leadership. They plan to use him as a figurehead to endorse the likely installation of a fake Dalai Lama when the time comes.
It is no coincidence that Hu twice mentioned the fake Panchen Lama’s 2025 meeting with Xi Jinping, or that he praised him for “maintaining harmony and stability.” Nor is it any coincidence that this so-called Panchen Lama, known as the ‘Chinese Panchen’ among Tibetans, praises the Party and stays silent about surveillance, repression, and the CCP’s mass atrocity crimes.
He even speaks in Mandarin when addressing Tibetans, instead of using Tibetan. He is a captive stooge, forced to comply with the dictates of the CCP. Although in the past he has made some very subtle criticisms, expressing concern about the future of Buddhism, he has not done so recently. In an inversion of authentic religious priorities, the CCP requires monks to oppose ‘separatism’ first and foremost, strengthen ‘patriotic education’, improve alignment with socialism, and do the CCP’s bidding.
Two recent reports shed light on the truth about the CCP’s use of the fake Panchen Lama in its Sinicization strategy, and its ultimate aim to subvert the institution of the even more revered Dalai Lama.
In one, Sacred Authority and State Power: The Future of the Dalai Lama Institution in a Global Context, published in May 2025, it states clearly that “One of the main tools of China’s strategy to control reincarnation is the promotion of China’s Panchen Lama. Xinhua published a blueprint, ‘Great Public Relations Awareness,’ to this end, with the main tactic being “image creation” for the Chinese Panchen Lama Gyaltsen Norbu.”
A second, published by Tibet Watch and titled Setting A Religious Trap: Religious Ceremony by China’s Panchen Lama Signals China’s Control Strategies, details how sacred Buddhist rituals are being weaponized by the CCP.
“China is setting a religious trap,” a Tibetan monastic source told Tibet Watch. “These sacred teachings create unbreakable bonds between master and student in Tibetan Buddhism. Beijing is forcing this ceremony now so that when they install their hand-picked Dalai Lama, Tibet’s religious leaders will be bound by their own spiritual commitments to remain silent.”
