China takes down Tibetan prayer flags, hoists China’s flag instead

Authorities in China’s Qinghai province are forcing Tibetan nomads to replace the prayer flags they set up near their camps with China’s national emblem in what critics see as an example of the government’s effort to wipe away Tibetan cultural and religious practices. The campaign was launched at the beginning of the year in Matoe (in Chinese, Maduo) county in Qinghai’s Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA, citing contacts in the region.

“Nomads living scattered around Matoe are being forced to attend political education sessions,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “And the Chinese government is putting up the national flag in places where Tibetans usually perform traditional religious ceremonies.

“They are also removing Tibetan prayer flags hung on the hilltops, saying they are not environmentally friendly, and are demolishing the furnaces used to perform smoke offerings used in purification ceremonies,” he said.

Read more