Devotion and defiance: Highlights from RFA Tibetan

For nearly three decades, Radio Free Asia has provided critical Tibet coverage, serving as an information lifeline for Tibetan audiences living under China’s authoritarian rule and connecting them to Tibetans in exile – and all the while offering a rare window into life in the highly restricted region. Through shortwave radio and digital platforms, RFA Tibetan has reported epochal moments in the history of modern Tibet.

It recorded first-hand accounts of the widespread protests in Tibet in 2008and the subsequent wave of self-immolations. RFA documented the Dalai Lama’s historic voluntary devolution of his temporal powers in 2011 and transfer of it to the democratically elected leader of Tibet’s exile government, or the Central Tibetan Administration.

Audiences in Tibet have secretly accessed RFA broadcasts at great peril to their own lives. They have contended with China’s sophisticated censorship apparatus, deliberate signal jamming, and the risk of prison.

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