Three days after he was released from prison in December, a Tibetan village leader named Gonpo Namgyal died. As his body was being prepared for traditional Tibetan funeral rites, marks were found indicating he had been brutally tortured in jail. His crime? Gonpo Namgyal had been part of a campaign to protect the Tibetan language in China.
Gonpo Namgyal is the victim of a slow-moving conflict that has dragged on for nearly 75 years, since China invaded Tibet in the mid-20th century. Language has been central to that conflict.
Tibetans have worked to protect the Tibetan language and resisted efforts to enforce Mandarin Chinese. Yet Tibetan children are losing their language through enrollment in state boarding schools, where they are being educated nearly exclusively in Mandarin Chinese. Tibetan is typically only taught a few times a week—not enough to sustain the language.
My research, published in a new book in 2024, provides unique insights into the struggle of other minority languages in Tibet that receive far less attention.
My research shows that language politics in Tibet are surprisingly complex and driven by subtle violence, perpetuated not only by Chinese authorities but also by other Tibetans. I’ve also found that outsiders’ efforts to help are failing the minority languages at the highest risk of extinction.
Tibetan Culture Under Attack
I lived in Ziling, the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau, from 2005 to 2013, teaching in a university, studying Tibetan, and supporting local nongovernment organizations. Most of my research since then has focused on language politics in the Rebgong valley on the northeast Tibetan Plateau. From 2014 to 2018, I interviewed dozens of people, spoke informally with many others, and conducted hundreds of household surveys about language use.
I also collected and analyzed Tibetan-language texts, including government policies, online essays, social media posts, and even pop song lyrics.
When I was in Ziling, Tibetans launched a massive protest movement against Chinese rule just before the Beijing Olympics in 2008. These protests led to harsh government crackdowns, including mass arrests, increased surveillance, and restrictions on freedom of movement and expressions of Tibetan identity. These were largely focused on language and religion.
Years of unrest ensued, marked by more demonstrations and individual acts of sacrifice. Since 2009, more than 150 Tibetans have set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule.
Not Just Tibetan Under Threat
Tibet is a linguistically diverse place. In addition to Tibetan, about 60 other languages are spoken in the region. About 4% of Tibetans (around 250,000 people) speak a minority language.
Government policy forces all Tibetans to learn and use Mandarin Chinese. Those who speak only Tibetan have a harder time finding work and are faced with discrimination and even violence from the dominant Han ethnic group.