BEIJING – The rarely seen boy endorsed by China as the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism has completed an 11-day tour of northwestern China, state media said Wednesday.
Thirteen-year-old Gyaincain Norbu, who has lived much of his life shrouded in secrecy, attended a farewell party Tuesday night in Qinghai province, the Xinhua news agency said.
At the party he said he wished for “unity among the different ethnic minorities and for them to advance on the road to socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China”.
According to ancient tradition, Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama selects the new Panchen Lama when the old one dies and vice versa.
In 1995 the exiled Dalai Lama chose Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, a six-year-old boy, as the reincarnation of the former Panchen Lama. This prompted the Chinese police to swiftly place the boy under house arrest.
Beijing selected its own candidate, Gyaincain Norbu, and has since trumpeted his legitimacy.
The Dalai Lama’s selection has not been seen in public since he was detained.
Xinhua said that during his stay in Qinghai, which borders Tibet, Beijing’s pick presided over several religious activities, “praying for longevity and happiness for both believers and ordinary people”.
Activists say he is being groomed as a symbol of Beijing’s control over the disputed territory.
China has ruled Tibet in an often brutal fashion since it occupied the Himalayan area in 1951, and has been accused of trying to wipe out Tibet’s culture through repression and a flood of ethnic Chinese immigration.
