By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, March 24: The Chinese government has now extended its restrictions on Tibetan language on various online platforms and video streaming services, as sources fear another push for further assimilation of China’s so-called ethnic minorities into the dominant Han Chinese culture. RFA’s Tibetan service cited sources that confirmed the Chinese government’s directives, “China-based language learning app Talkmate and video streaming service Bilibili have now removed the Tibetan and Uyghur languages from their sites.”
The government order on December 20 last year, the report said, announced that foreign organizations and individuals, beginning from March 1, can no longer spread “religious content” online in China or Tibet until the groups obtain a special license to do so. The regulation ‘Measures on the Administration of Internet Religious Information Service’ went into effect on March 1.
The anonymous source also said that the restrictions are put in a wide range of social media platforms in Tibetan areas. “Specifically, those platforms where users go live to perform and communicate with their audiences have seen more restrictions put in place. Tibetans are forbidden to speak in Tibetan while communicating, and if any Tibetan artist tries to represent Tibetan culture and tradition on their social media platform, their accounts are disconnected,” the source told RFA, adding that such live performances are interrupted immediately by the government.
The Article 17 of the rule stipulates that people without license are “not allowed to organize and carry out religious activities on the internet” and also “not allowed to broadcast or record religious ceremonies such as worshipping Buddha, burning incense, ordaining, chanting, worshipping, mass, and baptism in the form of words, pictures, audio and video.”
Anyone found guilty of flouting these rules could face severe punishment. An official notification dated January 20 in the Qinghai province called for immediate closure of WeChat groups that included civil society groups such as, ‘Good Conduct Group’, ‘Guru Sidhi Group’ and ‘Mani Group’, according to earlier reports.
