All language subtitles for Inside.China.The.Battle.For.Tibet.2025.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

This is Tibet, China,
the roof of the world.

Its cultural heritage
is well protected.

Freedom of religion
is fully guaranteed.

THEY SHOUT
IN OWN LANGUAGE

CHEERING

SHOUTING

MAN:

It's a momentous struggle
between a Communist Party

and Tibetan civilisation.

It's a mystery.

The story of that disappearance,

not only of an individual,
but of a culture.

MAN: Tibet is almost forgotten.

It's almost impossible
to get information out.

ARJIA RINPOCHE:

CAROLINE CATZ: Arjia Rinpoche is
a senior Buddhist monk from Tibet.

Living under Chinese rule, he was
made to serve the Communist Party

until he fled.

Tibetan Buddhists have two leaders,
regarded as the nation's kings.

The Dalai Lama is the most famous.

Less well known is his counterpart,
the Panchen Lama.

Tibetans believe they are reborn
or reincarnated after they die.

But 30 years ago,
when he was just six years old,

the Panchen Lama
mysteriously disappeared.

The missing boy is at the heart
of Beijing's long battle

to control
the Dalai Lama's succession,

and, with it, the fate of Tibet.

GYAL LO:

Gyal Lo is an academic
who fled China in 2020.

He now campaigns for the survival
of Tibet's culture and language.

The current Dalai Lama
was discovered by the Panchen Lama

in 1937.

He led Tibet from his residence,
the Potala Palace in Lhasa.

In 1950, the Chinese Communist Party
invaded Tibet...

..and took control.

Within a decade,
fearing for his life,

the Dalai Lama escaped
across the Himalayas to India,

where he's lived ever since.

APPLAUSE

Today, Tibet is ruled
as a so-called autonomous region...

..under the leadership
of China's president Xi Jinping.

China has almost 60 ethnic
minorities, including Tibetans.

But President Xi's mission
is to forge a national identity,

centred on the Han Chinese majority.

XI JINPING:

GYAL LO:

In the past decade,

around 100 Tibetans are reported
to have been detained

for contacting the outside world
with their views about China's rule.

But last year,

rare, though unverified,
voice recordings made it out...

MUFFLED RECORDING:

SHOUTING

..along with videos
showing hundreds of Tibetans

protesting against a Chinese dam
that would submerge villages

and Buddhist monasteries.

SHOUTING

Many were rounded up and beaten.
Hundreds were detained.

IN VIDEO:

It's a reminder
that those living in Tibet

are under constant surveillance...

..with journalists unable
to work freely.

CHANG:

A journalist we're calling Chang

has agreed
to take the risk to go undercover.

Some seven million Tibetans
live across the part of China

that Chang is investigating,
roughly a quarter of the country.

It's made up of parts
of what are now Chinese provinces

and the Tibet Autonomous Region.

If caught filming secretly,

Chang could be imprisoned
or disappear without trace.

He's on his way to Tibet's capital,
Lhasa.

There are police posts
equipped with high-tech surveillance

every 500 metres.

Chang is filming people secretly

because those living in Tibet
can't speak freely to the media.

For their safety, their identities
have been disguised.

To even talk about the Dalai Lama
here is risking trouble.

Tibetans who worship the Dalai Lama
risk imprisonment.

The roots of this religious ban
date back to the 1990s,

and an event surrounding their other
Buddhist king, the Panchen Lama.

MAN: 30 seconds to air.

Important enough
to make British news,

its impact in Tibet
would be profound.

One of Tibet's most senior
religious leaders,

the Panchen Lama,
has died of a heart attack.

He was second only
to the Dalai Lama,

who's lived in exile in India
for 30 years.

Arjia Rinpoche
had high Buddhist positions,

but also had to work
with the Chinese government.

This was the first time
since China invaded Tibet

that one of the two highest
spiritual leaders had died.

With the Dalai Lama in exile,

the Chinese government
created a search team,

including religious leaders,
to select a new Panchen Lama.

Their search would take
half a decade.

In '94,

a few documents
are reaching us in London.

This was almost the last moment

when we did receive documents
from Tibet.

It became too dangerous later.

In the 1990s,
Robert Barnett was running

a news and research organisation
about Tibet...

..when a Chinese government document
was leaked to him.

It revealed Beijing's real plans
for Tibet's Buddhist leaders.

Among those documents
was a little booklet,

and it was called A Golden Bridge
Leading Into A New Era.

We gradually realised
this is extraordinary,

this is exceptional.

This was directly saying
what policies were going to be,

and they were new policies.

This paragraph says,

"The focal point in our region's
fight to oppose separatism

"is to oppose the Dalai clique.

"As the saying goes,

"to kill a serpent,
we must first chop off its head.

"If we don't do that,

"we cannot succeed
in the struggle against separatism."

So, this is basically saying,
"We can only destroy that movement

"by eliminating
the Dalai Lama's strength,

"by destroying him
as a political force."

And their method of destroying him

was the demonisation
of the Dalai Lama.

DEEP CHANTING

Suddenly, people who respected
the Dalai Lama

are deemed to be enemies.

So, that's what we see
in the succession debate.

The most significant turning points
are this 1994 decision,

and the 1995 decision
over the Panchen Lama.

Though China's attitude towards
the Dalai Lama was hardening,

the search committee
secretly sent him notes

about the candidates
for the next Panchen Lama.

A high-profile documentary revealed

how one boy stood out
to the Dalai Lama.

ANNOUNCER: Welcome to
the Voice Of America in Tibetan.

REPORTER:

Arjia Rinpoche says
the Panchen Lama and his family

were whisked away
in a Communist Party plane.

Never to be seen in public again,

the fate of Tibet's
11th Panchen Lama

would be the start
of a decades-long mystery.

CAROLINE CATZ: Since the 11th
Panchen Lama disappeared in 1995,

Tibetans around the world
have called on Beijing

to provide answers about
their missing spiritual leader.

He'd been chosen by the Dalai Lama,
until China intervened.

Tibet's Panchen Lama
plays a critical role

in the Dalai Lama's succession.

This boy was forcibly disappeared,

caught up in this intense
spiritual geopolitical struggle.

Part of very elaborate plans

to control
the Dalai Lama's succession

and, therefore,
to ensure control of Tibet.

Kate Saunders
is a leading Tibet specialist,

who's been researching
China's policies

towards its religious leaders.

If you do an online search

for Gedhun Choekyi Nyima,
the missing boy,

it's almost impossible
to find out anything

about who he is.

We've only been able
to piece together

a few things about his background.

He was born in a nomadic village
of Lhari, in Nagqu,

which is in
the Tibet Autonomous Region.

This is a slightly grainy photograph

of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima
and his family.

We think that his father
is a doctor

and his mother a nurse.

We know that he has siblings,
a brother and a sister.

And he's wearing
a traditional brown brocade,

with the orange signalling
his status.

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was taken
from his home,

together with his family.

There could have been
an attempt to separate him

from his parents and his siblings,

but apparently,
the family resisted that,

according to some accounts,

and he was taken to Beijing,
as far as we know,

and that's where the trail stops.

When China wants someone
to disappear,

that person can disappear
like a stone.

This really is a story
of that disappearance,

not only of an individual,
but of a civilisation.

If Gedhun Choekyi Nyima
hadn't been abducted,

he would have gone here,
the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Tibet,

to receive a lifetime
of spiritual education.

Chinese soldiers now surrounded it.

We found one of the monks
present at the time.

Even now, it's not safe
for him to speak openly.

The monastery's leadership

had helped identify
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima

as the Panchen Lama.

We tried to find those
who'd met the boy,

but they were all either imprisoned
or had disappeared from public life.

Over 50 people were arrested

for opposing China's interference
over the Panchen Lama.

It set the tone
for Beijing's future rule.

Despite the risks,

our journalist Chang is secretly
filming a Chinese taxi driver.

He says many Tibetans
face severe travel restrictions.

Few Tibetans are allowed
to leave China.

But some still risk their lives
to escape across the Himalayas...

..just as the Dalai Lama did
over 65 years ago.

The Tibetan uprising of 2008

was the biggest protest
against China's rule in two decades.

The Chinese government
suppressed the protests with force.

It blamed the Dalai Lama
for the uprising...

..and clamped down further
on his supporters.

SHOUTING

But in the years since...

..some have taken extreme measures
to protest.

CROWD SHOUTING

Since 2009, around 160 Tibetans

are believed to have set themselves
on fire as an act of resistance...

HORNS BEEPING

..some speaking out,
despite their horrific injuries.

Namkyi was only 15 years old
at the time.

Namkyi's protest
defied China's plans

to eradicate the Dalai Lama
from Buddhism.

These dated back decades,

to when the government
removed the Panchen Lama

and set out to select
their own replacement.

China summoned
the Panchen Lama search team

to an emergency meeting in Beijing.

Arjia Rinpoche felt forced
to attend.

Even China's president was involved.

Beijing was now taking control
of the reincarnation process.

Arjia Rinpoche says he was made to
take part in the crucial ceremony

that would decide
the new Panchen Lama.

CHANTING

IN ENGLISH:

He says China forced
the selection committee to choose

by drawing lots
from an ancient golden urn.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

ARJIA RINPOCHE:

Another young boy, Gyaltsen Norbu,

the son of two
Communist Party members,

was selected and enthroned
as the 11th Panchen Lama,

the figure who would, in future,
choose the next Dalai Lama.

It was a victory for China
and its rule over Tibet.

Arjia Rinpoche says he was asked
by the Chinese government

to tutor the new Panchen Lama
they'd appointed.

Fearing the consequences
of refusing...

..in 1998, he escaped.

The fate of the disappeared
Panchen Lama remains a mystery.

The Panchen Lama is treated as
a matter of national security,

and that's tied to the survival
and legitimacy

of the Chinese Communist Party.

We've tried over the years
to track family members,

but no-one has been
prepared to speak.

The level of fear is overwhelming.

We are in an era where there is
one disappeared Panchen Lama

and one official Panchen Lama,

groomed as a patriotic figurehead

to be the representative
for the Chinese Communist Party.

In the years since,

the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama,
Gyaltsen Norbu,

has grown up under their control,

publicly supporting
their official line.

Today, undercover inside Tibet,

it's too risky for Chang to ask
about the missing Panchen Lama.

But the state-appointed one
comes up.

Images of the Dalai Lama
were once commonplace in Tibet,

but now these have been replaced
by portraits of Chinese leaders.

It's certainly the case now

that they think that loyalty
should be to the party,

especially under Xi Jinping.

They're gradually reducing
the content of the religion,

but not eliminating.

This is what they call
Sinicisation of religion,

so that it becomes less Tibetan.

MUSIC PLAYS

Forging a common consciousness
of a Chinese nation

is the key formula
for all Xi Jinping's policy

towards the ethnic minorities
in China.

The battle is now over culture.

They're all gonna become
more Chinese.

CAROLINE CATZ: Namkyi is one of
an estimated 5,600 Tibetans

who've been detained or sentenced
for their political views

since 1990.

In 2015, she took to the streets
with a photograph of the Dalai Lama.

Soon after, she was imprisoned.

Namkyi says she was forced
to undergo political re-education,

studying frequently
with a Chinese government officer.

She spent three years in prison,

and says she was released
with strict conditions.

In 2023, she fled Tibet,

making the dangerous escape
across the mountains.

Like many Tibetans,

Namkyi is now separated
from her family.

Because of the advanced
surveillance systems

that enable the Chinese government
to spy on everyone.

Surveillance systems are fundamental

to the way in which the Chinese
Communist Party rules Tibet.

Everyday life in Tibet
is monitored in ways

that no-one outside of North Korea,
probably, can really understand.

There's also concern about the use
of a new Chinese anti-fraud app.

The data it collects
could be used to monitor Tibetans.

People are being encouraged and,
in some cases,

coerced into
installing the anti-fraud app.

Data being collected
is being fed into central systems

that are used
to identify people of interest.

There's an emphasis, certainly,
on any contact with people abroad,

and then
there are everyday activities

the government considers
to be suspicious.

Chang, undercover inside Tibet,
asks locals about the app.

Tibet's 4,000 Buddhist monasteries
and temples

have been a traditional focus
of resistance.

Chang discovers
that places of worship

are now under heavy surveillance.

He feels it's too risky to film
while going into the monasteries.

But once inside, he notices
many surveillance cameras.

The government has concentrated
surveillance resources

on having facial recognition cameras
in monasteries

like no other aspect
of Tibetan life.

There's obviously a focus

on supervising and monitoring
religious life.

The desire to control...

..to instil a sense of fear.

Very deliberately, society-wide.

Chang meets one Tibetan,

a high-ranking
Chinese government employee,

who makes an admission about the
strict controls imposed on religion.

Everyday activities
such as language preservation,

passing on
traditional Tibetan practices,

these are being criminalised.

Surveillance is at the heart
of this process of...

subjugating the Tibetan people,

of making them Chinese.

China's tightening grip
doesn't just affect religious life.

As Chang later finds out
from a Tibetan mother,

it starts early, with its children.

In one video,

uploaded on Chinese social media
as part of a school assignment,

a young Tibetan girl
has a message for other children.

Under President Xi Jinping,

Tibetan children as young as four
are placed into boarding schools,

separated from their families,
and taught in Mandarin.

A Tibetan academic,

Gyal Lo began researching
what was happening in these schools.

He documented his secret visits to
more than 50 boarding kindergartens.

State media presents these schools

as the best way for Tibetan children
to thrive in modern China.

Little is known about what life
is really like in boarding schools.

But Gyal Lo has found rare footage

showing how some Tibetan children
are treated.

The headmaster of a boarding school
in eastern Tibet.

And a teacher in another one.

Human rights groups are concerned

that abuses like these
are widespread.

It's estimated that
up to 1 million Tibetan children

are now taught in boarding schools.

Endorsing them, President Xi Jinping
visited one last year.

Now in exile,

Gyal Lo has been cut off
from his family inside Tibet

for speaking out
about these schools.

The longer he's in Tibet,

the more Chang hears about
the repression of its culture.

This Han Chinese man
describes what he sees

as the government's
long-term objectives.

Though news of it rarely reaches
the outside world,

Chang finds out
how Tibetans continue

to sacrifice themselves
for their cause.

Soon after, Chang leaves Tibet.

30 years
after the succession dispute,

the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama
continues to tour Tibet.

The Dalai Lama's choice
for the Panchen Lama,

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima,
remains out of sight.

Very little is known
about the village

where the boy was raised
and last seen.

He was taken from his hometown
of Lhari, deep inside Tibet.

We managed to recruit
another journalist

prepared to make the trip,
despite the risks.

Visitors are checked on arrival
and under constant surveillance.

It's not safe to ask any questions
about the missing Panchen Lama.

She tries to find some evidence
of his life here...

..but there is none.

Just very heavy security.

Lhari was a traditional
nomadic settlement,

and it's now one of the most
heavily securitised areas in Tibet.

Only one image of the boy
has surfaced

since he was abducted from here
30 years ago.

Kate Saunders received a copy.

It's never been broadcast before.

The Tibetan script at the top reads,
"Photograph of a family reunion."

She believes it's a photograph
of the missing Panchen Lama,

the only image since he disappeared.

It seems to show
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.

He's got a toy helicopter,
he's sitting on his father's lap.

He could be around ten, around 11.

This looks as though it's in
some sort of official compound,

and it does show us

that the family was still together
at that point.

I believe it's genuine,

but we still haven't been able
to fully confirm that.

It shows how successfully
China has been able

to disappear not only the child,

but also his entire family,

and to exclude them from any sort
of public gaze whatsoever.

Then, in the early 2000s,

when Kate Saunders was working
for a Tibetan rights group,

she says she had an encounter
with a Chinese official in London,

where she asked about the fate
of the missing boy.

It was interesting because
her face lit up and she said,

"Oh, he's so handsome now,
and he's so tall,

"and he's doing really well."

But then it was as if
she suddenly shut down.

You know,
"Oh, you people are always asking,

"but he wants to be left alone,

"and he wants to be
with his family."

In the years
since the boy disappeared,

the Chinese government has only
responded with its official line.

China refuses to give
any further information,

saying it's to protect him from
abduction by Tibetan nationalists.

But in 2019, on his 30th birthday,

a forensic artist created an image
of what he might look like.

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima
is centre stage

in that fundamental struggle
for survival,

not only between Buddhism
and China's Sinicisation campaign,

but also between our values

and the values
that other authoritarian powers

seek to impose upon us,

which matters to the world
in the 21st century.

After decades of enforced rule,

China has all but ensured

it can now choose who succeeds
Tibet's supreme leader.

At stake for millions of Tibetans
around the world...

..their connection to
a unique culture and civilisation.

Like the boy still held prisoner,
and the Dalai Lama who chose him,

Tibet faces being slowly wiped away.