DHARAMSHALA, APRIL 23: Chinese authorities in Muge Norwa town in Zungchu County, Ngaba prefecture, have forced the organizers of a Tibetan language contest to cancel their event saying it had “political implications”, the Radio Free Asia reported.
The authorities called the organizers, Drime and Lodroe Gyaltsen, and ordered them to cancel the competition, RFA reported citing a source.
Participants were required to speak “pure” Tibetan free of Chinese or any other language in the contest that was scheduled for Feb. 21, observed worldwide as the International Mother Language Day.
“The event was announced, and preparations had been made,” the RFA quoted a local resident of Muge Norwa town as saying.
According to the same source, the Chinese authorities had told them the Tibetan language contained words that could be used to express opposition to Chinese rule.
“So they were ordered to cancel the event and were warned they would face serious consequences if they didn’t comply,” said the source.
Another resident told the RFA that the officials assigned temporarily to monitor the Muge Tashi Khorlo monastery in 2008 have now been permanently stationed there. “They are closely watching Tibetan activities in the area,” he told the RFA.
In recent years, Chinese government has come down heavily on Tibetan language rights by imprisoning several writers and poets writing in Tibetan language. In 2010, a Chinese government decision to replace Tibetan language by Chinese as a medium of instruction in schools led to massive protests by thousands of Tibetan students in Chentsa County.
