Reported by Palden
Edited By Pema Tso
Translated By TenGyal
Renowned Tibetan writer Rongwo Gedun Lhundub was released from prison on Nov 9, 2024. As he is still under observation, his current health and overall condition remain unknown.
In November 2020, Gedun Lhundub was arrested near Rongwo Monastery. Nobody saw or heard from him for a long time after his arrest. It was later revealed that during a workshop organised by Chinese authorities in Rebgong on the theme of “Translating Tibetan Buddhism into Mandarin,” Gedun had questioned the organisers about the true purpose of the project, leading to heated verbal exchanges.He was secretly abducted a few days later.
On December 1st,2021, the so-called Intermediate People’s Court in Xining sentenced him to four years imprisonment and revoked his political rights for two years. He was falsely charged with allegations of “inciting separatism.”
A popular poet, Rongwo Gedun Lhundub, writes under the social media handle Lham Kok<<ལྷམ་ཀོག་>>. He was born in 1974 in Dhowo Drog, Rebgong. He began writing in 1994 and published many notable works such as “ The Pale Thigh-Bone Trumpet” <<རྐང་གླིང་སྐྱ་བོ>>, “ Poetry of the Great Deity” <<ལྷ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྙན་ངག>>, “ The Black Rosary” <<ཕྲེང་བ་ནག་པོ>>, “ The Rhythm of life ” <<མི་ཚེའི་དབྱངས་རྟ>>་and“ The White Manuscript”<<གླེགས་བམ་དཀར་བོ>>. His last book “Samsara” <<འཁོར་བ>>, a poetry book, was published in October 2020.
Since 2000, he has been teaching the “Four Common Sciences” (including Literature and related fields) at Rongwo Monastery. Additionally, he has been invited as a guest lecturer at various institutions across Tibet. His literary works are highly regarded and have earned numerous awards within the region.
