Reported By Kelsang Jinpa
Edited By Pema Tso
Translated by TenGyal
The Chinese Communist government has converted a site which used to house a monumental Buddha statue into a horse racing course in Drago, Tibet and erected two new large building structures on the ruins of the demolished Geden Buddhist School.
On December 12, 2021, reports emerged that the Chinese government had destroyed a 99-foot Buddha statue, a statue of Maitreya Buddha, and forty-five Mani prayer wheels near Gaden Rabten Namgyal Ling Monastery in Drago, Tibet; however, due to severe local restrictions at the time, the full details of the events remained unclear.
According to findings obtained through long-term investigation and information gathering by Tibet Times, reveal that while the current whereabouts of the destroyed Maitreya Buddha statue remain unknown, the Buddha statue was moved inside the assembly hall of Drago Monastery. On its original site, the Chinese Communist government has constructed a sprawling horse racing track or circuit. The Buddha statue was originally built in 2015 with the local government’s approval and over 400,000 Chinese Yuan contributed by the local community to avert natural disasters, epidemics, and famine.
Similarly, the Chinese Communist government issued an order mandating the Geden Buddhist School, administered by Drago Gaden Rabten Namgyal Ling Monastery, to be closed within three days starting from October 31. Following the school’s closure and subsequent demolition, two large buildings have now been newly constructed on its former site. However, it is currently not possible to determine the purpose or function of these two large structures.
Furthermore, in November of that same year, monks at Chanang Monastery—located about 24 kilometers from Drago Monastery—were ordered to destroy a large statue of Guru Rinpoche. That statue, crafted from gold and silver, stood over 46 feet tall, was subsequently demolished under government directive.
Under the accusation of leaking information abroad, the Drago County police arrested over a dozen people, including monks Tenzin Nyima, Tashi Dorje, Lhamo Yangchen, and Tsering Samdup. Reports indicate that most were detained at a “political re-education” center in Thangnagma, near Dropa Village, about 5 kilometers from Drago County; however, their subsequent fate remains unknown.
Additionally, reports surfaced that monks were coerced into signing confession documents claiming responsibility for the destruction of the Buddha statues and other sacred religious artifacts.
That year, political campaigns reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution were carried out across Drago County. At the time, Wang Dongsheng, the Communist Party Secretary of Drago County, died suddenly on January 16, 2024, after either jumping or falling from the fifth floor of a shopping mall in Chengdu. Wang Dongsheng had previously served as the Party Secretary of Serta County in 2016 and 2017, where he oversaw the demolition of over 7,000 monastic quarters at Larung Gar Buddhist Academy and the successive expulsion of more than 4,500 monks and nuns.
