Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Aug. 26: China is reportedly removing traditional Tibetan literary and cultural works from revised Tibetan-language school textbooks, according to a report by the Dharamshala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), raising fresh concerns over the future of Tibetan-language and cultural education under Beijing’s evolving ethnic policy. The reported changes come shortly after China’s new Law on the “Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress” came into force on 1 July, 2026.
The law places education at the centre of efforts to cultivate what Chinese authorities describe as a “sense of community of the Chinese nation.” It requires schools and other educational institutions to use the national common language and script — Mandarin — as the basic language of education and teaching, while also requiring nationally unified textbooks and the integration of national-identity education throughout the educational process.
In Tibet, authorities are already rolling out educational measures that closely correspond with the law. At a press conference held by the Information Office of the People’s Government of the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) on 12 August, Li Ji, deputy director of the TAR Education Department, said authorities would deepen implementation of the “Love China” Planting Seeds campaign. Courses on ethnic unity and progress, he said, would be introduced across kindergartens, primary, and secondary schools and higher educational institutions.
The campaign also includes expanded use of the national common language, new textbooks and stronger ideological and political education. According to information released by the TAR authorities, teaching materials promoting the Chinese national community are being developed for children at every stage of education. These include The Chinese Nation Is One Family for kindergartens, The Chinese Nation as One Big Family for primary schools, Great Unity of the Chinese Nation for secondary schools and Introduction to the Community of the Chinese Nation for universities.
Against this backdrop, a source close to TCHRD living inside Tibet told the rights group on 15 July that Chinese authorities were producing revised Tibetan-language textbooks for schools in parts of Qinghai, Sichuan, and Gansu. The source said traditional Tibetan literary and cultural works were being removed from the new editions. Among the works identified as removed were The Mirror of Poetry (སྙན་ངག་མེ་ལོང་), The Treatises of Water and Woods by Gungthang Kunchok Tenpai Dronmey, and Advice of an Experienced Old Man (ཉམས་མྱོང་རྒན་པོའི་འབེལ་གཏམ་).
The source further said the revised Tibetan-language textbook was produced in 2026 and was already being taught, while the previous textbook had been discontinued. According to the account, the new books contain little or no Tibetan cultural content, potentially limiting children’s exposure to their own literary And cultural heritage. The source also said children are required to attend kindergarten before entering elementary school and are subsequently taught primarily in Mandarin, reducing opportunities to use Tibetan even among children from Tibetan-speaking families.
The reported textbook changes form part of a wider campaign to embed the new law across Tibetan society. During a visit to the TAR last month, senior Chinese Communist Party official Wang Huning called for the full implementation of the law, greater efforts to forge a unified national identity, and the further promotion of the Sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism. Since March, TAR authorities said government offices and departments had organised 1,882 activities to publicise the law, reaching more than 258,000 people.
TCHRD researcher Dawa Tashi warned that Tibetan children must have meaningful access to education in their own language, history, literature, and culture, and that Tibetan parents and communities should have a meaningful role in decisions concerning the linguistic and cultural content of their children’s education. The reported convergence of Mandarin-language instruction, nationally standardised curricula, and the removal of traditional Tibetan works, TCHRD states, could further narrow the space for Tibetan language and cultural knowledge within formal education and accelerate its transmission loss among younger generations.
Facts Only
* China's Law on the “Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress” came into force on July 1, 2026.
* The new law places education at the center of cultivating a "sense of community of the Chinese nation."
* Education requires using Mandarin as the basic language of education and teaching.
* Textbooks must be nationally unified, and national-identity education must be integrated.
* TAR authorities announced plans to deepen implementation of the “Love China” Planting Seeds campaign.
* Curriculum expansion includes courses on ethnic unity and progress across schools and higher education.
* Teaching materials promoting the Chinese national community are being developed for all educational stages.
* Revised Tibetan-language textbooks were produced in 2026 for parts of Qinghai, Sichuan, and Gansu.
* Traditional works removed from new editions include *The Mirror of Poetry*, *The Treatises of Water and Woods*, and *Advice of an Experienced Old Man*.
* The revised textbooks contain little or no Tibetan cultural content compared to previous editions.
* Children are required to attend kindergarten before elementary school, with subsequent teaching primarily in Mandarin.
Executive Summary
Full Take
The systematic removal of established literary and cultural works from educational materials signals a deliberate structural effort to exert linguistic and cultural hegemony over the education system. The convergence of mandated Mandarin instruction, nationally standardized curricula, and the excision of indigenous textual heritage creates a powerful mechanism for cultural assimilation. This process moves beyond mere language policy; it targets the very epistemic framework through which identity is understood. The implication is that while formal structures remain ostensibly educational, their content functions to accelerate transmission loss of Tibetan cultural knowledge across generations by limiting the linguistic space for expression. The mobilization of ideological education alongside this material change suggests a strategy where cultural erasure and national unity are mutually reinforcing goals within the structure of public schooling. This pattern illustrates how state-sanctioned policy translates into tangible control over inherited narratives, thereby challenging cognitive sovereignty by delegitimizing the ancestral educational context.
Questions to consider are: What mechanisms exist outside of formal schooling that maintain or revitalize these cultural forms? How do communities establish alternative educational spaces when official curricula are systematically devalued? If linguistic and cultural transmission is curtailed in this manner, what long-term socio-political effects follow for self-determination?
Sentinel — Human
The text appears to be a detailed report synthesizing claims made by rights groups and regional authorities regarding educational policy changes in Tibet, exhibiting the complexity typical of fact-finding journalism.