A Tibetan man was arrested last week for hoisting the Tibetan national flag – banned inside Tibet by China – atop his newly constructed home, three sources with knowledge of the situation said.
It is illegal for Tibetans to possess or display the Tibetan national flag, which features a yellow sun with red and blue rays, images of two snow lions and a multi-colored jewel representing Buddhist values.
On the evening of May 28, Rabgang Tenzin, a 51-year-old father of three, hoisted the Tibetan national flag on the rooftop in his new home in Pashoe county, or Baxoi in Chinese, in Tibet’s Chamdo Prefecture as part of a consecration ceremony, said the sources who requested anonymity for safety reasons.
Tenzin forgot to take down the flag the next morning because he fell asleep, said the first source from inside Tibet.
“The next day, the Chinese police arrested him, and his current whereabouts are unknown,” he said.
The flag is a symbol of unity and protest for Tibetans both inside and outside Tibet, and Chinese authorities have censored it from all media within China.
Those caught owning, hoisting or waving the flag, or even having an image of it on their mobile phone, face arrest.
Keep quiet
Chinese authorities have warned other Tibetans in Pashoe to refrain from discussing the incident with “outside forces,” and that anyone who does so could face similar consequences, the second source said.
Tenzin, a farmer who occasionally engages in small business, has an eldest child who is about 10 years old and attends Pashoe County Elementary School. Residents now fear that his child may be expelled from school, said the two sources.
Other Tibetans in Tibet and in Tibetan-populated areas of China’s western provinces caught displaying the flag have received jail terms.
In 2012, Sonam Gonpo, a monk from Dza Wonpo Monastery in Sershul county in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the northwest of Sichuan province, received a four-year prison sentence for hoisting the Tibetan national flag at a local school.
Earlier this year, a township in New Jersey raised the Tibetan flag in celebration of the Tibetan New Year, despite facing pressure from the Chinese government to not proceed with the initiative.
The incident illustrated how far Chinese officials will go to try to exert control over members of Tibetan diaspora communities abroad, especially during politically sensitive anniversaries and holidays.
Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan, and by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.