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2008 Tibetan Protests (March 2008)

In March 2008, Lhasa and Tibetan areas of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai saw the largest protests in two decades. Beginning as peaceful monk marches commemorating the 1959 uprising, they erupted into Lhasa riots on March 14 and spread across the plateau. Official sources report 19 civilian deaths; Tibetan exiles report 220 Tibetan deaths; over 6,800 were detained. The unrest came five months before the Beijing Olympics, drawing international attention.

Time

March 10–June 2008 (main phase March 10–April)

Place

Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region; Tibetan areas of Ngaba (Aba) and Garze (Ganzi) in Sichuan, Gannan in Gansu, Yushu in Qinghai

Decision-makers

Hu Jintao (CCP General Secretary, President); Zhang Qingli (Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary, directed the crackdown); implemented by People's Armed Police and public security organs

Background

2008 was Beijing's Olympic year — the government staged the Games as a showcase of "harmonious prosperity." For Tibetans, March 10, 2008 marked another anniversary: 49 years since the 1959 Lhasa uprising, after which the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India and Tibet underwent "democratic reform" with systematic destruction of monasteries.

The protests' deep causes had accumulated for years. Religious control: authorities imposed "patriotic education" in monasteries, requiring monks and nuns to denounce the Dalai Lama and pledge loyalty to the Party, with monastic populations strictly capped. Demographic change: after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway opened in 2006, Han migrants flooded Lhasa; Tibetans became a minority in their own capital, and the traditional Barkor commercial district filled with Han-owned shops. Unequal development: the government touted rapid GDP growth, but Tibetans widely felt the benefits went to migrants and cadres, with high youth unemployment.

Lhasa had seen protests in 1987–1989, followed by martial law in March 1989. For nearly two decades Tibet appeared calm, but ethnic tensions festered under repression. In early 2008, Tibet Party Secretary Zhang Qingli publicly declared "the Communist Party is the real living Buddha of Tibetans," deepening the sense of humiliation.

Potala Palace, Lhasa. Photo: Ondřej Žváček, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

Who decided

Hu Jintao was the supreme decision-maker. Unlike 1959 and 1989, the Politburo process was never made public — stated plainly, not invented. Verifiable: Hu (who backed the bloody 1989 Lhasa crackdown as Tibet chief); Wen Jiabao the spokesman (March 19: "restraint"); Zhang Qingli the front-line hardliner ("life-and-death struggle," internal docs unverified). No martial law was declared; a Chinese general said the PAP led, not regular PLA.

Who decided

Hu Jintao (General Secretary, CMC chairman) was the supreme decision-maker. Unlike 1959 and 1989, the Politburo decision-making process was never made public — this site states that plainly and does not invent it. The verifiable public chain:

• Hu Jintao: the NY Times' Jim Yardley noted Hu backed the bloody 1989 Lhasa crackdown as Tibet party chief, "winning Deng Xiaoping's favor" and his path to the top. On March 26, 2008 he told President Bush dialogue remained possible if the Dalai Lama "truly gives up separatism."
• Wen Jiabao (premier): the public spokesman. On March 19 he blamed Dalai Lama supporters for violence, insisted security forces "showed restraint."
• Zhang Qingli (Tibet party chief from May 2006): the top front-line decision-maker. He declared a "life-and-death struggle" against the "Dalai clique" and demanded party members fight "with fiercer combat will." (Internal documents unpublished — unverified.)

Unpublished process: when and how the Politburo Standing Committee ordered the massive PAP deployment — no public record, unverified. Unlike 1989, no martial law was declared; a Chinese general said regular PLA troops were not deployed — the PAP led.

Detailed timeline

March 10: Monk marches begin. According to Human Rights Watch, around midday 300–400 monks from Drepung Monastery marched toward central Lhasa demanding religious freedom. Police blocked their route; monks were kicked and beaten with batons, and about 60 were arrested that day.

March 11: Protests widen. 300–400 monks from Sera Monastery set out in formation demanding the release of detained monks. An eyewitness told the BBC that some 300 Sera monks took to the street and were kicked and beaten by 10–15 plainclothes police in "gratuitous violence." The monks began a sit-in outside the monastery and were surrounded by riot police and armed units. Radio Free Asia reported tear gas fired into the crowd. HRW reported hundreds of monks and nuns from Ganden Monastery and a nunnery also marched toward Lhasa on March 11, were stopped by police and returned; their monasteries were promptly sealed off.

March 12–13: Standoff intensifies. The three great monasteries (Drepung, Sera, Ganden) were surrounded by military police; monks were trapped inside. Lhasa's atmosphere grew extremely tense.

March 14: Lhasa riots. That morning, monks preparing to leave Ramoche Temple to demand monks' release were barred by police; stone-throwing clashes erupted. As police withdrew, the enraged crowd began targeting Han and Hui passersby and shops. The Toronto Star reported businesses with Chinese signage were burned, smashed or looted; fires spread to buildings, and a building fire killed four Han women and one Tibetan woman hiding inside. Multiple fires burned across Lhasa; over 300 locations were torched (mostly homes, shops, schools), vehicles smashed. Officials said rioters injured 623 people (including 241 police) and set fire to 300+ locations.

March 15–16: Crackdown and spread. People's Armed Police flooded Lhasa in de facto martial law. Protests spread to Ngaba (Aba), Sichuan: on March 16 Tibetan residents and monks demonstrated; some in the march smashed, looted and burned — 24 shops and two police stations in Aba county town were torched, 81 police and civilian vehicles burned. Officials claimed rioters seized police firearms and that police "used weapons according to law after warning shots failed." AP reported one policeman beaten to death and one "protester" rumored shot dead by police.

Late March: Protests across the plateau. Labrang Monastery in Gannan (Gansu), Garze (Sichuan), Qinghai and elsewhere erupted. Canada's CTV filmed over 1,000 Tibetans (some on horseback) charging into a Gansu town, storming a government building, tearing down and ripping up the Chinese flag at a school and raising the Tibetan flag, before being repelled by about 100 soldiers using tear gas. Scholars count 100+ protest incidents across the plateau with as many as 30,000 participants.

March 28: Foreign press and the "lies" protest. Under international pressure, Beijing allowed 29 foreign media groups to cover the Lhasa Olympic torch relay. At Jokhang Temple, monks shouted before foreign cameras: "The government is always telling lies," "They killed many people," "The cadres and the army killed more than 100 Tibetans," "They arrested more than a thousand." One monk wept: "Tibet is not free! China is lying." The scene was broadcast worldwide.

April–June: Mass arrests continue. Authorities launched sweeping detentions across Lhasa and Tibetan areas. The "2008 Uprising in Tibet" archive counts over 6,810 Tibetans arrested, 1,000+ later released. Amnesty International reported 1,000 Tibetans remained "unaccounted for" as of June.

Who executed

Chain: the center → Zhang Qingli → the PAP (400+ troop carriers, ~4,000 troops, per the BBC), public security → monastery work teams. Monasteries cut off from water, power, food, medical care — one monk starved to death (unverified). Forced loyalty statements in "patriotic education." All foreign journalists expelled; YouTube and Western sites blocked. HRW: convictions "reflected systematic political interference." Four Tibetans executed October 2009 (unconfirmed by Chinese media — unverified).

The geography of the protests. Later counts show this was never a one-city affair. Beyond the Tibet Autonomous Region, mid-to-late March saw protests by monks and laypeople in Ngaba, Hongyuan, Zoige and Rangtang in Sichuan's Ngaba prefecture; in Garze, Luhuo, Dawu, Sertar and Litang in Garze prefecture; in Xiahe, Machu, Luchu and Hezuo in Gansu's Gannan prefecture; and in Tongren in Qinghai's Huangnan prefecture and in Yushu — with security forces firing on crowds, mass arrests and monasteries sealed in a number of these places. The International Campaign for Tibet, tallying day-by-day reports, counted 235 protests across the Tibetan areas over the year, spread over nearly the whole Tibetan-inhabited plateau. Scholar Robert Barnett noted that this was the first time since 1959 that Tibetan protest had erupted simultaneously inside the Autonomous Region and in the Tibetan areas of the four surrounding provinces — evidence that the grievances were not Lhasa's alone but plateau-wide, rooted in the same religious controls and the same blocked political demands.

Who executed

Execution chain: the center (Hu/Wen set the tone) → the Tibet party committee (Zhang Qingli) → the People's Armed Police, public security → monastery work teams, patriotic education.

• The PAP: the main force — the BBC saw 400+ troop carriers moving into Tibet (about 4,000 troops).
• Public security: on March 10, 300–400 Drepung monks marching were beaten, 60 arrested; on March 11, 300–400 Sera monks were beaten "without provocation" by plainclothes police (BBC witnesses); then citywide sweeps.
• Monastery blockades: Sera, Drepung, Ganden cut off from water, power, food, medical care; monks starved — one monk starved to death at Ramoche on March 25. (Exile account — unverified.)
• Patriotic education: PAP entered monasteries to "preach the Olympics"; monks and nuns forced to sign loyalty statements denouncing the Dalai Lama; refusers expelled.
• Information blockade: all foreign and Hong Kong journalists expelled (March 18–19); YouTube, parts of Yahoo, Guardian and Times websites blocked; telecom cut or monitored; arrests for communicating with the outside world.
• Judicial repression: HRW (March 2009) found the year's convictions "reflected systematic political interference in the legal process" under the "anti-separatism" banner; lawyers faced disbarment for defending Tibetans.
• Executions: in October 2009, 4 Tibetans were executed for the riots (2 sentenced to death for arson in April, executed October 20; reports say 4 total, including a woman). 5 more got suspended death sentences. (Chinese media never confirmed the executions — unverified.)

Scale & Methodology

Who opposed

Protesters: from 300–400 Drepung monks (March 10) to 235 protests across Tibet, Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan. The Dalai Lama: non-violence, "cultural genocide," denied orchestration. International: Pelosi in Dharamshala; House resolution; Bush's March 26 call; EU resolution; the Olympic torch relay protests (Olympia, London, Paris, San Francisco) — the IOC later banned overseas relays; two rounds of talks, no progress.

Who opposed

1. The Tibetan protesters themselves:

• March 10: 300–400 Drepung monks marched for religious freedom (49th anniversary); 60 arrested — the trigger.
• March 11: 300–400 Sera monks demanded their release; Ganden monks and nuns joined.
• March 14: Ramoche monks were blocked from marching; stones were thrown; then rioting against Han and Hui shops (officials said 18 civilians beaten to death).
• Spread: to Gansu (Labrang, 4,000 gathered March 15), Qinghai, Sichuan (Aba — about 17 Tibetans killed March 16, including a schoolgirl, per BBC witnesses). 235 protests total (ICT).
• The cost of dissent: two monks who shouted to journalists during an official April 7 Labrang tour subsequently disappeared.

2. The Dalai Lama: called for non-violence on both sides, blamed "long-simmering Tibetan grievances," denied organizing the riots as "absolutely baseless," invited Chinese officials to bring evidence to India, and called China's policy "cultural genocide." The Economist's James Miles (in Lhasa): no evidence of organized activity — "more like... the explosion of long-simmering grievances."

3. International responses:

• US: Speaker Pelosi met the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala, called for an international investigation; the House condemned China's response as "disproportionate and extreme"; Bush called Hu Jintao on March 26.
• EU: European Parliament resolution; Pope Benedict XVI called for dialogue.
• Olympic torch protests (March 24–August 8, 137,000 km): Olympia (RSF's "handcuff Olympics" flag), London (attempts to douse the flame), Paris (flame extinguished repeatedly, relay by bus), San Francisco (route changed, ceremony canceled). The IOC later banned future overseas torch relays.
• Talks: May 4 Shenzhen and July 1 meetings between Zhu Weiqun and the Dalai Lama's envoys — no progress.

Unlike 1959 (armed resistance + CIA + exile government), 2008's "opposition" had three layers: (a) spontaneous, massive but largely unorganized Tibetan protests; (b) the Dalai Lama's non-violent appeal; (c) international pressure via the Beijing Olympics. No martial law was declared, but the PAP-led crackdown, information blockade, monastery starvation sieges and 2009 executions made it the harshest since 1989.

Impact

Olympic torch relay disrupted. After March 14, the Beijing Olympic torch faced mass pro-Tibet protests in London, Paris and San Francisco; in Paris the flame was extinguished and transported by bus. Inside China the government stoked a "patriotic" backlash — French brands like Carrefour were boycotted — and the boycott/counter-boycott clash became the climax of 2008 Chinese nationalism.

Information blockade and YouTube ban. In mid-March China blocked YouTube after Lhasa clash videos were uploaded. Tibetan areas became a long-term "no-journalist zone"; foreign reporters need special approval to enter Tibet. Lhasa universities adopted the practice of closing campuses every March — continuing to this day.

Beijing–Dalai Lama dialogue collapses. After the unrest Beijing held rounds of talks with the Dalai Lama's envoys (May, July, November 2008), but trust was shattered. Dialogue broke off after November 2008 and has never resumed. In 2008 the Dalai Lama accused China of "cultural genocide" in Tibet.

Lasting escalation of control. Afterwards, grid management spread across Tibet and Tibetan areas of four provinces; "patriotic education" in monasteries became routine; "9+3" free education expanded alongside intensified Mandarin instruction. Protests over language policy erupted again in Inner Mongolia in 2011 and 2020, showing the ethnic-policy contradictions unresolved.

Trials and sentences. The crackdown was followed by batches of trials. On April 29, 2008, the Lhasa Intermediate People's Court publicly sentenced 30 people for the March 14 riots, with terms ranging from three years' imprisonment to life. Courts in Ngaba, Gannan and elsewhere subsequently sentenced more monks and laypeople for "splittism" and for smashing, looting and arson. A new round of "patriotic education" and monastery rectification followed across the plateau; monasteries at the center of the protests, such as Kirti and Labrang, were kept under armed guard for years, and monks were expelled in successive screenings.

Those who documented it were targets too. The Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen spent 2007–2008 filming the documentary Leaving Fear Behind in Tibetan areas, interviewing ordinary Tibetans about the Olympics and the Dalai Lama. After the footage was smuggled out, he was arrested in March 2008 and in December 2009 sentenced by a Xining court to six years for "splittism." Released in 2014, he escaped to the United States in 2017; his wife Lhamo Tso campaigned for him abroad throughout. The case showed that the crackdown reached beyond street protesters to anyone who tried to carry Tibetan voices to the outside world.

The road to self-immolation. On February 27, 2009, Tapey, a monk from Kirti Monastery, set himself on fire on the main street of Ngaba county town and was taken away by armed police; his fate remains unknown. It was the first recorded Tibetan self-immolation protest. On March 16, 2011, another Kirti monk, Phuntsog, burned himself to death, and self-immolation then spread rapidly through Ngaba, Garze, Gannan and Yushu — precisely the areas where the 2008 protests had been fiercest. Exile organizations count more than 150 self-immolations in Tibetan areas between 2009 and 2019; most of those who burned were monks, nuns and herders in their twenties, and the demands recorded in their final words recur constantly: let the Dalai Lama return home, and give Tibet freedom. The 2008 crackdown did not extinguish protest; it drove it into the extreme form of destroying one's own body — the direct thread running through the following decade in Tibetan areas.

The language-policy aftershock. The controls imposed after 2008 extended from monasteries into classrooms. In October 2010, thousands of Tibetan middle-school and college students took to the streets in Rebkong (Tongren) and other towns in Qinghai to protest education plans that would replace Tibetan with Chinese as the main medium of instruction, carrying banners calling for equality of nationalities and freedom of language. The protests were peaceful and were eventually dispersed without reported deaths, but they showed how the grievances of 2008 had passed to a new generation: students who had been children in 2008 were now marching over the survival of their language. Beijing retained the policy direction while allowing local adjustments, and Tibetan-language teaching space has continued to narrow since — one reason exile and human-rights monitors treat 2008 not as a closed episode but as the starting point of the present phase of Tibetan policy.

Videos

Labrang Jigme's Testimony (English subtitles): a monk from Labrang Monastery in Amdo (Gansu) on his experience following the March/April 2008 protests. Source: International Campaign for Tibet.

Canadian CTV footage from Gansu, March 2008: over 1,000 Tibetans (some on horseback) charge into a town, storm a government building, tear down the Chinese flag, and are repelled by ~100 soldiers using tear gas.

Related images (external links)

• 2008 Tibetan unrest image category — Wikimedia Commons (photos of the 2008 protests)
• Tibet image category — Wikimedia Commons (Lhasa, monastery photos)