Since the Chinese occupation of Tibet began in 1950, the Chinese government has claimed that Tibet is rightfully a part of China, and that Tibetans prosper happily under Chinese rule [1]. China has deceptively labeled Tibet as the Tibetan Autonomous Region, or TAR, to enforce the belief that Tibet is free. However, refugees and information escaping from Tibet have told a story of oppression, forced assimilation, and continuous human rights abuses [2]. The accounts of escaped Tibetans directly contradict the narrative of the Chinese government, which has responded by expanding its efforts to control Tibet [3]. Recently, the flow of both people and stories out of Tibet has slowed dramatically [1]. Inside Tibet, the silence is deafening. Some people may assume that the quiet means that Tibetans are happy and content under Chinese occupation and feel no need to speak out [2]. This is exactly the desired narrative woven by the Communist Party of China, or the CPC [3]. The silence in Tibet is not due to satisfaction and peace. It is due to the censorship,  paranoia, and intimidation by the CPC.

China is gradually tightening its monopoly on the information flow in and out of Tibet [2]. On June 1, 2017, the Cyber Security Law came into effect, enacting sweeping reform on Chinese internet regulations [3] [4]. The law greatly increased government control over internet use in China and added regulations on private companies operating in the country [4]. The law is part of a decades long initiative named the Golden Shield Project, which aims to integrate internet censorship, online and real world surveillance, and a multitude of other systems in order to deter dissent and preserve the power of the CPC [5]. A translated passage from the Cyber Security Law states that: 

 Any person and organization … must not use the network to engage in activities endangering national security, national honor and interests, inciting subversion of national sovereignty, the overturn of the socialist system, inciting separatism, undermining national unity, advocating terrorism or extremism, inciting ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination, [and] disseminating violent … information. [3] 

The offenses described above allow the Chinese government to quash any speech that deviates from Party lines. “Separatism” in particular, meaning any act intended to divide or damage the Chinese state, is a charge often levied against Tibetans [3]. Separatism can include the mere mention of human rights, freedom, autonomy, the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan flag and national anthem, the vaguest of criticism of president Xi Jingping or the Chinese government, and generally any form of dissent against the Communist Party of China [3] [4]. Citizens engaging in any activity considered to be separatism may be subject to intimidation, harrassment, arrest, detention, torture, and even death [2]. Punishments often extend to family members and acquaintances, providing a much stronger deterrent against dissenting thought and behavior [2] [3]. In order to enforce these laws, the CPC uses the diffuse network of the Golden Shield to monitor for supposed threats to national security [5].

Government surveillance in China is perhaps at its most extreme in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. There, Tibetans cope with a minefield of surveillance on a daily basis [3]. The Chinese government monitors texts, calls, and social media to seek out perceived disloyalty to the CPC party lines [3]. High definition CCTV cameras line most streets and public areas, equipped with state-of-the-art AI facial recognition software [3]. Homes are often bugged by Party officials, and Tibetans in-country and in exile are always wary of Chinese spies [2] [3]. This constant awareness of surveillance cultivates an air of paranoia and distrust [1]. Tibetans everywhere often censor themselves in order to merely keep themselves and their families safe [2]. 

The CPC has made significant strides in surveillance technology on the Internet, where a network of distributed censorship and surveillance falls under the umbrella term “the Great Firewall” [3] [4] [5]. Sites such as Facebook and Google have been banned in China for years, replaced with China-based services like Weibo and WeChat [3]. These popular messaging and social media platforms are known for data mining, censorship, and surveillance [6] [7]. Individuals living in the People’s Republic of China, including the TAR, have little choice but to use these systems. The 2017 Cyber Security Law holds China-based companies legally responsible if they refuse to cooperate with government requests or if they host sensitive information on their websites [5] [7]. The law impacts internet providers, social media platforms, and any company that operates on the Internet [5]. These companies are therefore compelled to a proactive stance on censorship and surveillance. Censored topics include the Dalai Lama, human rights, Tiananmen Square, and Chinese rights activist Ai Wei Wei [3]. Even Winnie the Pooh has been banned in China after bloggers starting using the popular cartoon character as a stand in when speaking about president Xi Jingping [6] [8]. Searches for politically sensitive topics result in error messages, and the search engines often alert authorities to possible dissident behavior [6]. On messaging services, various keywords result in message failure and silently trigger messages to the police [5] [6].

To avoid this, many Tibetans and Chinese citizens try to bypass the Great Firewall using VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks [9]. These allow users anonymous and encrypted access to foreign websites that would be inaccessible on the mainstream Chinese internet [9]. However, in 2017, China cracked down on VPNs, and under pressure from the CPC, Apple removed more than 60 VPNs from its Chinese app store [4] [9]. Tibetans lost another tool to communicate with the outside world, the Golden Shield tightened even further.

The Golden Shield Project does not limit itself to the Internet. CCTV cameras are ubiquitous in Tibet, lining nearly every block in urban areas, especially in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet [4] [5]. These cameras constantly record and store footage, and can also be found in most restaurants, cafes, supermarkets, and malls [5]. In the past, the images were grainy and out of focus, but in recent years, there have been large scale upgrades [5]. High definition cameras now use facial recognition AI to comb through crowds with ease, cross-checking with photographic databases of nearly every citizen in the country [5]. In an interview, an anonymous Tibetan who had studied Chinese surveillance mechanisms described how camera AI can distinguish Tibetans from ethnically Han Chinese in a crowd [1]. “If there are more than five or ten … minorities in an area, it will raise an alarm to the police,” he said [1]. Police usually show up on site within minutes. He explained that people now worry that AI software can even identify an individual based on their gait, regardless of facial masking [1] [10]. Whether or not this is true, he said, people believe it and change their behavior because of it [1].

Public spaces are not the only places where people must be on the lookout. Most monasteries and prayer rooms have been fitted with CCTV cameras by the United Front Work Department. This is the Department responsible for seeking out and controlling or eliminating “potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party” [11] [4]. In addition, the United Front often bugs the homes of “suspect” individuals as well [2] [3]. In an interview, the director of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) described a particular incident. The family of a Tibetan monk who had self-immolated in protest of Chinese occupation needed a place to stay, and attempted to check into a guest house owned by a Tibetan man [3]. Knowing it was illegal for him to provide housing to the family, the man made an exception and arranged an alternate place for them to stay outside of the guest house [3]. Later, Chinese police arrested the man, presenting him with an audio recording of his conversation with the family in question [3]. Like many others, his home had been bugged by authorities [2] [3]. The government seized his guest house without any compensation [2]. Simply for offering shelter to a family in need, he lost everything.

In another story, she described a Tibetan couple who went on pilgrimage from Tibet. They passed through Nepal into India to receive His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings [2]. Upon return, they had to report to the United Front Work Department, as per the policy for those traveling abroad who are not members of the Communist Party [2] [11]. When asked where they had gone, the couple lied, replying that they had only traveled around Nepal for a pilgrimage [2]. The United Front then showed them an image taken on a cellphone of that same couple exiting the Tibetan Reception Centre in Dharamsala, India [2]. There is no way to know how the United Front came in possession of the photo, but many Tibetans assume the existence of Chinese spies at home and abroad [1] [2].

Possibly the most simple and invasive surveillance system is the “double-linked household system”. All across the TAR, the United Front obligates households to monitor one another for security threats and religious extremism [3] [12]. The United Front pairs ‘loyal’ families with ‘suspect’ families, ensuring the efficacy of the program [12]. The system, invented by Chen Quanguo, has proven so successful at controlling the populace that it is now being implemented in the Xinjiang region to suppress Uyghur muslims [12]. By turning the population itself into a surveillance tool, the CPC has drastically reduced the ability of individuals to coordinate with one another in any meaningful way, since they will be watched even in their own homes [1] [3] [12]. Facing such ubiquitous surveillance, Tibetans are increasingly censoring themselves to remain safe [1] [3].

Self-censorship induced by surveillance is one of the biggest problems facing the Tibetan people. The CPC has been abusing human rights since the occupation began more than sixty years ago. Now, advanced integrated surveillance means that there are fewer and fewer avenues to speak out safely. There is the omnipresent fear of someone eavesdropping, ready to report to the authorities. Because the definitions of “separatism”, “religious extremism”, and “radical speech” are so vague, Tibetans often over-correct, censoring themselves to maximize their own safety and that of their families [1]. Fearing retribution from the CPC, the most viable option for most Tibetans is to comply, stay quiet, and try to embody the ideal Chinese citizen [1] [2]. The result is an eerie silence.