Like Father, Like Son: Why Xi Jinping Visited Hongjue Temple

His father once met there the controversial 10^th Panchen Lama. The visit reminded Tibetan Buddhist monks that they should fully submit to the CCP—or else.

by Lopsang Gurung

*Xi Jinping visiting Hongjue Temple, June 18. From Weibo.*

Not only it did not escape Tibetan Buddhists in Qinghai, the Chinese province into which parts of the historical Tibet have been incorporated. The state television CCTV reminded those who might have forgotten it. By visiting the Hongjue Temple in Qinghai on June 18, President Xi Jinping was following in the footsteps of his father Xi Zhongxun, who was at the temple on December 15, 1951.

The symbolic reference was not lost to Tibetan Buddhists. In 1951, Xi Zhongxun was the Deputy Secretary of the CCP’s Northwest Bureau and the Vice Chair of the Northwest Military and Political Committee. Chairman Mao sent Xi Jinping’s father, an expert in religious affairs, to meet the 10^th Panchen Lama at the Hongjue Temple and arrange for his return to his seat of Shigatse in Tibet.

CCTV’s report of Xi Jinping’s visit, emphasizing the relationship with Xi Zhongxun’s 1951 presence at Hongjue Temple and meeting with the 10th Panchen Lama. Screenshot. — *CCTV’s report of Xi Jinping’s visit, emphasizing the relationship with Xi Zhongxun’s 1951 presence at Hongjue Temple and meeting with the 10^th Panchen Lama. Screenshot.*

Reportedly, the meeting created the basis for the Panchen Lama’s subsequent pro-Chinese position and support for China’s occupation of Tibet. This was a tragedy for the Tibetans and a tragedy for the 10th Panchen Lama as well. When in 1962 he realized that the CCP’s promises of respecting the Tibetan culture of religion had been fraudulent, he wrote a detailed document of protest, which led to his public humiliation and arrest in 1964 and persecution during the Cultural Revolution. Liberated from jail, he renounced his position as a monk, married a Chinese Han woman, and had a daughter.

The public humiliation of the 10th Panchen Lama in a 1964 “struggle session.” Credits. — *The public humiliation of the 10^th Panchen Lama in a 1964 “struggle session.” Credits.*

Xi Jinping’s commemoration of his father’s fateful 1951 meeting with the 10^th Panchen Lama sends a powerful message to Tibetan Buddhist monks and believers: either they support unconditionally the CCP and the occupation of Tibet or they will be personally and politically destroyed.

*Another image of Xi Jinping’s visit. Screenshot.*

As reported by Chinese government’s sources, Xi Jinping spoke at the temple and stated that Buddhist monks and laypeople should “learn from revolutionary leaders how to support the Party’s United Front, and the ethnic and religious work in the new era.” Xi expressed “hope that the Tibetan Buddhist community in Qinghai would carry forward the fine tradition of patriotism and love for religion, promote religious harmony, social harmony, and ethnic unity, and play an active role in the process of Chinese-style modernization.” The gentle jargon did not succeed in hiding the threat against those who would not work for “harmony” and “unity” under the CCP, i.e., support China’s occupation of Tibet and keep religion under the control of the Party.