Prominent Tibetan Writer Rongwo Gendun Lhundup Released After Serving Four-Year Sentence
DHARAMSALA, 20 Nov: The Chinese authorities have released prominent Tibetan writer Rongwo Gendun Lhundup after he completed his four-year sentence, according to a source from the region.
“Rongwo Gendun Lhundup was secretly released on the 9th of this month,” the source said, adding that under China’s watchful eyes, his health condition since his release remains unknown.
Upon his release, Lhundup wrote a poem in Tibetan that is being widely circulated online in Tibet. The poem, titled ‘May It Be Auspicious’ (shi par gyur chig), is a deeply spiritual and contemplative work that weaves together divine devotion and personal contemplation.
Throughout the poem, natural metaphors (mountains, rivers, lotus flowers, moon) are used to illuminate spiritual concepts, creating a devotional atmosphere that balances eternal and temporal elements.
Tibetans and rights groups have long maintained that China often silences and imprisons Tibetan writers and intellectuals for advocating the protection and promotion of Tibetan language and culture under the Chinese party-state’s forced cultural assimilation policy.
Chinese security officers detained the Tibetan writer from Rongwo Monastery in Rebkong, in the Traditional Tibetan Province of Amdo, on 11 November 2020, allegedly soon after he published his latest collection of poems titled “Khorwa” (‘Samsara’ or the Buddhist concept of the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth).
Rongwo Gendun Lhundup was born in 1974 in the Rebkong Doba nomadic camp in the traditional Tibetan province of Amdo. Educated in major monasteries like Rongwo, Labrang, and Serta, he has been writing creatively for over a decade. His poetic works, including “Black Rosary” and “Grey Flute,” have earned him several accolades, notably the Gangyen Metok Award (Snow Mountain Flower).
