China’s ideology tsar views Buddhism reincarnation exhibition in signal to Dalai Lama

China’s top political adviser has made a rare trip to view an exhibition about the reincarnation of Tibetan Buddhas, a sign that Beijing is getting ready to face the Dalai Lama succession issue ahead of the exiled spiritual leader’s 90th birthday next year, according to an analyst.

Wang Huning, China’s fourth senior official and chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country’s top advisory body, led a group of its members to visit the semi-official China Tibetology Research Centre in Beijing on Monday.

The South China Morning Post has learned Wang is the most senior Chinese official to visit an exhibition on the reincarnation of the Living Buddha, which opened at the centre in 2014 and details the historical origins, evolution, norms and current state of the reincarnation system within Tibetan Buddhism.

The centre’s Museum of Tibetan Culture said the exhibit “clarifies that the reincarnation of various dalai lamas and other significant living Buddhas have historically required approval from the central authorities, and illustrates that Tibet has been an inseparable part of China since ancient times”.

The CPPCC members accompanying Wang vowed to maintain national unity and ethnic solidarity, with a focus on “cultivating a strong sense of identity among all ethnic groups concerning the great motherland, Chinese culture, the Communist Party and socialism with Chinese characteristics,” said the People’s Political Consultative Daily, the official paper of the CPPCC.

Wang’s visit also comes only a few months before the 14th Dalai Lama – the exiled spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism – is expected to announce his succession plan.

Barry Sautman, an specialist on China’s ethnic minorities at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said that since the CTRC was China’s largest institution for Tibetan studies and Wang was a social scientist, the function of his trip could be to “become acquainted” with the centre’s latest research.

“There is likely to be extensive preparation under way within Tibet-related central government institutions to deal with the issue of the Dalai Lama’s succession,” he said.

  

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