China pushes its Panchen Lama into spotlight

The Washington Post interviewed Tsering Shakya, a UBC professor at the Institute of Asian Research and Canada Research Chair in Religion and Contemporary Society in Asia, about the man being groomed by China’s Communist Party as an alternate to the Dalai Lama.

The Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama does not seem to be known by many people in Tibet, the article reported.

Shakya said the fact that the Panchen Lama does not live in his traditional seat in Tibet’s Tashi Lhunpo Monastery showed that monks there still did not accept him.