Satellite imagery shows Soda Luhan’s Five-Mind Buddhist Academy again being demolished: Religious space continues to shrink in the name of “national unity”

Free Asia Radio on August 18, that the new demolition operations of the Lanjing Fifth Buddhist College in Zodiac County, Sichuan continued over the past month.RFA analyzed satellite images on August 14 found that the scope of demolition around the central region of the college was expanding, and about 2.5 acres (about 1 hectare) area had been cleared, and engineering vehicles were still visible on the scene.

International Solidarity Tibet Movement officials told RFA that the round of action began around July 13 and at least 1,060 monastic residences were listed as targets for demolition. The Lanjing Five-Mind Buddhist Academy, which was home to about 40,000 monks and Buddhist practitioners in the early 2000s, is one of the world’s largest Tibetan Buddhist study centers. Over the past two decades, authorities have repeatedly restricted its size and forced monks to leave.

Between 2016 and 2017, approximately 5,000 monks were expelled from the college, and 5,000 houses were demolished. By 2025, more than 1,000 monks were asked to leave. Chinese officials have previously explained the measures needed for fire prevention, population density and management, but human rights organizations and Tibetan groups believe that continued demolition, limiting the number of people and strengthening party administration has gone beyond the scope of general public security management, constituting a systematic compression of religious autonomy.

It is noteworthy that a new round of demolition began shortly after the National Solidarity and Progress Promotion Act entered into force on July 1.The law strengthens national norms on national identity, language, religion and so-called “community consciousness”.The International Solidarity Tibet Movement believes that the law further institutionalizes a broader policy of compulsory assimilation and increases the risk of future administrative interference in Tibetan Buddhist institutions.

RFA also that authorities restricted visitors to the academy, that visitors were required to use specified means of transport, that stay time was restricted, and that they were required to rent electronic tracking equipment. Local residents and communications with the outside world were also closely monitored, making it more difficult for independent nuclear implementation.

The fate of Lama Yong Feng Buddha Academy is not only a dispute over the demolition of buildings, but also reflects how the Chinese Communist Party re-forms religious life in Tibet through law, administrative administration, surveillance and population control. For a Buddha Academy where believers and religious communities should decide its internal affairs, state power continues to interfere with its size of personnel, living space and even the scope of visitors' actions, and is becoming an important window to observe the status of religious freedom in Tibet.