Human Rights Watch reported on February 1, that Qinghai’s Nangchen county in December 2018, published a ban notice entitled “Urgent notice concerning stopping illegal study classes in monasteries”, which describes informal classes run by monks as “ideological infiltration among the young,” “dangerous,” and “harmful” and calls on local officials and Chinese Communist Party cadres responsible for managing monasteries to “understand the harmful nature of monasteries running open schools,” and to stop them from doing so. The Nangchen ban conforms with earlier reports of similar bans in Tibetan areas. The language used suggests that officials are trying to stop schoolchildren from having contact with monks for even non-religious activities such as classes in Tibetan language. It also shows that officials are attempting to restrict children’s religious activities in eastern Tibetan areas such as Qinghai province. Previously, the restrictions applied only to schools in the most sensitive Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). The ban is also the first known document issued directly by the CCP CC's United Front Work Department that bans the participation of Tibetan children in religious activities. Previous bans on children attending religious activities had been issued by individual schools or the local education bureau.
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