A sacred site in Drakgo County, Tibet, that once housed a towering Buddha statue has been converted into a horse-racing field, according to a report by Italy-based religious freedom publication Bitter Winter. The transformation, which follows the statue's removal in December 2021, is being described as part of a broader, systematic effort to overwrite Tibetan religious and cultural identity in the region.

What Happened at the Site

The Buddha statue once stood prominently near Ganden Rabten Namgyal Ling Monastery in Drakgo County, part of the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in China's Sichuan Province. Visible for miles, it served as a public landmark and devotional site for local Tibetans. Chinese authorities removed the statue in December 2021 without providing any official explanation, according to the report. The removal was carried out under tight restrictions, and witnesses reportedly faced serious risks even in documenting the event.

The statue was not destroyed but relocated inside the monastery's Dukhang — the assembly hall — where access is limited to monks and a small number of lay visitors. As the Bitter Winter report noted, 'The statue survives, but its visibility, its function, and its meaning have been radically altered.' The previously vacant grounds have since been converted into a racetrack.

A Pattern of Replacement, Not Just Removal

The Drakgo site is not an isolated case, according to the report. Around the same period, Ganden Nangten School, which had served the local monastic community, was shut down by Chinese authorities and subsequently razed. Two large new buildings were erected in its place, though their purpose has not been disclosed. The report characterised the closure as a signal that 'Tibetan religious education is to be replaced, not repaired.'

In November 2021, monks at the monastery were reportedly ordered to destroy a large statue of Guru Rinpoche — a gold and silver work standing more than forty feet high. Those who resisted the order were, according to the report, detained.

The Broader Cultural Shift in Tibet

The Bitter Winter report argues that Chinese authorities have moved beyond demolition as their primary tool of cultural transformation. 'They build. They remove. They replace. They overwrite. And in doing so, they hope that the memory of what was lost will fade,' the publication stated. This approach — framed publicly as modernisation or renewal — effectively displaces Tibetan religious landmarks with secular or state-aligned structures, critics argue.

The transformation in Drakgo is presented as emblematic of a wider campaign across historical Tibet, one that targets not just physical structures but the community memory and religious practice associated with them. The removal of visible devotional objects from public spaces, the closure of religious schools, and the forced destruction of sacred art form what the report describes as an interlocking pattern.

Context and International Concern

Drakgo County sits within the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, a region that has faced sustained international scrutiny over religious freedoms and cultural preservation. Reports of restrictions on Tibetan Buddhist practice, including limits on the display of images of the Dalai Lama and curbs on monastic enrolment, have drawn repeated criticism from human rights organisations and Western governments. China has consistently denied that its policies amount to cultural suppression, characterising them as development initiatives and efforts to counter what it terms 'separatism.'

The conversion of the Buddha statue's grounds into a horse-racing venue adds a new dimension to that ongoing debate — one where the act of replacement is, according to analysts, as significant as the act of removal.