Gedhun Choekyi Nyima (11th Panchen Lama)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Gedhun Choekyi Nyima

• Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was born in Lhari County, Tibet Autonomous Region, China.

• He is the 11th Panchen Lama belonging to the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism.

• After his illegal kidnapping by the Chinese government, he was called the world’s youngest political prisoner.

• In 1989, after the death of the 10th Panchen Lama, the head of the Panchen Lama search committee, Chadrel Rinpoche, did various private communications with the Dalai Lama to arrive at a mutually acceptable candidate for both the Dalai Lama and Beijing authorities concerning the Panchen Lama’s reincarnation. On 14th May 1995, the Dalai Lama named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th incarnation of the Panchen Lama.

  

• Three days after his reincarnation on 17th May 1995, the newly appointed Panchen Lama, along with all his family members, was kidnapped and forcibly disappeared by the Chinese government, after the State Council of the People’s Republic of China failed in its efforts to install their substitute. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was just six years old at that time.

• Even pictures of Gendun Choki Nyima, along with those of the Dalai Lama, are prohibited in Tibet by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.

• The Chinese government had also arrested Chadrel Rinpoche, along with others, and charged them with treason and leaking state secrets.

• Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family have been forcefully retained in an undisclosed location since 1995.

• In November 1995, the Chinese government selected Gyaincain Norbu, a different boy, as the Panchen Lama using the golden urn lottery system (a method introduced by the Qing dynasty of China in 1793 for selecting Tibetan reincarnations by drawing lots or tally sticks).

• Initially, after the disappearance of Gedhun Choekyi, China denied its involvement in his disappearance. However, in 1996, the Chinese government admitted for the first time that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family were under the protection of Chinese authorities.

• On 28th May 1996, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child requested information regarding Nyima’s whereabouts. However, the New China News Agency, Xinhua, declined their request, stating that

Gedhun Choyki Nyima was at risk of being “kidnapped by separatists” and that “his security had been threatened”.

• The Committee also requested a visit with Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, receiving support from a campaign involving over 400 celebrities from various nations and organisations, which included six Nobel Prize winners, although the Chinese authority denied their request.

• In 1998, the Chinese government made an official statement about Gedhun Choekyi Nyima that he is leading a normal life and getting his education free of cost.

• After that, the Chinese authorities shared very little information about him and his family.

• In May 2007, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief for the UN Human Rights Council, Asma Jahangir, asked the Chinese authorities what measures they had taken to implement the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. She also asked China to let someone check if Gedhun Choeyi Nyima and his parents were safe while respecting their privacy.

• In response to Asma Jahangir‘s enquiry Chinese government stated that,

“Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is a perfectly ordinary Tibetan boy, in an excellent state of health, leading a normal, happy life and receiving a good education and cultural upbringing. He is currently in upper secondary school, he measures 165 cm [5 ft 5 in] in height and is easy-going by nature. He studies hard and his school results are very good. He likes traditional Chinese culture and has recently taken up calligraphy. His parents are both State employees, and his brothers and sisters are either already working or at university. The allegation that he disappeared together with his parents and that his whereabouts remain unknown is simply not true.”

• In 2015, on the 20th anniversary of Gendun Choekyi Nyima’s disappearance, Chinese officials announced that,

“The reincarnated child Panchen Lama you mentioned is being educated, living a normal life, growing up healthily and does not wish to be disturbed.”

• In 2018, the Dalai Lama declared that he knew from a “reliable source” that the Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family were alive and he was receiving normal education.

• In 2019, U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern said the Panchen Lama marked his 30th birthday as one of the world’s longest-held prisoners of conscience.

• In April 2019, a forensic artist produced a reconstruction of how Gedhun Choekyi Nyima could look at the age of 30. A news channel, BBC One Show, revealed the image in a broadcast on 23 April 2019.

  

• In April 2020, a joint petition prepared by 159 organisations from 18 countries requested that the United Nations pressure China for the release of the 11th Panchen Lama and his family.

  

• On 26 April 2025, the occasion of the 36th birthday of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet, members of the European Parliament have reiterated their unwavering support for his release and demanded that the Chinese government immediately disclose his whereabouts.

  

• As of 2025, the Panchen Lama has been held as a political prisoner for 30 years. Five United Nations committees have opened cases, while numerous governments, including the European Parliament, Canada, the UK and the USA, have called for China to release the 11th Panchen Lama.