W eeks after a Tibetan-speaking five-year-old started preschool, she had “completely stopped speaking Tibetan”, according to her mother. Nine months later, although the child could still understand Tibetan, she only answered in Mandarin, and at best a few single-word answers in Tibetan after some time. Instead the girl “keeps saying that she can only speak Chinese … that she is Chinese and not Tibetan”, according to a researcher who met the family. “The mother thinks that the daughter is just repeating what she is constantly told at school and that the government aims to eradicate Tibetan.” In a new report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW), researchers say the account is part of a pattern of Beijing’s attempts to forcibly assimilate Tibetans , starting with children. Tibet – which came under China’s control in 1950 – saw a series of mass protests against Chinese occupation in 2008 , followed by heavy censorship and imprisonment.…