Panchen Lama, 11th incarnation (1995- )

The gilded roof of Tashilumpo Monastery, Xigaze, Tibet. The monastery is the former home of the Panchen Lama, second in the lamaist hierarchy to the Dalai Lama. The Panchen Lama, a supporter of Chinese policy in Tibet, moved to Beijing in 1965.

Tibetan spiritual leader, second in importance to the Dalai Lama. China installed the present Panchen Lama, seven-year-old Gyantsen Norpo, in December 1995, after rejecting the Dalai Lama's choice, another seven-year-old boy, Gedhun Choekyo Nyima.

Most Tibetans still silently recognize Gedhun Choekyo Nyima, who has been living in the custody of the Chinese since 1995, as the ‘true’ Panchem Lama. The Dalai Lama has called him the ‘world's youngest political prisoner’.

The previous Panchen Lama (1935-1989) was deputed by the Chinese to take over when the Dalai Lama left Tibet in 1959, but was stripped of power in 1964 for refusing to denounce the Dalai Lama. He did not appear in public again until 1978.