Paris, July 2025 —
In a bold stand against cultural erasure, a coalition of Tibetan advocacy organisations in France has filed a legal complaint against the Musée Guimet, one of Europe’s leading institutions for Asian art. The plaintiffs accuse the museum under the authority of the French Ministry of Culture of systematically eliminating Tibetan identity from its exhibits in alignment with Chinese political interests.
The complaint, formally lodged by Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) France, France Tibet, Association Lions des Neiges Mont-Blanc, and the Tibetan Women’s Association France, demands the immediate reinstatement of the term “Tibet” in the museum’s galleries. It was addressed to Rachida Dati, France’s Minister of Culture, Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Yannick Lintz, President of the Musée Guimet.
At the heart of the controversy is the museum’s quiet decision last year to rename its “Nepal-Tibet” gallery to the vague and politically neutral “Himalayan World.” Activists argue that this renaming obscures Tibet’s unique cultural, religious, and historical heritage, and aligns the museum’s public narrative with China’s longstanding campaign to erase Tibetan identity from international discourse.
“The Guimet Museum must honour its commitment to present Asian arts in all their richness and diversity, without censorship or historical distortion,” said Tenzin Yangchen, President of SFT France.
The renaming has provoked 25 consecutive weeks of protests outside the museum, a sustained and growing movement demanding the reversal of what activists call “state-sponsored historical revisionism.” Tibetan organisations and supporters accuse the museum of “echoing China’s geopolitical strategy,” whereby references to Tibet are being systematically replaced with broader terms like “Himalayan” or “Xizang”—the Chinese name for the region.
Yangchen stated in an interview with Phayul that the legal notice represents “a unified and resolute stance” from the Tibetan community in France, and that while the path forward may be long, “we will keep pushing forward to see what the next step must be.”
This incident is not an isolated case. In 2024, Paris’s Musée du Quai Branly came under public scrutiny for using “Xizang” in exhibit labels, a term that Tibetan rights advocates say reflects China’s political claim over Tibet. After widespread backlash and appeals from Tibetan groups, the museum was forced to replace “Xizang” with “Tibet.”
A similar confrontation took place at the British Museum in London earlier this year. Tibetan activists protested the use of “Xizang Autonomous Region,” arguing that such labels directly replicate Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda. Although the museum eventually switched to “Tibet Autonomous Region,” critics argue the term still echoes Beijing’s occupation narrative and fails to acknowledge Tibet’s full historical expanse.
Despite these precedents, the Musée Guimet has remained defiant. President Yannick Lintz has refused to restore “Tibet” to its proper place in the gallery’s title, prompting further backlash from Tibetan communities and their allies. Critics argue that by using euphemistic and generalized geographic labels, the museum is complicit in cultural erasure.
Tibetan activists warn that these disputes over terminology are not trivial. They are emblematic of a wider struggle over cultural survival in the face of a global disinformation campaign driven by the Chinese state. According to the plaintiffs, Beijing is actively pushing international institutions—museums, media, and governments to adopt politically loaded terms such as “Xizang” and “Xinjiang” (East Turkestan), eroding centuries of cultural and historical identity in favour of CCP-imposed narratives.
“This is not merely a matter of words. It is about survival,” said a spokesperson for the Tibetan Women’s Association France. “If you erase the name, you erase the people.”
The legal complaint calls on the French state and its cultural institutions to uphold their ethical and historical responsibilities—not only to art and heritage, but to truth. The plaintiffs argue that as a publicly funded museum, the Musée Guimet must be held to standards of integrity, neutrality, and cultural respect—especially in the face of foreign authoritarian influence.
The Tibetan community in France has vowed to continue its campaign until the term “Tibet” is rightfully restored. As public pressure mounts and global awareness grows, the Musée Guimet now stands at a crossroads: whether to preserve historical truth or bow to the political winds of China’s cultural imperialism.
