“It appears that almost any expression of Tibetan identity can be categorized as separatist or reactionary,” she said in an interview from London. “These are not angry monks raising their fists in protest but people working within the system who are engaged in work that’s essential for a healthy civil society.”

Among the more prominent people arrested is Tragyal, an editor at a state-run publishing house in Qinghai Province whose whereabouts have been unclear since April, not long after his latest book came out with contents decidedly unflattering to the Chinese government. The book, “The Line Between Sky and Earth,” was a marked departure for Tragyal, 47, more commonly known by the pen name Shogdung, who was previously derided by many Tibetans for being “an official intellectual.”

But like many moderate Tibetans, especially those in the more gently administered provinces east of Tibet, he was dismayed by the crackdown that followed the 2008 unrest and included such sentiments in his book. In one passage, he describes Tibet as “a terrifying battleground,” adding: “At the junctions of monasteries and villages, soldiers parade. Such places are full of spies. It’s so frightening.”

Image Karma Samdrup’s brothers Rinchen Samdrup, top, and Chime Namgyal were jailed after accusing a police chief of hunting protected animals. Credit... Associated Press

His daughter, Yeshi Tsomo, said the family had been unsure of his whereabouts since the police took him from their home. “We’ve been to the detention center more than 20 times, but we have never been allowed in,” she said.

Those who study Beijing’s Tibet policy say the authorities appear to have extended their deep-seated suspicions to the Tibetan educated and well-to-do, a tactic some say could radicalize a segment of the population that had come to accept the imperfections of Chinese rule.

“For the first time, we’re seeing the government attack a group of people who previously had nothing to do with politics,” said Robbie Barnett, director of the modern Tibetan studies program at Columbia University. “These are cultural products of the Communist Party, people who were brought up by the system.”