Some families in Tibet are being forced to replace portraits of the Dalai Lamai with those of President Xi Jinping of China in order to continue receiving government aid, as authorities clamp down on efforts to assimilate minorities.

Pictures and public devotion of the Dalai Lama, who is considered a separatist by the Chinese state, are banned in the region, but households in far-flung areas have generally been able to continue to worship the exiled Tibetan religious leader in private.

It is difficult to determine precisely when the order began, but a notice issued in December 2018 by officials in Tibet’s Amdo County demanded that locals “clean up” images of the Dalai Lama in their homes, Buddhist temples and monasteries and replace them with portraits of Xi and Mao Zedong, French daily La Croix reported earlier this year. The notice also called on village leaders to monitor the display of Chinese Communist Party leaders’ images.