Weeks before the Dalai Lama ruled out China's role in choosing his successor, President Xi Jinping met a Tibetan Buddhist monk installed three decades ago by Beijing as the faith's No. 2 leader, the Panchen Lama.

The Dalai Lama has announced that he intends to reincarnate, paving the way for a successor to take on a mantle stretching back 500 years after his death

Xiqing Wang/ BBC The BBC visited the Kirti monastery in Aba as the Dalai Lama turned 90 This monastery in China's south-western Sichuan province has been at the centre of Tibetan resistance for decades - the world learned the name in the late 2000s as Tibetans set themselves on fire there in defiance of Chinese rule.