Authorities have ordered the detention of a handicapped Tibetan singer accused of recording songs highlighting the hardships of life under Beijing’s rule.The date of the detention order on singer Phulchung is not known.It was the fourth in a string of cases involving the detention by Chinese authorities of Tibetan performers, writers, or educators reported during the last two months.Phulchung, who comes from Anchok township , has now gone into hiding to avoid capture, said India-based friend Jamyang, a native of the same town.

“After he produced his CD, the Chinese authorities ordered his detention,” Jamyang said. “So he was forced to leave his home and go into hiding.”

“His family members were never shown the warrant, so they do not know the details of its contents,” he said, adding that Phulchung has produced “about 32 or 33 different songs” in the past and is handicapped with a disabled left hand.

China has jailed scores of Tibetan writers, artists, singers, and educators for asserting Tibetan cultural and national identity since widespread protests swept Tibet and the Tibetan-populated Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai, and Gansu in 2008.

On April 19, authorities detained another Tibetan singer, Lo Lo, 29, in Yulshul after he released an album of songs titled “Raise the Flag of Tibet, sons of the Snow.”

The lyrics of the title track, one of 14 songs on the album, call for independence for Tibet, the unity of the Tibetan people, and the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.

At the end of April, China sentenced a popular Tibetan comedian, Athar, 33, to three years in jail on what sources describe as a trumped-up weapons charge following his release of a video criticizing Chinese rule in Tibetan-populated regions.