Quoting sources Radio Free Asia (RFA) on December 14, 2017, reported that authorities in Sichuan province have further tightened controls at the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, setting up checkpoints at which monks, nuns, and visitors must now show permits allowing them to enter. The checkpoints are installed at two points on the main road leading to the complex, and include magnetic security gates through which only those holding proper documents may pass. He said “Residents and visitors are checked through each day after being closely questioned by the guards.” After being cleared through one gate, people seeking entry are then stopped and questioned again at a second checkpoint farther down the road. The new restrictions on access to Larung Gar are being applied not just to monks and nuns but also to laypersons, who must show I.D. cards at the checkpoints before being passed through.