LANZHOU: A grand niece of the 14th Dalai Lama told Xinhua yesterday she has joined the Communist Party of China (CPC).

"I'm proud to join the CPC," said Deying Drolma, 35, a soldier in the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Drolma took her CPC oath on June 26.

Her grandmother, Khyi Losel, is a cousin of the Dalai Lama whom he asked to join him in India after he fled to the country in 1959. Losel refused to go.