China Issues White Paper on Tibetan Culture (Jun 22 2000)
2004-03-09 13:08
To refute the prattling of the Dalai
Lama clique that
"Tibetan Culture has become extinct," the Information
Office of the State Council released a White Paper on
"the Development of Tibetan Culture" Thursday.
Detailing numerous facts and figures, the White Paper,
which runs in 12,000 Chinese characters, said that over
the past four decades and more, Tibet has made much
headway in carrying forward the fine aspects of its
traditional culture, while maintaining Tibetan cultural
traits, and exposed the true political colors of the
Dalai Lama.
Before the 1959 Democratic Reform, Tibet was a local
regime practicing a system of feudal serfdom under a
theocracy, and ruled by a few upper-class monks and
nobles, it said.
The paper explained that throughout this period, a
handful of upper-class lamas and aristocrats monopolized
the means of production, culture and education and
cultural and artistic pursuits were regarded as their
exclusive amusements, while the serfs and slaves, who
constituted 95 percent of the Tibetan population, lived
in extreme poverty and were not guaranteed even the
basic right of subsistence, let alone the right to enjoy
culture and education.
After the People's Republic of China was founded in
1949, the Central People's Government attached great
importance to the protection and development of the fine
aspects of traditional Tibetan culture, the White Paper
said.
In 1959, with the support of the Central Government,
Tibet carried out the Democratic Reform to abolish the
feudal serf system and liberate the million serfs and
slaves, and implemented the ethnic regional autonomy
system there step by step, it noted.
"This marked the advent of a brand-new era in the social
and cultural development of Tibet, and ended the
monopoly exercised over Tibetan culture by the few
upper-class feudal lamas and aristocrats, making it the
common legacy for all the people of Tibet to inherit and
carry on," it said.
The document expounded in seven chapters on the
government protection of Tibetan language, cultural
relics, ancient books and records, folk customs and
freedom of religion, and on the development of art,
Tibetan studies, Tibetan medicine and pharmacology,
education, and recreational facilities and institutions
in the Tibet Autonomous Region^After the "Cultural
Revolution" ended in 1978, the Central People's
Government took prompt measures to repair and protect a
lot of historical relics, investing more than 300
million yuan to repair and open 1,400-odd monasteries
and temples in Tibet. In particular, between 1989 and
1994, the Central People's Government allocated 55
million yuan and a great quantity of gold, silver and
other precious materials to repair the Potala Palace,
which was unprecedented in China's history of historical
relic preservation.
The state respects and safeguards the rights of the
Tibetans and other ethnic groups in Tibet to live their
lives and conduct social activities in accordance with
their traditional customs, and the Central Government
and the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region have
all along paid special attention to respect for and
protection of the freedom of religious belief and normal
religious activities of the Tibetan people.
Tibet is today home to more than 1,700 monasteries,
temples and other sites of religious activity, with over
46,000 Buddhist monks and nuns. Each year, religious
activities are held and important religious festivals
are celebrated on schedule in the Autonomous Region.
Culture and art are being inherited and developed in an
all- round way. The regional authorities set up special
bodies in 1979 for the collection, research, editing and
publishing of the Life of King Gesar, an orally pass-on
epic by artists. And after 20 years of effort, nearly
300 handwritten or block-printed Tibetan volumes have
been collected. Among them, except 100 variant volumes,
about 70 volumes have been formally published in the
Tibetan language.
"This was an unprecedented achievement in protecting the
Tibetan literary and art heritage, as well as in
publishing history," the paper said.
-- Old Tibet had no Tibetan studies in the modern sense,
no proper school, no genuine news and publishing
industry, and the materials printed by the few
wood-block printing houses were almost all scriptures.
The only two clinics in Lhasa only served the nobles,
feudal lords and upper-strata lamas. And today, historic
progress has been made in all the fields mentioned
above, and the Tibetan medicine and pharmacology is
taking its place in the world.
The White Paper said that "it deserves careful
reflection that, although Tibetan culture is developing
continuously, the Dalai Lama clique is clamoring all
over the world that 'Tibetan culture has become
extinct,' and, on this pretext, is whipping up
anti-China opinions with the backing of international
antagonist forces. "
It pointed out that with the elimination of feudal
serfdom, the cultural characteristics under the old
system, in which Tibetan culture was monopolized by a
few serf-owners was bound to become " extinct," and so
was the old cultural autocracy marked by theocracy and
the domination of the entire spectrum of socio-
political life by religion, which was an inevitable
outcome of both the historical and cultural development
in Tibet.
"To prattle about the 'extinction of Tibetan culture'
due to its acquisition of the new contents of the new
age and to its progress and development is in essence to
demand that modern Tibetan people keep the life styles
and cultural values of old Tibet's feudal serfdom wholly
intact," it said "This is completely ridiculous, for it
goes against the tide of progress of the times and the
fundamental interests of the Tibetan people," the White
Paper said. With the deepening development of China's
reform and opening-up and the modernization drive,
especially the practice of the strategy of large-scale
development of the western region, Tibet is striding
toward modernization and going global with a completely
new shape, and new and still greater development will
certainly be achieved in Tibetan culture in this
process, the White Paper concluded.
"Tibetan Culture has become extinct," the Information
Office of the State Council released a White Paper on
"the Development of Tibetan Culture" Thursday.
Detailing numerous facts and figures, the White Paper,
which runs in 12,000 Chinese characters, said that over
the past four decades and more, Tibet has made much
headway in carrying forward the fine aspects of its
traditional culture, while maintaining Tibetan cultural
traits, and exposed the true political colors of the
Dalai Lama.
Before the 1959 Democratic Reform, Tibet was a local
regime practicing a system of feudal serfdom under a
theocracy, and ruled by a few upper-class monks and
nobles, it said.
The paper explained that throughout this period, a
handful of upper-class lamas and aristocrats monopolized
the means of production, culture and education and
cultural and artistic pursuits were regarded as their
exclusive amusements, while the serfs and slaves, who
constituted 95 percent of the Tibetan population, lived
in extreme poverty and were not guaranteed even the
basic right of subsistence, let alone the right to enjoy
culture and education.
After the People's Republic of China was founded in
1949, the Central People's Government attached great
importance to the protection and development of the fine
aspects of traditional Tibetan culture, the White Paper
said.
In 1959, with the support of the Central Government,
Tibet carried out the Democratic Reform to abolish the
feudal serf system and liberate the million serfs and
slaves, and implemented the ethnic regional autonomy
system there step by step, it noted.
"This marked the advent of a brand-new era in the social
and cultural development of Tibet, and ended the
monopoly exercised over Tibetan culture by the few
upper-class feudal lamas and aristocrats, making it the
common legacy for all the people of Tibet to inherit and
carry on," it said.
The document expounded in seven chapters on the
government protection of Tibetan language, cultural
relics, ancient books and records, folk customs and
freedom of religion, and on the development of art,
Tibetan studies, Tibetan medicine and pharmacology,
education, and recreational facilities and institutions
in the Tibet Autonomous Region^After the "Cultural
Revolution" ended in 1978, the Central People's
Government took prompt measures to repair and protect a
lot of historical relics, investing more than 300
million yuan to repair and open 1,400-odd monasteries
and temples in Tibet. In particular, between 1989 and
1994, the Central People's Government allocated 55
million yuan and a great quantity of gold, silver and
other precious materials to repair the Potala Palace,
which was unprecedented in China's history of historical
relic preservation.
The state respects and safeguards the rights of the
Tibetans and other ethnic groups in Tibet to live their
lives and conduct social activities in accordance with
their traditional customs, and the Central Government
and the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region have
all along paid special attention to respect for and
protection of the freedom of religious belief and normal
religious activities of the Tibetan people.
Tibet is today home to more than 1,700 monasteries,
temples and other sites of religious activity, with over
46,000 Buddhist monks and nuns. Each year, religious
activities are held and important religious festivals
are celebrated on schedule in the Autonomous Region.
Culture and art are being inherited and developed in an
all- round way. The regional authorities set up special
bodies in 1979 for the collection, research, editing and
publishing of the Life of King Gesar, an orally pass-on
epic by artists. And after 20 years of effort, nearly
300 handwritten or block-printed Tibetan volumes have
been collected. Among them, except 100 variant volumes,
about 70 volumes have been formally published in the
Tibetan language.
"This was an unprecedented achievement in protecting the
Tibetan literary and art heritage, as well as in
publishing history," the paper said.
-- Old Tibet had no Tibetan studies in the modern sense,
no proper school, no genuine news and publishing
industry, and the materials printed by the few
wood-block printing houses were almost all scriptures.
The only two clinics in Lhasa only served the nobles,
feudal lords and upper-strata lamas. And today, historic
progress has been made in all the fields mentioned
above, and the Tibetan medicine and pharmacology is
taking its place in the world.
The White Paper said that "it deserves careful
reflection that, although Tibetan culture is developing
continuously, the Dalai Lama clique is clamoring all
over the world that 'Tibetan culture has become
extinct,' and, on this pretext, is whipping up
anti-China opinions with the backing of international
antagonist forces. "
It pointed out that with the elimination of feudal
serfdom, the cultural characteristics under the old
system, in which Tibetan culture was monopolized by a
few serf-owners was bound to become " extinct," and so
was the old cultural autocracy marked by theocracy and
the domination of the entire spectrum of socio-
political life by religion, which was an inevitable
outcome of both the historical and cultural development
in Tibet.
"To prattle about the 'extinction of Tibetan culture'
due to its acquisition of the new contents of the new
age and to its progress and development is in essence to
demand that modern Tibetan people keep the life styles
and cultural values of old Tibet's feudal serfdom wholly
intact," it said "This is completely ridiculous, for it
goes against the tide of progress of the times and the
fundamental interests of the Tibetan people," the White
Paper said. With the deepening development of China's
reform and opening-up and the modernization drive,
especially the practice of the strategy of large-scale
development of the western region, Tibet is striding
toward modernization and going global with a completely
new shape, and new and still greater development will
certainly be achieved in Tibetan culture in this
process, the White Paper concluded.