The state has made two systematic surveys of cultural relics in Tibet (a third survey is currently underway), and a detailed survey of the relics scattered along the Tibetan section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Line. As a result, the overall distribution, quantity and status quo of various kinds of cultural relics and sites have become clear, enabling endangered historical sites and relics to have been timely saved, excavated, sorted out and repaired; and over 20,000 widely scattered relics have been collected and put in museums. By the end of 2006, there were at least 2,330 registered historical sites of various types in the region, among which 329 had been put under protection at different levels, including 35 key ones under state protection, 112 under regional protection, and 182 under the protection of cities and counties. The Potala Palace is on UNESCO''s World Cultural Heritagelist, and the Jokhang Temple and the Norbulingka have been included in its extended items. The cities of Lhasa, Xigaze and Gyangze are listed as national famous historical and cultural cities. Hundreds of thousands of cultural relics are now in the collection of museums in Tibet, among which over 10,000 are state-class ones.

Since the 1980s, the state has allocated a huge amount of funds to protectively repair key cultural relics sites in Tibet, restoring and opening a large group of key historical sites to the public. In the last two decades of the 20th century, the Central People''s Government invested more than 300 million yuan to help Tibet renovate and open to the public over 1,400 monasteries, and to conduct scientific excavations of such Neolithic sites as Karupin Qamdo, Chokong in Lhasa, and Trango in Shannan Prefecture, thus filling blanks in the archeological studies of prehistoric Tibet. Key protection and repair measures have been adopted for the Jokhang Temple, the monasteries of Tashilhunpo, Sakya, Samye, Champa Ling, Shalu and Palkhor Chode, Mount Dzong (Dzongri) Anti-British Monument in Gyangze County, and the Norbulingka. In particular, from 1989 to 1994 the Central People''s Government allocated 55 million yuan and a great amount of gold, silver and other precious materials for the renovation of the Potala Palace. In 2001, a special fund of 330 million yuan was apportioned to repair the Potala Palace, the Norbulingka and the Sakya Monastery. During 2006-2010, the central government will allocate 570 million Yuan for the repair and protection of 22 key cultural relics sites in Tibet. Such a colossal investment and large-scale renovation were unprecedented in China''s history of cultural relics protection. In recent years, the China Association for the Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture and other non-governmental organizations have come into being in a succession, and they are playing a vigorous role in promoting the protection of Tibetan culture as well as its development.


[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]
[21]