BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) -- When China opened the first railway linking Tibet with the rest of the country on Saturday, a group of Tibetologists cheered for an extended "living space" the "engineering marvel" will bring to the splendid, unique Tibetan culture.

    "The influx of tourists will not only bring revenue into the region but will also lead to more cultural exchanges between Tibet and other parts of China," said research fellow An Caidan with China Tibetology Research Center (CTRC), the country's largest academic institution for Tibetan studies.

    The development of the traffic network in Tibet means more opportunities for cultural exchanges between different ethnic groups in China, making it possible for Tibetan culture to be better inherited and enriched, said Dazhag, curator of the Museum of Tibet Autonomous Region.

    Tibetan culture's full bloom between the seventh and ninth centuries was partly a result of extensive cultural exchanges between the ethnic group and others, An said.

    According to the expert, the traditional Tibetan calendar combined calendar systems of India and other ethnic groups of China, its forging technologies absorbed Nepalese technics, and its medicine took in traditional Chinese medical science.

    Tibetan's life style will inevitably change after the railway begins operation, said Huang Fukai, a member of the Chinese Association of Protection and Development on Tibetan Culture.

    "They may have coffee and bread in addition to the traditional buttered tea and zanba," he said. Zanba is roasted highland barley flour.

    Jeans and suits might also be welcomed by Tibetans, he added.

    However, An Caidan said, such changes are a matter of course in the development of civilization. "Some people may criticize that Tibetan culture will be killed, but this is rather biased, as Tibetan people have the right to share modern civilization."

    Ye Xingsheng, a CTRC research fellow who lived in Tibet for 42 years, said he is satisfied that the central and regional governments have invested heavily in cultural relics protection in Tibet and placed environmental protection on the top of its agenda in building the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

    He called for more efforts to protect Tibetan culture as "it is hard to have traditions again when you lose them."

    The experts' ideas on the future of the Tibetan culture are echoed by Norbu Toinzhub, mayor of Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

    "The Tibetan culture has had ties with other cultures in its development process. Only with constant exchanges, reforms and development shall a culture have a stronger vitality," the mayor said.

    "Tourists admire the Tibetan culture because it is unique. The Tibetan culture will not disappear when there is market demand for it," he said.

    "The Tibetan culture will not have fundamental changes with the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. On the contrary, it has a bright future," the official said.

    Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday attended a launching ceremony held at Golmud, a start-off point of the landmark Qinghai-Tibet Railway in Qinghai Province, and cut the red ribbon for the railway's opening.

    He delivered a keynote speech at the gala held at the Golmud Railway Station, saying that the opening to traffic of the Qinghai-Tibet railway is another magnificent accomplishment the country has achieved in socialist modernization drive.

    Construction of the Qinghai-Tibet railroad is a long-cherish dream of generations of the Chinese people, Hu said.

    Hu said that this successful practice has made it clear again to the people at large that diligent and intelligent Chinese people are ambitious, self-confident and capable of continuously making extraordinary achievements, and they are ambitious, self- confident and capable of standing amongst the world's advanced nations.

    Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan presided over the launching ceremony, which was also attended by Party chiefs of Tibet and Qinghai.

    Liu Zhijun, minister of railways, also attended the ceremony. He said that the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet railway was a strategic decision made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, and it is an unprecedented difficult job in human's history.

    The Qinghai-Tibet railway is 1,956 kilometers long, with 960 km of the track located 4,000 meters above the sea level and the highest point at 5,072 meters. It stretches from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, to Lhasa.

    The section of 814 km from Xining to Golmud began operation in 1984 and the Golmud-Lhasa section started construction on June 29,2001.

    The railway is the world's highest and longest plateau railroad and also the first railway connecting the Tibet Autonomous Region with the rest of China.

    It is projected to help double tourism revenues by 2010 and reduce transport costs for goods by 75 percent in Tibet, officials said. Enditem