Special report: Tibet: Its Past and Present

Full text: Protection and Development of Tibetan Culture

    BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- China issued a white paper on Thursday to acquaint the world with its efforts on the protection and development of Tibetan culture, refuting the charge of the so-called "cultural genocide" in Tibet.

    It is "published to give the international community a better understanding of the reality of the protection and development of Tibetan culture" and "to further the protection and development of Tibetan culture", the white paper on Protection and Development of Tibetan Culture said.

    The white paper consists of six parts, "Foreword", "Learning, Use and Development of the Spoken and Written Tibetan Languages", "Inheritance, Protection and Promotion of the Tibetan Cultural Heritage", "Religious Beliefs and Native Customs Respected", "All-round Development of Modern Science, Education and the Media" and "Conclusion".

    It is "citing facts to expose the lie about the 'cultural genocide' in Tibet fabricated by the 14th Dalai Lama and his cohorts", and "exposing the deceptive nature of the 'cultural autonomy of Tibet' they clamor for".

    Over the past half century, and especially since the adoption of the reform and opening-up policies in 1978, the Chinese government has attached great importance to the protection and development of Tibetan culture, it said.

    "With great enthusiasm and a highly responsible attitude... the Chinese government has dedicated a large amount of manpower, materials and funds to the protection and promotion of fine traditional Tibetan culture, and vigorously developed modern scientific, educational and cultural undertakings in Tibet, bringing about unprecedented protection and development of Tibetan culture," it stated.

    "Dalai Lama and his clique and the anti-China forces in the West conspire to force the Tibetan ethnic group and its culture to stagnate and remain in a state similar to the Middle Ages, in effect to become living fossils, while they themselves enjoy the fruits of modern civilization and culture," said the white paper released by the Information Office of the State Council, which is the seventh of its kind on Tibet.

    Tibetan culture is a lustrous pearl of Chinese culture as well as a precious part of world culture, it said.

    "The Tibetan people have developed their culture by means of interaction ad fusion with other cultures, especially that of the Han people. Over the centuries, Tibetan culture has remained a spiritual pillar for the Tibetan ethnic group," it said.

    Before 1959 the 14th Dalai Lama monopolized both political and religious power. The serf owners, accounting for less than five percent of the total population of old Tibet, possessed all the means of production and cultural and educational resources in Tibet, monopolizing the material and cultural wealth of the region.

    The Democratic Reform in 1959 abolished theocratic feudal serfdom, while ending the monopoly of the minority of nobility and senior monks over culture and education. The broad masses of serfs and slaves were politically, economically and mentally emancipated, and became the real masters in protecting, developing and enjoying Tibetan culture, according to the white paper.

    "The reform made Tibetan culture a people's culture, and inaugurated a promising future for its development," it said.

    The white paper said facts show that there has been no "cultural genocide" in Tibet at all over the past half century and more.

    On the contrary, the traditional culture of Tibet has been appropriately inherited, effectively protected and vigorously promoted, while modern Tibetan culture, oriented toward modernization, the future and the rest of the world, has opened up to the outside world and achieved rapid and all-round development propelled by Tibet's economic and social development, it said.

    "It is safe to say that the situation concerning the protection, prosperity and development of Tibetan culture in any historical period of old Tibet bears no comparison with the situation in Tibet today, and the achievements in this regard are undeniable to anyone who respects facts," it stated.