The Protection of Tibetan Culture
Native Tibetan culture has developed from two main sources; the Tubo culture of the Yalong River valley at the heart of the Yarlung Zangbo River basin; and the ancient Zhangzhung culture of the western part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In the 7th-century, at the time of the reign of Songtsan Gampo, Buddhism was introduced into Tubo from the Central Plains, India and Nepal. From then on, Tibetan Buddhism, with its unique features, began took shape.
At the same time, the development of Tibetan culture was being heavily influenced by the Indian and Nepalese cultures of South Asia, the Persian and Arabic cultures of West Asia and, in particular, the Han culture of the Central Plains. Under these influences, a high level of development was achieved by Tibetan architecture, sculpture, painting, decoration, arts and crafts, as well its music, dance, theatre, spoken and written language, written literature, oral literature, medicine and astronomy.
In Tibetan, the place is called Pabangka, which means a building on a huge rock.
It was here, in the 7th century, that a senior official by the name of Thonmi Sambhota created the first 30 letters of the Tibetan written language. In doing so, he drew on elements of Sanskrit and the ancient Zhangzhung language. The letters developed into a script that was used in Tibetan-inhabited areas. However, only a small proportion of traditional Tibetan society mastered the script. These were the monks and aristocrats, who had access to education, not the ordinary people. The books and records, since they came from the monasteries, were mostly related to religion. Buddhism held sway in Tibetan culture for a long time. The cultural dominance exercised by the monks and aristocrats was typical of the theocratic feudal society of mediaeval times.
The means of production and the cultural and educational infrastructure were monopolized by a small number of upper-class monks and aristocrats. As for the vast majority – the serfs and slaves who accounted for 95 percent of the Tibetan population – they lived in abject poverty. Their basic right to subsistence was not guaranteed and they were denied access to culture and education.
This situation lasted for many centuries, until the Democratic Reform of 1959.
Following the Democratic Reform in 1959, education was popularized and the Tibetan language became widely used in every aspect of social life. The resolutions, laws and regulations adopted by the People’s Congress of Tibet Autonomous Region, and the official documents and public notices issued by local governments at all levels and government departments, were drafted in both the Tibetan and the Han languages. Lawsuits are now dealt with in Tibetan. The Tibetan and Han scripts are both used for official seals, certificates and letter headings, the signboards of government offices, factories, mines, schools, railway stations, airports, shops and hotels, the names of streets, and road signs.
The first primary school established in Lhasa, today has 1,900 pupils in 37 classes. Over 70 percent of the children are Tibetan.
In old Tibet, there wasn’t a single decent primary school. Fewer than 2 percent of school-age children attended school, and 95 percent of young and middle-aged people were illiterate. In 1985, the People’s Government of Tibet Autonomous Region started the introduction of compulsory education among the children of farmers and herdsmen, who were exempt from paying tuition fees and other charges, and even received their books for free. Nine-year compulsory education has now been introduced in all the urban and rural areas of Tibet.
Tibetan is the principal language used in lessons taught at primary and high schools in the rural areas. The Han language is also taught. In the cities and towns, the Han language is the principal language used for all classes, but Tibetan is also taught for Tibetan students. This allows the Tibetan students to adapt to being taught in Tibetan when they go on to high school and university.
Today, the number of Tibetan-language teachers in the region exceeds 13,000. The departments responsible for compiling and translating Tibetan teaching materials have completed 181 textbooks in 16 study areas, as well as 122 reference books and 16 entire teaching programmes. It is obligatory for Tibetan students at all schools and at all levels to take Tibetan as a major course. Students taking courses taught in Tibetan must pass a Tibetan language entrance examination.
Along with the social progress they have achieved since 1959, the people of Tibet have abandoned the decadent and backward customs and practices inherent in the feudal serf society. This is a reflection of the Tibetan people’s pursuit of modern civilization and a healthy lifestyle, as well as a manifestation of the constant progress being made by Tibetan culture in the new era. While retaining their traditional styles of clothing and accessories, food and drink, and housing, the Tibetan people have assimilated modern culture and practices into their daily lives, even on such important occasions as weddings and funerals. Every year, Lhasa celebrates many traditional festivals, like Tibetan New Year, Good Harvest Festival, Sour Milk Festival, and the horse-racing festival. Various other festivals are also held in other areas, alongside the religious festivals celebrated at the monasteries such as Tashilhunpo Monastery, Samye Monastery, Sagya Monastery and Tshurphu Monastery. Since the Democratic Reform, new ideas have been integrated with traditional Tibetan culture, to shape new customs and habits that adapt ethnic elements to the spirit of the times.
Tibet’s urban and rural areas are today littered with religious paraphernalia and buildings. There are murals, carvings, statues, Tangkar, sutra scrolls, ritual instruments, Buddhist shrines, halls for keeping and chanting Buddhist scriptures, monasteries and pagodas. There are also many ancient folk handicrafts that are well protected.
The production of Thon Mi Ancient Incense dates back more than 1,300 years. It was invented by Thonmi Sambhota, a senior official of the Kingdom of Tubo in the 7th century. The incense is processed using the traditional watermill handwork technique. It consists of more than 30 kinds of fine Tibetan medicinal herbs, such as inula racemosa, Tibetan angelica, musk, saffron crocus, borneol, amber and sandalwood.
The birthplace of Thonmi Sambhota, the inventor of Tibetan incense, was a village called Tunba. For generations, the secret of making the Tibetan incense has been passed down there. The traditional watermill handwork technique has been practised for more than 1,300 years. Today, the local people are getting rich by developing this unique product to sell to the tourists coming from various parts of China.
Astronomy and medicine are the representative branches of learning in traditional Tibetan culture. All date back more than 2,000 years. There are numerous ancient books and documents on astronomy, many of which are still widely read.
At the astronomy research institute in Tibet, workers have scanned nearly a hundred volumes of handwritten copies of ancient books and documents from the Potala Palace, Sagya Monastery and many other monasteries. In 2007, the People’s Government of Tibet Autonomous Region drew up a list of intangible cultural heritage items that would enjoy special protection. These included astronomy, medical drawings, the 70-Ingredient Pearl Pill, and several other traditional cultural items. The authorities have now applied for them to be included on the list of state-level intangible cultural heritage.
There is a vast trove of documents in Tibetan, covering many areas of interest. In terms of quantity, they are second in China, only to those written in the Han language. In June 1959, the Preparatory Committee for Tibet Autonomous Region began a process of collecting, collating and preserving the archives from the former local government of Tibet and its subordinate departments, along with those in the private collections of monasteries and aristocrats. Today, the Archive of Tibet Autonomous Region contains more than three million volumes, and more than four million files written on paper, fine silk, wood, metal, stone and leaves. More than 90 percent of them are in Tibetan; the remainder are in a dozen other languages, including Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Hindi, Sanskrit, Nepali, English and Russian. The archive covers the years from the Yuan Dynasty to the modern day. Since the peaceful liberation of Tibet, and since the beginning of the reform and opening in particular, the state has spent over 700 million yuan on the protection of cultural relics in Tibet.
In 1959, Premier Zhou Enlai ordered the adoption of special measures to protect the Potala Palace and other major historical buildings and monuments. Since then, the Central People’s Government has spent over 300 million yuan on the renovation of more than 1,400 monasteries, and the preservation of vast quantities of cultural relics.
Between 1989 and 1994, the Central People’s Government earmarked 55 million yuan and huge quantities of gold, silver and other valuable materials for the renovation of the Potala Palace. In May 1994, soon after the renovation was completed, experts from the UNESCO World Heritage Committee inspected the Potala Palace. Their conclusion was that in its design and implementation, the renovation reached the world standard. They declared that the project was a miracle in the history of the protection of ancient buildings, and a major contribution to the protection of Tibetan and world culture. In December 1994, the World Heritage Committee included the Potala Palace on the World Heritage List. Members of the Committee also agreed to include the Jokhang Monastery on the list. Every year, the Central People’s Government allocates four to five million yuan for the protection of cultural relics in Tibet.
Since the Democratic Reform was carried out almost 50 years ago, the Party and government have attached great importance to Tibetan culture. Tibet’s cultural heritage has been investigated, salvaged, and classified. Since the beginning of the reform and opening, more Tibetan songs, dances and other forms of folk culture have been introduced to the world. People in various countries, can now see a new Tibet through these windows of culture.
