Tibetannet

People outside should not put their words into Tibetan people's mouths regarding the region's affairs.

Tibetan culture has always been a dazzling pearl in the treasure trove of world civilization.

Profound and extensive, it mirrors the characteristics of the ethnic groups, traces the Tibetans' pursuit of modern civilization and reflects the fact that the Tibet autonomous region is an inalienable part of Chinese territory.

However, there is a lingering question about whether culture should change in parallel with economic and social transformations.

Above all, we need to give a definition for Tibetan culture.

For most, Tibetan culture can be simplified to some familiar scenarios - monasteries and temples, Buddhist monks and nuns, the Living Buddha of legendary stories and lyrical nomadic life on the pasture.

But it is far richer than that. Tibetan architecture and arts such as sculpture, painting, decoration and handicrafts, as well as music, dance, drama, spoken and written language, literature in written form, folk literature, medicine and pharmacology, astronomy and the calendar have all been enriched and reached very high levels.

Tibetan culture, derived from its ethnic groups and regional cultures, is both traditional and modern, religious and worldly, indigenous and exotic. It is vibrant and living, outlining the changes and development of Tibet from ancient to modern times.

The gradual merger of the Tubo culture of the Yalong Valley in the middle part of the basin of the Yarlung Zangbo River, and the ancient Shang-Shung culture of the western part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau formed the native Tibetan culture. During the reign of Songtsen Gampo in the seventh century, Buddhism was introduced to the Tubo people from the Central Plain of China, India and Nepal, and gradually developed into Tibetan Buddhism with its distinctive characteristics. At the same time, the Indian and Nepalese cultures of South Asia, the Persian and Arabic cultures of West Asia and especially the Han Chinese culture of the Central Plain had considerable influence on the development of Tibetan culture.

After the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, peaceful liberation and democratic reform in Tibet brought dramatic changes to the region, marking the advent of a brand-new era in social development and rejuvenating the cultural development of Tibet. It 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. Based on the fine aspects of traditional Tibetan culture, it has been more embracing, scientific and open to cultures of different ethnicities and nationalities.

For a long time, some people have turned a deaf ear to these facts and have considered Tibetan culture immutable and frozen. They have equated Tibetan Buddhism with Tibetan culture and labelled Tibet an isolated place, primitive and backward, where people live a hard, weird life.

Donald S. Lopez Jr writes in his book Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West: "Tibet's complexities and competing histories have been flattened into a stereotypes. Stereotypes operate through adjectives, which establish chosen characteristics as if they were eternal truths. Tibet is 'isolated', Tibetans are 'content', monks are 'spiritual'. With sufficient repetition, these adjectives become innate qualities, immune from history."

Arguably, Tibetans of different ethnicities are the creators, inheritors and developers as well as major protectors of Tibetan culture.

People outside of Tibet should not put their words into Tibetan people's mouths regarding Tibetan affairs.

The inheritance and promotion of ethnic culture is an important part of China's ethnic policy, which is protected by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China.

Accelerating economic and social developments have paved the way for the cultural developments in Tibet. From 1984 to 2015, the central government held six meetings on the work of Tibet to roll out plans to ensure development and lasting stability in the region.

For decades, the central government has continued to make big investments, with an increased budget for public services, such as education, medical services,

telecommunications, and social security networks covering both urban and rural residents.

In the past 20 years, I have often been to Tibet and have witnessed the transformation.

I will never forget the scene when I first went to Lhasa in 1992. Downtown Barkhor Streetwas packed with tourists. There were stinking sewers and garbage dumps, and the old buildings lining the street were in a state of decay. Now the street is clear and well-preserved, with a hustle and bustle of tourists and residents.