The official Tibet Archives maintains 700 years of Tibetan history dating back to the 11th century, or the Yuan Dynasty. The history includes important documents such as the 17-point agreement that established Tibet’s legal status as part of the Chinese territory. In our final episode of "Eye on Tibet," our reporter Feng Xin gives you a look at the original agreement and explains how the institution is caring for Tibet’s long history. 

A five-member delegation of the Tibet local government signed a 17-point agreement with the central government on May 23, 1951.

That document is known as the Agreement between the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet. The document specifies the Tibetan people’s right to exercise regional autonomy under the unified leadership of the central government.

Yi Sub is the archivist who maintains the agreement, which includes two language versions signed by both sides. Yi says that to protect the agreement, the Tibet Archives has made several replicas for display while the original is always kept in the institution’s library.

The Tibet Archives has more than 3 million historical documents. The collection is one of the largest in China. However, more than a third of the records need to be restored. That's about 1 million documents.”

Some of the historical documents come in just bits and pieces, and restoration isn't easy. Technicians need to first test the ink on the paper to see if it can be safely immersed in water. If so, the technicians can then soak the entire paper to fully spread it and paste it onto another piece of paper to eliminate any holes.

Nyima Tashi says the restorers work on the documents in the order of old to new. And to keep the records completely safe, they also make digital and physical copies. The Archive also keeps the copies in other parts of China. That way, Tibet's history will never ever get lost.