The intangible cultural heritage protection project has been launched since 2005 and Tibetan opera is listed as a priority of all. By continuously strengthening the protection work, Tibetan opera is developed unprecedentedly. At present, there are 10 national level Tibetan opera inheritors in Tibet.

As a "living fossil" of Tibetan culture, Tibetan opera is included in the UN intangible cultural heritage list. Apart from that, 7 Tibetan opera genres are selected in the national level list and 11 genres are selected in the autonomous region level list.

“To protect and develop Tibetan opera, China and Tibet Autonomous Region invest heavily in labor, resource and money to carry out comprehensive rescue, census and protection for Tibetan opera genres since the born of new China,” says Ngawang Tenzin, deputy director of the Tibet Intangible  Cultural Heritage  Protection Center.

To strengthen the construction of Tibetan opera infrastructures, 23 million yuan RMB is invested in constructing the Tibetan  Opera Art  Center and Tibetan Opera Hall, and 2 million yuan RMB is invested in improving the facilities and equipments of main national level Tibetan opera teams.

Tibet has carried out the supporting work for folk Tibetan opera teams since 2009. By offering subsidies for over 100 folk Tibetan opera teams for 3 consecutive years, their costumes, tools and activity needs are improved effectively. Under the support of the government of Tibet Autonomous Region, 30 folk Tibetan opera teams are reorganized and developed. At the same time, to promote the census work of intangible cultural heritage, a series of books and audio-visual products are published and the digital resources construction work on traditional Tibetan opera is carried out with an investment of nearly 4 million yuan RMB.