The 8th Tibet People's Congress was held in Lhasa on Nov. 12, 2010, reporting that Tibet Autonomous Region has made remarkable progress in cultural undertakings during the eleventh five-year plan period (2006-2010), and people have received greater benefits from the cultural development.

Public culture service system preliminarily established

Tibet actively promotes a number of programs in the interests of the public, such as "Rural Library", "Culture Information Resources Sharing" and "Film Projection at Villages", through which various recreational and sports activities have been carried out in diverse forms. So far, Tibet has constructed 8 public arts center, 4 public libraries, 2 museums and 13 theaters while all counties across the region have set up comprehensive cultural centers.

The implementation of the project "radio and television programs accessible to every village" has benefited villages in poor areas. Radio broadcasting has covered 90.28% of the regional population, and television programs covered 91.41% .

To raise the overall quality of grassroots cultural workforces, Tibet has provided over 100 cultural trainings to almost 10,000 people.

Tibetan cultural heritage well protected

The report at the congress indicated that Tibet has 4,277 cultural relics and 743 cultural relic protection units, among which 224 are provincial level and 35 are state- level respectively. The People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region has set up the Cultural Relics Administration Committee to take charge of the preservation and administration of cultural relics in Tibet.

During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, the Central Government has pumped 507 million yuan into the renovation of 22 valuable cultural relics including the Potala Palace and the Jokang Temple. This cultural relic conservation project is the largest of its kind in Tibet in terms of both the amount of investment and number of maintained spots in the country's cultural relic maintenance history since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The basic principle for such conservation is to utilize traditional building techniques and materials to restore cultural relics while adhering to concept of "preserving the original look and retaining original style".

Moreover, 76 intangible cultural heritages including Tibetan traditional handicraft, folk arts and Tibetan Opera have been inscribed onto the state level intangible cultural heritage list. Tibetan Opera and Gesar have already been listed as world's intangible cultural heritages.

The scriptures and classics of major religious sites such as the Potala Palace, the Norbulingka and Sakya Monastery have been well preserved. The collation and editing of these ancient documents have been organized while some have been re-published. For example, the Catalogue of the Buddhist Scriptures of the Potala Palace, Ancient Books of the Snowland, and Origin of Religions.

The culture of various traditional festivals symbolizes the profound ethnic Tibetan culture and its spirit. Every year tourists from all over the world go to experience the celebration of the Lhasa Shoton Festival, the Chamdo Kangba Arts Festival, and Lhoka Yalong Arts Festival, etc. 

Artistic creations vigorously encouraged

A recently premiered film named "Xian Qianlian" (The Vanguard) produced by the regional government becomes a hot topic among the local people. Photo exhibitions and painting contests were also organized.

A large number of Tibetan intellectuals loving literature and art have joined the new ranks of literary and art workers, and done a batch of works in modern style with distinctive ethnic features, some of which have won international prizes. So far, 80 literature books have been published.

During the past five years, professional theatrical troupes in Tibet have presented almost 5,000 performances, attracting audiences totaling 8 million and have won 40 and 270 prizes at national and province level competitions respectively. The Folk Art Troupe have conducted over 800 programs and presented almost 4,000 performances, attracting audiences totaling 6 million people. The Tibetan Opera titled "Lucky Olympics" highlighted at the opening ceremony of the Olympics was played by a Folk Art Troupe from Niang Re County of Lhasa.

International culture exchange further promoted

During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, ethnic minority cultural and art troupes have further promoted their exchanges with the outside world. Over 200 of them have performed in over 50 countries and regions include Japan, Nepal, Tailand and so on. Meanwhile, Tibet has received more than 500 scholars from over 30 countries and regions for lectures, performances and exhibitions.

In the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period (2011-2015), the Tibetan cultural development will be elevated onto on a higher level along with the progress of the region's social careers.