Successful regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet

Excellent traditional culture is protected and inherited. The state has founded education centers and research institutes, such as Tibet University, Xizang Minzu University, Tibetan Traditional Medical College, China Tibetology Research Center, Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences, and Tibetan Institute of Astronomy, all of which cover extensive studies. Over the decades, Tibet has organized large-scale and systematic campaigns to restore its traditional culture, having collected more than 10,000 pieces of music, songs and folk art forms, and more than 30 million words of written texts. It has also recorded copious audios and videos, taken about 10,000 photos, and published more than 1,000 papers on Tibetan ethnic and traditional culture and 10 volumes on Tibetan arts, such as Chinese Drama - Tibetan Volume, Collection of Folk Dances of Chinese Ethnic Groups - Tibetan Volume, and Collection of Chinese Ethnic and Folk Music - Tibetan Volume. It has moreover published more than 30 treatises on Tibetan culture, having restored, reorganized and published 261 Tibetan ancient books. All these efforts help to save, protect and revitalize endangered ethnic and folk culture. Since 2005, when the work of surveying and protecting Tibetan intangible cultural heritage was officially launched, the central government and Tibet have channeled about 200 million yuan into efforts to preserve items of important intangible heritage, such as Tibetan opera, Gesar, traditional singing and dancing, and craftsmanship, thus forming a four-level intangible heritage protection category at the state, autonomous region, prefecture, and county level. Currently, there are more than 1,000 intangible heritage items covering 10 categories as defined on the intangible heritage list. Among them, Tibetan opera and Gesar have been chosen as Masterpieces of UNESCO Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and 89 are on the state level intangible heritage list. There are four production pilots under state level protection and 323 items under the autonomous regional protection, 113 sites for the teaching and learning of intangible heritage, and 68 state level inheritors and 350 inheritors at the autonomous region level. The Region is home to 158 precious ancient books and four state key protection units, four Hometowns of Chinese Folk Art, and 65 Hometowns of Folk Art in Tibet Autonomous Region. Traditional festivals such as the Shoton Festival and Yarlung Cultural Festival have been resumed and innovated, so becoming local cultural brands.