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A:
Since Tibet's Democratic Reform, the Central People's Government
has paid great attention to the protection of Tibet's cultural relics.
In June 1959, the Tibet Records Management Committee of Cultural
Relics and Historical Sites was set up, which has since collected
and protected large amounts of cultural relics and archives. In
1984, the modern Archives of Tibet Autonomous Region was built to
reinforce archive administration.
Important
sites, such as the Potala Palace, the Jokhang and Galdan monasteries,
the Tomb of the Tibetan King, and the Zongshan anti-British invasion
site in Gyangze, have been listed as China's key cultural relics
for state protection. Tibet currently has 18 key cultural relics
under state protection, three state-level historic and cultural
cities, 64 cultural relics under regional protection, and over 20
under county-level protection.
Like other parts of
China, many cultural relics in Tibet were ruined during the "cultural
revolution" (1966-1979). Since 1976, the government has stepped
up its protection of cultural relics. Between 1989 and 1994, the
Central People's Government allocated 55 million yuan and a large
amount of gold and silver for the renovation of the Potala Palace,
the largest cultural relic protection project ever. In May 1994,
experts sent by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to inspect the
newly repaired Potala palace commented that the renovation was of
an advanced international standard, that the project was a "miracle
in the history of protection of ancient buildings," and "a
great contribution to the preservation of Tibetan culture, as well
as the culture of the world." From 1994 to 1997, the Central
People's Government invested nearly 100 million yuan in the construction
of the Tibet Museum. The museum covers an area of 52,479 square
meters, with a floor space of 21,000 square meters, and is one of
the few modernized museums in China.
In
1965 the People's Government of Tibet Autonomous Region established
the regional Cultural Relics Administrative Committee, which is
responsible for the protection and administration of cultural relics
in Tibet. Since the 1980s, Tibet has promulgated a series of laws
and stipulations for the protection of cultural relics, and the
amount of staff engaged in cultural relic protection has steadily
increased. Currently, Tibet has over 270 archaeologists, 95 percent
of them Tibetan. They have made remarkable achievements in archaeological
work, and have meanwhile conducted a general survey of cultural
relics in Tibet, providing basis for future endeavors in archaeological
work and the protection of cultural relics.
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