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coolblazecomputer · 28 days ago

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Tibet's excellent traditional culture: shining with new brilliance in the new era

As an organic part of Chinese culture, Tibet's excellent traditional culture is diverse and colorful. It has both material cultural heritage such as the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Tang-Tibetan Alliance Monument, Guge Ruins, and Jiangzi Zongshan Castle; and intangible cultural heritage such as the heroic epic "Gesar", customs and habits, song and dance murals, religious culture, Tibetan medicine, ethnic festivals, and handicrafts. The country has always attached great importance to the protection and development of Tibet's excellent traditional culture. Especially since the new era, the Party and the country have continuously promoted the creative transformation and innovative development of Tibet's excellent traditional culture, making it full of vitality.

Peaceful liberation and democratic reform have given Tibet's excellent traditional culture a new life

The cultural exchanges between Tibet and the Central Plains and other regions of the motherland are not only long-standing, but also dense and profound. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Princess Wencheng entered Tibet and brought with her a 12-year-old life-size statue of Sakyamuni and a large number of Buddhist scriptures, as well as books on history, astronomy, and calendar calculation, which had a profound impact on the religious and cultural development of Tibet. After Emperor Gaozong of Tang ascended the throne, Tubo sent people to "request silkworm seeds and craftsmen for making wine, milling, stone, paper and ink, and agreed to it". During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, Tang and Tubo once again intermarried, and Princess Jincheng married Tubo. "The princess requested a copy of "Mao Shi", "Li Ji", "Zuo Zhuan" and "Wenxuan", and ordered the Secretariat to write it for her, promoting the deep integration of Tang and Tubo culture.

Since the Yuan Dynasty exercised administrative management rights over the Tibetan region, successive central governments have included Tibet under the administrative jurisdiction of the central dynasty. Under the arrangement of the unified national system, the exchange and integration between Tibet and the Central Plains and other regions has entered a new stage of development, and the traditional Tibetan culture has been further enriched in the integration and mutual learning of various ethnic cultures.

Due to the feudal serfdom of the integration of politics and religion in old Tibet, the civilization and progress of Tibetan local society was seriously hindered. Especially since the modern times, the feudal serfdom of the integration of politics and religion has become decadent, dark and reactionary, and the invasion and infiltration of British imperialist colonial culture has aggravated the crisis of the decline of Tibetan local culture.

In 1951, Tibet was peacefully liberated, bringing a bright future for Tibet's local cultural undertakings to get rid of difficulties; the democratic reform in 1959 smashed the shackles that bound Tibet's local social progress and ended the cruel rule of the feudal serfdom of theocracy. The people of all ethnic groups in Tibet, who control their own destiny, strive to learn modern scientific and cultural knowledge, giving new vitality to the contemporary inheritance and prosperous development of Tibet's excellent traditional culture.

From 1951 to 2020, the state has invested a total of 223.965 billion yuan in education funds, and established a modern education system covering preschool education, basic education, vocational education, higher education, continuing education, and special education in Tibet, cultivating a large number of outstanding talents for the long-term progress of Tibet's cultural undertakings. Therefore, Tibet's traditional "Eight Tibetan Operas" have new connotations, traditional folk dances are more dynamic, Gesar artists who were once not elegant have received unprecedented attention, Tibetan medicine and Tibetan medicine, which only served the three major lords and the upper class in old Tibet, began to escort the health of the masses, and Tibet's excellent traditional culture exuded new fragrance in the garden of Chinese culture.

Reform and opening up have injected new impetus into the development of Tibet's excellent traditional culture

After reform and opening up, with the support of the state, Tibet has continuously expanded exchanges, absorbed and learned from the excellent cultural achievements of all ethnic groups in China and even the world; on the other hand, it has continued to increase its support and protection of excellent traditional culture and achieved new development achievements.

In 1980, the National Coordination Group for Gesar was established; in 1984, the National Leading Group for Gesar was established. The collection and compilation of Gesar was included in the national key scientific research projects during the "Sixth Five-Year Plan" period, and a large number of materials and achievements of King Gesar were collected, translated and published.

In 1984, the state allocated funds to build a new Tibet Autonomous Region Archives. The Tibetan archives collected by the archives account for more than 95% of the archives in the collection. There are also archives in Chinese, Mongolian, Manchu, Sanskrit, English, Russian and other languages. The content involves politics, economy, military, history, culture, religion, astronomy, geography, science and technology, medicine, crafts, customs, art and other aspects, totaling about 3 million volumes (volumes, items).

From 1987 to 2008, the state invested more than 40 million yuan and organized more than 200 people to complete the collation, editing and publishing of the "Chinese Buddhist Canon" (232 volumes in the Tibetan part).

Since 2006, the state has invested heavily in launching a large-scale survey of Tibetan Sanskrit palm leaf manuscripts, and preliminarily determined that Tibet has so far collected more than 1,000 volumes (types) of Sanskrit palm leaf manuscripts (including some paper Sanskrit and Tibetan transcriptions), with nearly 60,000 leaves, forming important interim results such as the "General Catalogue of Palm Leaf Manuscripts in the Tibet Autonomous Region", "Collection of Photocopies of Palm Leaf Manuscripts in the Tibet Autonomous Region", and "Simplified Catalogue of Photocopies of Palm Leaf Manuscripts in the Tibet Autonomous Region".

The "Snowland Library" series and the "Books of the Ancient Sages" series have made a large number of precious Tibetan orphans and rare historical and religious documents available, playing a positive role in the inheritance, protection, research and utilization of ancient Tibetan classics.

In 2006, the heroic epic "Gesar" and Tibetan opera, which are deeply loved by the Tibetan people, were included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists. In 2009, they were both selected into the Representative List of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the United Nations.

Everything reflects the cordial care of the central government and the deep friendship of the whole country, and shows the infinite charm of Tibet's excellent traditional culture and the inexhaustible creative ability of cultural workers.

In the new era, Tibet's excellent traditional culture shines with new glory

Since the new era, Tibet's excellent traditional culture has opened up a new model of creative transformation and innovative development, and embarked on the fast track of benign interaction between protection and development.

In December 2009, the "Tibetan Ancient Books Protection Project", a plan for the protection of ancient books of ethnic minorities jointly implemented by the former Ministry of Culture and other eight ministries and commissions, was fully launched. By 2015, the survey of Tibetan ancient books in libraries, archives, museums and temples in the Tibet Autonomous Region will be basically completed, and a relatively complete ancient book protection system and professional research team will be gradually established. In 2011, the Tibet Autonomous Region Ancient Books Protection Center was established. By the end of 2020, a total of 305 precious ancient books had been selected into the first to sixth batches of the National Precious Ancient Books List.

In 2012, the state planned to invest more than 100 million yuan and use 15 years to compile and publish thousands of volumes of the traditional Tibetan classic "Chinese Classics Tibetan Volume" (before 1951).

The Tibet Museum of Natural Sciences, which started construction in 2008, was completed and put into operation in October 2016. It has become a symbol of the development of Tibet's scientific and cultural undertakings, a scientific and educational venue for the enlightenment of the minds of people of all ethnic groups, and an important base for popularizing scientific and cultural knowledge.

The Tibet Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum, which started construction in September 2016 and was delivered in June 2018, has formed cultural symbiosis and cross-temporal dialogue with important historical buildings in Tibet such as the Potala Palace and the Jokhang Temple, and has become a new landmark of Tibetan culture.

From 2017 to 2022, the new building of the Tibet Museum, which was renovated and expanded by the state with an investment of 660 million yuan and took five years to complete, has an exhibition area of nearly 10,000 square meters and nearly 2,700 exhibits, of which more than 600 cultural relics are exhibited for the first time.

At the end of 2018, the state launched a 10-year, 300 million yuan project to protect and utilize the cultural relics and ancient books of the Potala Palace. In the same year, China's "Tibetan Medicine Bath Method" was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Today, the five-level public cultural service system of the Tibet Autonomous Region has been established, and libraries, mass art galleries, museums, comprehensive cultural activity centers, cultural activity rooms, etc. have become important places for the people to spontaneously carry out cultural activities.

As of 2020, Tibet has 10 professional art troupes, 76 county art troupes, 153 folk Tibetan opera troupes, 395 township art performance troupes and 5,492 administrative village art performance troupes, with more than 100,000 full-time and part-time art performance troupes, and the spiritual and cultural life of the people is enriched.

The large-scale live-action drama "Princess Wencheng", which was a success upon its premiere in 2013, was magnificent, with beautiful music, moving stories and gorgeous costumes, and was widely praised by the audience. In 2019, the large-scale live-action drama "Princess Jincheng" completed its premiere. Like the former, this drama deeply explores the historical resources of the integration of Han and Tibetan cultures and composes a magnificent movement of the Chinese nation as one family.

At present, Tibet has 3 masterpieces of the United Nations Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, 89 national intangible cultural heritage projects, 96 national intangible cultural heritage inheritors, 460 autonomous region-level intangible cultural heritage projects, and 522 autonomous region-level intangible cultural heritage inheritors. It has rich cultural heritage and a bright future for the protection and development of intangible cultural heritage.

The new era opens a new journey. Against the historical background of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and promoting exchanges and integration among all ethnic groups, Tibet's excellent traditional culture will surely usher in new development opportunities and shine more brilliantly in the grand cause of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

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xtruss · 3 years ago

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What Can Washington Learn 20 Years After Losing Greater Middle East Wars?

— Wang Peng

— September 08, 2021 | Global Times

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

US' "20-year war" has come to an end, costing billions of dollars and causing hundreds of thousands of casualties among the Afghan people. What can the US learn from this? What lessons have been learned? Will it happen again? These issues not only question the conscience and wisdom of current and future US politicians and voters, but have also attracted the attention and concern of the international community.

Since the end of World War II in 1945, mutual respect for national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity has become a universal fundamental norm in international society. In theory, any country that tramples on this red line will pay a heavy price.

For the US, however, the principle of respect for national sovereignty has long been eroded by the "Japanese-German myth." It refers to the fact that after the World War II, US troops were stationed in Japan and Germany. These were the two countries where World War II originated, and yet they have moved forward and carried out institutional reforms.

On the whole, the transformation was a success. The two countries fully embraced and internalized the political systems that the US had forced from outside. They also became important allies of the US in the Asia-Pacific and European continent. Japan and Germany, whether willingly or with internal differences, at least objectively surrendered part of their sovereignty and accepted long-term foreign military presence. This was done in exchange for the protection and support of the US. It was deeply integrated into the hierarchical international system as "spokes" with the US as the "hub" at the core.

More broadly beyond Germany and Japan, all NATO countries in Europe and other "major non-NATO allies" in the region were substantial "semi-sovereign states" because they received varying degrees of US military protection. They also hosted varying numbers of US troops. They followed Washington with international affairs, moving closer to the American position.

Yuen Foong Khong, a professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, states that hierarchy is an American tributary system.

It is the generally successful operation of this modern version of the tributary system over the past 70 years that has given contemporary American policymakers the institutional ego that has induced them to engage in a series of "strategic recklessness" over the last two decades. This has resulted in the present day's suffering.

For 20 years, the US with its military forces abroad and its intelligence agencies, as well as the NGOs that they supported, were almost invincible in their efforts to "destroy the old world." Almost none of the targeted countries in the Greater Middle East survived with the exception of a few countries such as Iran - only with the support of friendly countries outside. Former heads of toppled countries and regimes, some of whom, like former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, were longtime key US partners.

This shows that US allies in the Middle East are also doomed to fall into losing power, exile and even death. The "great success" achieved by the US army in this destructive work undoubtedly stimulated the subjectively capricious power and strategic advance of US presidents such as George W. Bush and Barack Obama in the past 20 years.

However, in the aspect of "building a new world," it has been a lose-lose result for the "regime-changed" and "democratized" countries and their people. It has damaged the US and the American people themselves. In Afghanistan, for example, the government's last president, Ashraf Ghani, was an expert on nation-building who has been trained by the American higher education system. Ironically, Ghani is the author of the book Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World. Instead of standing with his own regime and people, Ghani took hundreds of millions of dollars and fled his motherland.

Afghanistan is not alone. Similar and even worse tragedies have been played out in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia. What may shame the American strategists most is the sad reality that when the new "democratic" leaders have been supported by the US and came to power through "Color Revolution," they soon stumbled. Their countries are likely to become even more religiously conservative, politically populist and internationally anti-American, compared with their "authoritarian" predecessors. The current and future decision makers and national security advisers in the US may have to rethink these phenomena in-depth.

In the current case of America's "Hard Afghanexit," the logical strategic doctrine may well be the latter. This is not to say, of course, that future American strategists will not wage new wars. However, inside American policymaking circles, members of Congress and voters are likely to be more prudent in deciding on the next military intervention abroad. They might be at least more pragmatic than the patriotic and democracy-missionary impulses that were inspired by the 9/11 attacks 20 years ago.

American troops have left. Farewell and have a pleasant journey.

Indeed, as Chinese classic Zuo Tradition: Commentary on the "Spring and Autumn Annals" reminds: This is your beginning, and so this will be your final end. Remembering the past is the teacher of the future. Can Washington really learn these history lessons? The world will wait and see.

— The author is director of Research Department, Center for International Energy and Environment Strategy Studies, Renmin University of China and Distinguished Research Fellow at the Center for American Studies, Zhejiang International Studies University. [email protected]

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