A historical leap has been achieved in publication industry of Tibet Autonomous Region, southwestern China. Traditional Tibetan culture is now meeting an unprecedented progress while absorbing culture from other ethnic minorities.

Good development of Tibetan language

Before the peaceful liberation of Tibet, there was not a single news and press undertaking in modern sense. Despite there are a numerous woodcut Buddhism scriptures housed in monasteries or temples in Tibet, they are untouchable for more than 95 per cent of Tibetan serfs. Even till the mid-20th century, publication industry was still undertaken by some woodcarving Buddhism scripture printing monasteries.

After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, printing of Buddhism scripture received further progress. In 1990, the local government of Tibet allocated 500,000 yuan to print the Gangyur of Lhasa edition; in 1998, Gangyur of Bon Religion was published by Tibetan Classic Publishing House; the committee of Dangyur of Bon Religion was set up in  2003, then with documents collected from monasteries and people in Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan and other Tibetan-inhabited areas, the Dangyur of Bon Religion was published with an investment of 500,000 yuan and then the Dangyur of Buddhism which was firstly carved and printed in Lhasa was came out...

By far, there are more than 60 traditional Buddhism scriptures printing houses in Tibet, the annual printing capacity reaches 63,000 types. The skill of publishing has been gradually improved and refined while remaining original characteristic on the march. It meets the great demands of normal religionary activities and the masses religion believers.

Publication of Tibetan books strides forward

Over the last 40 years, the publication of Tibetan books has received a leap-forward development in many aspects. Firstly, the main body has changed to all the normal Tibetan masses. Secondly, the connotation has taken significant changes to reflect the life of Tibetans and development of society. Thirdly, it has become more modern, world-oriented and comprehensive.

Since 1971, when the Tibetan People's Publishing House was set up, dozens of books concerning traditional Tibetan Buddhism of different sects, have been published. For instance, there are more than 70 copies of Epic of King Gesar, the longest epic in the world, with some three million volumes available by now. Book about Tibetan medicine published by the Tibetan People's Publishing House takes up a large proportion with 70 per cent of the total Tibetan publication.

In 1989, the Tibetan Classic Publishing House was established to be responsible for collecting, arranging and publishing classics. Till now, the Tibetan Classic Publishing Houses has published 8,260 types of Tibetan books together with the Tibetan People's Publishing House.

Nowadays, the publication of Tibetan book is enjoying a surge with 20 per cent annually.

The number of newspapers in Tibet has augmented from 18 in 2002 to current 23, among which Tibetan newspapers occupy 10 while newspapers in Chinese are 13. It covers a wide range from current news, Tibetan literature, medicine, art, education, policy, religion and so on, and some of them can be available free of charge.

Statistics indicates 55.5 million newspapers were published alone in 2007, delivering double-digit growth for two consecutive years. People working in this field become more powerful, by far, there are more than 900 people worked for Tibet's publication industry, among which Tibetan people account for 67 per cent, Han nationality accounts for 30 while people of other ethnic minorities takes up 3 per cent.

Besides, the audio-visual publishing is becoming more influential in recent years. Audio-visual product with Tibetan characteristic gains recognition across the countries and the Tibetan music is also becoming more popular.