Ancient books on Tibetan culture go online

LHASA-The Xizang autonomous region in Southwest China now has an online "treasure house" of ancient books for fans of Tibetan culture worldwide.

As part of efforts to protect the ancient culture, a regional book center announced that it had uploaded rare ancient books with over 20,000 folios on an online platform of the Xizang Library.

Users can search, copy and download the valuable books for free from the platform, which includes biographies of Tibetan scholars and the history of Xizang and Buddhism, spanning from the 12th to the 20th centuries.

Qungda, an elderly resident in the regional capital, Lhasa, marvels at the convenience. After reading several articles on a cellphone, he says the platform not only makes it convenient for readers, but also represents an innovative way of protecting and using ancient books.

"It manifests the country's protection of traditional Tibetan culture," he says.

Penpa Tsering, deputy director of the book center, says: "The precious books uploaded this year, mainly biographies, cover the knowledge of ancient Tibetan society, economy and folk customs, which provide valuable material for the study of Tibetan culture and history from multiple perspectives and disciplines.

"Previously only a few scholars read the books due to the complex application procedure. Now they are available for global readers and can better serve society."

Considering the precious ancient books as a fragile cultural resource, the center has adopted a slew of advanced techniques such as noncontact high-definition scanning to prevent any damage to the original manuscripts.

Experts have also employed special techniques to process the original pictures in books with the purpose of preventing piracy and other improper use.

"The platform will play a leading role in the country's digital online sharing of ancient Tibetan books. I believe there will be more, similar, platforms in the future as a solid foundation for the preservation and inheritance of traditional Chinese cultural classics," says Penpa Tsering.

Since its trial operation on April 25, 2020, the platform has received nearly 100,000 visits, setting a record for the library website.

In 2009, Xizang launched its largest survey of ancient books. Since then, surveyors have traveled to every corner of the region that covers more than 1.2 million square kilometers, with the goal of preserving every last ancient book.

"It's hard to describe my excitement when I find rare books and learn unknown history from them in the survey work," says Nyishar, head of the ancient classics department at the center.

As part of the survey work, a book discovered by Nyishar proved that the history of Tibetan engraving printing stretched to at least a century earlier than previous research had indicated.

"After more than 10 years of effort, we have made great progress in the survey work, but there is still a long way to go," says Penpa Tsering.

He says the center also expects to receive suggestions and feedback from scholars and the public to help tackle issues such as digital identification of the books.

Yeshe Zangpo, a local official, says: "Xizang is sharing these precious ancient books with the world, which not only reflects the cultural confidence of China, but also provides huge convenience for the researchers of Tibetan studies."