Tibetan studies, medicine and pharmacology
( 2005-10-26 )

Old Tibet had no Tibetan studies in the modern sense of the word. But today, great progress has been made in Tibetan studies, and Tibetology has been universally acknowledged as a newly developed discipline, in international academic circles. It covers most of the basic subjects in the social and natural sciences, including political science, economics, history, literature and art, religion, philosophy, spoken and written language, geography, education, archeology, folk customs, Tibetan medicine and pharmacology, astronomy, the calendar, ecological protection, sustainable economic development, and agriculture and animal husbandry. It has brokent the narrow bounds of the "Five Major and Five Minor Treatises of Buddhist Doctrine" of traditional Tibetan culture.

Tibetology has become a grand system of comprehensive studies of Tibetan society. According to statistics, there are now more than 50 institutions of Tibetan studies and more than 1,000 experts and scholars in this field in China.

In Tibet, Tibetan studies started after the peaceful liberation of the region in 1951. A number of special organizations on Tibetan studies were established in Tibet since the 1970s, represented by the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences. In the past few years, the academy has made a breakthrough in Tibetan studies by completing a sequence of important monographs, including A General History of Tibet (Tibetan and Chinese editions), A Political History of Tibet by Xagaba (Annotated), A Communications History of Ancient and Modern Tibet (Chinese edition), The Inference Theory in Tibetan Philosophy (Tibetan edition), A Dictionary of Tibetan Philosophy (Tibetan edition), and Index of the Catalogues of Tibetan Studies Documents. Tibetan Studies has become one of the 100 leading Chinese periodicals on the social sciences. Especially in recent years, unprecedented development has been made in social sciences research in Tibet, a great number of experts and scholars with outstanding accomplishments have emerged, and many scientific research achievements have filled important academic gaps in various Tibetan studies fields, with contributions to collating, exploring and saving the precious Tibetan historical and cultural heritage. This has promoted and carryied forward the fine aspects of traditional Tibetan culture, and enriched atreasure house of traditional Chinese culture.

Great achievements have also been made in the collection and collation of Chinese documents and historical materials relating to Tibetan studies. More than 200 works in more than 5 million copies have been compiled and published, producing a great impact both at home and abroad, and providing rich evidence and reliable historical materials for research in Tibetology, the history of Han-Tibetan relations, and the history of the relations between the central and Tibetan local authorities. Extensive academic exchanges and cooperation have been carried out between Tibetologists in China and foreign countries, with China receiving more than 200 foreign experts and scholars, and often sending experts and scholars to other countries to give lectures and carry out cooperative research.

Tibetan medicine and pharmacology, with distinctive Tibetan characteristics, occupies an important position in traditional Tibetan culture, and forms a unique part of the treasure house of Chinese medicine and pharmacology. However, there were only two medical organs in Tibet before 1959 -- the "Mantsikhang" (Institute of Tibetan Medicine and Astrology) and the "Chakpori Zhopanling" (Medicine King Hill Institute for Saving All Living Beings) inLhasa, the conditions at which were very simple and crude. They had a combined floor space of only 500 square meters for the outpatient clinics and a total staff of fewer than 50. They handled 30-50 outpatients a day, and mainly served the nobles, feudal lords and upper-strata lamas.