Tibetan scholar refutes Dalai Lama´s claim of "cultural genocide"

WATCH VIDEO

Source: CCTV.com | 04-27-2008 09:50

A senior scholar in the field of Tibetan research has refuted the Dalai Lama's claim of "cultural genocide" in Tibet. He says evidence shows Tibet's culture has improved in the last decades.

86-year-old Qaba Cedainpuncog is the Vice Chairman of the Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture.

86-year-old Qaba Cedainpuncog is the Vice Chairman of the Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture. He says he has seen Tibet's culture improve and circulate during his decades of research.

Qaba Cedainpuncog said, "Civilian culture has been well protected now. In older times, only 6 percent of Tibetans could read and write in Tibetan. More than 90 percent of the serfs didn't even know one letter. But nowadays, people living in cities and villages, and even the herdsmen, most of Tibetans, can write in Tibetan. Characters are the basis of culture. Only a few people were literate in the past. Knowledge of all branches can be developed after people are able to use the language."

Qaba says Tibetan medical services have also been developed. He says with the support of the central government, the Tibetan medical academy has trained many Tibetan doctors and developed Tibetan medicines. He also says traditional Tibetan singing and dancing, and the Tibetan Epic of King Gesar are also well protected and inherited. Qaba says these facts prove there was no cultural genocide in Tibet, but rather, the culture prosperity.

Editor:Zhang Ning